# Favorite quotes you know off the top of your head **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591 "2008-10-19T01:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/61 "2008-10-20T12:29:28Z")
Because in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/62 "2008-10-20T13:12:09Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > A is for Amy who fell down the stairs > B is for Basil, assaulted by bears > C is for Clara who wasted away > D is for Desmond, thrown from a sleigh > E is for Edmund who choked on a peach > F is for Fanny, sucked dry by a leech > G is for George, smothered under a rug > H is for Hector, done in by a thug > I is for Ida who drowned in the lake > J is for James who took lye by mistake > K is for Kate who was struck with an ax > L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks > M is for Mary who was swept out to sea > N is for Neville who died of ennui > O is for Olive, run through with an awl > P is for Prue, trampled flat in a brawl > Q is for Quentin who sank in a mire > R is for Rhoda, consumed by a fire > S is for Sarah who perished of fits > T is for Titus who flew into bits > U is for Una who slipped down a drain > V is for Victor, squashed under a train > W is for Winnie, embedded in ice > X is for Xerxes, devoured by mice > Y is for Yorick, whose head was knocked in > and Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin > > -Edward Gorey, _The Gashleycrumb Tinies_… I’m very impressed that you know this by heart. But S is Susan (my wife, who had a postcard with her namesake’s untimely passing on it). ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/63 "2008-10-20T14:48:40Z")
Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaeans, hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades the strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood in division of conflict Atreus’ son, the lord of men, and brilliant Achilleus. What god was it then set them together in bitter collision? Zeus’s son, and Leto’s, Apollo, who, in anger at the king, drove the foul pestilence along the host, and the people perished. - Lattimore’s translation of _The Iliad_ O Fortuna velut luna status variabilis Semper crescis aut decrescis Vita detestabilis Nunc obdurat et tunc curat Ludo mentis aciem Egestatem potestatum Dissolvit ut glaciem Sors immanis et innanis Rota tu volubilis Status malus vana salus semper dissolubilis Obrum brata et velata Mihi quoque niteris Nunc per ludum dorsum nudum Ferro tui sceleris Sors salutis et virtutis Mihi nunc contraria Est affectus et defectus semper in angaria Hac in hora sine mora Corde pulsum tangite Quod per sortem sternet fortem Mecum omnes plangite - _O Fortuna_, from _Carmina Burana_ In taberna quando summus Non curamus quid sit humus Sed ad ludum properamus Cui semper insudamus Quid agator in taberna Ubi numus et pincerna Hoc est opus in querator Si quid loquor audiator - _In taberna_ (the first two stanzas, anyway), from _Carmina Burana_ With gratuitous apologies for any butchery of Latin I may have committed. ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/64 "2008-10-20T14:56:24Z")
Ben Battle was a soldier bold And used to war’s alarms, But a cannonball took off his legs So he laid down his arms… –Thomas Hood, _Faithless Nelly Gray_ The paths of glory lead but to the grave. –Thomas Gray, _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_ Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! 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. –Shakespeare, _Macbeth_ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/65 "2008-10-20T15:12:13Z")
**COCKSUCKERS!!!** –Calamity Jane, in the HBO series: Deadwood ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/66 "2008-10-20T15:31:55Z")
“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” - William Butler Yeats “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport.” - Shakespeare, King Lear “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” - Ben Franklin I hate to do this, but: > [@Sublight](#): > > E is for Edmund who choked on a peach > M is for Mary who was swept out to sea > S is for Sarah who perished of fits are actually Ernest, Maud, and Susan. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/67 "2008-10-20T18:05:31Z")
A Elbereth Gilthoniel Silivren penna miriel O galadhremin ennorath Fanuilos, le linnathon Nef aiar si nef airon Tolkien, _Lord of the Rings_. Aye, every inch a king. When I do stare, see how the subject quakes. I pardon that man’s life. What was thy cause? Adultery? Thou wilt not die; die for adultery, no! The wren goes to it, and the small gilded fly does lecher in my sight. Let copulation thrive! For Gloucester’s bastard son was kinder to his father, than my daughers, got between lawful sheets. Shakespeare, _King Lear_. (Although it was actually Monty Python’s “The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_” that brought it to my attention. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/68 "2008-10-20T18:34:56Z")
“You’ve got to have a catcher, otherwise you’ll have a lot of passed balls.” ~ Casey Stengel “I gave Mike Cuellar more chances than my first wife” ~ Earl Weaver “The only thing Earl knows about pitching is that he couldn’t hit it.” ~ Jim Palmer ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/69 "2008-10-20T18:39:53Z")
“Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I’d poison your coffee!” “Madam, if you were my wife, I’d surely drink it.” ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/70 "2008-10-20T18:51:27Z")
All of Robert Service’s ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’ – goes down well with middle schoolers:D My nuclear physicist BIL taught me lots when I was an impressionable lass: One day in the middle of the night Two dead boys stood up to fight They stood back to back and faced each other Drew their swords and shot each other. A deaf policemen heard the noise, Came and shot the two dead boys. If you don’t believe me, ask the blind man He saw it all. And the parody of ‘Show me the way to go home’ of Jaws fame: Indicate the way to my residence I’m fatigued and I wish to retire I had a sip of cider 60 minutes ago and it went straight to my cerebellum Wherever I perambulate On land or sea or atmospheric vapor You can always hear me singing this melody Show me the way to go home. What a thing to teach a ten-year old.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/71 "2008-10-20T19:08:22Z")
Oh… also Three rings for the elven kings under the sky… === and also Not all that is gold glitters … ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/72 "2008-10-20T19:45:09Z")
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax Of cabbages and kings And why the sea is boiling hot And whether pigs have wings.” _The Walrus and The Carpenter_ Lewis Carroll ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/73 "2008-10-20T20:07:22Z")
\*I don’t mind day Night comes and goes, It’s afternoons Get up my nose. Nothing to do In your see-through shell Afternoons for prawns Are hell\* _My life is light Waiting like a feath on the back of my hand. Dust in sunlight, and memory in corners Wait for the wind that chills Towards the dead land_ Eilot, _A Song for Simeon_ _She sat on the saddle, said hells, pulled it off, and began painstaking redesigning it to follow the curve of Talat’s back, and her legs._ -Robin McKinley, _The Hero and the Crown_ _There’s a certain shaft of light Winter afternoons That oppresses, like the heft Of cathedral tunes…_ Emily Dickinson \*Today I ruined a perfectly good salad. \* -Nigel Slater, _Kitchen Diaries_ _“Well, the subject of Egyptian Burrito came up”, I said."_ -Calvin Trillin, _Don’t Mention It_ Oh, wait, this wasn’t _Quotes You’ve Got Floating Around In Your Head Right Now_? ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/74 "2008-10-20T20:48:48Z")
_O Antony. I have followed thee to this… We could not stall together in the whole world: But yet let me lament with tears As sov’reign as the blood of hearts That thou, my brother… my mate in empire, Friend and companion in the front of war… That our stars, unreconciliable, should divide Our equalness to this._ Caesar, _Antony and Cleopatra_ by Samuel Barber, sliced and diced from Shakespeare and set to beautiful music _Give me some music; music, moody food Of us that trade in love_ Cleopatra, _Antony and Cleopatra_ ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/75 "2008-10-20T20:51:40Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > “The time has come,” the Walrus said, > “To talk of many things: > Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax > Of cabbages and kings > And why the sea is boiling hot > And whether pigs have wings.” > > _The Walrus and The Carpenter_ > Lewis Carroll Oh, and that too. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/76 "2008-10-20T20:54:07Z")
“The gods gathered like flies above the sacrifice, drawn by it’s sweet savor.” - Epic of Gilgamesh IIRC “Perhaps it’s men who are the cowards, at the Core.” - Niven’s _At the Core_, where it’s discovered that the galactic core is exploding; humans pretty much ignore it, while the cowardly Puppeteer civilization flees. “With such a weapon I could vaporize the Earth !” “Speaker !” “It was a natural thought Louis.” - Speaker To Animals and Louis Wu, _Ringworld_ ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/77 "2008-10-20T22:15:41Z")
“What we’ve got here…is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week. Which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don’t like it, any more than you men.” - Strother Martin from Cool Hand Luke Not the author, obviously, but he delivered the passage in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/78 "2008-10-20T22:44:46Z")
If you’re going though hell,Keep going. – Winston Churchill ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/79 "2008-10-21T01:19:40Z")
Ones I really love (not that I don’t love the above ones). _The problem with communication between the sexes", said MacPhee, “Is that women use a language without nouns. If two men are working in a kitchen together, one would say to the other, 'Put this bowl in the blue one you’ll find on top of the refrigerator. If two women are, one would say to the other, ‘Put this one in that one over there.’ Thus there is a phatic hiatus.”_ -C. S. Lewis, _That Hideous Strength_ \*I do not know much about gods But I think that the river is a strong, brown god. Sullen, untamed, and intractable, Patient to some degree. A t first recognised as a frontier Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges. The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten By the dwellers in cities, Ever, however, intractable. Keeping his seasons and rages, Destroyer, reminder of what men choose to forget… The sea has many voices, Many gods and many voices. The salt is on the briar rose The fog is in the fir tree. The sea howl, and the sea yelp, are different voices Often together heard The whine in the rigging The menace and caress of wave that breaks on water, The distant rote in the granite teeth, The wailing warning of the distant headland, And the heaving groaner, rounded homeward Are all sea voices…\* -Eliot, _The Dry Salvages_ \*At fourteen I married My Lord you I never laughed, being bashful I lowered my head to the wall Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back At fifteen I stopped scowling. I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever Why should I climb the lookout? At sixteen you departed, And went into far Ku-To-Yen, by the river of swirling eddies And you have been gone now five months. The monkey make sorrowful noise overhead. You dragged your feet as you went out. By the gate, now, the moss is grown The different mosses. too deep to clear them away! The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind. The paired butterflies are already yellow with August, Over the grass in the west garden. They hurt me- I grow older. If you are coming down through the Narrows of the river Kiang Please let me know beforehand, and I will come out to meet you As far as Cho-fu-sa.\* -Ezra Pound, _The River-Merchant’s Wife- A Letter_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591/80 "2008-10-21T01:32:00Z")
"If chaos were lightning, he would be the man on top of a hill in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting “All gods are bastards!’” – _The Light Fantastic_ by Terry Pratchett [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-quotes-you-know-off-the-top-of-your-head/468591.md?page=5)