“Everything was twice repeated,
Sometimes more than twice repeated,
As they worked through the agenda
(It seemed elastic, that agenda,
Becoming longer, never shorter),
Their utterances grew long, not shorter,
It was just like spreading butter.”

— Gavin Ewart

"The Meeting", line 11, from The New Ewart (1982)

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 "Everything was twice repeated, Sometimes more than twice repeated, As they worked through the agenda (It seemed elas…" by Gavin Ewart?

Gavin Ewart 4

English poet 1916–1995

Related quotes

“Never repeat the words of your enemy. When you do, their words are heard twice and yours only once.”

Jeffrey Montgomery (1953–2016) American LGBT rights activist and public relations executive

[Woodhull Freedom Foundation mourns death of one of its founders, Jeffrey Montgomery, Levy, Ricci J., Woodhull Freedom Foundation, July 19, 2016, 2016-07-20, http://www.woodhullfoundation.org/2016/sex-and-politics/woodhull-freedom-foundation-mourns-death-of-one-of-its-founders-jeffrey-montgomery-a-leader-activist-a-mentor-and-sexual-freedom-movement-hero/]

“.. the Place de l'Opera [in Paris] gives a better image of the new life than many theories. Its rhythms of opposition, twice repeated in its two directions, realizes a living equilibrium through the exactness of its execution.”

Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) Peintre Néerlandais

Quote of Mondrian before 1930; as cited in 'The New Art – The New Life', Piet Mondrian, op. cit. Introd. Note 1., 1931
1930's

“No matter how thoroughly a person may have learned the Greek alphabet, he will never be in a condition to repeat it backwards without further training. But if he chances to set out purposely to learn it backwards, he will probably accomplish this in noticeably shorter time than was the case in the previous learning in the customary order.”

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) German psychologist

Source: Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology, 1885, p. 113

“… people didn't seem to be able to remember what it was like with the elves around. Life was certainly more interesting then, but usually because it was shorter. And it was more colorful, if you liked the color of blood.”

Terry Pratchett book Lords and Ladies

Source: Lords and Ladies

“Costly followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he make his wings shorter.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Followers and Friends
Essays (1625)

“He had utter disdain for the Nazis and had no time for their racial purity agenda.”

Erich von Manstein (1887–1973) German general

Nuremberg Trial transcripts

“A work on tidal theory… led me to Lagrange's Mécanique analytique and thereby I returned to those ideas of analysis. All the developments in that work were transformed through the principles of the new analysis in such a simple way that the calculations often came out more than ten times shorter than in Lagrange's work.”

Hermann Grassmann (1809–1877) German polymath, linguist and mathematician

the "ideas of analysis" to which he returned, are those quoted above.
Ausdehnungslehre (1844)

“The "mountain-sea" spirit means that it is bad to repeat the same thing several times when fighting the enemy. There may be no help but to do something twice, but do not try it a third time.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Fire Book
Context: The "mountain-sea" spirit means that it is bad to repeat the same thing several times when fighting the enemy. There may be no help but to do something twice, but do not try it a third time. If you once make an attack and fail, there is little chance of success if you use the same approach again.

“No lie you can speak or act but it will come, after longer or shorter circulation, like a Bill drawn on Nature's Reality, and be presented there for payment, — with the answer, No effects.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Pt. I, Bk. III, ch. 1.
1830s, The French Revolution. A History (1837)

“Whether it is being just a company or "more than just a company," Google's geopolitical aspirations are firmly enmeshed within the foreign-policy agenda of the world's largest superpower.”

Julian Assange book When Google Met Wikileaks

Source: Julian Assange, "When Google Met Wikileaks" (ORbooks, New York, 2014), p. 46

“Everything was twice repeated,Sometimes more than twice repeated,As they worked through the agenda(It seemed elastic, that agenda,Becoming longer, never shorter),Their utterances grew long, not shorter,It was just like spreading butter.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Gavin Ewart 4

Related quotes

Related topics

“Everything was twice repeated,
Sometimes more than twice repeated,
As they worked through the agenda
(It seemed elastic, that agenda,
Becoming longer, never shorter),
Their utterances grew long, not shorter,
It was just like spreading butter.”