WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1995-06-17)

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 16:28:00 +0000

CALVIN: Why does ice float?

CALVIN’S DAD: Because it’s cold. Ice wants to get warm, so it goes to the top of liquids in order to be nearer to the sun.

CALVIN: Is that true?

CALVIN’S DAD: Look it up and find out.

CALVIN: (stomping off, frowning) I should just look stuff up in the first place.

CALVIN’S DAD: You can learn a lot, talking to me.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-06-17)
(Source)

Watts, Alan -- The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, ch. 3 “How to be a Genuine Fake” (1966)

Dave — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 01:19:08 +0000

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

Alan Watts (1915-1973) Anglo-American philosopher, writer
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, ch. 3 “How to be a Genuine Fake” (1966)
(Source)

See Peres.

Bolt, Robert -- A Man for All Seasons, play, Act 2 (1960)

Dave — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 21:16:00 +0000

CRANMER: Then the matter is capable of question?

MORE: Certainly.

CRANMER: But that you owe obedience to your King is not capable of question. So weigh a doubt against a certainty — and sign.

MORE: Some men think the Earth is round, others think it flat; it is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King’s command make it round? And if it is round, will the King’s command flatten it? No, I will not sign.

Robert Bolt (1924-1995) English dramatist
A Man for All Seasons, play, Act 2 (1960)

Bolt's 1966 film adaptation uses the same language.

Travers, P. L. -- Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times

Dave — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 16:34:54 +0000

“What,” I asked my father once, “what is a concubine?”
“Er‐hum — !” he responded. “Why do you ask?” Clearly, he was playing for time.
“Well, it says in the Bible that David took him more concubines and Solomon had 300.”
He inwardly groaned, but grappled with it. “Well, David was the head of the house, he needed people to look after him and the concubines — er did.”
Three hundred! I thought to myself. One would need a very big house.
“What a pity, father, that you have only two!”
He was astonished. “Two what?”
“Two concubines — Katie and Bella to cook and make beds.”
“Katie and Bella are not my concubines.” Here was a child being childish, which was something he did not like.
“Then, Nelly, what about her?” Nelly was slightly wanting, and came to help with the washing.
“Certainly not.” The idea was repugnant.
“Well, father, who are your concubines?”
“I have no concubines!” he roared and stormed out of the room.
The head of the house and no concubines! Clearly we, as a family, were vastly lower on the social scale than Solomon or David.

P. L. Travers (1899-1996) Australian-British writer [Pamela Lyndon Travers; b. Helen Lyndon Goff]
Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times
(Source)

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- The Gay Science [Die fröhliche Wissenschaft], Book 1, § 41 (1882) [tr. Nauckhoff (2001)]

Dave — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 14:31:17 +0000

The thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions, as seeking explanations of something: to him, success and failure are primarily answers.

[Der Denker sieht in seinen eigenen Handlungen Versuche und Fragen, irgend worüber Aufschluss zu erhalten: Erfolg und Misserfolg sind ihm zu allererst Antworten.]

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
The Gay Science [Die fröhliche Wissenschaft], Book 1, § 41 (1882) [tr. Nauckhoff (2001)]
(Source)

Also known as La Gaya Scienza, The Joyful Wisdom, or The Joyous Science.

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

The thinker sees in his own actions attempts and questionings to obtain information about something or other; success and failure are answers to him first and foremost.
[tr. Common (1911)]

A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions -- as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.
[tr. Kaufmann (1974)]

In his own actions, the thinker sees experiments and enquiries from which he seeks to obtain insight: to him, success and failure are, first of all, answers.
[tr. Hill (2018)]

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

Dave — Wed, 15 May 2024 14:13:26 +0000

Children ask better questions than do adults. “May I have a cookie?” “Why is the sky blue?” and “What does a cow say?” are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than “Where is your manuscript?” “Why haven’t you called?” and “Who’s your lawyer?”

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

Cox, Marcelene -- “Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1946-02)

Dave — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 21:28:57 +0000

Questions about the reproductive system should be answered as naturally as ones about the railroad system.

Marcelene Cox (1900-1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1946-02)
(Source)

Benn, Tony -- Interview in Raoul Martinez, Creating Freedom: The Lottery of Birth (2013)

Dave — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 18:43:15 +0000

The key to any progress is to ask the question Why? All the time. Why is that child poor? Why was there a war? Why was he killed? Why is he in power? And of course questions can get you into a lot of trouble, because society is trained by those who run it to accept what goes on. Without questions we won’t make any progress at all.

Tony Benn (1925-2014) British politician, writer, diarist
Interview in Raoul Martinez, Creating Freedom: The Lottery of Birth (2013)

Lincoln, Abraham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 20:15:29 +0000

The man who will not investigate both sides of a question is dishonest.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)

Cunningham, Ward -- “Cunningham’s Law”

Dave — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:27:12 +0000

The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.

Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham (b. 1949) American computer scientist
“Cunningham’s Law”
(Source)

Cunningham himself denies having said this. It was attributed to him (and so named) by Steven McGeady in the early 1980s.

Ciardi, John -- Manner of Speaking (1972)

Dave — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 19:53:52 +0000

A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place, but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed, toward the hope of greening the landscape of an idea. The difference between a seed and an inert speck can be hard to see, but only one of them will grow and return itself in kind and be multiplied.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
Manner of Speaking (1972)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Danish Proverb

Dave — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 18:43:00 +0000

Better ask twice than lose your way once.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Danish Proverb

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:53:58 +0000

When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)

Frequently attributed to Nietzsche, starting in the late 1950s, but never cited and not found in any of his writings. More discussion here.

Steinbeck, John -- The Log from the Sea of Cortez, ch. 16, March 25 (1951)

Dave — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 23:29:20 +0000

An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Log from the Sea of Cortez, ch. 16, March 25 (1951)
(Source)

Rice, Anne -- The Vampire Lestat, Part 5, ch. 3 (1992)

Dave — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 23:59:26 +0000

To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.

Anne Rice (b. 1941) American author [b. Howard Allen Frances O'Brien]
The Vampire Lestat, Part 5, ch. 3 (1992)
(Source)

Parker, Robert -- Hush Money (1999)

Dave — Thu, 25 May 2017 16:44:20 +0000

“You ever fuck Susan here?” she said, her face almost touching mine.

“I’m impressed,” I said. “The question is intrusive, annoying, coarse, and voyeuristic. That’s quite a lot to get into a simple question.”

Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) American writer
Hush Money (1999)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1837-1862)

Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 23:48:03 +0000

Value of a Journal. A sentence now; a sentence last year; a sentence yesterday. Tomorrow a question comes that for the first time brings together these three and shows them to be the three fractions of Unit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1837-1862)

"Notebook Delta"

Bell, Alexander Graham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:20:39 +0000

There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Scottish-American scientist, inventor, engineer
(Attributed)

Comment to a reporter a few months before he died, as quoted in the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress.

Aaronovitch, Ben -- Moon Over Soho (2011)

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:49:49 +0000

“Would you like me to arrest you?” I asked. That’s an old police trick: If you just warn people they often just ignore you, but if you ask them a question then they have to think about it. Once they start to think about the consequences they almost always calm down, unless they’re drunk of course, or stoned, or aged between fourteen and twenty-one, or Glaswegian.

Ben Aaronovitch (b. 1964) British author
Moon Over Soho (2011)

Jung, Carl -- Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious (1934) [tr. Hull (1959)]

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:34:56 +0000

To ask the right question is already half the solution of a problem.

Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious (1934) [tr. Hull (1959)]

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1845)

Dave — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 12:30:25 +0000

I am driven to express my faith by a series of skepticisms.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1845)

Bronowski, Jacob -- The Ascent of Man ch. 4 (1973)

Dave — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:11:57 +0000

That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.

Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) Polish-English humanist and mathematician
The Ascent of Man ch. 4 (1973)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 220 (1955)

Dave — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:49:20 +0000

To spell out the obvious is often to call it into question.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 220 (1955)
(Source)

Gaiman, Neil -- Sandman, Book 6. Fables and Reflections, # 31 “Three Septembers and a January” (1991-10)

Dave — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:04:17 +0000

NORTON I: I must confess, I have always wondered what lay beyond life, my dear.

DEATH: Yeah, everybody wonders. And sooner or later everybody gets to find out.

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 6. Fables and Reflections, # 31 “Three Septembers and a January” (1991-10)
(Source)

Milne, A. A. -- House at Pooh Corner, ch. 6 “Eeyore Joins the Game” (1928)

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

“Eeyore, what are you doing there?” said Rabbit.
“I’ll give you three guesses, Rabbit. Digging holes in the ground? Wrong. Leaping from branch to branch of a young oak-tree? Wrong. Waiting for somebody to help me out of the river? Right. Give Rabbit time, and he’ll always get the answer.”

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 6 “Eeyore Joins the Game” (1928)
(Source)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 322 (1820)

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

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 322 (1820)
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1987-02-12)

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

CALVIN: Where do we keep all our chainsaws, Mom?

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1987-02-12)
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1986-03-30)

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

HOBBES: Did you ask your Mom if you could jump off the roof?

CALVIN: Questions I know the answers to I don’t need to ask, right?

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1986-03-30)
(Source)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Chinese proverb

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

Ask a question and you’re a fool for three minutes; do not ask a question and you’re a fool for the rest of your life.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Chinese proverb

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1787-08-10) to Peter Carr

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

Shake off all the fears and servile prejudices under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1787-08-10) to Peter Carr
(Source)