WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1992-10-13)

Dave — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 23:51:26 +0000

CALVIN: I’m not going to do my math homework. Look at these unsolved problems. Here’s a number in mortal combat with another. One of them is going to get subtracted. But why? How? What will be left of him? If I answered these, it would kill the suspense. It would resolve the conflict and turn intriguing possibilities into boring ol’ facts.

HOBBES: I never really thought about the literary qualities of math.

CALVIN: I prefer to savor the mystery.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1992-10-13)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1993-02-15)

Dave — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 19:30:05 +0000

CALVIN: (building a snowman) I should be doing my homework now. But the way I look at it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I’m learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life.

HOBBES: Such as?

CALVIN: Procrastinating and rationalizing.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-02-15)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1986-04-25)

Dave — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:59:59 +0000

CALVIN: Hocus-pocus, Abracadabra! I command my homework to do itself! Homework, be done!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1986-04-25)

McGinley, Phyllis -- Poem (1952-03-15), “Homework for Annabelle,” st. 4, New Yorker, Vol. 28, No. 4

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:24:22 +0000

For high is the price of parenthood,
And daughters may cost you double.
You dare not forget, as you thought you could,
That youth is a plague and a trouble.

Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978) American author, poet
Poem (1952-03-15), “Homework for Annabelle,” st. 4, New Yorker, Vol. 28, No. 4

Reprinted in Love Letters (1954). Full poem.