“Quite collected at cocktail parties,
meanwhile in my head
I'm undergoing open-heart surgery.”
Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States
Variant: Meanwhile in my head, I’m undergoing open-heart surgery.
Source: Transformations
Source: Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies - (Second Edition), Chapter 5, Problems, p. 95
“Quite collected at cocktail parties,
meanwhile in my head
I'm undergoing open-heart surgery.”
Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States
Variant: Meanwhile in my head, I’m undergoing open-heart surgery.
Source: Transformations
John Waters (1946) American filmmaker, actor, comedian and writer
Books, Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste (1981)
“First impression only opens the door, but does not lock it.”
Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author
Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Neurotics and neurosis
John Buchan (1875–1940) British politician
This has similarly been attributed to Buchan, but is actually a misrendering of a sentence from the first paragraph of John Bunyan, Discourse on Prayer. Bunyan's original sentence reads: "It is the opener of the heart of God, and a means by which the soul, though empty, is filled."
Misattributed
“He used to do surgery
On girls in the eighties,
But gravity always wins.”
Thom Yorke (1968) English musician, philanthropist and singer-songwriter
Fake Plastic Trees
Lyrics, The Bends (1995)
“Minor surgery is surgery that someone else is having”
Fred Thompson (1942–2015) American politician and actor
Teaching the Pig to Dance
“The Theory of Evolution has more holes in it than a dam made out of Swiss cheese.”
Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books
Source: The Time Paradox
“There may be open doors before me, but I'm always drawn to the one that's locked.”
Book: Cometan, the Omnidoxy