ending quotation in CAPOTE

[James Landau]

I have encountered (sorry, I have no citations) a proverb "Never wish
[pray] for something; you might get it."  Is this proverb related to the
Wilde/St. Teresa quote?


> [Original Message]
> From: Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: 1/22/2006 9:51:42 AM
> Subject: Re: ending quotation in CAPOTE
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
-----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: ending quotation in CAPOTE
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>
> On Sun, 22 Jan 2006, Stephen Goranson wrote:
>
> > I haven't seen the movie, but according to the introduction to Capote's
> > Complete Stories, he planned a book called Answered Prayers, a title he
> > said he got from a quote of St. Teresa of Avila: "More tears are shed
> > over answered prayers than unanswered ones."
>
> Thanks for the information.  The more usual attribution for this thought
> is Oscar Wilde's "When the gods wish to punish us they answer our
> prayers."  I have not come across the attribution to St. Teresa of Avila
> before, and would welcome any further documentation for that.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
>    Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
> Yale Law School                             forthcoming
> e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org