Mastodawn

Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out.

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) English film director
Interview (1962-08) by François Truffaut

More about this quote: wist.info/hitchcock-alfred/189…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #alfredhitchcock #abridgment #banality #boredom #commonplace #drama #dramaticism #dullparts #dullness #editing #film #filmmaking #improbability #life #movie #mundanity #story #storytelling

Hitchcock, Alfred - Interview (1962-08) by François Truffaut | WIST Quotations

Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out. Why he avoids making "slice of life"…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Apr 30

A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle

I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace, existence is commonplace, and no qualities save those which are commonplace have any function upon earth.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)

More about this quote: wist.info/doyle-arthur-conan/8…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #arthurconandoyle #sherlock #holmes #sherlockholmes #boredom #brainwork #cogitation #commonplace #intellect #mundanity #ordinary #prosaic #thinking

Doyle, Arthur Conan - Story (1890-02), "The Sign of the Four," ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK) | WIST Quotations

I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Apr 8

A quotation from Bertrand Russell

It is a dangerous error to confound truth with matter-of-fact. Our life is governed not only by facts, but by hopes; the kind of truthfulness which sees nothing but facts is a prison for the human spirit. Dreams are only to be condemned when they are a lazy substitute for an effort to change reality; when they are an incentive, they are fulfilling a vital purpose in the incarnation of human ideals. To kill fancy in childhood is to make a slave to what exists, a creature tethered to earth and therefore unable to create heaven.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Good Life, Part 2, ch. 5 “Play and Fancy” (1926)

More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/832…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #fairytales #childrensliterature #change #dreams #fact #hope #ideals #mundanity #progress #truth

Russell, Bertrand - Education and the Good Life, Part 2, ch. 5 "Play and Fancy" (1926) | WIST Quotations

It is a dangerous error to confound truth with matter-of-fact. Our life is governed not only by facts, but by hopes; the kind of truthfulness which sees nothing but facts is a prison for the human spirit. Dreams are only to be condemned when they are a lazy substitute for…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 31, 2025

A quotation from Carlyle

Innumerable are the illusions and legerdemain-tricks of Custom: but of all these, perhaps the cleverest is her knack of persuading us that the Miraculous, by simple repetition, ceases to be Miraculous.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 8 (1834)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/63317…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #accustom #custom #frequency #miracle #mundanity #normalcy #ordinariness #repetition

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Apr 29, 2025

A quotation from Bill Watterson

CALVIN: I’ve noticed that comic book superheroes usually fight evil maniacs with grandiose plans to destroy the world. Why don’t superheroes go after more subtle, realistic bad guys?

HOBBES: Yeah, the superhero could attend council meetings and write letters to the editor, and stuff.

CALVIN: Hmmm … I think I see the problem.

HOBBES: “Quick! To the Bat-Fax!”

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1992-11-08)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/watterson-bill/4107/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #calvinandhobbes #activism #badguys #civics #comicbooks #communityorganizer #mundanity #realism #superhero #villains

Anima Oct 6, 2023

It's another one of those 'you're an adult, Harry' moments when you see a cheap used sectional for sale locally and think 'this could change everything!' #adulting #mundane #mundanity #furniture #couch

Knitronomicon Feb 15, 2023

I must be feeling a bit better, despite a restless night with a cough. (STILL!!!) I've just stripped the bed & put the sheets & the rest of the washing in the machine. Next step, of course, is to *remake* the bed, which will need more oomph. #mundanity #housework

Alys Torrance Jan 5, 2023

#Today I am cleaning my flat. For the past 6 months, someone did it for me once a fortnight, for 2hrs. It was great. But now her childcare (of course she is a woman) has fallen through so she's had to stop work. I'm living with Long Covid. That's why it was great. Her efficient 2 hrs is going to be my whole day. I quite like cleaning, on the upside. #mundanity #LongCovid

Karl Nov 15, 2022

The .ie instance is interesting to follow. I have absolutely no idea who any of you are, the odd 'famous' discluded, as your thoughts slip by into a possibly data archived void. Obviously it isn't busy now in the middle of the night but it sort of ebbs and flows all day like a busier home timeline.

The weather batters the house, as members scream at the sky. 100 years of tóraí majority rule, and the filling of boots.

Some interesting posts too. P-)

#Mundanity #Insomniac

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