WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- You Learn by Living, ch. 1 “Learning to Learn” (1960)

Dave — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:42:30 +0000

One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. They will gravitate as automatically as the needle to the north. Somehow, it is unnecessary, in any cold-blooded sense, to sit down and put your head in your hands and plan them. All you need to do is to be curious, receptive, eager for experience. And there’s one strange thing: when you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
You Learn by Living, ch. 1 “Learning to Learn” (1960)
(Source)

Adams, Douglas -- Dirk Gently No. 2, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, ch. 4 (1988)

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:02:05 +0000

He had a tremendous propensity for getting lost when driving. This was largely because of his “Zen” method of navigation, which was simply to find any car that looked as if it knew where it was going and follow it. The results were more often surprising than successful, but he felt it was worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it was both.

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Dirk Gently No. 2, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, ch. 4 (1988)
(Source)

Dirk describes this again later, in ch. 13:

My own strategy is to find a car, or the nearest equivalent, which looks as if it knows where it's going and follow it. I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere I needed to be.

And again at the end of ch. 13:

My methods of navigation have their advantage. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Bellow, Saul -- Herzog (1964)

Dave — Wed, 20 May 2020 20:05:42 +0000

Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is.

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-American writer
Herzog (1964)
(Source)

Oliver, Mary -- “Sand Dabs, Five,” Winter Hours (1999)

Dave — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:09:33 +0000

You can have the other words — chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll take it.

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American poet
“Sand Dabs, Five,” Winter Hours (1999)
(Source)

Petit-Senn, Jean-Antoine -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 15:01:54 +0000

Happiness is where we find it, but very rarely where we seek it.

Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) French-Swiss poet
(Attributed)

Huxley, Aldous -- Essay (1943-01/02), “Religion and Time,” Vedanta and the West Magazine

Dave — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 14:05:53 +0000

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Essay (1943-01/02), “Religion and Time,” Vedanta and the West Magazine
(Source)

Collected in Christopher Isherwood (ed.), Vedanta for the Western World (1945)

This quotation is sometimes misattributed to Huxley's "Distractions I" essay, from the same source (and collection).

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-05-26), The Idler, No. 58

Dave — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:03:43 +0000

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-26), The Idler, No. 58
(Source)