Mary Howitt book The Spider and the Fly
The Spider and the Fly, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Flying Dutch (1991)
Mary Howitt book The Spider and the Fly
The Spider and the Fly, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“The first-beginnings of things cannot be seen by the eyes.”
Nequeunt oculis rerum primordia cerni.
Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher
Book I, line 268 (tr. Munro)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
Christine O'Donnell (1969) American Tea Party politician and former Republican Party candidate
TV appearances
“And as every spy knows, common enemies are how allies always begin.”
Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Jasper Johns (1930) American artist
Watchman. Somewhere here, there is the question of "seeing clearly". Seeing what? According to what?
Book A (sketchbook), c 1965: as quoted in Jasper Johns, Writings, sketchbook Notes, Interviews, ed. Kirk Varnedoe, Moma New York, 1996, p. 60
1960s
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Version given in Irrepressible Churchill: A Treasury of Winston Churchill’s Wit by Kay Halle, 1966 <br class="br">Apocryphal, originally featured Noël Coward and Randolph Churchill (Winston’s son); attested 1946 (columnist Walter Winchell, attributed to anonymous United Press journalist in London). Originally only featured first half about lack of friend; second half (retort about lack of second performance) attested 1948, as was replacement of personages by George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill. Specific plays added in later variants, ranging from Man and Superman (1903) to Saint Joan (1923), and appeared in biographies and quote collections from the 1960s. <br class="br">The quote is presumably apocryphal due to earliest attestations being too different, less famous personages (easily replaced by more famous ones), the quotation becoming more elaborate in later versions, the 20+ year gap between putative utterance and first attestation, and the approximately 50 year gap between putative utterance and appearance in reference works, all as undocumented hearsay. <br class="br">Detailed discussion at “ Here are Two Tickets for the Opening of My Play. Bring a Friend—If You Have One http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/03/25/two-tickets-shaw/”, Garson O’Toole, Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/, March 25, 2012. <br class="br">Misattributed
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Version given in Irrepressible Churchill: A Treasury of Winston Churchill’s Wit by Kay Halle, 1966 <br class="br">Apocryphal, from 1946. See discussion at Winston Churchill#Misattributed, and detailed discussion at “ Here are Two Tickets for the Opening of My Play. Bring a Friend—If You Have One http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/03/25/two-tickets-shaw/”, Garson O’Toole, Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/, (March 25, 2012) <br class="br">Misattributed