Quotes/Passages that stick in your mind

There are 2 quotes from 1984 that scared me.

  1. The obvious, about a boot stamping on a human face…forever.

  2. When O’Brien tells Winston Smith that the liquid O’Brien is drinking is called “Wine”

This struck me as really chilling. The mere fact that a person would not know what wine was I found to be alarming.
So what other quotes/passages have made impacts on you.

From 1984 or from any source?

I’m not a huge fan of Dune, but I love the line, “Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death.”

From any source

To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee; For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.
Moby Dick

Beware, beware,
His flashing eyes, his floating hair,
Weave a circle round him thrice
And close your eyes with holy dread
for he on honeydew hath fed
And drunk the milk of paradise

–Coleridge, “Xanadu”

“Fuck you. I hate your fucking guts.”
Oh…you mean published quotes. Nevermind…

“A walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet.”

  • National Lampoon, “Deteriorata”

I have no idea what it’s from, but when I was about 10, I read a couple of pages of some horror novel that my brother had left lying around, and of course the page I flipped to was a scene where a couple get attacked by zombies, and the girl climbs a tree to get away from them and has bits of her boyfriend flying up and sticking to her as the zombies eat him.

To this day, I still think of that and freak out a little.

A policeman and a newsman are discussing freedom of the press:

Newsman: “I couldn’t tell you even if I knew, because of the freedom of the press”.

Officer: “Freedom to pour oil on a flame, d’you mean?”

Newsman: “That’s freedom for you. Noone said it was nice.”

–Terry Pratchett, “Thud”

I remember reading somewhere that “Everybody’s life has problems all the time.” I’ve gotten a lot of use out of that thought.

From philospher Robert Fulghum: Life is lumpy. And a lump in your oatmeal, a lump in your throat, and a lump in your breast are not the same lump.

“I am Ozymandias, King of Kings
Look upon my works, ye mighty, and Despair.”

– from Ozymandias by Shelley

Another Terry Pratchett quote, “Build a man a fire, you keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire, you keep him warm for the rest of his life.” :slight_smile:

This is one that came to my mind as well.

I also appreciate “No matter where you go, there you are,” from Buckaroo Banzai (and he probably heard it from someone else).

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry
and has widely been regarded as a bad move.

–Douglas Adams

From Shakespeare:

"The older order changeth, giving way to the new, and God fulfills himself in many ways - and soon, I suppose, I shall be swept away by some vulgar little tumour.

"My boys, we are at the end of an age. We live in a land of weather forecasts and breakfasts that ‘set in’. Shat on by Tories, shovelled up by Labour.

“Now which of you is going to be a splendid fellow and go down to the Rolls for the rest of the wine?”

  • Uncle Monty, Withnail and I

“London is a city coming down from its trip, and there’s going to be a lot of refugees.”

  • Danny the dealer, Withnail and I

“We are at the end of an age. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is nearly over. They’re selling hippy wigs in Woolworths. It is 91 days to the end of the decade and as Presumin’ Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.”

  • Ibid.

(And the rest of the movie, too.)

My personal favorite from Withnail and I: “I demand to have some booze!”

“I have measured out my life in coffee spoon.”

“And in short, I was afraid.”

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each
I do not think that they will sing to me.”

  • “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock,” T S Eliot

“Why did you decide to hit me on the head with a fish while I was fighting for my life?”
-Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon

“My love died a very good death.”
-Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage, Madeleine L’Engle

“Lying in bed would be a perfect activity if only one had a pencil long enough to reach the ceiling”
-On Lying in Bed and Other Essays, G. K. Chesterton

“The sea has many voices/ Many gods, and many voices.”
-The Dry Salvages, T. S. Eliot

“If I climb up to heaven, Thou art there:/ if I go down to hell, thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,/ even there also shall Thy hand lead me,/ and Thy right hand shall hold me”
-Psalm 139

There’s always one isn’t there?

(thus far published many times)

Giles, that one’s stuck in my mind, too, but only because I had to memorize it for a Shakespeare class I took.