WIST Quotations

Marlowe, Christopher -- The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 14), l. 1451ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:08:17 +0000

FAUSTUS. Ah, Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damn’d perpetually!
Stand still, you ever-moving Spheres of Heaven,
That time may cease, and midnight never come;
Fair Nature’s eye, rise, rise again, and make
Perpetual day; or let this hour be but
A year, a month, a week, a natural day,
That Faustus may repent and save his soul!

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564–1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 14), l. 1451ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)

The same text appears in the 1594 (1616) "B" text, in sc. 19, l. 2036ff, except it begins "O Faustus ...."

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.

Nin, Anais -- Diary (1933-03)

Dave — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:17:55 +0000

I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing.

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
Diary (1933-03)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1829-12-07)

Dave — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 18:44:54 +0000

The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings. There is not one who has not felt the sacred fire of virtue many a time kindling up within him. He resolved to read, he resolved to give, he solved to abstain, to speak well, to think in a train, to serve God, to imitate Christ. Something he did toward realizing his purpose — but it was most unlucky time — some very unseasonable circumstances occurred and the good purpose was postponed. Who is there here who does not remember his defeats?

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1829-12-07)
(Source)