WIST Quotations

Elders, Joycelyn -- Interview by Claudia Dreifus, New York Times (1994-01-30)

Dave — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 19:52:20 +0000

If you can’t control your reproduction, you can’t control your life.

Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933) American pediatrician, public health administrator, academic
Interview by Claudia Dreifus, New York Times (1994-01-30)
(Source)

A frequent phrase of hers.

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)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 5, Sourcery, ch. 1 (1988)

Dave — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 20:53:24 +0000

“And what would humans be without love?”
Rare, said Death.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 5, Sourcery, ch. 1 (1988)
(Source)

Scalzi, John -- The Ghost Brigades, ch. 5 (2006)

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:04:15 +0000

Those people you saw — the realborn — are born without a plan. They’re born because biology tells humans to make more humans; but it doesn’t consider what to do with them after that. Realborn go for years without the slightest clue what they’re going to do with themselves. From what I understand, some of them never actually figure it out. They just walk through life in a daze and then fall into their graves at the end of it. Sad. And inefficient.

John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
The Ghost Brigades, ch. 5 (2006)

Butler, Samuel -- Life and Habit, ch. 8 (1877)

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:05:17 +0000

A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Life and Habit, ch. 8 (1877)

Full text.

Bovee, Christian Nestell -- Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies (1857)

Dave — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:59:26 +0000

Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having.

Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies (1857)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1987-04-18)

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

CALVIN: Dad, how do people make babies?

CALVIN’S DAD: Most people just go to Sears, buy the kit, and follow the assembly instructions.

CALVIN: I came from Sears??

CALVIN’S DAD: No, you were a Blue Light Special at K Mart. Almost as good, and a lot cheaper.

CALVIN: AAUUGHHH!

CALVIN’S MOM [off panel]: Dear, what are you telling Calvin now?!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1987-04-18)
(Source)