WIST Quotations

Thurber, James -- Letter (1961-07-05) to Marianna Brown

Dave — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:40:20 +0000

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody’s guess.

James Thurber (1894–1961) American humorist, cartoonist, writer
Letter (1961-07-05) to Marianna Brown

Mackay, Charles -- Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “Fortune-Telling” (1841)

Dave — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 16:03:22 +0000

The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas, each of four lines, and are to the full as obscure as the oracles of old. They take so great a latitude, both as to time and space, that they are almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a few centuries.

Charles Mackay (1814–1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “Fortune-Telling” (1841)

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 1, sc. 3, l. 61ff (1.3.61-64) (1606)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:14:13 +0000

BANQUO: If you can look into the seeds of time
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favors nor your hate.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 1, sc. 3, l. 61ff (1.3.61-64) (1606)

To the Witches (Weïrd Sisters).