“I think sir, since you care for the advice of an old man, sir, you will find it a very good practise, always to verify your references, sir!”

— Martin Joseph Routh

Advice given to Dean John William Burgon, (29 November 1847), in response to the question: "Every studious man, in the course of a long and thoughtful life, has had occasion to experience the special value of some one axiom or precept. Would you mind giving me the benefit of such a word of advice?"; quoted in Lives of twelve good men, by John William Burgon, 1888, vol. 1 p. 73.

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 "I think sir, since you care for the advice of an old man, sir, you will find it a very good practise, always to verify …" by Martin Joseph Routh?

Martin Joseph Routh4

Classical scholar and college head 1755–1854

Related quotes

“No, sir. Go to hell sir. It's the best I can do for you sir.”

Jack London book Call of the Wild

Source: The Call of the Wild

“"I don't want to seem always to be criticizing your methods of voice production, Jeeves," I said, "but I must inform you that that 'Well, sir' of yours is in many respects fully as unpleasant as your 'Indeed, sir?'”

P.G. Wodehouse book Right Ho, Jeeves

Like the latter, it seems to be tinged with a definite scepticism. It suggests a lack of faith in my vision. The impression I retain after hearing you shoot it at me a couple of times is that you consider me to be talking through the back of my neck, and that only a feudal sense of what is fitting restrains you from substituting for it the words 'Says you!'"
Source: Right Ho, Jeeves (1934)

“Thank you, good sir, I owe you one.”

George Colman the Younger (1762–1836) English dramatist and writer

The Poor Gentleman, Act I, Scene 2, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

“"She's like a woman, sir, take care of her and she'll take care of you." "You'll notice he let Mister Sharpe do the ramming, sir."”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Rifleman Hagman and Sergeant Patrick Harper, p. 188
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Havoc (2003)

“And you, old sir, we are told you prospered once.”

Homér Iliad

XXIV. 543 (tr. R. Lattimore); Achilles to Priam.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“I thank you sir for your generous sympathy, but I die the death I always prayed for, the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man.”

Johann de Kalb (1721–1780) American general

To a British military officer (August 1780), as quoted in Washington and the Generals of the American Revolution (1856), by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, William Gilmore Simms, and Edward Duncan Ingraham. J.B. Lippincott, p. 271. Also quoted in "Death of Baron De Kalb" https://books.google.com/books?id=k2QAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=%22I+thank+you+sir+for+your+generous+sympathy,+but+I+die+the+death+I+always+prayed+for:+the+death+of+a+soldier+fighting+for+the+rights+of+man%22&source=bl&ots=-93hJzoCYU&sig=tAag8ObQI-ZjiII56viczov02wM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VlYVVcuJI4KmNsazgYgL&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22I%20thank%20you%20sir%20for%20your%20generous%20sympathy%2C%20but%20I%20die%20the%20death%20I%20always%20prayed%20for%3A%20the%20death%20of%20a%20soldier%20fighting%20for%20the%20rights%20of%20man%22&f=false (1849), by Benjamin Franklin Ells, The Western Miscellany, Volume 1, p. 233. These were reportedly his last words. <br class="br">1780s

“"You had no choice, sir." "There's always a choice."”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Lieutenant Robert Knowles and Captain Richard Sharpe on the destruction of Almieda's magazine, p. 239
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Gold (1981)

“"It is you, sir?" "Sergeant Barret, isn't it?" "Yes, sir." "It is me" They bloody hung you, sir." "This army can't do anything right, Sergeant."”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Sergeant Barret and Major Richard Sharpe, p. 273
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)