WIST Quotations

Baum, L. Frank -- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ch. 1 (1900)

Dave — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 21:05:22 +0000

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled, now.

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) American author [Lyman Frank Baum]
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ch. 1 (1900)
(Source)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth -- “Table-Talk,” Driftwood (1857)

Dave — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 19:27:37 +0000

As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so change of studies a dull brain.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“Table-Talk,” Driftwood (1857)
(Source)

Zelazny, Roger -- Trumps of Doom, ch. 6 (1985)

Dave — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 14:21:42 +0000

When inspiration is silent reason tires quickly.

Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) American writer
Trumps of Doom, ch. 6 (1985)

Marquis, Don -- “pete the parrot and shakespeare,” archy and mehtabel (1927)

Dave — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 23:59:45 +0000

business business business
grind grind grind
what a life for a man
that might have been a poet

Don Marquis (1878-1937) American journalist and humorist
“pete the parrot and shakespeare,” archy and mehtabel (1927)
(Source)

Stross, Charles -- The Nightmare Stacks, ch. 9 (2016)

Dave — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 00:33:10 +0000

Somehow he has internalized the ur-cultural narrative: you grow up, go to university, get a job, meet Ms. Right, get married, settle down, have kids, grow old together … it’s like some sort of checklist. Or maybe a list of epic quests you’ve got to complete while level-grinding in a game you’re not allowed to quit, with no respawns and no cheat codes.

Charles "Charlie" Stross (b. 1964) British writer
The Nightmare Stacks, ch. 9 (2016)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 130 “Affurisms: Puddin & Milk” (1874)

Dave — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:21:52 +0000

Experience iz a grindstun, and it iz lucky for us if we kan git brightened by it, not ground.

[Experience is a grindstone, and it is lucky for us if we can get brightened by it, not ground.

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 130 “Affurisms: Puddin & Milk” (1874)
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This aphorism was transformed / paraphrased in the early 1920s into something a bit more inspirational, first (it appears) in Forbes (1922-10-14), then in similar form in other periodicals such as The Beaver (1924-03) and Wood Construction (1924-09-15). The new form:

Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds a man down or polishes him up, depen's on the stuff he's made of.

In an earlier pass of Billings quotations, I did up a meme, unknowingly based on that later phrasing:

Trollope, Joanna -- The Rector’s Wife (1991)

Dave — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 14:41:23 +0000

It’s so wrong to think that spectacular courage is the best bravery. The noblest bravery is battling against these dreadful daily assaults, often very minor, on one’s spirit.

Joanna Trollope (b. 1943) British writer [pseud. Caroline Harvey]
The Rector’s Wife (1991)

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 621 [tr. Lyman (1862)]

Dave — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:23:45 +0000

How long is life to the wretched, how short for the happy!

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 621 [tr. Lyman (1862)]

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Chinese proverb

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Chinese proverb

Quoted in W. C. Wilson, ed., The Teacher's Visitor (1846).

Dickens, Charles -- The Life And Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, ch. 64 [Mr Mantalini] (1839)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I am always turning, I am perpetually turning, like a demd old horse in a demnition mill. My life is one demd horrid grind!

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English writer and social critic
The Life And Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, ch. 64 [Mr Mantalini] (1839)
(Source)