And has that question ever been asked before on the SDMB?
I might be paraphrasing slightly, but I believe it was:
-Aristotle
IMHO I would say it was…
Jesus in John 3:3…“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Moderator’s Note: This being a question of opinion, and not a question with a factual answer, it belongs in our “In My Humble Opinion” forum, so I’ll move it there now.
I was hoping there would be a factual answer. But As the first few posts indicate - it will probably never go beyond opinion.
How is that possible? In the least, what constitutes “clever saying” is purely a matter of opinion.
Didn’t Eccelsiastes say it before Aristotle?
I like René Descartes’ saying “I think, therefore I am.”
Of course, it leads to all sorts of jokes about “I think not.”
Because it was a response to a situation, I especially like Mark Twain’s remark, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
From one of America’s most clever authors:
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
- Mark Twain
“Lady Astor, if I was your husband I’d…”
There’s a great line from an episode of Newhart when Michael (Peter Scolari) and Stephanie (Julia Duffy) were charging people for looks at their newborn daughter, determing how close the spectators could get by the value of their gifts.
Larry, Darryl and Darryl (William Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss and John Voldstad) offered a frozen goose.
Michael: “Well, I guess a goose is good for a gander.”
Cracks me up every time.
The Churchill line when the woman says “you’re drunk” and he says “yes, but you’re ugly, and in the morning I’ll be sober.”
“Your Majesty is like a dose of clap”
Glad someone caught that… actually it was Ecclesiastes 1:9 - "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. "
“There they are…hear no evil, see no evil, and evil”
Bob Dole commenting on a congregation of Jimmy carter, Gerald ford and Richard Nixon at a white House event.
Monty Python Troupe in a scene about Bruce, Bruce, and Bruce in Australia done as a song:
And many, many Douglas Adams things… too many to list.
Sometimes I think I’m pretty witty. Turns out I’m just half right.
“It is better to travel hopefully then to arrive”
Robert Louis Stevenson
Thank you for the correction. I was going by what I’ve always been told. I will inform the appropriate synapses immediately.
When I joined the army, my dad told me:
“Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can sleep, never pass up a chance to use the bathroom and don’t volunteer for anything”, there was never a wiser man.
unclviny