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WISHING
WISTFULNESS --- WIT
WITCHCRAFT --- WIVES

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WISHING


see: "ACTIONS"
see: "DESIRE"
see: "HOPE"


We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
--Ζsop (c.620 B.C.—c.560 B.C.)
(Thought to be a legendary figure.)
_Ζsop's Fables_
_The Old Man and Death_

"When I was a small boy in Kansas," Dwight
D. Eisenhower once recalled, "a friend of mine
and I went fishing, and as we sat there in the warmth
on a summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked
about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I
told him I wanted to be a real major league baseball
player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner.
My friend said that he'd like to be president of the
United States. Neither of us got our wish."
--Carl M. Cannon,
_The Oval Office and the Diamond_,
"The Atlantic" [May 2001]

If a man could have half his wishes,
he would double his troubles.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.

^

Most of the rich have liked partying, and since
the less rich like being the admiring guests of
their financial betters, there is a never-ending
stream of party fodder. Though perhaps not
always with the happiest of results — as the
slightly down-market guests of the Emperor
Heliogabalus discoved when one of them
remarked how pleasant it would be to be
smothered in the scent of roses that adorned
the imperial table, and the rest agreed.
Taking them at their word, the next time
the same guests came to dinner the emperor
had several tons of petals dumped over the
dinner table. The guests' reaction on this
occasion passed unrecorded. They had
suffocated.
--David Frost and Michael Deakin
_David Frost's Book of Millionaires,
Multimillionaires, and Really Rich People_

^

Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.
--Washington Irving (1783—1859)
American writer.

Tom Reyes [...] repeated what must be a balloonists' bad weather
mantra: 'It's lots better to be down here wishing we were up there
than to be up there wishing we were down here.'
--Charles Kuralt (1934—1997)
American journalist and broadcaster.
_Charles Kuralt's America_ [1995]
"November: Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico"

All my life I've always wanted to *be* somebody.
But I see now I should have been more specific.
--Jane Wagner (1935— )
American playwright.
_The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe_ [1985]

-

When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
_An Ideal Husband_, act 2 [1895]


In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not
getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
_Lady Windermere's Fan_, act 3 [1892]

-

Many of us spend half our time wishing for
things we could have if we didn't spend half
our time wishing.
--Alexander Woollcott (1887—1943)
American dramatic and literary critic.
In Richard Alan Krieger
_Civilization's Quotations: Life's Ideal_, p. 153 [2002].

Like our shadows,
Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.
--Edward Young (1683—1765)
English poet.
_Night Thoughts_ [1742—1745]

-

28 — Percentage of adults who, if they could have a
single superpower, say they would most like to be
able to read minds, according to a survey for
Activision.

15 — Percentage who say they would like to be
able to fly.

11 — Percentage who say they would like to be
able to be invisible.

9 — Percentage who say they would like to be
able to have super strength.

--blurb in _Las Vegas Business Press_ [28 August 2006]

--

-

A married couple in their early 60's were celebrating their 40th Wedding
Anniversary in a quiet, romantic little restaurant.... Suddenly, a tiny
yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table. She said, "For being such an
exemplary married couple and for being loving to each other for all this
time, I will grant you each a wish."

The wife answered, "Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling
husband." The fairy waved her magic wand and - poof! - two tickets for
the Queen Mary II appeared in her hands.

The husband thought for a moment: "Well, this is all very romantic, but an
opportunity like this will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but my
wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than I."

The wife, and the fairy, were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish.
So the fairy waved her magic wand and poof!....the husband became 93
years old.

--



Click picture to ZOOM
WISTFULNESS

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see "EMOTIONS & FELLINGS" for related links


You should have seen the Atlantic Ocean in those days.
--dialogue in the film "Atlantic City" spoken by
Burt Lancaster




WIT

.
.

see "HUMOR" for related links


Wit is educated insolence.
--Aristotle (384—322 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.
_The Art of Rhetoric_, bk. 2, sec. 12

^^

Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor (1879—1964)
American-born, first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons.

During the early thirties Winston Churchill's critics
called him rash, impetuous, tactless, contentious,
inconsistent, unsound, an amusing parlimentary
celebrity who was forever out of step.

'We just don't know what to make of him,' a
troubled Tory MP told Lady Astor.

She asked brightly, "How about a nice rug?"

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^^


Repartee: What a person thinks of
after he becomes a departee.
--Dan Bennett

A large nose is the mark of a witty, courteous,
affable, generous, and liberal man.
--Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619—1655)
French satirist and dramatist.
_The Other World: States and Empires of the Moon_, ch. 8 [1656]

At the best, sarcasms, bitter irony, scathing wit,
are a sort of sword-play of the mind. You pick your
adversary, and he is forthwith dead; and then you
deserve to be hung for it.
--Christian Nestell Bovee (1820—1904)
American writer.

Wit is so shining a quality that everybody admires it;
most people aim at it, all people fear it, and few love
it unless in themselves. A man must have a good share
of wit himself to endure a great share of it in another.
--Lord Chesterfield [Philip Dormer Stanhope] (1694—1773)
British writer and politician.
_Letters to His Godson_ [18 December 1765].

Wit is like caviar. It should be served in small, elegant
portions and not splashed about like marmalade.
--Noλl Coward (1899—1973)
English playwright, actor, and composer.

Staircase wit.
--Denis Diderot (1713—1784)
French writer and philosopher.
_Paradoxe sur le Comediιn_ [1773—1778]
(Referring to a witty rejoinder remembered after one has left the party.

-

Those wanting wit affect gravity and
go by the name of solid men; and a
solid man is, in plain English, a solid,
solemn fool.
--John Dryden (1631—1700)
English poet, critic, and dramatist.
_Aureng-Zebe_ [1676]


Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
--John Dryden (1631—1700)
English poet, critic, and dramatist.
_Absalom and Achitophel_, pt. I, l. 163 [1681]

-

Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions.
No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can
make any stand against good wit.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
"The Comic" _Letters and Social Aims_ [1876]

Let the scintillations of your wit be like the
coruscations of summer lightning, lambent
but innocuous.
--Edward Meyrick Goulburn (1818—1897)
English churchman; Dean of Norwich [1866—1889].

Know the meaning of evasion. It is the prudent
man's way of keeping out of trouble; with the
gallantry of a witty remark he is able to extricate
himself from the most intricate of labyrinths. He
emerges gracefully from the bitterest encounter
and with a smile.
--Baltasar Graciαn (1601—1658)
Spanish Jesuit philosopher.

You can pretend to be serious;
you can't pretend to be witty.
--Sacha Guitry (1885—1957)
Russian-born French actor and director.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.
--William Hazlitt (1778—1830)
English essayist.
_Lectures on the English Comic Writers_ [1819] "On Wit and Humour"

-

Wit, too copiously poured out, agitates the hearer
with emotions rather violent than pleasing; every
one shrinks from the force of its oppression, the
company sits entranced and overpowered; all are
astonished, but nobody is pleased.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
Idler #34
(_The Idler_ [1758—1760], were essays in the newspaper "The Universal Chronicle.")



He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot
complain that he smarts from it.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.

-

All the wit in the world is lost upon him who has none.
--Jean de La Bruyθre (1645—1696)
French essayist and moralist.

No one shall have wit save we and our friends.
--Jean Moliθre [Jean Baptiste Poquelin]
(1622—1673) French comic dramatist.
_Les Femmes Savantes_ III, ii

-

There's a hell of a difference between wise-cracking
and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply
callisthenics with words.
--Dorothy Parker (1893—1967)
American critic and humorist.
In "Paris Review" [Summer 1956].


Good work, Mary. We all knew you had it in you.
--Dorothy Parker (1893—1967)
American critic and humorist.
Wiring collect to a Mary Sherwood, who had just given birth.
Quoted in Alexander Woollcott
"Our Mrs. Parker" _While Rome Burns_ [1934].

-

True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.
--Alexander Pope (1688—1744)
English poet.
_An Essay on Criticism_, l. 297 [1711]

[To the surgeons about to operate after he was shot:]
Please tell me you're Republicans.
--Ronald Reagan (1911—2004)
American President [1981—1989] and former Hollywood actor.
Quoted in "Washington Post" [31 March 1981].

-

Brevity is the soul of wit.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_ [1600-1601], act ii, sc.ii, l.90

& note:

Impropriety is the soul of wit.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.
_The Moon and Sixpence_ [1919], ch. 4

-

Perpetual aiming at wit is a very bad part of
conversation. It is done to support a character;
it generally fails; it is a sort of insult to
the company, and a restraint upon the speaker.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.

-

Humor does not include sarcasm, invalid
irony, sardonicism, innuendo, or any other
form of cruelty. When these things are
raised to a high point they can become wit,
but unlike the French and the English, we
have not been much good at wit since the
days of Benjamin Franklin.
--James Thurber (1894—1961)
American humorist and cartoonist.


The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist
makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun
of himself.
--James Thurber (1894—1961)
American humorist and cartoonist.
In Loyal Jones & Billy Edd Wheeler
_Hometown Humor_, p. 13 [1999].

-

My poor fellow, why not carry a watch?
--Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852—1917)
English actor-manager.
(To a man in the street, carrying a grandfather clock.)

Adam was the only man who, when he said a good
thing, knew that nobody had said it before him.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.

-

By a sudden and adroit movement I placed
my left eye against his fist.
--Artemus Ward [Charles Farrar Browne] (1834—1867)
American humorist and writer.

^

Woodrow Wilson (1856—1924)
American politician; president of Princeton University
[1902—1910], President of the United States [1913—1921]

One afternoon during his time as governor of New
Jersey, Wilson received news of the sudden death
of a personal friend, a New Jersey senator. He was
still recovering from the shock when the telephone
rang again. It was a prominent New Jersey politician.
'Governor,' he said, 'I would like to take the senator's
place.' Wilson replied, 'It's perfectly agreeable to me
if it's agreeable to the undertaker.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

True wit is rare, and a thousand barbed arrows fall
at the feet of the archer for every one that flies.
--William Zinsser (1922— )
American writer, editor, and teacher.
_On Writing Well_ [1976]

-----

bon mot (noun) [bυ(n)-'mo]
A witticism, a clever or witty turn of phrase.



WITCHCRAFT

.
.

Double, double toil and trouble:
Fire, burn: and cauldron bubble.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Macbeth_ [1606], act 4, sc. 1, l. 10

Henry Hoiges of Bodmin of the county of Cornwall,
gentleman [certifies] how John Harvey of the
said town of Bodmin, priest ... of his malice and evil
will, imagining by subtle crafts of enchantment,
witchcraft and sorcery ... broke my leg ... through
which I was in despair of my life ... and moreover in
open place he said that by the same subtle craft of
enchantment, witchcraft and sorcery he would make
me break my neck.
--_Calendar of Proceedings in Chancery_
[1430—1439] Introduction,
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 200.
Cohan & Major explain: This rare case of medieval
witchcraft appears in an appeal for help to the lord
chancellor. Although resort to superstitious magic
was probably widespread ... few cases of actual
witchcraft are reported until the 16th and 17th
centuries when persecution of witches was
common in England and also in New England.



WIVES

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.

see: "LOVE & MARRIAGE (OR NOT)" for related links
see "HOME & FAMILY" for related links


Wives are young men's mistresses, companions
for middle age, and old men's nurses.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
_Essays_ [1625] "Of Marriage and the Single Life"

She’s my wife, so she stays home and takes
care of me. Maybe that’s the way you tell
the ladies from the broads in this town.
--Humphrey Bogart (1899—1957)
American actor.
Commenting in 1945 on his fourth
wife, actress Lauren Bacall.

Meek wifehood is no part of my profession;
I am your friend, but never your possession.
--Vera Brittain (1893—1970)
English writer.
"Married Love"

There are three faithful friends: an old
wife, an old dog, and ready money.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [June 1738]

Gentlemen, to the lady without whom I should never
have survived to eighty, nor sixty, nor yet thirty years.
Her smile has been my lyric, her understanding the
rhythm of the stanza. She has been the spring where
from I have drawn the words. She is the poem of
my life.
--attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841—1935)
Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
legal historian, and philosopher.

Of all the home remedies, a good wife is the best.
--Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard (1868—1930)
American humorist.

[Helmer:] First and foremost, you are a wife and mother.
[Nora:] That I don't believe any more. I believe that first
and foremost I am an individual.
--Henrik Ibsen (1828—1906)
Norwegian playwright.
_A Doll's House_, act 3 [1879]

I have learned that only two things are necessary
to keep one's wife happy. First, let her think
she's having her way. And second, let her have
it.
--Lyndon B. Johnson (1908—1973)
American Democratic statesman, President [1963—1969].

The way to handle wives, like the fellow says, is to catch
'em early, treat 'em rough, and tell 'em nothing.
--Sinclair Lewis (1885—1951)
American novelist and playwright.
_Main Street_ [1920]

Nothing lovelier can be found
In woman, than to study household good,
And good works in her husband to promote.
--John Milton (1608—1674)
English poet.
_Paradise Lost_, bk. IX, l. 232 [1667]

I have certainly known more men destroyed by the desire
to have a wife and child and to keep them in comfort than
I have seen destroyed by drink and harlots.
--William Butler Yeats (1865—1939)
Irish poet and dramatist who received the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.
_The Autobiography of William Butler Yeats_ [1935]


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