WIST Quotations

Wilde, Oscar -- The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 14 (1891)

Dave — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 16:27:58 +0000

Youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 14 (1891)
(Source)

Child, Lydia Maria -- Letters from New-York, # 38, 1843-03-17 (1843)

Dave — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:46:00 +0000

That man’s best works should be such bungling imitations of Nature’s infinite perfection, matters not much; but that he should make himself an imitation, this is the fact which Nature moans over, and deprecates beseechingly. Be spontaneous, be truthful, be free, and thus be individuals! is the song she sings through warbling birds, and whispering pines, and roaring waves, and screeching winds.

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
Letters from New-York, # 38, 1843-03-17 (1843)
(Source)

Oliver, Mary -- “Evidence” (1), Evidence (2009)

Dave — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:33:12 +0000

I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) American poet
“Evidence” (1), Evidence (2009)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

Dave — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:26:31 +0000

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)

This essay was inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833, with passages pulled from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).

Austen, Jane -- Emma, Vol. 2, ch. 12 (ch. 30) [Frank Churchill] (1816)

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:57:28 +0000

Why did we wait for any thing? — why not seize the pleasure at once? — How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Emma, Vol. 2, ch. 12 (ch. 30) [Frank Churchill] (1816)
(Source)

Martin, Judith -- “Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1978-04-23)

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

We are all born charming, frank, and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1978-04-23)
(Source)

Reprinted in Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 2 "Basic Civilization," "Concerning Children" (1983).