WIST Quotations

Antrim, Minna -- Naked Truth and Veiled Allusions (1902)

Dave — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 22:34:08 +0000

Doing all we can to promote our friend’s happiness is better than to continually drink to his prosperity.

Minna Antrim (1861-1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Naked Truth and Veiled Allusions (1902)
(Source)

Young, Edward -- Poem (1743-12), “Night the 5th: The Relapse,” ll. 661-662, The Complaint: Or, Night Thoughts, Vol. 1 (1744)

Dave — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:51:23 +0000

Like our shadows,
Our wishes lengthen, as our sun declines.

Edward Young (1683-1765) English poet
Poem (1743-12), “Night the 5th: The Relapse,” ll. 661-662, The Complaint: Or, Night Thoughts, Vol. 1 (1744)
(Source)

Paddleford, Clementine -- A Flower for My Mother (1958)

Dave — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 15:00:23 +0000

Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.

Clementine Paddleford (1898-1967) American food writer
A Flower for My Mother (1958)
(Source)

Quoting her mother.

Hurston, Zora Neale -- Letter to Countee Cullen (5 Mar 1943)

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:03:01 +0000

You are right in assuming that I am indifferent to the pattern of things. I am. I have never liked stale phrases and bodyless courage. I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) American writer, folklorist, anthropologist
Letter to Countee Cullen (5 Mar 1943)
(Source)

Rowling, Jo -- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, ch. 17 [Dumbledore] (1997)

Dave — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:21:25 +0000

After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack for choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.

Joanne "Jo" Rowling (b. 1965) British novelist [writes as J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith]
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, ch. 17 [Dumbledore] (1997)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Don Juan, Canto 12, st. 12 (1823)

Dave — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:41:48 +0000

Yes! ready money is Aladdin’s lamp.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 12, st. 12 (1823)
(Source)