WIST Quotations

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1858-10), “Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:42:28 +0000

Memory is a net; one finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook; but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1858-10), “Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

Collected in Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, ch. 12 (1858).

Barrie, James -- When Wendy Grew Up — An Afterthought (1908, publ. 1957)

Dave — Tue, 20 May 2025 17:32:04 +0000

WENDY: Oh! Peter, when Captain Hook carried us away —

PETER: Who’s Captain Hook? Is it a story? Tell it me.

WENDY: (aghast) Do you mean to say you’ve even forgotten Captain Hook, and how you killed him and saved all our lives?

PETER: (fidgeting) I forget them after I kill them.

J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
When Wendy Grew Up — An Afterthought (1908, publ. 1957)
(Source)

Most of When Wendy Grew Up was eventually folded into the evolving main play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, Act 5 (first performed in 1904, eventually published in 1928), though these lines were not included.

In Barrie's 1911 novelization, Peter and Wendy, ch. 17 "When Wendy Grew Up," this is rendered:

She had looked forward to thrilling talks with him about old times, but new adventures had crowded the old ones from his mind.
“Who is Captain Hook?” he asked with interest when she spoke of the arch enemy.
“Don’t you remember,” she asked, amazed, “how you killed him and saved all our lives?”
“I forget them after I kill them,” he replied carelessly.

Gladwell, Malcolm -- “Dangerous Minds: Criminal Profiling Made Easy,” The New Yorker (12 Nov 2007)

Dave — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 18:01:40 +0000

If you make a great number of predictions, the ones that were wrong will soon be forgotten, and the ones that turn out to be true will make you famous.

Malcolm Gladwell (b. 1963) Anglo-Canadian journalist, author, public speaker
“Dangerous Minds: Criminal Profiling Made Easy,” The New Yorker (12 Nov 2007)
(Source)

Serling, Rod -- “First Squad, First Platoon,” Dedication (c. 1947)

Dave — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 17:34:38 +0000

I have no idea what your generation will be like. In mine we were to enjoy “Peace in our time.” A very well meaning gentleman waved his umbrella and shouted those very words … less than a year before the whole world went to war. But this gentleman was suffering the worldly disease of insufferable optimism. He and his fellow humans kept polishing the rose colored glasses when actually they should have taken them off. They were sacrificing reason and reality for a brief and temporal peace of mind, the same peace of mind that many of my contemporaries derive by steadfastly refraining from remembering the War that came before. All this was in my time, youngster — I hope not in yours.

Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
“First Squad, First Platoon,” Dedication (c. 1947)
(Source)

Dedication to his unborn children, in one of his first (unpublished) works of fiction, while at Antioch College under the GI Bill. In Anne Serling, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling (2013).

Orwell, George -- Essay (1946-03-22), “In Front of Your Nose,” “As I Please” column, Tribune Newspaper

Dave — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 22:16:06 +0000

The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-03-22), “In Front of Your Nose,” “As I Please” column, Tribune Newspaper
(Source)

Serling, Rod -- “First Squad, First Platoon,” Dedication (c. 1947)

Dave — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 20:17:59 +0000

It seems war stories aren’t very well received at this point. I’m told they’re outdated, untimely and as might be expected — make some unpleasant reading. And, as you have no doubt already perceived, human beings don’t like to remember unpleasant things. They gird themselves with the armor of wishful thinking, protect themselves with a shield of impenetrable optimism, and, with a few exceptions, seem to accomplish their “forgetting” quite admirably. But you, my children, I don’t want you to be among those who choose to forget. I want you to read my stories and a lot of others like them. I want you to fill your heads with Remarque and Tolstoy and Ernie Pyle. I want you to know what shrapnel, and “88’s” and mortar shells and mustard gas mean. I want you to feel, no matter how vicariously, a semblance of the feeling of a torn limb, a burnt patch of flesh, the crippling, numbing sensation of fear, the hopeless emptiness of fatigue. All these things are complementary to the province of War and they should be taught and demonstrated in classrooms along with the more heroic aspects of uniforms, and flags, and honor and patriotism.

Orwell, George -- Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

Dave — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 18:10:35 +0000

In nationalist thought there are facts which are both true and untrue, known and unknown. A known fact may be so unbearable that it is habitually pushed aside and not allowed to enter into logical processes, or on the other hand it may enter into every calculation and yet never be admitted as a fact, even in one’s own mind.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)
(Source)

Palahniuk, Chuck -- Diary (2003)

Dave — Mon, 29 May 2017 18:54:23 +0000

It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.

Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962) American novelist and freelance journalist
Diary (2003)