WIST Quotations

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Play (1920), Aria da Capo

Dave — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 16:49:08 +0000

PIERROT:I love
Humanity; but I hate people.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet
Play (1920), Aria da Capo

Millay's comment on the socialist movement.

Yevtushenko, Yevgeny -- “People [Lyudi]” (1961), l. 1ff [tr. Milner-Gulland/Levi (1967)]

Dave — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 19:21:27 +0000

No people are uninteresting.
Their fate is like the chronicle of planets.

Nothing in them is not particular,
and planet is dissimilar from planet.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933–2017) Russian poet, writer, film director, academic [Евге́ний Евтуше́нко, Evgenij Evtušenko]
“People [Lyudi]” (1961), l. 1ff [tr. Milner-Gulland/Levi (1967)]

Lawrence, D. H. -- “Education of the People,” Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine (1925)

Dave — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:16:10 +0000

What is wrong then? The system. But when you’ve said that you’ve said nothing. The system, after all, is only the outcome of the human psyche, the human desires. We shout and blame the machine. But who on earth makes the machine, if we don’t? And any alterations in the system are only modifications in the machine. The system is in us, it is not something external to us. The machine is in us, or it would never come out of us. Well then, there’s nothing to blame but ourselves, and there’s nothing to change except inside ourselves.

David Herbert "D. H." Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist
“Education of the People,” Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine (1925)

Vidal, Gore -- “The Twelve Caesars,” United States (1993)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

World events are the work of individuals whose motives are often frivolous, even casual.

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American novelist, dramatist, critic
“The Twelve Caesars,” United States (1993)