“The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, "Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home." And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure.”

— Thornton Wilder , The Matchmaker

Barnaby, in Act 4
The Matchmaker (1954)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, "Oh, now I've got myself into an…" by Thornton Wilder?

Thornton Wilder 61

American playwright and novelist 1897–1975

Related quotes

“Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

“When you sit right down in the middle of yourself you're gonna wanna have a comfortable chair.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

“The waitress took a bar rag, and she wiped it across her eyes.
And as she spoke her voice came out as something like a sigh.
She said "I wish that I was beautiful, or that you were halfway blind.
And I wish I weren't so dog-gone fat, I wish that you were mine.
And I wish that you'd come with me, when I leave for home.
For we both know all about loneliness, and livin' all alone."”

Harry Chapin (1942–1981) American musician

Better Place to Be
Song lyrics, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

“Mo: I wish it were me instead of you.
Sydney: Yeah. I'm getting the sodium pentothal. You have to go sit with my parents.”

Alison Bechdel book Dykes to Watch Out For

#416, "The Basic Anxiety" (2003), collected in Invasion of the DTWOF (2005).
Dykes to Watch Out For

“I don't say you're self-censoring - I'm sure you believe everything you're saying; but what I'm saying is, if you believed something different, you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Interview by Andrew Marr on BBC2, February 14, 1996 https://web.archive.org/web/19990930034218/http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/interviews/9602-big-idea.html.
Quotes 1990s, 1995-1999

“I remember you saying that growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change. I guess that means I've grown up now…”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Variant: I've screwed everything up royally. I remember you saying that growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change.
Source: City of Ashes