“Whistled up to London, upon a Tom Fool's errand.”

—  Laurence Sterne , book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book I, Ch. 16.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Whistled up to London, upon a Tom Fool's errand." by Laurence Sterne?
Laurence Sterne photo
Laurence Sterne 50
Irish/English writer 1713–1768

Related quotes

Arthur Sullivan photo

“Goss and Bennett…trained him to make Europe yawn; and he took advantage of their training to make London and New York laugh and whistle.”

Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) English composer of the Gilbert & Sullivan duo

George Bernard Shaw, in The Scots Observer, September 6, 1890; cited from Dan H. Laurence (ed.) Shaw's Music (London: The Bodley Head, 1989) vol. 2, p. 174.
Criticism

Armistead Maupin photo

“Laugh all you want and cry all you want and whistle at pretty men in the street and to hell with anybody who thinks you're a damned fool!”

Armistead Maupin book More Tales of the City

Source: More Tales of the City

“The Schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand,
Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.”

Robert Blair The Grave

Part I, line 58. Compare: "Whistling to keep myself from being afraid", John Dryden, Amphitryon Act iii, scene 1.
The Grave (1743)

Thomas Friedman photo

“I think that we're going to know after six to nine months whether this project has any chance of succeeding. In which case, I think the American people as a whole will want to play it out or whether it really is a fool's errand.”

Thomas Friedman (1953) American journalist and author

The Oprah Winfrey Show, January 23, 2006
"The next … months" in Iraq

Peter Gabriel photo

“Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names
— whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside
— whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle.
It’s a knockout.”

Peter Gabriel (1950) English singer-songwriter, record producer and humanitarian

Games Without Frontiers
Song lyrics, Peter Gabriel (III) (1980)

Amy Poehler photo

“Surprising news from New York, the whistle-blower had his whistle blown!”

Amy Poehler (1971) American actress

citation needed
Weekend Update samples

John Byrom photo

“As clear as a whistle.”

John Byrom (1692–1763) Poet, inventor of a shorthand system

Epistle to Lloyd I' as quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Marilyn Monroe photo

“I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me — and that I've made of myself — as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman's and I can't live up to it.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Statement c. 1962, as quoted in Marilyn (1992) by Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham, Ch. 30
Variant: I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me — and that I've made of myself — as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman's and I can't live up to it.

Mr. T photo

“Shut up Murdock, crazy fool!”

Mr. T (1952) American actor and retired professional wrestler

Quotes from acting

Abraham Cowley photo

“Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.”

Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) British writer

Virgil, Georgics, book ii, line 72; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Ravish'd with the whistling of a name", Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, epistle iv, line 281.

Related topics