The Sopranos TV - Christopher Hitchens - Rab C Nesbitt TV - Marilyn Monroe - Friedrich Nietzsche - Proverbs - James Burke TV - William Shakespeare - Socrates - Louis XIV - Anonymous - Thomas Moore - Voltaire - G K Chesterton - George Eliot - Decadence and Downfall TV - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu -
Freud said ‘Dreams are wishes’. The Sopranos s4e11: Calling All Cars, Dr Melfi to Tony, HBO 202
Ted, if you had three wishes, what would they be?
Ted: Three wishes? I don’t know really. Well I suppose the first thing would be world peace. And then maybe an end to hunger. And er [dreams of being disco king] … more money for hospitals, that kind of thing. Father Ted s1e2: Entertaining Father Stone, Channel 4 1995
Why does this delusion persist? ... I think it’s to do with wishful thinking. Christopher Hitchens v Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, debate New York 30th January 2008
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I wouldn’t want anything for myself, but I’d like a fatal stroke for Jamesie. John Sergeant Meets Rab C Nesbitt, BBC 2014
Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world. Marilyn Monroe
To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities – I wieh that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not – that one endures. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Early 17th century proverb
I would say that is was a pretty safe bet that one magic wish most people would like to be granted would be to see into the future, James Burke, Connections s1e2: Death In The Morning, BBC 1978
Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour,
And now I find it. William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus V iii 154-155
Be as you wish to seem. Socrates
It is legal because I wish it. Louis XIV
Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it. Anonymous, cited W W Jacob’s ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ 1902
Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious and free,
First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea. Thomas Moore, Remember Thee
We cannot wish for that we know not. Voltaire, Zaïre
I wish I were a jelly fish
That cannot fall downstairs:
Of all the things I wish to wish
I wish I were a jelly fish
That hasn’t any cares,
And doesn’t even have to wish
‘I wish I were a jelly fish
That cannot fall downstairs’. G K Chesterton, Triolet
It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
Q) What do you wish for most?
Iranian woman: A better life, a lot of money, being able to have fun. Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran’s Ultimate Party, television interview of poor Iranian woman, BBC 2016
People wish their enemies dead – but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone! Lady Mary Wortley Montagu