Epitaph for John Adams (1829), inscribed on one of the portals of the United First Parish Church Unitarian (Church of the Presidents), Quincy
“To many women mistake a man's hostility for wit and his silence for depth.”
“His mind fell asleep. His wits fell awake. His cock trembled like a harp-string.”
Source: Titus Alone (1959), Chapter 42 (p. 881)
Reaction to the Tsar's invitation (August 1898) to the Hague Conference of 1899, quoted in Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War (London: Pimlico, 2004), pp. 429-430
1890s
“The artists is responsible for his history and his nature, his history is part of his nature.”
after 1967 - posthumous
Source: Gerhard Richter, Doubt and belief in painting, Robert Storr, MOMA, New York, 2003, p. 32 note 1.
"The Altar of Righteousness" in Harper's Monthly (June 1904).
Context: God by God flits past in thunder, till His glories turn to shades;
God to God bears wondering witness how His gospel flames and fades.
More was each of these, yet they were, than man their servant seemed:
Dead are all of these, and man survives who made them while he dreamed.
“It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.”
Book III, ch. 11. Compare: "The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts", Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas, in Sheridaniana.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)
“The Schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand,
Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.”
Part I, line 58. Compare: "Whistling to keep myself from being afraid", John Dryden, Amphitryon Act iii, scene 1.
The Grave (1743)
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
