WIST Quotations

Simon, Neil -- Come Blow Your Horn (1961)

Dave — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 23:53:45 +0000

How long do you want to wait until you start enjoying life? When you’re sixty-five you get Social Security, not girls.

Neil Simon (1927–2018) American playwright and screenwriter
Come Blow Your Horn (1961)

Willson, Meredith -- The Music Man (1957)

Dave — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:47:25 +0000

MARIAN: No, please, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

HAROLD: Oh, my dear little librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.

Meredith Willson (1902–1984) American composer, songwriter, flutist, conductor, playwright
The Music Man (1957)

Miller, Olin -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 15:39:31 +0000

If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting it off.

Olin Miller (fl. early 20th C) American humorist
(Attributed)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Arab proverb

Dave — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:43:52 +0000

The worst things:
To try to sleep and sleep not.
To wait for one who comes not.
To try to please and please not.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Arab proverb

Johnson, Samuel -- The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 6 (1759)

Dave — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:34:00 +0000

Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 6 (1759)
(Source)

King, Martin Luther -- Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)

Dave — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:06:36 +0000

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)

See Gladstone.

King, Martin Luther -- Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:11:33 +0000

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- Hamlet, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 201ff (1.1.201-204) (c. 1600)

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

HORATIO: Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear, till I may deliver
Upon the witness of these gentlemen
This marvel to you.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 201ff (1.1.201-204) (c. 1600)
(Source)