WIST Quotations

Lebowitz, Fran -- “Children: Pro or Con,” Metropolitan Life (1978)

Dave — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:30:56 +0000

Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
“Children: Pro or Con,” Metropolitan Life (1978)
(Source)

Diller, Phyllis -- Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, ch. 1, epigraph (1966)

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 22:01:02 +0000

Cleaning your house
While your kids are still growing
Is like shoveling the walk
Before it stops snowing.

Phyllis Diller (1917–2012) American comedian, actor, author, musician
Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, ch. 1, epigraph (1966)
(Source)

Rooney, Andy -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 22:19:51 +0000

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.

Andy Rooney (1919–2011) American journalist, commentator, author
(Attributed)

Armour, Richard -- “Going to Extremes” (1949)

Dave — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 18:32:46 +0000

Shake and shake
The catsup bottle,
None will come,
And then a lot’ll.

Richard Armour (1906–1989) American poet and author
“Going to Extremes” (1949)
(Source)

Galsworthy, John -- Over the River, ch. 1 (1933)

Dave — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 17:12:11 +0000

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy: the building of a house, the writing of a novel, the demolition of a bridge, and eminently, the finish of a voyage.

John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English novelist and playwright
Over the River, ch. 1 (1933)
(Source)

Brilliant, Ashleigh -- Pot-Shots, #6392

Dave — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:59:03 +0000

Don’t give me anything else to make a mess of, until I finish making my present mess.

Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #6392

Jones, Franklin P. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 19 May 2020 16:27:47 +0000

Out of the mouths of babes comes a lot of what they should have swallowed.

Franklin P. Jones (1908–1980) American journalist, humorist, public relations executive
(Attributed)

A take-off from the Biblical aphorism, "Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom" (Ps. 8:2).

Swift, Jonathan -- A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation (1738)

Dave — Wed, 17 May 2017 15:39:50 +0000

She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on her with a pitchfork.

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) English writer and churchman
A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation (1738)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott -- The Great Gatsby, ch. 9 (1925)

Dave — Fri, 27 May 2016 19:51:38 +0000

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American writer [Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald]
The Great Gatsby, ch. 9 (1925)

Ackoff, Russell -- “The future of operational research is past,” The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol 30 (1979)

Dave — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 12:43:12 +0000

When a mess, which is a system of problems, is taken apart, it loses its essential properties and so does each of its parts. The behavior of a mess depends more on how the treatment of its parts interact than how they act independently of each other. A partial solution to a whole system of problems is better than whole solutions of each of its parts taken separately.

Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) American organizational theorist, consultant, management scientist
“The future of operational research is past,” The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol 30 (1979)

Ackoff, Russell -- “The future of operational research is past,” The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol 30, pp.93-104. (1979)

Dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 12:29:23 +0000

Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are extracted from messes by analysis. Managers do not solve problems, they manage messes.

Ackoff, Russell -- Redesigning the Future (1974)

Dave — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 14:17:55 +0000

English does not contain a suitable word for “system of problems.” Therefore, I have had to coin one. I choose to call such a system a mess.

Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) American organizational theorist, consultant, management scientist
Redesigning the Future (1974)

Parker, Dorothy -- Interview (1956, Summer), “The Art of Fiction, No. 13,” by Marion Capron, The Paris Review, Issue 13

Dave — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:39:15 +0000

It’s not the tragedies that kill us. It’s the messes.

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American writer, poet, wit
Interview (1956, Summer), “The Art of Fiction, No. 13,” by Marion Capron, The Paris Review, Issue 13
(Source)

Collected in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series (1958).

Barrie, James -- Peter Pan, “To the Five: A Dedication” (1928)

Dave — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:35:21 +0000

A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don’t find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting.

J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, “To the Five: A Dedication” (1928)
(Source)

Milne, A. A. -- Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 10 “Christopher Robin Gives a Pooh Party” (1926)

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

Kanga said to Roo, “Drink up your milk first, dear, and talk afterwards.” So Roo, who was drinking his milk, tried to say that he could do both at once … and had to be patted on the back and dried for quite a long time afterwards.

A. A. Milne (1882–1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 10 “Christopher Robin Gives a Pooh Party” (1926)
(Source)