Wolfram von Eschenbach book Parzival
Ôwî wan wær dîn schœne mîn!
dir hete got den wunsch gegebn,
ob du mit witzen soldest lebn.
Bk. 3, st. 124, line 18; p. 74.
Parzival
In a letter to Charles Babbage, as quoted in The Shadow of the Telescope: A Biography of John Herschel by Günther Buttmann, p. 14
Wolfram von Eschenbach book Parzival
Ôwî wan wær dîn schœne mîn!
dir hete got den wunsch gegebn,
ob du mit witzen soldest lebn.
Bk. 3, st. 124, line 18; p. 74.
Parzival
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Man begreift schwer beim Erleben dieser "großen Zeit", daß man dieser verrückten, verkommenen Spezies angehört, die sich Willensfreiheit zuschreibt. Wenn es doch irgendwo eine Insel der Wohlwollenden und Besonnenen gäbe! Da wollte ich auch glühender Patriot sein.
Letter to Paul Ehrenfest, early December 1914. Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8, Doc. 39. Quoted in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice (2005), p. 3
1910s
“How I wish I lived in a Jane Austen novel!”
Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle
Source: I Capture the Castle
Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620–1700) French colonist and foundress
The Writings of Marguerite Bourgeoys, p. 187
“You know what I wish? I wish all the scum of the Earth had one throat and I had my hands about it.”
Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books
Source: Absolute Watchmen
“How I wish I didn't know anything about myself and this world!”
Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist
Source: On the Heights of Despair (1934)
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo
“How I wish I had not expressed my theory of evolution as I have done.”
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
Claimed http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=A668&viewtype=text&pageseq=1 by the evangelist Lady Hope; Reported in [They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions, 1989, Paul F., Jr., Boller, John, George, Oxford University Press, New York; Oxford, isbn - 978-0195064698, 88022115, [PN6081.B635 1989], 19] Darwin's daughter Henrietta refuted the claim, stating "I was present at his deathbed. Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier. We think the story of his conversion was fabricated in the U.S.A. The whole story has no foundation whatever." <br class="br">Misattributed