# Looking for quote ending 'in short, I have arrived' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716 "2002-10-17T19:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/1 "2002-10-17T19:14:51Z")
Looking for a quote from an old movie or play which goes, roughly: **"I have survived the [comically big word (henceforth, “cbw”)] [cbw] [cbw] [cbw] or our [cbw] [cbw] enemies; in short, I have arrived."** It seems to me that it came out of the mouth of W. C. Fields, but I probably have it all wrong. Does this ring a bell with anyone out there in computer monitor land? This has been bugging me all day, and google and bartleby’s are no help. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/2 "2002-10-17T20:08:18Z")
It sounds kind of like a line from _The Man Who Came to Dinner_ which is both a play and a film. There is a character named Beverly Carlton (Beverly being a man’s name way back then) that was sort of loosely based on Noel Coward. He had lines that were very much like that. eg/ “So tell me, without going into mountainous waves of self-pity, how are you?” However, I could be wrong – it’s been a very long time since I’ve read or seen the play. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainGeordie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@CaptainGeordie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainGeordie)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/3 "2002-10-17T20:43:51Z")
W.C. Fields is partly on the right track. It’s a line uttered by him in his character of Mr Micawber in the 1948 film ‘David Copperfield’. The novel. by Charles Dickens has the original lines, but I don’t have the book to hand. Basically, Micawber is giving a long rigmarole about his journey through London, saying something like…’ my perilous perambulations have reached their destination…in short, I have arrived." Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/4 "2002-10-17T22:36:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptainGeordie \* > I don’t have the book to hand. Please allow me to introduce you to this cool new thing called [the Internet](http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/t9.cgi?entry=766&full=yes&ftpsite=http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/). 😉 Alas, my search of the full text of the book from Project Gutenberg turns up no use of the phrase “I have arrived.” I also searched for “perilous” (no matches), “perambulations” (one match, not the given quote), and “destination” (several matches, none the given quote). I don’t dispute that this quote may well be in the movie (IMDb has no quotes for this film), but I see no evidence that Dickens wrote it. Also, the version of [_David Copperfield_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0026266) which starred W. C. Fields as Mr. Micawber came out in 1935, not 1948. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/5 "2002-10-18T00:08:04Z")
I found this in the Project Gutenberg text: > [@](#): > > ‘Under the impression,’ said Mr. Micawber, ‘that your > peregrinations in this metropolis have not as yet been extensive, > and that you might have some difficulty in penetrating the arcana > of the Modern Babylon in the direction of the City Road, - in > short,’ said Mr. Micawber, in another burst of confidence, ‘that > you might lose yourself - I shall be happy to call this evening, > and install you in the knowledge of the nearest way.’ Could that be the quote you were thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![gsteven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9a28c/32.png) [@gsteven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gsteven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/6 "2016-11-29T23:42:50Z")
From the MGM film (NOT in the Dickens text): Mr. Micawber: So relentlessly pursued over aerie and housetop, and vice versa, I have thwarted the malevolent machinations of our scurrilous enemies; in short, I have arrived. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/7 "2016-11-30T01:20:11Z")
Aaaand … 14 years, 6 weeks and 3 hours later we have the correct answer. Bravo **gsteven**. No question is too obsure for us to let it die unanswered. Welcome. You may enjoy hanging out here. Some of the folks in this thread way back then are still here. Others have wandered off probably never to return. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/8 "2016-11-30T02:19:22Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Others have wandered off probably never to return. In short, they’ve departed. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/9 "2016-11-30T02:38:06Z")
Spectacular way to join, a pyrotechnic revival of a zombie that had stumped the wisdom of the collective for 14 years. In short, **gsteven** , you have arrived. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/10 "2016-11-30T02:46:32Z")
Let’s move this over to Cafe Society, a forum that didn’t exist when this thread was started 14 years ago. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/11 "2016-11-30T02:49:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Let’s move this over to Cafe Society, a forum that didn’t exist when this thread was started 14 years ago. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator …and in short, you have arrived. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/12 "2016-11-30T03:02:45Z")
Should we try him out on the 14 k of g in a f p d riddle? It’s not as old, but it certainly stumped all of us. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/13 "2016-12-03T00:15:46Z")
[http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/342914/David-Copperfield-Movie-Clip-I-Have-Arrived-.html](http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/342914/David-Copperfield-Movie-Clip-I-Have-Arrived-.html) I’m guessing this wasn’t available yet in 2002, but it’s easily the first link if one were to Google trying to find it today. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-quote-ending-in-short-i-have-arrived/132716/14 "2016-12-03T12:42:49Z")
Unfortunately the OP hasn’t posted in 12 years.