WIST Quotations

Bourdain, Anthony -- Kitchen Confidential, “Second Course” (2000)

Dave — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 14:40:12 +0000

Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.

Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018) American chef, author, travel documentarian
Kitchen Confidential, “Second Course” (2000)
(Source)

While often framed around Bourdain's self-destructive lifestyle, in this context he's discussing being adventuresome when selecting places to dine, including taking some risks in order to gain new food experiences.

Rubin, Theodore Isaac -- Love Me, Love My Fool (1976)

Dave — Mon, 10 May 2021 16:00:40 +0000

I must learn to love the fool in me, the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity, but for my fool.

Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923-2019) American psychiatrist and author
Love Me, Love My Fool (1976)

Sometimes quoted in the second person.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Comment to Mrs. J. A. Roosevelt (25 Dec 1851)

Dave — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 04:15:37 +0000

Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Comment to Mrs. J. A. Roosevelt (25 Dec 1851)
(Source)

Quoted in David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback (1981), sourced from the W. Sheffield Cowles, Jr. Collection (private). Usually given as a quote in full to his children, McCullough only notes the last sentence ("Man ... oyster") as an actual quotation.

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Glory Road, ch. 3 (1963)

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:17:22 +0000

I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, “The game’s afoot!” I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.

I wanted Prester John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be — instead of the tawdry, lousy fouled-up mess it is.

I had had one chance — for ten minutes yesterday afternoon. Helen of Troy, whatever your true name may be — And I had known it … and I had let it slip away.

Maybe one chance is all you ever get.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Glory Road, ch. 3 (1963)

Drexler, Rosalyn -- See How She Runs (1978)

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

If you are never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances.

Rosalyn Drexler (b. 1926) American visual artist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter [pseud. Julia Sorel]
See How She Runs (1978)

Based on the screenplay by Marvin Gluck. As Julia Sorrel (sometimes attrib. "Julia Soul").