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Wishes

desire for a specific item or event
See also:Hope

Wishesarehopesordesiresfor something.Fictionally,wishes can be used asplot devices.Infolklore,opportunitiesfor "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" arethemesthat are sometimes used.

Quotes

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Man wants but little here below
Nor wants that little long, "
'Tis not with me exactly so;
But 'tis so in the song.
My wants are many, and, if told,
Would muster many a score;
And were each wish a mint of gold,
I still should long for more. ~John Quincy Adams
If everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God. ~John Calvin
Coldfireused to inspire all not now
These are tired, maybe they'll find their niche
Or resort to wish. ~ Michael Cosgrove, Dryden Mitchell, Tye Zamora, Terence Corso
And theevilwish is most evil to the wisher. ~Hesiod
I wish I knew thegoodof wishing. ~ Henry S. Leigh
If yourheartis in yourdream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon astar
As dreamers do
Fateiskind
She brings to those wholove
The sweet fulfillment of theirsecretlonging.
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true. ~Ned Washingtonlyrics, sung byCliff Edwards
  • If everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God.
    • John Calvin,Golden Booklet of the True Christian LifePage 53
  • Genie:Uh, rule number one: I can't kill anybody. (He slices his head off with his finger.) So don't ask. Rule number two (He puts his head back on): I can't make anyone fall in love with anyone else. (His head turns into a giant pair of lips which kiss Aladdin.) You little punim, there. (Lies flat, then gets up and transforms into a green, slimy zombie with a Peter Lorre accent.) Rule number three: I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty picture, (He grabs Aladdin and shakes him) I don't like doing it! (He poofs back to normal.) Other than that, you got it.
  • Proud, proud is to hear it all yeah yeah
    Proud ah proud, proud is to watch us fall yeah yeah
    Make a wish, make a succotash wish
    You live the pompous life
    Throw kisses all the time
    Make wishes, don't break mine
    Make a wish, make a succotash wish
    You live the pompous life
    Throw kisses all the time
    Don't break mine, don't break mine
    Coldfireused to inspire all not now
    These are tired, maybe they'll find their niche
    Or resort to wish
    • Michael Cosgrove, Dryden Mitchell, Tye Zamora, Terence Corso;Alien Ant Farm,Wishfrom the albumANThology,New Noize and DreamWorks Records (2001)
  • If yourheartis in yourdream
    No request is too extreme
    When you wish upon astar
    As dreamers do
    Fateiskind
    She brings to those wholove
    The sweet fulfillment of theirsecretlonging.
    Like a bolt out of the blue
    Fate steps in and sees you through
    When you wish upon a star
    Your dreams come true.
  • If a man could half his wishes he would double his Troubles.
  • Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it.
    • Anonymous as quoted by W. W. Jacobs inThe Monkeys Paw(1902).
  • If Wishes wereHorses,Beggarswould ride.
    • James Kelly,Scottish Proverbs(1721).
  • Comics speak, without qualm or sophistication, to the innermost ears of the wishful self. The response is like that of a thirsty traveler who suddenly finds water in the desert - he drinks to satiation.
  • You pursue, Ifly;you fly, I pursue; such is my humor. What you wish, Dondymus, I do not wish, what you do not wish, I do.
    • Martial,Epigrams(c. 80-104 AD), Book V, Epistle 83.
  • Henry:There ain't no such thing asmagic,is there?
Bollie:I guess not, Henry. Or maybe...maybe there is magic. And maybe there's wishes, too. I guess the trouble is...there's not enough people around tobelieve...
  • Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:
    I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.
    • William Shakespeare,Henry IV,Part II(c. 1597-99), Act IV, scene 5, line 93. "Thy wish was father to that thought." Idea found in Arrian—Anabasis. I, Chapter VII. Æschylus—Prometh. Vinct. I. 928. Achilles Tatius—De Leucippes, Book VI. 17. Heliodorus, Book VIII. Cæsar—De Bello Gallico, III. 18. Quintilian—Institutes, Book VI, Chapter II, Section V. (Ed. Bonnell). (1861).
  • Jeannie:Your wish is my command, Master.
  • What most we wish, with ease we fancy near.
  • Wishing, of all employments is the worst.
  • He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
    And says he called another; that arrives,
    Meets the same welcome; yet he still calls on;
    Till one calls him, who varies not his call,
    But holds him fast, in chains of darkness bound,
    Till Nature dies, and judgment sets him free;
    A freedom far less welcome than this chain.
    • Edward Young,Night Thoughts(1742-1745), Night IV. Lines near end.
  • Man wants but little, nor that little long;
    How soon must he resign his very dust,
    Which frugal nature lent him for an hour!
  • What folly can be ranker. Like our shadows,
    Our wishes lengthen as our sun declines.

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

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Quotes reported inHoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations(1922), p. 882-83.
  • "Man wants but little here below
    Nor wants that little long, "
    'Tis not with me exactly so;
    But 'tis so in the song.
    My wants are many, and, if told,
    Would muster many a score;
    And were each wish a mint of gold,
    I still should long for more.
  • O, that I were where I would be,
    Then would I be where I am not;
    For where I am I would not be,
    And where I would be I can not.
  • Was man in der Jugend wünscht, hat man im Alter die Fülle.
    • What one has wished for in youth, in old age one has in abundance.
    • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,Wahrheit und Dichtung.Motto to Part II.
  • Man wants but little here below,
    Nor wants that little long.
  • And the evil wish is most evil to the wisher.
  • Little I ask; my wants are few;
    I only wish a hut of stone
    (A very plain brown stone will do),
    That I may call my own;
    And close at hand is such a one
    In yonder street that fronts the sun.
  • With all thy sober charms possest,
    Whose wishes never learnt to stray.
  • Vous l'avez voulu, vous l'avez voulu, George Dandin, vous l'avez voulu.
    • You have wished it so, you have wished it so, George Dandin, you have wished it so.
    • Molière,George Dandin,Act I, scene 9.
  • Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious and free,
    First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea.
  • If I live to grow old, as I find I go down,
    Let this be my fate in a country town;
    May I have a warm house, with a stone at my gate,
    And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate.
    May I govern my passions with an absolute sway,
    Grow wiser and better as my strength wears away,
    Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.
    • Walter Pope,The Old Man's Wish;first appeared in A Collection of Thirty one Songs. (1685).
  • I've often wished that I had clear,
    For life, six hundred pounds a year,
    A handsome house to lodge a friend,
    A river at my garden's end,
    A terrace walk, and half a rood
    Of land, set out to plant a wood.
  • Quoniam id fieri quod vis non potest
    Id velis quod possis.
    • As you can not do what you wish, you should wish what you can do.
    • Terence,Andria,II. 1. 6.
  • On ne peut désirer ce qu'on ne connaît pas.
    • We cannot wish for that we know not.
    • Voltaire,Zaïre.I. 1.
  • Wishers and woulders be small householders.
    • Vulgaria Stambrigi,published by Wynkyn de Worde (early 16th century).
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