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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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)
(Source)

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."