Where did the phrase “I hate [insert object] with the white-hot passion of a thousand burning suns” come from?
Seems too cool yet eloquent to not have come from a book.
WRS
I wish I knew!
I once got in a huge argument with a guy over this statement. I said it and he said it was stupid because there is only 1 sun not 1000. Of course, I pointed out that all the stars were suns. The guy said something like there is only ONE sun, our sun, that is it’s name, other stars have their own names. I pointed out the sun’s name is Sol not “the sun.”
It just went on and on. By the end of the argument, I hated HIM with the white hot passion of a thousand burning suns.
I could have sworn this was a line from Heathers, but I just looked and the IMDB entry for the film doesn’t list it under “memorable quotes”. So, I guess the purpose of this post is to say I thought I knew when I hit “reply”, but it turns out I didn’t, so it’s still a mystery.
A friend of mine has quoted “I hate these people with the heat of a nova” from The West Wing (which is well-known for clever, snappy dialogue by Aaron Sorkin). Perhaps the “thousand suns” phrase was a misquote or embellishment, or maybe the “nova” one was the misquote.
Or maybe it came from a book.
I don’t know; I googled, but to no avail.
I much prefer a rage burning with the fire of a million suns, though.
Happy
I first saw it on an old episode (one of the eps. with Diane) of Cheers, so it goes at least that far back (which would be—what?—mid ‘80s?). Diane says it to (I think) Same when they are having one of their lover’s spats. I think. I think it may have been in a two-parter where they are hurling insults at each other and pinching each others’ noses and that sort of thing. (But I could be wrong about the episode—but not about the line being used on Cheers and being uttered by Diane.)
That may be where it originates. All I know is that Cheers is where I got it and I never heard anyone else use it until recently.
Not Same, SAM. Yeesh.
I first saw it in ten things I hate about you. Which is a modernisation of Taming of the Shrew, complete with many direct quotes from same. I always assumed that was one of them.
Totally off topic, but the OP phrase always makes me think of Madeleine Kahn in Clue:
Ohh, and your quote reminds me of A Knight’s Tale, when the red headed guy (Wat Falhurst) gets really ticked at someone and he can’t get out a full sentence…
“Pain, lots of pain!”
First, I’m in awe that jsc1953 got that Clue quote exactly correct! It’s one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies. 
To the OP, I seem to recall Diane from Cheers saying it too… it’s certainly older than West Wing or Ten Things.
Jean Grey, I would love to accept your awe, with all due modesty. But I just cut & pasted it from the IMDB.
I always thought that it came from Khan in Star Trek II.
The “radiance” or “light” of “a thousand suns” is a recurring element in Hindu mythology:
I also remember seeing it in an episode of Cheers.
Bordelond has it exactly correct.
Now, you might ask, since the average American would never care enough to read Hindu philosophy, how would this term enter the US mainstream use?
Thanks to Fred Shapiro, the master quote sleuth over at the American Dialect Society, we know that J. Robert Oppenheimer used it to describe the first atom bomb test at Alamogordo.
I found it used also by a newspaper writer in a Wisconsin newspaper story in 1961. No doubt he remembered Oppenheimer using it.
I also remember it from Cheers. I think it was the end of the first season where Sam and Diane were having one of their fights and wound up in bed.
And at that, it was only the second-most memorable line of the fight, which ended with Sam saying “Are you as turned on as I am?”
Diane: “More!”
I’m pretty sure that pre-dated Ten Things I Hate About You.
bordelond and samclem: pretty impressive!