WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-08 (1871 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 16:36:09 +0000

Lazyness iz a good deal like money, — the more a man haz ov it the more he seems tew want.

[Laziness is a good deal like money — the more a man has of it, the more he seems to want.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-08 (1871 ed.)
(Source)

Kerr, Jean -- Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 18:22:48 +0000

You can’t sleep until noon with the proper élan unless you have some legitimate reason for staying up until three (parties don’t count).

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
(Source)

Greenwood, Kerry -- Phryne Fisher, Book 11, Away with the Fairies, ch. 1 (2001)

Dave — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:48:45 +0000

She felt that the day should not be bounced in on with rude energy, but carefully and delicately seduced into being, and children and animals were sadly impervious to reason on this matter.

Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 11, Away with the Fairies, ch. 1 (2001)
(Source)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #298 (15 Jan 1758)

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

Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough. They look upon spirit to be a much better thing than experience, which they call coldness. They are but half mistaken; for though spirit without experience is dangerous, experience without spirit is languid and defective.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #298 (15 Jan 1758)
(Source)