WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Richard II, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 70 (3.2.50) (1595)

Dave — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:13:57 +0000

SALISBURY: O, call back yesterday, bid time return ….

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 70 (3.2.50) (1595)

Telling Richard it would have been great if the king had returned from his Irish wars a day earlier, because yesterday his waiting army of Welshmen went over to Bolingbroke's side, having heard a rumor that Richard was dead.

Johnson, Samuel -- Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, “Pope” (1781)

Dave — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:47:23 +0000

The distance is commonly very great between actual performances and speculative possibility. It is natural to suppose, that as much as has been done to-day may be done to-morrow; but on the morrow some difficulty emerges, or some external impediment obstructs. Indolence, interruption, business, and pleasure, all take their turns of retardation; and every long work is lengthened by a thousand causes that can, and ten thousand that cannot, be recounted. Perhaps no extensive and multifarious performance was ever effected within the term originally fixed in the undertaker’s mind. He that runs against Time, has an antagonist not subject to casualties.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, “Pope” (1781)

Also known as Lives of English Poets and Lives of the Poets.

Eliot, George -- Adam Bede, ch. 18 [Mrs. Poyser] (1859)

Dave — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 14:27:37 +0000

It’s but little good you’ll do a-watering the last year’s crop.

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Adam Bede, ch. 18 [Mrs. Poyser] (1859)

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Journal of Arctic voyage (11 Jul 1880)

Dave — Wed, 26 May 2021 21:06:40 +0000

Got up late and would have liked to have got up later, which is a sad moral state to be in.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) British writer and physician
Journal of Arctic voyage (11 Jul 1880)

Homer -- The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 379 (11.379) [Odysseus] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Rieu (1946)]

Dave — Wed, 26 May 2021 20:20:00 +0000

There is a time for long tales, but there is also a time for sleep.

[Ὥρη μὲν πολέων μύθων, ὥρη δὲ καὶ ὕπνου.]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 379 (11.379) [Odysseus] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Rieu (1946)]

On being asked by King Alcinoüs to continue his tale of journeying to the Land of the Dead.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

“Most eminent king,” said he, “times all must keep,
There’s time to speak much, time as much to sleep."
[tr. Chapman (1616)]

There is a time for talk, a time for rest.
[tr. Hobbes (1675), l. 362]

Since yet the early hour of night allows
Time for discourse, and time for soft repose.
[tr. Pope (1725)]

The time suffices yet
For converse both and sleep.
[tr. Cowper (1792), l. 460-61]

Night is the time for converse, night for rest.
[tr. Worsley (1861), st. 54]

A time there is for speech
Howe'er prolong'd: a time, too, for repose.
[tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 585]

A time there is for tales -- and a time for sleep!
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869), l. 378]

There is a time for many words and there is a time for sleep.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]

Time is for words abundant, and time for sleep maybe.
[tr. Morris (1887)]

There is a time for stories and a time for sleep.
[tr. Palmer (1891)]

There is a time for making speeches, and a time for going to bed.
[tr. Butler (1898)]

There is a time for many words and there is a time also for sleep.
[tr. Murray (1919)]

Surely there is a time for long speaking and a time for sleep.
[tr. Lawrence (1932)]

There is a time for story telling; there is
also a time for sleep.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]

There is a time for many words, and a time for sleeping.
[tr. Lattimore (1965)]

It's true that there's still time for tales and talk,
yet there is, too, a time for sleep.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]

There is a time for many words, a time for sleep as well.
[tr. Fagles (1996)]

There is a time for words and a time for sleep.
[tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 389]

There is a time for long tales, but there is also a time for sleep.
[tr. DCH Rieu (2002)]

There is a time for words, and a time for sleep.
[tr. Kline (2004)]

There is a time for long tales, and there is a time for sleep.
[tr. Verity (2016)]

It is a time for many tales, but also
a time for sleep.
[tr. Wilson (2017); print text shown]

There's a time for long stories, and a time for sleep.
[tr. Green (2018)]

There’s a time
for many stories and a time for sleep.
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 477-78]

Kennedy, Marilyn Moats -- “The Case Against Performance Appraisals,” Across the Board (Jan 1999)

Dave — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 19:49:11 +0000

It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late.

Marilyn Moats Kennedy (1943–2017) American educator, business and career consultant, writer
“The Case Against Performance Appraisals,” Across the Board (Jan 1999)

Lorimer, George Horace -- Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 10 (1903)

Dave — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:41:02 +0000

Always appoint an hour at which you’ll see a man, and if he’s late a minute don’t bother with him. A fellow who can be late when his own interests are at stake is pretty sure to be when yours are.

George Horace Lorimer (1867–1937) American journalist, author, magazine editor
Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 10 (1903)

Shakespeare, William -- Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 319 (2.2.319) (1597)

Dave — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:56:03 +0000

FORD: Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 319 (2.2.319) (1597)

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord -- “Ulysses,” ll. 56-62 (1842)

Dave — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:45:28 +0000

Come, my friends.
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) English poet
“Ulysses,” ll. 56-62 (1842)

Adams, Douglas -- Attributed in Richard Dawkins, “A Lament for Douglas Adams,” The Guardian (2001-05-13)

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

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Attributed in Richard Dawkins, “A Lament for Douglas Adams,” The Guardian (2001-05-13)

Memorial to his friend, Adams; later collected in The Salmon of Doubt, Part 4 "Epilogue" (2002) [ed. Peter Guzzardi]. Many variants exist, e.g., "What I love the most about deadlines is the whooshing sound they make as they go by."