Pearls Before Swine: Quotations

[Jabberwocky]

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and, besides, the pig likes it.

-- George Bernard Shaw

[Jabberwocky]

I confess, I'm a Lit geek. I actually like poetry. Here's one of my favorites --

My Last Duchess
By Robert Browning

FERRARA

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech—which I have not—to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—
E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

[Jabberwocky]

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

-- Bertrand Russell

[Jabberwocky]

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.

-- Plato

[Jabberwocky]

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Deleted]

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

- Aristotle

Jeez man, Greeks had no concept of personal space, now did they?

[Jabberwocky]

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, and then for money.

-- Moliere

[Nate NBNS]

i think the toughest thing for a writer is not to write about being a writer

[Jabberwocky]

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

-- Cicero

Except I need a guitar too. Or other musical instrument.

[Alkasia]

I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time". So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.

[Jabberwocky]

This is hell, this is hell, this is hell.
"My Favorite Things" are playing
Again and again
But it`s by Julie Andrews
And not by John Coltrane
Endless balmy breezes and perfect sunsets framed
Vintage wine for breakfast
And naked starlets floating in Champagne
All the passions of your youth
Are tranquillized and tamed
You may think it looks familiar
Though you may know it by another name

from "This Is Hell"
Elvis Costello

[Jabberwocky]

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”
― Aristotle

[thepeninsular]

"Auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula"
~ Quintus Horatius Flaccus

"He who chooses the golden mean,
stays away from the dirt of shoddy huts,
and stays away from the palace that brings jealousy."

[Jabberwocky]

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
― Oscar Wilde

[Nate NBNS]

my favourite for sure

Machiavelli:  A day that you win blots out every other losing action of yours.  Sounds even better in Italian: Una giornata che tu vinca, cancella ogni altra tua mala azione

[Jabberwocky]

I am dragged along by a strange new force. Desire and reason are pulling in different directions. I see the right way and approve it, but follow the wrong.

-- Ovid, Metamorpheses

[Jabberwocky]

When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.
-- Euripides, Orestes

[Deleted]

For what is man, if not trapped in his own creation,
And what is God, if not trapped in ours?

- Anonymous

[Deleted]

Specks of dust have a life longer than most men. What is this ego you speak of?

-- anonymous

[Jabberwocky]

A man's character may be learned from the adjectives he habitually uses in conversation.

-- Mark Twain

[New Minerve]

A personal favorite!

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."-Lao Tzu

[Jabberwocky]

Here are some lyrics I wrote a few years back, the song is called Selfie. I think it's a funny song.

It’s been a while since we did part
That day you left me with a broken heart
I saw you on the street, it was such a surprise
I walked up as if to catch your eye
You didn’t look up, you never glanced at me
Your handheld device was all you could see

When you walked out it broke me in two
I picked up the pieces to get over you
So when I ran into you yesterday
I only felt relief you didn’t look my way
I didn’t feel sad I didn’t feel blue
I did the only thing left for me to do

(I took a selfie)
A testament to one man’s pride
(I took a selfie)
Let the world know the way I feel inside
(I took a selfie)
Posted on the internet for all to see
(I took a selfie)
In case you forgot: it’s all about me.

(I took a selfie)
“No man is an island” no longer applies
(I took a selfie)
Tweet it or Facebook it and see if it flies
(I took a selfie)
Solipsism carried to its extreme
(I took a selfie)
My monument to ego is just what it seems

Listen to the recording too: www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=626692&songID=12977634

[Jabberwocky]

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.

-- Otto von Bismarck

[Jabberwocky]

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

—Macbeth, Bill Shakespeare

[Jabberwocky]

A day without sunshine is, like, you know, night.

Steve Martin

[Jabberwocky]

When you grow up on an island, what matters is how you stand to the sea.

-- Roddy Doyle

[Jabberwocky]

We are to the gods as flies to wanton boys; they pull off our wings for sport.

-- Bill Shakespeare
I think it was from The Tempest.

[Jabberwocky]

No small art is it to sleep; it is necessary to stay awake all day for that purpose.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

[Jabberwocky]

“It is wiser to find out than to suppose.”

Mark Twain

[Jabberwocky]

I think I'll move to Montana and raise me a crop of dental floss.

-- Frank Zappa, "Montana"