WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1995-01-19)

Dave — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 20:30:26 +0000

CALVIN: I’m thinking of starting my own talk radio show. I’ll spout simplistic opinions for hours on end, ridicule anyone who disagrees with me, and generally foster divisiveness, cynicism, and a lower level of public dialogue!

HOBBES: It would seem you were born for the job.

CALVIN: Imagine getting paid to act like a six-year-old!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-01-19)
(Source)

Swift, Jonathan -- “An Epistle to a Lady Who Desired the Author to Write Some Verses Upon Her in the Heroic Style,” ll. 123-132 (1732)

Dave — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 20:33:24 +0000

Conversation is but carving;
Carve for all, yourself is starving:
Give no more to every Guest,
Than he’s able to digest;
Give him always of the Prime;
And but little at a Time.
Carve to all but just enough:
Let them neither starve nor stuff:
And, that you may have your Due,
Let your Neighbours carve for you.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
“An Epistle to a Lady Who Desired the Author to Write Some Verses Upon Her in the Heroic Style,” ll. 123-132 (1732)
(Source)

Often rendered with the first line ending in an exclamation point, and the second line missing.

Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 3, epigram 49 (3.49) (AD 87-88) [tr. Nixon (1911), “Let the Cup Pass”]

Dave — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 18:55:04 +0000

For me you mix Veientian,
While you take Massic wine:
I’d rather smell your goblet
Than to take a drink from mine.

[Veientana mihi misces, ubi Massica potas:
Olfacere haec malo pocula, quam bibere.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 3, epigram 49 (3.49) (AD 87-88) [tr. Nixon (1911), “Let the Cup Pass”]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

You Massick drink, Veientan give to me.
I need not taste; the smell doth satisfie.
[tr. Wright (1663)]

You mix Veientan wine for me, while you yourself drink Massic. I would rather smell the cups which you present me, than drink of them.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

You mix Veientan wine for me, whereas you drink Massic. I would rather smell these cups of mine than drink them.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

Yourself you drink a vintage rare
While giving me vin ordinaire.
To smell the heel-taps of your wine
Is better far than drinking mine.
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921), "The Mean Host"]

You pour me cheap red wine while you drink Massic.
I'd rather sniff this cup than drink from it.
[tr. Bovie (1970)]

You drink the best, yet serve us third-rate wine.
I'd rather sniff your cup than swill from mine.
[tr. Michie (1972)]

You serve me plonk, and you drink reservé.
My taste-buds back away from mine’s bouquet.
[tr. Harrison (1981)]

You mix Veientan for me and serve Massic for yourself. I had rather smell these cups than drink.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

Your cup breathes odors fine
That never came from mine.
Better is what you waft
Than what I'm forced to quaff.
[tr. Wills (2007)]

You mix Veientan for me, while you drink Massic wine.
I'd rather smell your cups than drink from mine.
[tr. McLean (2014)]

You pour me Blue Nun, while you drink Brunello wine.
I’d rather smell your glass, than take a sip from mine.
[tr. Ynys-Mon (2016)]

Antrim, Minna -- Don’ts for Bachelors and Old Maids (1908)

Dave — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 14:53:17 +0000

The guest who deliberately wounds his Host strikes a Manacled Man.

Minna Antrim (1861-1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Don’ts for Bachelors and Old Maids (1908)
(Source)

Homer -- The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 15, l. 54ff (15.54) [Pisistratus] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Palmer (1891)]

Dave — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 15:42:17 +0000

For a guest remembers all his days the hospitable man who showed him kindness.

[Τοῦ γάρ τε ξεῖνος μιμνῄσκεται ἤματα πάντα
ἀνδρὸς ξεινοδόκου, ὅς κεν φιλότητα παράσχῃ.]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 15, l. 54ff (15.54) [Pisistratus] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Palmer (1891)]
(Source)

(Greek Source). Alternate translations:

Not a guest
Shall touch at his house, but shall store his breast
With fit mind of an hospitable man,
To last as long as any daylight can
His eyes recomfort, in such gifts as he
Will proofs make of his hearty royalty.
[tr. Chapman (1616)]

For guests use always to remember those
By whom they have been entertain’d with love.
[tr. Hobbes (1675), ll. 49-50]

For the guest in mem’ry holds
Through life, the host who treats him as a friend.
[tr. Cowper (1792), l. 64-65]

For when a host with friendship void of blame
Gives of his choicest, men observe his name,
And hold it all their lives exceeding dear.
[tr. Worsley (1861), st. 7]

Throughout his life,
A guest the gen'rous man should keep in mind
Who to is home hath welcom'd him.
[tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 88ff]

A guest remembers thro' life's livelong days
That host, who gives him sterling proofs of love!
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869)]

For of him a guest is mindful all the days of his life, even of the host that shows him loving-kindness.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]

Since forsooth the guest remembereth that man for all his days
Who giveth him good guesting in friendly wise and dear.
[tr. Morris (1887)]

So long as he lives a guest should never forget a host who has shown him kindness.
[tr. Butler (1898)]

For a guest remembers all his days the host who shews him kindness.
[tr. Murray (1919)]

A guest never forgets the host who has treated him kindly.
[tr. Rieu (1946)]

A guest remembers all his days that hose who makes provision for him kindly.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]

For a guest remembers all his days the man who received him as a host receives a guest, and gave him the gifts of friendship.
[tr. Lattimore (1965)]

A guest will keep in memory, held close, the gift of friendship given by his host.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]

That’s the man a guest will remember all his days:
the lavish host who showers him with kindness.
[tr. Fagles (1996)]

A guest remembers
A host's hospitality for as long as he lives.
[tr. Lombardo (2000)]

As you know, a guest remembers for all his days the man who has welcomed him hospitably and shown friendship towards him.
[tr. Verity (2016)]

For a guest remembers with gratitude all his days the man who was his host, who showed him kindness.
[tr. Green (2018)]

A guest remembers all his life the man
who gave him hospitality and kindness.
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 74-85]

McGinley, Phyllis -- “Party Line,” Ladies’ Home Journal (1962)

Dave — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:12:09 +0000

A successful party is a creative act, and creation is always painful.

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) American author, poet
“Party Line,” Ladies’ Home Journal (1962)
(Source)

Later reprinted in Sixpence in Her Shoe (1964).

Curtis, Charles P. -- A Commonplace Book (1957)

Dave — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 21:51:18 +0000

The author is like the host at a party. It is his party, but he must not enjoy himself so much that he neglects his guests. His enjoyment is not so much his own as it is theirs.

Charles P. Curtis (1891-1959) American attorney, legal scholar, author [Charles Pelham Curtis, Jr.]
A Commonplace Book (1957)
(Source)

Horace -- Satires [Saturae, Sermones], Book 2, # 8 “Ut Nasidieni,” l. 73ff (2.8.73-74) (30 BC) [tr. Matthews (2002)]

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

But like a general, a host displays
his genius best under disaster.

[Sed convivatoris uti ducis ingenium res
Adversae nudare solent, celare secundae.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Satires [Saturae, Sermones], Book 2, # 8 “Ut Nasidieni,” l. 73ff (2.8.73-74) (30 BC) [tr. Matthews (2002)]
(Source)

Balatro speaking somewhat sarcastically to the host, Nasidienus (Rufus), about the misfortunes that are "ruining" his dinner party.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

But (General-like) Masters of Feasts reveal
That temper by cross hits, the good conceal.
[tr. "I. W. Esq"; ed. Brome (1666)]

But as in Captains oft ill chance reveals
The Entertainers Wit, which good conceals.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

Good fortune hides, adversity calls forth,
A landlord's genius, and a general's worth.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

But then a host's, like a commander's, skill,
Obscured by good success, shines forth in ill.
[tr. Howes (1845)]

But adversity is wont to disclose, prosperity to conceal, the abilities of a host as well as of a general.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

But yet misfortune will bring forth to view the talents of a host as of a general, as will success conceal the same.
[tr. Millington (1870)]

But gifts, concealed by sunshine, are displayed
In hosts, as in commanders, by the shade.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

But as with a commander, so with a host -- it is rough weather that discovers the genius, fair weather puts it out of sight.
[tr. Wickham (1903)]

But one who entertains is like a general: mishaps oft reveal his genius, smooth going hides it.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

But the host plays a role like the general's:
when things go wrong, his genius comes most into play;
When the going is smooth, you'd never know he had any.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

But a party-giver's talent, like a general's, comes out
in case of trouble, lies hidden when the going's good.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]

But giving a banquet is like fighting a battle:
A general's real talents show when he's losing, not winning in a walk.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

But such adversities reveal,
while prosperities conceal, the true qualities
of a host which are like those of a general.
[tr. Alexander (1999)]

But as with a general so with a host: adverse fortune
has a way of revealing his genius; good fortune obscures it.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

But as with a general, so a host: adversity
Often reveals his genius, success conceals it.
[tr. Kline (2015)]