WIST Quotations

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 9, Eric (1990)

Dave — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 22:02:27 +0000

In the jungles of central Klatch there are, indeed, lost kingdoms of mysterious Amazonian princesses who capture male explorers for specifically masculine duties. These are indeed rigorous and exhausting and the luckless victims do not last long.*

^{* This is because wiring plugs, putting up shelves, sorting out the funny noises in attics, and mowing lawns can eventually reduce even the strongest constitution.}

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 9, Eric (1990)
(Source)

Aaronovitch, Ben -- Amongst Our Weapons (2022)

Dave — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 16:32:11 +0000

The original single-bulb light fittings had been ripped out and their cables rerouted to power a single line of fluorescent tubes. In accordance with the iron law of creepy ambience, every third or fourth tube was either out or flickering fitfully.

Ben Aaronovitch (b. 1964) British author
Amongst Our Weapons (2022)

Barzun, Jacques -- Lecture (1987-07-17), “Of What Use the Classics Today?” St. John’s College

Dave — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 21:08:04 +0000

The need for a body of common knowledge and common reference does not disappear when a society is largely pluralistic, as ours has become. On the contrary, it grows more necessary, so that people of different origins and occupation may quickly find familiar ground and, as we say, speak a common language. It not only saves time and embarrassment, but it also ensures a kind of mutual confidence and good will. One is not addressing an alien, blank as a stone wall, but a responsive creature whose mind is filled with the same images, memories, and vocabulary as oneself.

Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) French-American historian, educator, polymath
Lecture (1987-07-17), “Of What Use the Classics Today?” St. John’s College
(Source)

Collected in Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning (1991).

Friedan, Betty -- The Feminine Mystique, Epilogue (1974 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 20:56:10 +0000

Men weren’t really the enemy — they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.

Betty Friedan (1921-2006) American writer, feminist, activist
The Feminine Mystique, Epilogue (1974 ed.)
(Source)

Sometimes paraphrased: "Man is not the enemy here, but the fellow victim."

Nicoll, James -- “SFBC 1999 June,” rec.arts.sf.written, Usenet (11 Feb 2004)

Dave — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 15:33:54 +0000

Nothin’g sa’ys q’uality fantas’y l’ike misuse’d apos’tro’phes.

James Nicoll (b. 1961) Canadian reviewer, editor
“SFBC 1999 June,” rec.arts.sf.written, Usenet (11 Feb 2004)
(Source)

Review of James Clemens's Wit'ch Storm.

Doctor Who (1963) -- 12×01 “Robot,” Part 4 (1975-01-18) [w. Terrance Dicks]

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

BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE-STEWART: You know, just once I’d like to meet an alien menace that wasn’t immune to bullets.

Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
12×01 “Robot,” Part 4 (1975-01-18) [w. Terrance Dicks]
(Source)

(Source (Video); dialogue confirmed)