WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Richard II, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 110 (5.1.110) (1595)

Dave — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:55:08 +0000

Go thou and fill another room in hell.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 110 (5.1.110) (1595)
(Source)

Killing one of his would-be assassins with the killer's own weapon.

Berry, Wendell -- Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky

Dave — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:37:16 +0000

If I solve my dispute with my neighbor by killing him, I have certainly solved the immediate dispute. If my neighbor was a scoundrel, then the world is no doubt better for his absence. But in killing my neighbor, though he may have been a terrible man who did not deserve to live, I have made myself a killer — and the life of my next neighbor is in greater peril than the life of the last.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky
(Source)

Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1969).

Harris, Thomas -- The Silence of the Lambs, film (1990) [with Ted Tally]

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:21:16 +0000

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Thomas Harris (b. 1940) American writer
The Silence of the Lambs, film (1990) [with Ted Tally]
(Source)

(Source (Video); dialog verified). As spoken by Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector.

Tally modified the lines Harris wrote in his 1988 novel, which in ch. 3 read: "A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a big Amarone."

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 121ff (3.1.121-128) (1606)

Dave — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:58:08 +0000

SECOND MURDERER: I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.

FIRST MURDERER: And I another,
So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it, or be rid on ‘t.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 121ff (3.1.121-128) (1606)
(Source)

Arendt, Hannah -- Lecture (1965-1966), “Some Questions of Moral Philosophy,” New School for Social Research, New York City

Dave — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 16:54:03 +0000

It is not murder which is forgiven but the killer, his person as it appears in circumstances and intentions. The trouble with the Nazi criminals was precisely that they renounced voluntarily all personal qualities, as if nobody were left to be either punished or forgiven. They protested time and again that they had never done anything out of their own initiative, that they had no intentions whatsoever, good or bad, and that they only obeyed orders.
To put it another way: the greatest evil perpetrated is the evil committed by nobodies, that is, by human beings who refuse to be persons.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Lecture (1965-1966), “Some Questions of Moral Philosophy,” New School for Social Research, New York City
(Source)

This is from a series of lectures Arendt gave at the New School for Social Research in NYC (1965), and at the University of Chicago ("Basic Moral Propositions," 1966). These were reworked and collected under this title in Responsibility and Judgment, Part 1 "Responsibility" (2003).

Stross, Charles -- The Rhesus Chart (2014)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 00:46:19 +0000

I think it’s reasonable to say that vampire hunters either have an extremely short life expectancy, or constitute one of the most deadly threats you are ever likely to encounter. They are invariably howling-at-the-moon stark raving bonkers, and not in a good way.

Charles "Charlie" Stross (b. 1964) British writer
The Rhesus Chart (2014)
(Source)

King, Stephen -- Cell, “Gaiten Academy,” ch. 16 (2006)

Dave — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:10:29 +0000

What Darwin was too polite to say, my friends, is that we came to rule the Earth not because we were the smartest, or even the meanest, but because we have always been the craziest, most murderous motherfuckers in the jungle.

Stephen King (b. 1947) American author
Cell, “Gaiten Academy,” ch. 16 (2006)

Gaiman, Neil -- Neverwhere, ch. 4 (1996)

Dave — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 12:00:19 +0000

There was an old telephone in the corner of the room, an antique, two-part telephone, unused in the hospital since the 1920s, made of wood and Bakelite. Mr. Croup picked up the earpiece, which was on a long, cloth-wrapped cord, and spoke into the mouthpiece, which was attached to the base. “Croup and Vandemar,” he said, smoothly, “the Old Firm. Obstacles obliterated, nuisances eradicated, bothersome limbs removed, and tutelary dentistry.”

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Neverwhere, ch. 4 (1996)
(Source)

Arendt, Hannah -- Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, ch. 6 (1963)

Dave — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:45:02 +0000

What stuck in the minds of these men who had become murderers was simply the notion of being involved in something historic, grandiose, unique (“a great task that occurs once in two thousand years”), which must therefore be difficult to bear. This was important, because the murderers were not sadists or killers by nature; on the contrary, a systematic effort was made to weed out all those who derived physical pleasure from what they did. The troops of the Einsatzgruppen had been drafted from the Armed S.S., a military unit with hardly more crimes in its record than any ordinary unit of the German Army, and their commanders had been chosen by Heydrich from the S.S. élite with academic degrees. Hence the problem was how to overcome not so much their conscience as the animal pity by which all normal men are affected in the presence of physical suffering. The trick used by Himmler — who apparently was rather strongly afflicted by these instinctive reactions himself — was very simple and probably very effective; it consisted in turning these instincts around, as it were, in directing them toward the self. So that instead of saying: What horrible things I did to people!, the murderers would be able to say: What horrible things I had to watch in the pursuance of my duties, how heavily the task weighed upon my shoulders!

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, ch. 6 (1963)
(Source)

Brecht, Bertholt -- Die Dreigroschenoper [The Three-Penny Opera], Prologue, “The Ballad of Mackie the Knife” (1928)

Dave — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:53:29 +0000

Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear,
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jack-knife has MacHeath, dea,r
And he keeps it out of sight.

[Und der Haifisch, der had Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und MacHeath, der had ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.]

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
Die Dreigroschenoper [The Three-Penny Opera], Prologue, “The Ballad of Mackie the Knife” (1928)

English lyrics to "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (Weill, Kurt / Berthold Brecht / Marc Blitzstein)

Alt: translation: "And the shark he has his teeth and / There they are for all to see / And MacHeath he has his knife but / No one knows where it may be."