WIST Quotations

Adams, Douglas -- Dirk Gently No. 2, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, ch. 4 (1988)

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:02:05 +0000

He had a tremendous propensity for getting lost when driving. This was largely because of his “Zen” method of navigation, which was simply to find any car that looked as if it knew where it was going and follow it. The results were more often surprising than successful, but he felt it was worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it was both.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Dirk Gently No. 2, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, ch. 4 (1988)
(Source)

Dirk describes this again later, in ch. 13:

My own strategy is to find a car, or the nearest equivalent, which looks as if it knows where it's going and follow it. I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere I needed to be.

And again at the end of ch. 13:

My methods of navigation have their advantage. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Kennedy, John F. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:40:10 +0000

It was involuntary. They sank my boat.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
(Attributed)

When asked how he became a war hero. In A. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days, 4.9 (1965)

Bennett, William J. -- Commencement Address, George Mason University (22 May 1999)

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

Happiness is like a cat — if you coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it won’t come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you will find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap.

William J. Bennett (b. 1943) American politician, moralist
Commencement Address, George Mason University (22 May 1999)
(Source)