"It bears repeating: you are not trying to identify every possible risk, just some of the more likely ones."
—James P. Lewis, Fundamentals of Project Management

"No offense, but you don't come across as no criminal mastermind to me."
—Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness

Here's a precursor to "Thing" from The Addams Family, from a 1921 issue of Collier's magazine.

An illustration from an 1883 issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine.  The caption reads: "The Devil's Looking-Glass. — Beelzebub sees himself in a mirror."

An illustration from a 1907 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "The two of them looked at each other with much interest."

"I've said this many times, and it bears repeating now: there's no one in the spirit world who's even a fraction as evil as the human beings we run across here on earth."
—Sylvia Browne's Book of Dreams

Inspired by and for Gary Barwin.

An illustration from a 1908 issue of Pall Mall magazine.  The caption reads: "Seizing Kum Sin's ankles, he hauled his legs from the bunk, and held his naked soles over the lamp-flame."

"It's not rocket science.  It only felt like it.  Clearly, more champagne was called for."
—Sarah Mayberry, More Than One Night (2012)

"Firelight Fancies": an illustration from an 1893 issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine.

Here's a fun dream anecdote over at Futility Closet.

"Every now and then some people in your audience will try to answer your rhetorical question. If someone offers you an answer, you need to be able to handle the response."
—R. Mark Giuliano, Speak Easy (2005)

A surrealist illustration from a 1906 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "I made a headlong dash down the end of the keyboard."

"The only certainty is that you will have unfinished business, and it will weigh on your mind, and you won't even know why."
—Jim T. Lindsey, A Traveler's Guide for Lost Souls: The Flaw in the Fabric (2011)

An illustration from a 1908 issue of McClure's magazine.  The caption reads: "The fat man's eyes ... were fixed upon this thing with a kind of stupid intensity."

An illustration from a 1907 issue of Life magazine.  The caption reads: "And so on, forever."

[For Gordon Meyer.]

An illustration from a 1916 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "'Perhaps you would like to come to some of the meetings of our Cult of the Occult,' she suggested."

An illustration from a 1921 issue of Collier's magazine.  The caption reads: "Inwardly in turmoil but outwardly composed, Brinn waited for the next development.  It came: a dim light glowed into flame before him, but no sound broke the night's silence.  At last a voice spoke from the surrounding shadows."

The April Fool: an illustration from an 1883 issue of Life magazine.