“I have seen their backs before, madam.”
This is attributed to Wellington as a statement to an unidentified woman at a reception in Vienna, who had apologized for the rudeness of some French officers who had turned their backs on him when he entered, as quoted in Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes (2000), edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard, p. 568
This is attributed to Wellington as a statement to King Louis XVIII at a ball in the spring of 1814, as quoted in "Anecdotes of Wellington" at The Wellington Society of Madrid http://www.wellsoc.org/Anecdotes.htm
Variant: 'Tis of no matter, your Highness, I have seen their backs before.
Source: https://books.google.cl/books?id=aarPgpKPA0oC&q=vienna+I%27ve+seen+their+backs+before,+madam&dq=vienna+I%27ve+seen+their+backs+before,+madam&hl=es-419&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiyz4SKk93sAhVyBtQKHZx7AjsQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg page 27
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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington 45
British soldier and statesman 1769–1852Related quotes
“Madam, I have come from a country where people are hanged if they talk.”
In Berlin, to the Queen Mother of Prussia, on his lack of conversation in his meeting with her, on his return from Russia; as quoted in Science in Russian Culture : A History to 1860 (1963) Alexander Vucinich
Variant: Madame... I have come from a country where one can be hanged for what one says.
The Wild Gallant, act ii. scene. 2.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Madame, I am the civilization they are fighting for.”
Supposedly said by Strachey in response to a woman who demanded he "fight for civilization" in World War One.
Misattributed
News from Nowhere (1890)
Context: Go back again, now you have seen us, and your outward eyes have learned that in spite of all the infallible maxims of your day there is yet a time of rest in store for the world, when mastery has changed into fellowship — but not before. Go back again, then, and while you live you will see all round you people engaged in making others live lives which are not their own, while they themselves care nothing for their own real lives — men who hate life though they fear death. Go back and be the happier for having seen us, for having added a little hope to your struggle. Go on living while you may, striving, with whatsoever pain and labour needs must be, to build up little by little the new day of fellowship, and rest, and happiness.
Source: As quoted in "A girl no longer, but . . . De Carlo's a beauty still" (1975)
“I got you ten ways from Sunday, madam!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl4CngB5CVo&feature=related
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Margaret Thatcher, at a Tory party conference, holding a brush. (date unknown)
Leader of the Opposition