WIST Quotations

Rogers, Will -- Column (1929-02-03), “Weekly Article: Oklahoma Has Gone Zodiac!”

Dave — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:29:09 +0000

People love high Ideals. But they got to be about 33 percent plausible.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1929-02-03), “Weekly Article: Oklahoma Has Gone Zodiac!”
(Source)

Collected in Will Rogers' Weekly Articles, Vol. 3 "The Coolidge Years, 1927-1929," No. 319 (1980).

Martin, Steve -- L. A. Story (1991)

Dave — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 17:43:23 +0000

FRANK: What do you do for a living, Rollie?

ROLAND: I deal in English paintings.

FRANK: Abstract or realistic?

ROLAND: Depends on which way you look at them, I suppose.

Steve Martin (b. 1945) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, musician
L. A. Story (1991)
(Source)

(Source (Video))

Morrison, Grant -- “SUPERMAN and THE AUTHORITY annotations Pt 2,” blog entry (16 Feb 2022)

Dave — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 20:52:44 +0000

This is a purely a personal bias but the desire to compel fantasy worlds to conform to the allegedly superior rules of grim reality can feel to me like a form of memetic colonialism I’ve generally found distasteful ….

Grant Morrison (b. 1960) Scottish comic book writer and playwright
“SUPERMAN and THE AUTHORITY annotations Pt 2,” blog entry (16 Feb 2022)
(Source)

Abraham, Daniel -- Leviathan Wakes, ch. 18 (2011) [with Ty Franck]

Dave — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:18:32 +0000

The beautiful thing about losing your illusions, he thought, was that you got to stop pretending.

Daniel Abraham (b. 1969) American writer [pseud. James S. A. Corey (with Ty Franck), M. L. N. Hanover]
Leviathan Wakes, ch. 18 (2011) [with Ty Franck]
(Source)

Joyce, James -- In Arthur Power, Conversations with James Joyce (1974)

Dave — Tue, 04 May 2021 18:02:41 +0000

In realism you get down to facts on which the world is based; that sudden reality which smashes romanticism into a pulp. What makes most people’s lives unhappy is some disappointed romanticism, some unrealizable or misconceived ideal. In fact you may say that idealism is the ruin of man, and if we lived down to fact, as primitive man had to do, we would be better off. That is what we were made for. Nature is quite unromantic. It is we who put romance into her, which is a false attitude, an egotism, absurd like all egotism.

James Joyce (1882-1941) Irish writer, poet
In Arthur Power, Conversations with James Joyce (1974)

Brown, Rita Mae -- In Her Day, Preface, “A Note to the Feminist Reader” (1976)

Dave — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 20:35:56 +0000

In art as in politics we must deal with people as they are, not as we wish them to be. Only by working with the real can you get closer to the ideal.

Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American author, playwright
In Her Day, Preface, “A Note to the Feminist Reader” (1976)
(Source)

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey -- “Leaves From a Notebook,” Ponkapog Papers (1903)

Dave — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:11:13 +0000

True art selects and paraphrases, but seldom gives a verbatim translation.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) American writer, poet, critic, editor
“Leaves From a Notebook,” Ponkapog Papers (1903)
(Source)

Lynn, Jonathan -- Yes Minister, 03×04 “The Moral Dimension” (BBC2 Television) (1982-12-02) [with Antony Jay]

Dave — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 20:53:56 +0000

SIR HUMPHREY: A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist.

Jonathan Lynn (b. 1943) English actor, comedy writer, director
Yes Minister, 03×04 “The Moral Dimension” (BBC2 Television) (1982-12-02) [with Antony Jay]

Macaulay, Thomas Babington -- “Machiavelli,” Edinburgh Review (Mar 1827)

Dave — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 17:11:57 +0000

We give the highest and the most peculiar praise to the precepts of Machiavelli, when we say that they may frequently be of real use in regulating conduct — not so much because they are more just, or more profound, than those which might be culled from other authors as because they can be more readily applied to the problems of real life.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“Machiavelli,” Edinburgh Review (Mar 1827)
(Source)

Review of Œvres complètes de Machiavel, J. V. Perier ed. (1825). Quotations of Machiavelli can be found here.

McCarthy, Mary -- “American Realist Playwrights,” On the Contrary (1961)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 17:49:31 +0000

If someone tells you he is going to make a “realistic decision,” you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.

Mary McCarthy (1912-1989) American author, critic, political activist
“American Realist Playwrights,” On the Contrary (1961)
(Source)

Wharton, Edith -- French Ways and Their Meaning, ch. 4 “Intellectual Honesty” (1919)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:49:22 +0000

What Mr. Howells said of the American theater is true of the whole American attitude toward life. “A tragedy with a happy ending” is exactly what the child wants before he goes to sleep: the reassurance that “all’s well with the world” as he lies in his cozy nursery. It is a good thing that the child should receive this reassurance; but as long as he needs it he remains a child, and the world he lives in is a nursery-world. Things are not always and everywhere well with the world, and each man has to find it out as he grows up. It is the finding out that makes him grow, and until he has faced the fact and digested the lesson he is not grown up — he is still in the nursery.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) American novelist
French Ways and Their Meaning, ch. 4 “Intellectual Honesty” (1919)
(Source)

Commenting on William Dean Howells' comment to her on American taste in theater and drama: "What the American public wants is a tragedy with a happy ending."

Rucka, Greg -- Lazarus: X+66 #3, letter column (Sep 2017)

Dave — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:01:54 +0000

I’m not sure why it happened, and I’m not certain at all when it happened, but at some point, wanting a happy ending became uncool. Maybe it’s the relentless (and again, highly flawed) criticism that “such things aren’t realistic.” To which my response is, so the fuck what? It’s call fiction. If you want real, step outside.

Greg Rucka (b. 1969) American comic book writer and novelist
Lazarus: X+66 #3, letter column (Sep 2017)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “The Conservative,” lecture, Boston (1841-12-09)

Dave — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 19:04:57 +0000

There is always a certain meanness in the argument of conservatism, joined with a certain superiority in its fact.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Conservative,” lecture, Boston (1841-12-09)

Bacon, Francis -- De Augmentis Scientiarum [Advancement of Learning], Book 2, ch. 21, #9 (1605)

Dave — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 02:16:16 +0000

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
De Augmentis Scientiarum [Advancement of Learning], Book 2, ch. 21, #9 (1605)

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

Dave — Thu, 19 May 2016 14:53:32 +0000

He that studies books alone, will know how things ought to be; and he that studies men will know how things are.

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

Kissinger, Henry -- Years of Upheaval, ch. 12 (1982)

Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:41:22 +0000

In foreign policy one must make do with what one has.

Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
Years of Upheaval, ch. 12 (1982)

Frost, Robert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:06:03 +0000

There are two types of realist. There is the one who offers a good deal of dirt with his potato to show that it is a real one, and the one who is satisfied with the potato brushed clean. I’m inclined to be the second kind. […] To me, the thing that art does for life is to clean it, to strip it to form.

Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
(Attributed)
(Source)

Answering a letter as to whether he would prefer to be classed as a Realist, a Classicist, or a Regionalist. Quoted in Louis Untermeyer (ed.), Modern American Poetry, "Robert Frost" (1921 ed.). Untermeyer, a long-time friend of Frost's, included this quotation in all the biographical sketches he wrote for different poetry anthologies. I cannot find a primary source.

Rickover, Hyman -- Speech (1981-11-05), “Doing a Job,” Egleston Medal Award Dinner, Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science, New York

Dave — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:23:27 +0000

It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. A successful manager must resist this temptation. This is particularly hard if one has invested much time and energy on a project and thus has come to feel possessive about it. Although it is not easy to admit what a person once thought correct now appears to be wrong, one must discipline himself to face the facts objectively and make the necessary changes — regardless of the consequences to himself. The man in charge must personally set the example in this respect. He must be able, in effect, to “kill his own child” if necessary and must require his subordinates to do likewise.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) Polish-American naval engineer, admiral [b. Chaim Gdala Rykower]
Speech (1981-11-05), “Doing a Job,” Egleston Medal Award Dinner, Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science, New York
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1992-11-08)

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

CALVIN: I’ve noticed that comic book superheroes usually fight evil maniacs with grandiose plans to destroy the world. Why don’t superheroes go after more subtle, realistic bad guys?

HOBBES: Yeah, the superhero could attend council meetings and write letters to the editor, and stuff.

CALVIN: Hmmm … I think I see the problem.

HOBBES: “Quick! To the Bat-Fax!”

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1992-11-08)
(Source)

Brophy, Brigid -- Unlived Life

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

Whenever people say “we mustn’t be sentimental,” you can take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, “we must be realistic,” they mean they are going to make money out of it.

Brigid Brophy (1929-1995) Anglo-Irish writer, novelist, playwright
Unlived Life