WIST Quotations

Jarman, Derek -- At Your Own Risk: A Saint’s Testament (1992)

Dave — Tue, 26 May 2020 15:52:35 +0000

Heterosexuality isn’t normal. It’s just common.

Derek Jarman (1942-1994) English film director, gay rights activist, author
At Your Own Risk: A Saint’s Testament (1992)

Often attributed to Dorothy Parker.

La Follette, Suzanne -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 20:08:37 +0000

When once a social order is well established, no matter what injustice it involves, those who occupy a position of advantage are not long in coming to believe that it is the only possible and reasonable order.

Suzanne La Follette (1893-1983) American journalist, author, feminist
(Attributed)

La Follette, Suzanne -- Concerning Women, “The Beginnings of Emancipation”(1926)

Dave — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 02:43:53 +0000

There is nothing more innately human than the tendency to transmute what has become customary into what has been divinely ordained.

Suzanne La Follette (1893-1983) American journalist, author, feminist
Concerning Women, “The Beginnings of Emancipation”(1926)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Nature,” ch. 8, Nature: Addresses and Lectures (1849)

Dave — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 04:08:02 +0000

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Nature,” ch. 8, Nature: Addresses and Lectures (1849)
(Source)

Dunne, Finley Peter -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:11:24 +0000

“Do you think the world is growing worse?” Mr. Hennessy asked.
“I do not,” said Mr. Dooley.
“Do you think it’s growing better?”
“No,” said Mr. Dooley. “If it’s doing anything, it’s just turning around as usual.”

Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) American humorist and journalist
(Attributed)

Usually paraphrased as "The world is not growing worse and it is not growing better -- it is just turning around as usual."

~Other -- “Fireball XL-5,” st. 3 (1962)

Dave — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 21:02:29 +0000

But though I’m not a spaceman,
Famous and renowned,
I’m just a guy that’s down to earth,
With both feet on the ground.
It’s all imagination,
I’ll never reach the stars.
My heart is still a fireball, a fireball,
Every time I gaze into your starry eyes.

(Other Authors and Sources)
“Fireball XL-5,” st. 3 (1962)
(Source)

Charles Blackwell (lyrics), Barry Gray (music), Don Spencer (vocals).

Kettering, Charles F. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 17:13:02 +0000

If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.

Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
(Attributed)

Camus, Albert -- Notebooks: 1942-1951, Notebook 4, Jan 1942 – Sep 1945 [tr. O’Brien/Thody (1963)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 12:45:04 +0000

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
Notebooks: 1942-1951, Notebook 4, Jan 1942 – Sep 1945 [tr. O’Brien/Thody (1963)
(Source)

Cited as "B.B."

Steinem, Gloria -- Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, “Ruth’s Song” (1983)

Dave — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 17:34:48 +0000

Perhaps the worst thing about suffering is that it finally hardens the hearts of those around it.

Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, “Ruth’s Song” (1983)

Sayers, Dorothy -- “The Human-Not-Quite-Human,” Unpopular Opinions (1947)

Dave — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:25:06 +0000

Probably no man has ever troubled to imagine how strange his life would appear to himself if it were unrelentingly assessed in terms of his maleness; if everything he wore, said, or did had to be justified by reference to female approval; if he were compelled to regard himself, day in and day out, not as a member of society, but merely (salvâ reverentiâ) as a virile member of society.

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
“The Human-Not-Quite-Human,” Unpopular Opinions (1947)
(Source)

Reprinted in her Are Women Human? (1971).

Streep, Meryl -- Commencement Address, Barnard College (2010)

Dave — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 12:58:26 +0000

This is your time, and it feels normal to you. But, really, there is no “normal.” There’s only change, and resistance to it, and then more change.

Meryl Streep (b. 1949) American actress
Commencement Address, Barnard College (2010)
(Source)

Clarke, Susanna -- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004)

Dave — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 14:09:29 +0000

“Well, I suppose one ought not to employ a magician and then complain that he does not behave like other people,” said Wellington.

Susanna Clarke (b. 1949) British author
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004)

~Other -- J. D. Griffin

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

Every time I try to define a perfectly stable person, I am appalled by the dullness of that person.

(Other Authors and Sources)
J. D. Griffin