WIST Quotations

Bastard, Thomas -- Chrestoleros, Book 7, Epigram 9 “De senectute & juventute” (7.9) (1598)

Dave — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 20:56:13 +0000

Age is deformed, youth unkinde,
We scorn their bodies, they our minde.

Thomas Bastard (1565–1618) English clergyman, epigrammist
Chrestoleros, Book 7, Epigram 9 “De senectute & juventute” (7.9) (1598)

Doctor Who (1963) -- 08×01 “Terror of the Autons,” Part 3 (1971-01-16) [w. Robert Holmes]

Dave — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 19:28:20 +0000

JO GRANT: Doctor, stop being childish.

THE DOCTOR: What’s wrong with being childish? I like being childish.

Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
08×01 “Terror of the Autons,” Part 3 (1971-01-16) [w. Robert Holmes]

(Source (Video); dialog verified)

See also Terence Dicks.

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)

Barrie, James -- Peter Pan, Act 1 (1904, pub. 1928)

Dave — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:50:13 +0000

WENDY:I shall give you a kiss if you like.

PETER: Thank you. (He holds out his hand.)

WENDY: (aghast) Don’t you know what a kiss is?

PETER. I shall know when you give it me. (Not to hurt his feelings she gives him her thimble.)

J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 1 (1904, pub. 1928)

The original version of this scene (with the girl named Maimie, not Wendy) can be found in Barrie's earlier version of the Peter Pan tale, The Little White Bird, ch. 18 "Peter's Goat" (1902):

She said out of pity for him, "I shall give you a kiss if you like," but though he once knew, he had long forgotten what kisses are, and he replied, "Thank you," and held out his hand, thinking she had offered to put something into it. This was a great shock to her, but she felt she could not explain without shaming him, so with charming delicacy she gave Peter a thimble which happened to be in her pocket, and pretended that it was a kiss.

In Barrie's 1911 novelization of the play, Peter and Wendy, ch. 3 "Come Away, Come Away!" this scene is rendered:

She also said she would give him a kiss if he liked, but Peter did not know what she meant, and he held out his hand expectantly.
“Surely you know what a kiss is?” she asked, aghast.
“I shall know when you give it to me,” he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feelings she gave him a thimble.

Wharton, Edith -- French Ways and Their Meaning, ch. 4 “Intellectual Honesty” (1919)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:49:22 +0000

What Mr. Howells said of the American theater is true of the whole American attitude toward life. “A tragedy with a happy ending” is exactly what the child wants before he goes to sleep: the reassurance that “all’s well with the world” as he lies in his cozy nursery. It is a good thing that the child should receive this reassurance; but as long as he needs it he remains a child, and the world he lives in is a nursery-world. Things are not always and everywhere well with the world, and each man has to find it out as he grows up. It is the finding out that makes him grow, and until he has faced the fact and digested the lesson he is not grown up — he is still in the nursery.

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist
French Ways and Their Meaning, ch. 4 “Intellectual Honesty” (1919)

Commenting on William Dean Howells' comment to her on American taste in theater and drama: "What the American public wants is a tragedy with a happy ending."

Kingsolver, Barbara -- “Babyblues”

Dave — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 23:45:18 +0000

I want
the world
and it will not fit
in my mouth.

Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955) American novelist, essayist, poet
“Babyblues”

Pasternak, Boris -- Doctor Zhivago [До́ктор Жива́го], Part 2, ch. 9 “Varykino,” sec. 14 [Yury to Larissa] (1955) [tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), UK ed.]

Dave — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:31:36 +0000

Man is born to live, not to prepare for life. Life itself — the gift of life — is such a breathtakingly serious thing! — Why substitute this childish harlequinade of adolescent fantasies, these schoolboy escapades?

Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
Doctor Zhivago [До́ктор Жива́го], Part 2, ch. 9 “Varykino,” sec. 14 [Yury to Larissa] (1955) [tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), UK ed.]

Criticizing the immature aspirations of revolutionaries.

Another translation:

Man is born to live, not to prepare for life. Life itself, the phenomenon of life, the gift of life, is so breath-takingly serious! So why substitute this childish harlequinade of immature fantasies, these schoolboy escapades?
[tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), US ed.]

Man is born to live, not to prepare for life. And life itself, the phenomenon of life, the gift of life, is so thrillingly serious! Why then substitute for it a childish harlequinade of immature inventions, these escapes of Chekhovian schoolboys to America?
[tr. Pevear & Volokhonsky (2010)]

Scalzi, John -- The Last Colony, ch. 4 (2007)

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 14:01:52 +0000

Teenagers can be idiotic and stupid, but teenagers also model their behavior from the signals they get from adults.

John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
The Last Colony, ch. 4 (2007)

Kant, Immanuel -- “An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment? Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?]” (1784)

Dave — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 18:01:07 +0000

Through laziness and cowardice a large part of mankind, even after nature has freed them from alien guidance, gladly remain immature. It is because of laziness and cowardice that it is so easy for others to usurp the role of guardians. It is so comfortable to be a minor!

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher
“An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment? Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?]” (1784)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:09:23 +0000

It is as natural and as right for a young man to be imprudent and exaggerated, to live in swoops and circles, and beat about his cage like any other wild thing newly captured, as it is for old men to turn grey, or mothers to love their offspring, or heroes to die for something more valuable than their lives.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 2 (1881).

Homer -- The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 23, l. 589ff (23.589-590) [Antilochus to Menelaus] (c. 750 BC) [tr. Pope (1715-20)]

Dave — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:23:26 +0000

Thou knowest the errors of unripened age,
Weak are its counsels, headlong is its rage.

[οἶσθ᾽ οἷαι νέου ἀνδρὸς ὑπερβασίαι τελέθουσι:
κραιπνότερος μὲν γάρ τε νόος, λεπτὴ δέ τε μῆτις.]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 23, l. 589ff (23.589-590) [Antilochus to Menelaus] (c. 750 BC) [tr. Pope (1715-20)]

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

You, more in age
And more in excellence, know well, the outrays that engage
All young men’s actions; sharper wits, but duller wisdoms, still
From us flow than from you.
[tr. Chapman (1611), l. 505ff]

Thou know’st how rash is youth, and how propense
To pass the bounds by decency prescribed,
Quick, but not wise.
[tr. Cowper (1791), l. 729ff]

Thou knowest of what sort are the errors of a youth; for his mind is indeed more volatile, and his counsel weak.
[tr. Buckley (1860)]

Thou know’st the o’er-eager vehemence of youth,
How quick in temper, and in judgement weak.
[tr. Derby (1864)]

Thou dost know
The faults to which the young are ever prone;
The will is quick to act, the judgment weak.
[tr. Bryant (1870)]

Thou knowest how a young man's transgressions come about, for his mind is hastier and his counsel shallow.
[tr. Leaf/Lang/Myers (1891)]

You know how easily young men are betrayed into indiscretion; their tempers are more hasty and they have less judgement.
[tr. Butler (1898)]

Thou knowest of what sort are the transgressions of a man that he is young, for hasty is he of purpose and but slender is his wit.
[tr. Murray (1924), l. 589-90]

It is easy for a youngster to go wrong from hastiness and lack of thought.
[tr. Graves, The Anger of Achilles (1959)]

You know a young man may go out of bounds:
his wits are nimble, but his judgment slight.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1974)]

Well you know how the whims of youth break all the rules.
Our wits quicker than wind, our judgment just as flighty.
[tr. Fagles (1990)]

Wodehouse, P. G. -- The Adventures of Sally (1922)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:16:05 +0000

Boyhood, like measles, is one of those complaints which a man should catch young and have done with, for when it comes in middle life it is apt to be serious.

P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
The Adventures of Sally (1922)

Robbins, Tom -- Still Life with Woodpecker, ch. 12 (1980)

Dave — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:32:06 +0000

Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.

Tom Robbins (b. 1932) American novelist
Still Life with Woodpecker, ch. 12 (1980)

Doctor Who (1963) -- 12×01 “Robot,” Part 4 (1975-01-18) [w. Terrance Dicks]

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

SARAH JANE: Doctor, you’re being childish!

THE DOCTOR: Well, of course I am! There’s no point in being grown-up if you can’t be childish sometimes.

Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
12×01 “Robot,” Part 4 (1975-01-18) [w. Terrance Dicks]

(Source (Video); dialog verified)

See Robert Holmes.