“All the sincerity in Hollywood you could stuff in a flea's navel and still have room left to conceal eight caraway seeds and an agent's heart.”

—  Fred Allen

From a lost letter to Kenny Delmar quoted in Earl Wilson's syndicated column (May 1959).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 4, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "All the sincerity in Hollywood you could stuff in a flea's navel and still have room left to conceal eight caraway seed…" by Fred Allen?
Fred Allen photo
Fred Allen 12
comedian 1894–1956

Related quotes

Fred Thompson photo

“I often say after eight years in Washington, I longed for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.”

Fred Thompson (1942–2015) American politician and actor

[Associated Press, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/1401AP_Fred_Thompson_Leno.html, Fred Thompson wants nation's top job, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 12, 2007, 2007-06-13]

Emily Carr photo

“If you're going to lick the icing off somebody else's cake you won't be nourished and it won't do you any good, or you might find the cake had caraway seeds and you hate them.”

Emily Carr (1871–1945) Canadian painter and writer
Isocrates photo

“Never hope to conceal any shameful thing which you have done; for even if you do conceal it from others, your own heart will know.”

Isocrates (-436–-338 BC) ancient greek rhetorician

Verse 16.
To Demonicus
Context: Never hope to conceal any shameful thing which you have done; for even if you do conceal it from others, your own heart will know. … Pursue the enjoyments which are of good repute; for pleasure attended by honor is the best thing in the world, but pleasure without honor is the worst.

Edmond Rostand photo

“Malebranche would have it that not a soul is left; we humbly think that there still are hearts.”

Edmond Rostand Chantecler

Malebranche dirait qu’il n’y a plus une âme:
Nous pensons humblement qu’il reste encor des cœurs.
Prelude
Chantecler (1910)

Jesse Ventura photo

“I proved that you could be at 10 percent and still end up winning. And I did it in a mere eight weeks.”

Jesse Ventura (1951) American politician and former professional wrestler

Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! (2008)
Context: Now whether or not someone can participate in debates is based upon an arbitrary polling figure. You have to be polling nationally at 15 percent. If that criteria had been applied in Minnesota, I would not have become the governor. Because at the time of the primary, I was only polling at 10 percent. But I was allowed to debate, and I proved that you could be at 10 percent and still end up winning. And I did it in a mere eight weeks.

Ch. 15 (p. 286)

Jean-Luc Godard photo

“Movies in Hollywood now, for the past 20 or 30 years, are made mainly by lawyers or agents.”

Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic

ibid.
Cited in: Ideas, not plots, inspire Jean-Luc Godard http://www.csmonitor.com/1994/0803/03121.html, csmonitor.com, August 3, 1994

Ramakrishna photo

“Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.”

Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher

Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942), p. 423
Context: Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it "jal". From another ghat the Mussalmāns take water in leather bags and call it "pāni". From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it "water". Suppose someone says that the thing is not "jal" but "pāni", or that it is not "pāni" but "water", or that it is not "water" but "jal", It would indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.

Jonathan Swift photo

“So, naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bit 'em;
And so proceed ad infinitum.
Thus every poet, in his kind,
Is bit by him that comes behind.”

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet

On Poetry: Poetry, a Rhapsody (1733)

“Sometimes defining friendship can be simple. If your heart still aches after someone has passed, then you were a true and close friend. They may have physically left this world, but they still walk among us in our hearts.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

2018

Related topics