WIST Quotations

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 1 (1965)

Dave — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 22:58:14 +0000

After the chills and fever of love, how nice is the 98.6 degrees of marriage!

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 1 (1965)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1753-06-26), The Adventurer, No. 67

Dave — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 21:32:34 +0000

That familiarity produces neglect, has been long observed. The effect of all external objects, however great or splendid, ceases with their novelty; the courtier stands without emotion in the royal presence; the rustick tramples under his foot the beauties of the spring with little attention to their colours or their fragrance; and the inhabitant of the coast darts his eye upon the immense diffusion of waters, without awe, wonder, or terrour.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1753-06-26), The Adventurer, No. 67
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 156 “Affurisms: Embers on the Harth” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:27:43 +0000

Mankind ain’t apt tew respekt verry mutch what they are familiar with, it iz what we don’t know, or kant see, that we hanker for.

[Mankind ain’t apt to respect very much what they are familiar with; it is what we don’t know, or can’t see, that we hanker for.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 156 “Affurisms: Embers on the Harth” (1874)
(Source)

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Black Swan, Introduction (2007)

Dave — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:23:33 +0000

I don’t particularly care about the usual. If you want to get an idea of a friend’s temperament, ethics, and personal elegance, you need to look at him under the tests of severe circumstances, not under the regular rosy glow of daily life. Can you assess the danger a criminal poses by examining only what he does on an ordinary day? Can we understand health without considering wild diseases and epidemics? Indeed the normal is often irrelevant.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Black Swan, Introduction (2007)
(Source)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 2, ¶ 145 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 115]

Dave — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:04:34 +0000

Men’s ideas are like card-playing or any other game. Ideas which in the past I’ve seen considered reckless have since become commonplace, almost trivial, and adopted by men unworthy of sharing them. Ideas which now seem extraordinary will be regarded feeble and perfectly ordinary by our descendants.

[Les idées des hommes sont comme les cartes et autres jeux. Des idées que j’ai vu autrefois regarder comme dangereuses et trop hardies, sont depuis devenues communes, et presque triviales, et ont descendu jusqu’à des hommes peu dignes d’elles. Quelques-unes de celles à qui nous donnons le nom d’audacieuses seront vues comme faibles et communes par nos descendans.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 2, ¶ 145 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 115]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Men’s ideas are like cards and other games. Ideas which I remember to have seen regarded as dangerous and over-bold have since become commonplace and almost trite, and have descended to men little worthy of them. So it is that some of the ideas which to-day we call audacious will be considered feeble and conventional by our descendants.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902), "The Cynic's Breviary"]

Man's ideas are like card & other games. Ideas which I once heard stigmatised as dangerous and over-daring have since become common and even trivial, and have sunk to be the tenets of quite unworthy persons. Some ideas which we call audacious nowadays will seem feeble and ordinary to our descendants.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

The ideas of men are like cards and other games. ideas that at one time, to my own knowledge, were considered dangerous and rash, have since become general, almost commonplace, and have descended to men who are little worthy of them. Some of those that we call daring will seem feeble and ordinary to our descendants.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

The ideas of men are like cards and other games. Some ideas, which formerly I observed to be considered dangerous and intemperate, have since become universal, even trivial, and have been adopted by men scarcely worthy of them. Some notions which we call bold will be regarded as feeble and commonplace by our descendants.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

Rogers, Will -- Column (1930-02-28), “Daily Telegram”

Dave — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:20:10 +0000

It’s great to be great but it’s great to be human.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1930-02-28), “Daily Telegram”
(Source)

Adams, Douglas -- The Salmon of Doubt, Part 2 “The Universe” (2002) [ed. Peter Guzzardi]

Dave — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 01:18:39 +0000

I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
The Salmon of Doubt, Part 2 “The Universe” (2002) [ed. Peter Guzzardi]
(Source)

Carlyle, Thomas -- Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 8 (1834)

Dave — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 19:36:03 +0000

Innumerable are the illusions and legerdemain-tricks of Custom: but of all these, perhaps the cleverest is her knack of persuading us that the Miraculous, by simple repetition, ceases to be Miraculous.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 8 (1834)
(Source)

Quoting Herr Teufelsdröckh.

This chapter first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, No. 55 (1834-07).

Hubbard, Kin -- Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings, ch. 7 (1917)

Dave — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 18:49:34 +0000

Next t’ a circus ther haint nothin’ that packs up an’ tears out any quicker’n th’ Christmus spirit.

[Next to a circus, there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out any quicker than the Christmas spirit.]

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings, ch. 7 (1917)
(Source)

Often misquoted as "tears out faster than".

Arendt, Hannah -- Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Epilogue (1963)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 15:27:27 +0000

The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together, for it implied — as had been said at Nuremberg over and over again by the defendants and their counsels — that this new type of criminal, who is in actual fact hostis generis humani, commits his crimes under circumstances that make it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he is doing wrong.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Epilogue (1963)
(Source)

Hostis humani generis (Latin for "enemy of humanity") was an admiralty legal term indicating that slavers, pirates, and terrorists were held beyond legal protection and were a legitimate target of any nation.

Brown, Rita Mae -- Venus Envy, ch. 21 (1993)

Dave — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 23:22:16 +0000

Normal is the average of deviance.

Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American author, playwright
Venus Envy, ch. 21 (1993)
(Source)

De Botton, Alain -- The Course of Love, “Irreconcilable Desires” (2016)

Dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 19:52:40 +0000

The only people who can still strike us as normal are those we don’t yet know very well.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Course of Love, “Irreconcilable Desires” (2016)
(Source)

Taylor, Jeremy -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:34:43 +0000

In self-examination, take no account of yourself by your thoughts and resolutions in the days of religion and solemnity; examine how it is with you in the days of ordinary conversation and in the circumstances of secular employment.

Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) English cleric and author
(Attributed)
(Source)

Quoted in The Friends' Intelligencer (24 Jun 1882).

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Circles,” Essays: First Series, No. 10

Dave — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 20:05:25 +0000

People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. Life is a series of surprises.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Circles,” Essays: First Series, No. 10
(Source)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #113 (9 Oct 1746)

Dave — Thu, 07 May 2015 12:10:59 +0000

I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by proper culture, care, attention and labor, make himself whatever he pleases, except a great poet.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #113 (9 Oct 1746)
(Source)

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."

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 135 (1725)

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:58:50 +0000

Do as most do; and few will speak ill of thee.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 135 (1725)
(Source)

Zappa, Frank -- A Day with Frank Zappa, Part 5, documentary, dir. Roelof Kiers, VPRO-TV (1971-02-11)

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

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) American singer-songwriter
A Day with Frank Zappa, Part 5, documentary, dir. Roelof Kiers, VPRO-TV (1971-02-11)

Widely attributed to Zappa in various forms, but with very few actual citations.

The Kiers documentary gave the quotation twice. First (Source, Video):

Well I think that progress is not possible without deviation. And I think that it's important that people be aware of some of the creative ways in which some of their fellow men are deviating from the norm, because in some instances they might find these deviations inspiring and might suggest further deviations which might cause progress, you never know.

Second (Source, Video):

KIERS: What kind of influence did the Mothers [of Invention] have, you think?
ZAPPA: Well, we had some, but not very much, because of the size of our audience was so small.
KIERS: But, what kind of influence?
ZAPPA: Well, I think we perhaps inspired some of the people who liked what we do to get a little bit looser and a little bit more devious, and as I said before about progress not being possible without some sort of deviation. We need a few deviants.

A variant of this quote shows up in a photo essay titled "A Quarter Century of Gay Life in New York," New York Magazine (1994-06-20). It is attributed to Zappa (who had died the previous December), and is dated (without citation) to 1966:

My attitude toward anybody's sexual persuasion is this: without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

The quotation also shows up in Leigh Rutledge, The Gay Book of Lists (1987) and his Unnatural Quotations (1988).

Rosemary Silva's Lesbian Quotations (1993) mentions this latter Rudtledge book as a citation, but gives a date on the quote as 1980.

I have not been able to find an earlier source of this variant.

Another use by Zappa can be found in his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, ch. 8 "All About Music" [with Peter Occhiogrosso] (1989):

One of the things I've said before in interviews is: "Without deviation (from the norm), 'progress' is not possible."
In order for one to deviate successfully, one has to have at least a passing acquaintance with whatever norm one expects to deviate from.

The section this text begins is titled "Deviation from the Norm" -- Zappa is speaking here about music, "radio music norms," and enjoying "nuking those norms" when prepping touring arrangements. (He also gives a lengthy critique of the classical / symphonic music realm and their rigid adherence to their norms).

See also Shaw (1903).

Peters, Ellis -- The Holy Thief, ch. 10 [Aline] (1992)

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

The step from perfectly ordinary things into the miraculous seems to me so small, almost accidental, that I wonder why it astonishes you at all, or why you trouble to reason about it. If it were reasonable it could not be miraculous, could it?

Ellis Peters (1913-1995) English writer, translator [pseud. of Edith Mary Pargeter, who also wrote under the names John Redfern, Jolyon Carr, Peter Benedict]
The Holy Thief, ch. 10 [Aline] (1992)
(Source)