WIST Quotations

Butler, Octavia -- Essay (2000-05), “A Few Rules for Predicting the Future,” Essence Magazine

Dave — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 17:39:47 +0000

Wishful thinking is no more help in predicting the future than fear, superstition or depression.

Octavia Butler (1947-2006) American writer
Essay (2000-05), “A Few Rules for Predicting the Future,” Essence Magazine
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Reason,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:40:38 +0000

REASON, v.i. To weight probabilities in the scales of desire.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Reason,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner.

Rogers, Will -- Essay (1932-03-12), “Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to Senator Borah,” Saturday Evening Post

Dave — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 20:06:28 +0000

When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do — well, that’s Memoirs.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Essay (1932-03-12), “Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to Senator Borah,” Saturday Evening Post
(Source)

William Borah (1885-1940) was a US Senator from Idaho (1907-1940). He was progressive politically, but an isolationist, a key figure in blocking US approval of the Versailles Treaty or joining the League of Nations.

Collected in Donald Day (ed.), The Autobiography of Will Rogers (1949), and Steven K Gragert (ed.), More Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat (1982).

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.

Maclaren, Alexander -- The Secret of Power: And Other Sermons, Sermon 15 “Moses and Hobab” (1902)

Dave — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:26:45 +0000

Our blunders mostly come from letting our wishes interpret our duties, or hide from us plain indications of unwelcome tasks.

Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) Scots-English minister, homilist
The Secret of Power: And Other Sermons, Sermon 15 “Moses and Hobab” (1902)
(Source)

Chesnutt, Charles -- The Marrow of Tradition (1901)

Dave — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 19:27:23 +0000

Impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned, or which we do not wish to happen.

Charles Chesnutt (1858-1932) American author, essayist, civil rights activist, lawyer
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
(Source)

Carlyle, Thomas -- “Burns,” Edinburgh Review No. 96, Art. 1 (1828-12)

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

His religion at best is an anxious wish, — like that of Rabelais, a great Perhaps.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“Burns,” Edinburgh Review No. 96, Art. 1 (1828-12)
(Source)

A review of Lockhart, The Life of Robert Burns (1828).