WIST Quotations

Mauldin, Bill -- Up Front (1945)

Dave — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 03:56:03 +0000

No normal man who has smelled and associated with death ever wants to see any more of it. In fact, the only men who are even going to want to bloody noses in a fist fight after this war will be those who want people to think they were tough combat men, when they weren’t. The surest way to become a pacifist is to join the infantry.

Bill Mauldin (1921-2003) American editorial cartoonist, writer
Up Front (1945)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 16:14:35 +0000

One day you are an apprentice and everybody’s pet; the next you are coldly expected to deliver. There is never sufficient warning that the second day is coming.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment (10 Apr 1778)

Dave — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 14:30:17 +0000

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (10 Apr 1778)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1925-02-15), “Weekly Article: Monuments Are All Right But Even Heroes Must Eat” [No. 114]

Dave — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:45:02 +0000

You know that’s the tough part about a hero. He has to eat. We take care of them with too much newspaper space and not enough permanent endowment. We have great fellows back from the War that can show you two medals for every sack of flour they have in the house. They’ve got a foreign decoration for every American dollar they have. Heroing is one of the shortest-lifed professions there is.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1925-02-15), “Weekly Article: Monuments Are All Right But Even Heroes Must Eat” [No. 114]
(Source)

Collected in a shorter version in The Autobiography of Will Rogers, ch. 10 (1926) [ed. Donald Day].