“There was all the world and his wife.”
Polite Conversation (1738), Dialogue 3
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Jonathan Swift141
Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet 1667–1745Related quotes
“He knows little who will tell his wife all he knows.”
Thomas Fuller (1608–1661) English churchman and historian
The Good Husband.
The Holy State and the Profane State (1642)
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic
Jeder liebt sein Land, seine Sitten, seine Sprache, sein Weib, seine Kinder, nicht weil sie die besten auf der Welt, sondern weil sie die bewährten Seinigen sind, und er in ihnen sich und seine Mühe selbst liebt.
Vol. 1, p. 13; translation vol. 1, p. 18
Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (1784-91)
“Just like his wife before she freezed on him,
Just like his wife when she was beautiful.”
Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer
Song lyrics, Never for Ever (1980)
“Always contented with his life,
and with his dinner, and his wife.”
Aleksandr Pushkin book Eugene Onegin
Source: Eugene Onegin (1823), Ch. 1, st. 12.
“When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921) member of the British Royal Family, consort to Queen Elizabeth II
On marriage, as quoted in "48 of Prince Philip's greatest gaffes and funny moments" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/04/48-prince-philips-greatest-gaffes-funny-moments/, The Telegraph (2 August 2017)
Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–1895) French writer and dramatist, son of the homonym writer and dramatist
Ce monde commence où l'épouse légale finit, et il finit où l'épouse vénale commence, il est séparé des honnêtes femmes par le scandale, des courtisanes par l'argent.
Preface to Le Demi-Monde (1855), in Théatre complet de Al. Dumas fils (Paris: Michel Lévy Frères, 1868-98) vol. 2, p. 10; translation from Albert D. Vandam Undercurrents of the Second Empire (London: William Heinemann, 1897) p. 247.