"Contributory Negligence", from Cautionary Tales for Dead Commuters (1985)
Written for a judge who said a raped woman hitchhiker had been guilty of "contributory negligence". In the poem, Attila hitches a lift with a judge, attacks him and uses the ruling in his defence.
“Will darted back to the gutter, and picked up the knife, and the fight was over.”
Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy
Source: His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997), Ch. 8 : The Tower of the Angels
Context: Will darted back to the gutter, and picked up the knife, and the fight was over. The young man, cut and battered, clambered up the step, and saw Will standing above him holding the knife; he stared with a sickly anger and then turned and fled.
Ben Folds (1966) American musician
"Still Fighting It", Rockin' the Suburbs (2001).
Song lyrics, Solo
Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film
Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, Part 3
“What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, & Understanding?”
Elvis Costello (1954) English singer-songwriter
Though Costello's cover became a hit, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", was actually written by Nick Lowe.
Misattributed
Context: As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity,
I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?
And each time I feel like this inside,
There's one thing I wanna know:
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, & Understanding?
“What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and world destruction?”
James Patterson (1947) American author
Source: Angel
Tom Tancredo (1945) American politician
Lincoln Day Dinner Speech http://blogs.iowapolitics.com/lincolnday/070414tancredo.mp3 (April 14, 2007).
Donovan (1946) Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist
Sunshine Superman (1966), Season Of The Witch
St. Vincent (musician) (1982) American singer-songwriter
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: I enjoyed, and I tried to soak up and learn everything as fast as I could from doing any kind of music. It's good to have a gig. If you're a musician, it's good to be working.
I love doing all of it, but Marry Me is my baby, St. Vincent is my child.
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
John Muir book My First Summer in the Sierra
Terry Gifford, EWDB, page 248 <br class="br">First line of the documentary film " John Muir in the New World http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/john-muir-in-the-new-world/watch-the-full-documentary-film/1823/" (American Masters), produced, directed, and written by Catherine Tatge. <br class="br">Source: 1860s, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1869
