“And for the few that only lend their ear,
That few is all the world.”
Samuel Daniel book Musophilus
Musophilus (1599), Stanza 97, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Blasphemy is the word that the majority hisses into the ear of the few.”
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
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Robert G. Ingersoll439
Union United States Army officer 1833–1899Related quotes
“Happy will they be who lend ear to the words of the Dead.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XX Humorous Writings
“The belly has no ears nor is it to be filled with fair words.”
Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel
Original: …l'estomach affamé n'a poinct d'aureilles, il n'oyt goutte.
Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 63.
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint
Source: The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (c.1565), Ch. XXV. "Divine Locutions. Discussions on That Subject" ¶ 1 & 2
Context: It will be as well, I think, to explain these locutions of God, and to describe what the soul feels when it receives them, in order that you, my father, may understand the matter; for ever since that time of which I am speaking, when our Lord granted me that grace, it has been an ordinary occurrence until now, as will appear by what I have yet to say.
The words are very distinctly formed; but by the bodily ear they are not heard. They are, however, much more clearly understood than they would be if they were heard by the ear. It is impossible not to understand them, whatever resistance we may offer. When we wish not to hear anything in this world, we can stop our ears, or give attention to something else: so that, even if we do hear, at least we can refuse to understand. In this locution of God addressed to the soul there is no escape, for in spite of ourselves we must listen; and the understanding must apply itself so thoroughly to the comprehension of that which God wills we should hear, that it is nothing to the purpose whether we will it or not; for it is His will, Who can do all things.
“Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.”
Litterae autem sunt indices rerum, signa verborum, quibus tanta vis est, ut nobis dicta absentium sine voce loquantur. Verba enim per oculos non per aures introducunt.
Isidore of Seville book Etymologiae
Bk. 1, ch. 3, sect. 1; p. 96.
Etymologiae
“Mother of quartz, your words writhe into my ear.
Renew the light, lewd whisper.”
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963) American poet
"The Shape of the Fire," ll. 54 - 55
The Lost Son and Other Poems (1948)