WIST Quotations

Marlowe, Christopher -- The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 14), l. 32ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)

Dave — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:57:24 +0000

FAUSTUS: Lucifer and Mephistophilis. Ah, gentlemen! I gave them my soul for my cunning!

ALL: God forbid!

FAUSTUS: God forbade it, indeed; but Faustus hath done it.

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 5, sc. 2 (sc. 14), l. 32ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)

In the expanded "B" text (1594; 1616), the lines (5.2/19; l. 60ff) are similar.

FAUSTUS: Why, Lucifer and Mephistophiles. O gentlemen, I gave them my soul for my cunning!
ALL: O, God forbid!
FAUSTUS: God forbade it indeed; but Faustus hath done it.

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1990-10-14)

Dave — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 22:29:56 +0000

HOBBES: Van Gogh would’ve sold more than one painting if he’d put tigers in them.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1990-10-14)
(Source)

Fry, Stephen -- Moab Is My Washpot, “Falling In,” ch. 6 (1997)

Dave — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 23:54:56 +0000

Didn’t Woody Allen say that all literature was a footnote to Faust? Perhaps all adolescence is a dialogue between Faust and Christ. We tremble on the brink of selling that part of ourselves that is real, unique, angry, defiant and whole for the rewards of attainment, achievement, success and the golden prizes of integration and acceptance; but we also in our great creating imagination, rehearse the sacrifice we will make: the pain and terror we will take from others’ shoulders; our penetration into the lives and souls of our fellows; our submission to willingness to be rejected and despised for the sake of truth and love and, in the wilderness, our angry rebuttals of the hypocrisy, deception and compromise of a world which we see to be so false. There is nothing so self-righteous nor so right as an adolescent imagination.

Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
Moab Is My Washpot, “Falling In,” ch. 6 (1997)
(Source)