WIST Quotations

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Don Juan, Canto 1, st. 213 (1818)

Dave — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 14:27:25 +0000

But now at thirty years my hair is gray ––
(I wonder what it will be like at forty?
I thought of a peruke the other day)
My heart is not much greener; and, in short, I
Have squander’d my whole summer while ’twas May,
And feel no more the spirit to retort; I
Have spent my life, both interest and principal,
And deem not, what I deem’d, my soul invincible.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 1, st. 213 (1818)
(Source)

Burns, Stephen L. -- “Redeemer’s Riddle,” Sword and Sorceress IV (1987) [ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley]

Dave — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 16:43:21 +0000

The years swarm around me like midges, and though each tiny bite only costs me a single drop of blood, they are so thick I am nearly bled dry.

Stephen L. Burns (b. 1953) American author
“Redeemer’s Riddle,” Sword and Sorceress IV (1987) [ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley]
(Source)

Howells, William Dean -- Letter to Charles Eliot Norton (6 Apr 1903)

Dave — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 16:33:44 +0000

The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.

William Dean Howells (1837-1920) American author, literary critic, and playwright
Letter to Charles Eliot Norton (6 Apr 1903)
(Source)

Verne, Jules -- Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864)

Dave — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 22:33:26 +0000

We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864)
(Source)