WIST Quotations

Kerr, Jean -- Essay (1960-11), “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, I Don’t Want to Hear One Word Out of You,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 77, No. 4

Dave — Mon, 04 May 2026 19:38:37 +0000

I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas? Personally, I find that it’s work, work, work just trying to keep this top half inch in shape.

Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1960-11), “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, I Don’t Want to Hear One Word Out of You,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 77, No. 4

Collected in The Snake Has All The Lines (1960).

See Adams (1615).

Vauvenargues, Luc de -- Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]

Dave — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 18:59:09 +0000

I do not approve the maxim which desires a man to know a little of everything. Superficial knowledge, knowledge without principles, is almost always useless and sometimes harmful knowledge.

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]

Zweig, Stefan -- Beware of Pity (1939)

Dave — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:26:43 +0000

For one’s emotional state is always determined by the oddest and most accidental things, and it is precisely the most superficial factors that often fortify or diminish our courage.

Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, biographer
Beware of Pity (1939)

Dryden, John -- All for Love, “Prologue to Anthony and Cleopatra” (1677)

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

Errours like Straws upon the surface flow;
He who would search for Pearls must dive below.

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet, dramatist, critic
All for Love, “Prologue to Anthony and Cleopatra” (1677)