WIST Quotations

Knebel, Fletcher -- Seven Days in May, “Tuesday Afternoon” [Lyman] (1962)[with Charles W. Bailey II]

Dave — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 16:29:54 +0000

But a democracy is different. Each of us has got to feel that we can influence events, no matter how slight the influence. When people start believing they can’t they get frustrated, and angry. They feel helpless and they start going to extremes.

Fletcher Knebel (1911–1993) American author
Seven Days in May, “Tuesday Afternoon” [Lyman] (1962)[with Charles W. Bailey II]
(Source)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 5 “Des Passions et des Affections de l’Âme [On the Soul], ¶ 29 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866)]

Dave — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 21:57:08 +0000

It is always our inabilities that irritate us.

[Ce sont toujours nos impuissances qui nous irritent.]

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 5 “Des Passions et des Affections de l’Âme [On the Soul], ¶ 29 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Our worries always come from our weaknesses.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 65]

It is always our incapacities that irritate us.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 4, ¶ 19]

It is always our inabilities that vex us.
[tr. Collins (1928), ch. 5]

Moffat, Steven -- Coupling, 02×04 “The Melty Man Cometh” (2001-09-24)

Dave — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 22:58:57 +0000

PATRICK: It was just so embarrassing. I didn’t know what to do.

STEVE: Happens to us all mate.

JEFF: All of us, in our time, are visited by the Melty Man.

PATRICK: The what?

JEFF: Don’t say his name, Patrick. Don’t even think his name or he will rise from the shadow dimensions to do his evil work on your terrified pants.

PATRICK: (chuckle) Terrified pants?

STEVE: (gravely) There’s nothing funny about the Melty Man, Patrick.

PATRICK: (face falls) You know about the Melty Man, too?

STEVE: We all know the Melty Man.

PATRICK: Who is he?

STEVE: The archenemy of trouser confidence.

JEFF: Professor Moriarty, in groin form.

STEVE: Darth Vader.

JEFF: Without the helmet.

PATRICK: What does he do?!

JEFF: Patrick, you know what he does.

PATRICK: (looks down) Oh, right.

JEFF: You’re in bed with a woman. Everything’s going fine. That’s when the Melty Man strikes.

STEVE: Suddenly you find yourself thinking, “Maybe she’s really bored.”

JEFF: Maybe you’re licking her neck too much. Are you over-wetting her neck?

STEVE: Are you spending an equal amount of time on each breast? I mean, what happens if one breast gets ahead?

JEFF: Should you be switching between them really quickly or should you squish ’em both together and do them at once?

STEVE: Or are you allowed to just skip one breast completely, just to save time?

JEFF: She’s wriggling about a bit. Is that a good sign or is she just trying to dry her neck?

STEVE: Should you kiss her now or does that mean you gotta start at the top again?

JEFF: Should you be making noises yet? Is it too soon to grunt?

STEVE: And then, the killer — out of nowhere, for no reason you can think of, you call her (huskily) “baby.”

JEFF: You never called her baby before.

STEVE: You’ve never called anyone baby before.

JEFF: So why did you just call her baby? Suddenly you’re starting to blush.

STEVE: Now, you’re blushing and you’ve got an erection. No-one’s got enough blood!

JEFF: (Scotty voice) It’s the engines, Cap’n! They cannae take it!

STEVE: Then the Melty Man hits you with his secret weapon.

JEFF: Just one single thought placed in your mind at this crucial time.

STEVE: “Please God! Don’t let me lose my erection!”

JEFF: (lowers his hand) Poof.

PATRICK: (with terror and disblief) How do you guys manage to have sex?

STEVE: We don’t.

JEFF: I haven’t had sex in years.

STEVE: It’s just not possible anymore.

JEFF: We are followers of the Melty Man.

STEVE: And you are one of us now.

Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, 02×04 “The Melty Man Cometh” (2001-09-24)
(Source)

(Source (Video) -- dialog verified)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #312 (26 Mar 1754)

Dave — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:06:31 +0000

Let this be one invariable rule of your conduct — Never to show the least symptom of resentment which you cannot to a certain degree gratify, but always to smile, where you cannot strike.

Lord Chesterfield (1694–1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #312 (26 Mar 1754)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 538 (1820)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780–1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 538 (1820)
(Source)

Allen, Fred -- Letter to William McChesney Martin (25 Jan 1940)

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

A conference is a gathering of important people who, singly, can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.

Fred Allen (1894–1956) American humorist [b. John Florence Sullivan]
Letter to William McChesney Martin (25 Jan 1940)
(Source)

The letter, to the then-President of the New York Stock Exchange, was written as an apology for a joke Allen had made about Wall Street, and was re-published in TIME magazine (4 Feb 1940).

Allen apparently used the line, and variations of it, at various times in his career. A variant more commonly quoted than the original shows up, without citation, in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:

Committee -- A group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.