“He has singed the beard of the king of Spain.”

The Dutch Picture, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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Do you have more details about the quote "He has singed the beard of the king of Spain." by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow photo
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 202
American poet 1807–1882

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“It is almost impossible to bear the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing somebody’s beard.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

G 4
Variant translations:
It is almost impossible to carry the torch of wisdom through a crowd without singeing someone's beard.
It is virtually impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd, without singeing someone's beard
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook G (1779-1783)

Joseph Stalin photo

“Before your eyes rises the hero of Gogol's story who, in a fit of aberration, imagined that he was the King of Spain. Such is the fate of all megalomaniacs.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Proletariatis Brdzola August 1905, as quoted in Young Stalin (2007) by Simon Sebag Montefiore, p. 376
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“A bird doesn't sing because he has an answer, he sings because he has a song”

Joan Walsh Anglund (1926) American poet and children's book author

The quote has been misattributed to Maya Angelou at times, including on U.S. postage.
This quote by Joan Walsh Anglund (1967 in her book, A Cup of Sun) has been widely used by Maya Angelou without attribution to Walsh Walsh Anglund, and wrongly misattributed to Maya Angelou many, many times, including on U.S. postage. However, the quote belongs to Joan Walsh Anglund, and is from her book "A Cup of Sun" published in 1967. However, Maya Angelou changed the pronoun "He" to "It" but quoted everything else of Joan Walsh Anglund. Why Maya Angelou never attributed her most famous quote as being Joan Walsh Anglund's is still a mystery to this day.
Source: A Cup of Sun: A Book of Poems (1967)

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“She [Mary I] married Philip King of Spain, who in her sister's reign, was famous for building Armadas.”

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William Cowper photo

“Now let us sing — Long live the king,
And Gilpin, long live he;
And, when he next doth ride abroad,
May I be there to see!”

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“There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard.”

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“Beatrice: He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.”

Variant: He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.
Source: Much Ado About Nothing

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