Quotes

Quotes of the month history

2012.06

Myth is at the beginning of literature, and also at its end. Jorge Luis Borges, Parable of Cervantes and Don Quixote

Accordion, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

2012.05

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em. William Shakespeare,Twelfth Night

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. T. S. Eliot, Preface to H. Crosby, Transit of Venus

2012.04

A person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was getting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn’t ever going to grow dim or doubtful. Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad

The philosopher is Nature’s pilot. And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift, to be in heaven is to steer. George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

2012.03

The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear. Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks

Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time. Jose Luis Borges, The Book of Sand (El Libro de arena)

2012.02

If you want kids’ movies in which cameras crawl up young women’s skirts while CGI robots hit each other over the head, interspersed with jokes about masturbation and borderline-racist sub-minstrelsy stereotyping, then Bay is your go-to guy. Mark Kermode, The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex

People who can change and change again are so much more reliable and happier than those who can’t. Stephen Fry, Moab is my washpot

2012.01

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

The price of greatness is responsibility. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, Harvard call for Anglo-American brotherhood, 1943

2010.01

We are great fools: He has spent his life in idleness. We say, I have done nothing today. Really, have you not lived? This is not only the most fundamental but the most illustrious of your occupations. Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience

Adversity is the first path to truth. Lord George Gordon Byron, Don Juan

2009.12

Literature is news that STAYS news. Ezra Pound, ABC of reading

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it. Sir James Matthew Barrie, The little minister

2009.11

Life is to be regarded as a loan received from death, with sleep as the daily interest on this loan. Arthur Schopenhauer, On the indestructibility of our essential being by death

The age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

2009.10

One of the major activities of art consists in sharpening the edge of platitudes to make them enter the soul as realities. Northrop Frye, Notebooks and Lectures on the Bible and Other Religious Texts

Quand la populace se mêle de raisonner, tout est perdu. Voltaire, Lettre à M. Damilaville 01/04/1766

2009.09

And a voice said unto me « Smile and be happy. Things could be worse. » So I smiled and was happy. And behold, things did indeed get worse. York Wilson, Life and Work

Onen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, The Return of the King

2009.08

Deus et natura nihil faciunt frustra et otiosum; sed, si intellectus possibilis post mortem nihil intelligeret, otiosus esset; modo, omne otiosum est vitiosum; ergo intellectus esset vitiosus, quod est impossibile. Anonyme de Bazan

Dying’s easy if you have a single happy thought to fix in your mind. You just keep on thinking it right to the end. James Palumbo, Thomas

2009.07

It’s a cunning plan, actually. Baldrick,Blackadder: Captain Cook

Well, Your Highness, what I meant was that, like a doughnut, um, your arrival gives us pleasure … and your departur only makes us hungry for more. Monty Python‘s Flying Circus

2009.06

That weapon will replace your tongue. You will learn to speak through it. And your poetry will now be written with blood. Nobody, Dead Man

How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can’t even trust his own pants. Once upon a time in the West

2009.05

Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. Hogwarts‘ Motto

Competitor: A scoundrel who desires that which we desire. Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary

2009.04

The only way to atone for being occasionally a little overdressed is by being always absolutely overeducated. Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young

Maybe that’s what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges. Ray, In Bruges

2009.03

This is how the entire course of a life can be changed – by doing nothing. Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach

Quand on court après l’esprit, on attrape la sottise. Montesquieu, Sur l’homme

Il n’est pas très prudent d’avoir des dieux et des légumes trop dorés. Jean Giraudoux, La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu

2009.02

Guy Fawkes’ foiled attempt is celebrated not because he was discovered before he could kill the king (who was hugely unpopular), but because he had the audacity to try to change the way things were. Xenophobe’s guide to the English

2009.01

They told me: « Son, you are special; you were born to do great things ». You know what? They were right. Bioshock

So that was it! The old Hun again. Always at your feet or at your throat. James Bond, The Hildebrand Rarity

2008.12

That exaggeratedly tall pitched roof […] makes every Swiss building look as if most of it is buried underground. Which, given their fetish for nuclear shelters, it probably is. Hugh Laurie, The Gun Seller

2008.11

Bunch of monkeys on your ceiling, sir! Grab your egg and fours and let’s get the bacon delivered. Pilot (Michael Palin), RAF banter (Monty Python’s Flying Circus)

You see, us firing squads are like taxmen really. Everybody hates us, but we’re just doing our job, aren’t we, lads? Sergeant Jones (Steven Frost), Corporal Punishment (Blackadder)

2008.10

Le plus grand obstacle à la vie, c’est l’attente, qui se suspend au lendemain et ruine l’aujourd’hui. Sénèque, De la brièveté de la vie

Pour qu’un héritage soit réellement grand, il faut que la main du défunt ne se voie pas. René Char, Feuillets d’Hypnos

2008.09

Celui qui a choisi l’ambition n’a pas cru choisir basse flatterie, envie, injustice; mais c’était dans le paquet. Alain (Emile Chartier), Propos

La Sagesse a ses excez, et n’a pas moins besoing de moderation que la folie. Montaigne, Les Essais

2008.08

Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. Alexander Pope, An essai on Criticism

L’éloquence est au sublime ce que le tout est à sa partie. Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères

2008.07

En travaillant à mériter ma propre estime, j’ai appris à me passer de celle des autres. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Narcisse ou l’amant de lui-même, jouée le 18 décembre 1752

Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite. Joseph de Maistre, Quatre chapitres sur la Russie

2008.06

Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason. Sir John Harington, inventor of the flushing toilet

I don’t believe in God, but I miss Him. Julian Barnes, Nothing to be Frightened of

2008.05

Puisses-tu dire à la fois l’agréable et le vrai, leur divorce n’est guère facile à cacher. Aeschylus, Agamemnon

Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. V in V for Vendetta

2008.04

Oh, but you can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you. Dennis in Monty Python and The Holy Grail

2008.03

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. Robert Frost, Readers’ Digest, April 1960

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

2008.02

Il vaut mieux mobiliser son intelligence sur des conneries que mobiliser sa connerie sur des choses intelligentes. Jacques Rouxel, Les Shadoks: Ga Bu Zo Meu

La culture n’est pas un luxe, c’est une nécessité. Gao Xingjian, La montagne de l’âme

2008.01

En essayant continuellement on finit par réussir. Donc : plus ça rate, plus on a de chance que ça marche. Jacques Rouxel, Les Shadoks: la course à la lune

2007.12

– If I were married to you, I’d put poison in your coffee. – If I were married to you, I’d drink it. Fred Shapiro, The Yale Book of Quotations

This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, Harrow School, 29 October 1941

2007.11

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and social aims

In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards. Mark Twain, Following the Equator (or More Tramps Abroad) chapter LXI

2007.10

Le style est une façon très simple de dire des choses compliquées. Jean Cocteau, Le secret professionnel

Les idées scandaleuses sont de vieilles rengaines qui passent inaperçues en s’abritant sous des habitudes. Marcel Aymé, Silhouette du scandale

2007.09

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde, Lord Darlington

Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be: but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic. Lewis Carroll, Through the looking glass

2007.08

We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow. Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

Talent is luck. The important thing in life is courage. Woody Allen, Manhattan, 1979

2007.07

On doit des égards aux vivants; on ne doit aux morts que la vérité. Voltaire, Oedipe

L’homme est un animal sociable qui déteste ses semblables. Eugène Delacroix, Journal, 17 novembre 1852

2007.06

Il ne faut pas beaucoup d’esprit pour montrer ce que l’on sait ; mais il en faut infiniment pour enseigner ce qu’on ignore. Montesquieu, Lettre LVIII, Rica à Rhédi

Le style seul fait vivre. Sainte-Beuve, Portraits contemporains

2007.05

Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent. Jonathan Swift, Apothegms and Maxims

A cynic is a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary

2007.04

Respecter dans chaque homme l’homme, sinon celui qu’il est, au moins celui qu’il pourrait être, qu’il devrait être. Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Journal, 10 Février 1846

Les îles de l’enfance dorment sur l’eau du temps; on ne saurait y revenir qu’avec des pas d’enfant. Gilles Vigneault, Les îles , 1987

2007.03

All of old. Nothing else better. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho, 1983

Non mais t’as déjà vu ça? en pleine paix, y chante et pis crac, un bourre-pif, mais il est complètement fou ce mec! Mais moi les dingues j’les soigne, j’m’en vais lui faire une ordonnance, et une sévère, j’vais lui montrer qui c’est Raoul. Au 4 coins d’Paris qu’on va l’retrouver éparpillé par petits bouts façon puzzle… Moi quand on m’en fait trop j’correctionne plus, j’dynamite… j’disperse… et j’ventile…
Raoul Volfoni, joué par Bernard Blier, dans Les Tontons flingueurs de Georges Lautner

2007.02

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.
George Orwell, The Sporting Spirit, December 1945

2007.01

– If I catch you and my son together in a public restaurant, I will thrash you.
– I do not know what the Queensberry Rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot at sight.
Oscar Wilde questioned on direct examination by his attorney, Sir Edward Clarke
3rd April 1895

Quotes

• Si avons nous beau monter sur des eschasses, car sur des eschasses encores faut-il marcher de nos jambes. Et au plus eslevé throne du monde si ne sommes assis que sus nostre cul. Michel de Montaigne, Essais III.13.
• « I love you », she said, and together they laughed. Then one day she said, « I hate you », and they cried. but not together. Snoopy, Peanuts May 1973.
• A whole stack of memories will never equal one little hope. Snoopy, Peanuts June/July 1972.
• Sometimes the best you can do in life is send up a flare, like the man marooned. However remote the island, someone might just see its light in the sky. James Palumbo, Thomas
• An Uzi? I’m not from South Central Los Angeles. I didn’t come here to shoot twenty black ten year olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person. Harry, In Bruges
• On en déduira quelque chose qui est sans doute l’ultime vérité du puzzle: en dépit des apparences, ce n’est pas un jeu solitaire: chaque geste que fait le poseur de puzzle, le faiseur de puzzle l’a fait avant lui; chaque pièce qu’il prend et reprend, qu’il examine, qu’il caresse, chaque combinaison qu’il essaye et essaye encore, chaque tâtonnement, chaque intuition, chaque espoir, chaque découragement, ont été décidés, calculés, étudiés par l’autre. Georges Perec, La vie mode d’emploi
• They curled my hair, then they stripped me and gave me a G-string, a prop man stuck a knife in my G-string which scared hell out of me in case his hand slipped, then he stuck a goddamn hibiscus behind my ear and told me to creep through the bushes. Clark Gable, as reported by David Niven, Bring on the Empty Horses
• I didn’t like the sound of this. This was all horribly wrong. This was red wine with fish. This was a man wearing a dinner jacket and brown shoes. This was as wrong as things get. Hugh Laurie, The Gun Seller
• Une cathédrale est bien autre chose qu’une somme de pierres. Elle est géométrie et architecture. Ce ne sont pas les pierres qui la définissent, c’est elle qui enrichit les pierres de sa propre signification. Ces pierres sont enoblies d’être pierres d’une cathédrale. Les pierres les plus diverses servent son unité. La cathédrale absorbe jusqu’aux gargouilles les plus grimaçantes, dans son cantique. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Pilote de guerre
• The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
• H. W. Garrod (…), who in 1914 was handed a white feather by a young woman in the street who glared at him and said, « How dare you stand there <Oxford, Merton College> while everyone else is fighting to preserve civilisation? » (…) replied (…) suavely, « <Madam,> I am the civilisation they are fighting to preserve. » Richard Breen, Oxford Oddfellows & Funny Tales
• Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever. Aristophanes, The Knights
• Cooking is the transformation of uncertainty (the receipe) into certainty (the dish) via fuss. Julian Barnes, The Pedant in the Kitchen
• So essential did I consider an index to be to every book, that I proposed to bring a bill into Parliament to deprive an author who publishes a book without an index of the privilege of copyright, and, moreover, to subject him for his offense to a pecuniary penalty. Lord John Campbell, Live of the Chief Justices of England, preface to vol. III
• I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over… and the insect is awake. Seth Brundle (played by Jeff Goldblum) in David Cronenberg’s movie The Fly
• – Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot, and I discovered that the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been nailed there.
  – Well of course it was nailed there. Otherwise it would muscle up to those bars and voom.
  – Look matey this parrot wouldn’t voom if I put four thousand volts through it. It’s bleeding demised.
  – It’s not, it’s pining.
  – It’s not pining, it’s passed on. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It’s rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot. From the famous Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ Pet shop sketch (dead parrot)
• – Male varlet, you rogue! what’s that? (Patroclus)
  – Why, his masculine whore. Now, the rotten diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o’ gravel i’ the back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, limekilns i’ the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries! (Thersites)
  – Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus?
  – Do I curse thee?
  – Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.
  – No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk, thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal’s purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such waterflies, diminutives of nature! Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressidaact 5, scene 1
• Telephone is an invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
• In England it is possible to have your cake and eat it without being in turn consumed by guilt. This is because English cakes are plain, elegant and wholesome. They may be eaten not only at the tea table but also as part of lunch or at the end of dinner. Continental and American cakes are made to look positively wicked by comparison. English cakes are respectable. Helen Simpson, The Ritz London Book of Afternoon Tea

• The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. Oscar Wilde, The importance of Being Earnest, 1895