“For Beatrice--I would much prefer it if you were alive and well.”
Lemony Snicket
The Wide Window (2000)
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Daniel Handler 190
American novelist, children's writer, creator of Lemony Sni… 1970Related quotes
“I prefer to stay alive and be criticized than be sympathized.”
Fallaci interview (1973)
An Inland Voyage (1878), Ch. III, "The Royal Sport Nautique".
Letter to Lucy Donnely, April 22, 1906
1900s
“I would much prefer to be a judge than a coal miner because of the absence of falling coal.”
"Sitting on the Bench" (1961)
Beyond the Fringe (1960 - 1966)
Context: I could have been a Judge, but I never had the Latin for the judgin'. I never had it, so I'd had it, as far as being a judge was concerned... I would much prefer to be a judge than a coal miner because of the absence of falling coal.
“MORAL: If it were not for the presents, an elopement would be preferable.”
The Fable of the General Manager of the Love Affair Who Demanded a Furlough http://books.google.com/books?id=2_ssAAAAYAAJ&q=%22MORAL+If+it+were+not+for+the+presents+an+elopement+would+be+preferable%22&pg=PA218#v=onepage, Forty Modern Fables (1901)
“I
prefer to be the noisiest thing in my environment thank you very much.”
Source: The Throne of Fire
Steve Smith after scoring 23rd test century. https://www.cricket.com.au/news/steve-smith-century-australia-england-ashes-mcg-boxing-day-video-highlights-bradman-ponting/2017-12-30%3fmode=amp, 30 December, 2017.
Answering a suggestion that the Soviets would prefer a Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher than a Labour government headed by Neil Kinnock at a press conference in Moscow after a meeting with Anatoly Dobrynin (11 May 1987), quoted in E. B. Geelhoed, Margaret Thatcher: In Victory and Downfall, 1987 and 1990 (Greenwood, 1992), pp. 120-1.
1980s
Letter to her mother (14 March 1847)
Context: I know, Mother, you feel badly and that you would prefer to have me take some other course, if I could in conscience. Yet, Mother, I know you too well to suppose that you would wish me to turn away from what I think is my duty. I surely would not be a public speaker if I sought a life of ease, for it will be a most laborious one; nor would I do it for the sake of honor, for I know that I shall be disesteemed, even hated, by some who are now my friends, or who profess to be. Neither would I do it if I sought wealth, because I could secure it with far more ease and worldly honor by being a teacher. If I would be true to myself, true to my Heavenly Father, I must pursue that course of conduct which, to me, appears best calculated to promote the highest good of the world.