“The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.”
Dean Acheson (1893–1971) Statesman and lawyer
Oxford dictionary of quotations
“Peter was dull; he was at first
Dull,—oh so dull, so very dull!
Whether he talked, wrote, or rehearsed,
Still with this dulness was he cursed!
Dull,—beyond all conception, dull.”
Peter Bell the Third (1819), Pt. VII, st. 11
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Dull,—oh so dull, so very dull!
Whether he talked, wrote, or rehearsed,
Still with t…" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?
Percy Bysshe Shelley246
English Romantic poet 1792–1822Related quotes
“This is a hell of dull talk… How about some of that champagne?”
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Arnold Wall (1869–1966) university professor, philologist, poet, mountaineer, botanist, writer, radio broadcaster
Poem: "The Wit" In: A.E. Currie. New Zealand Verse, (1906), p. 198
E.M. Forster book A Passage to India
Source: A Passage to India (1924), Ch. 14
Context: Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talks that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence. Inside its cocoon of work or social obligation, the human spirit slumbers for the most part, registering the distinction between pleasure and pain, but not nearly as alert as we pretend. There are periods in the most thrilling day during which nothing happens, and though we continue to exclaim, “I do enjoy myself", or, “I am horrified,” we are insincere.
William Shenstone (1714–1763) English gardener
Written at an Inn at Henley (1758), st. 6. Compare: " From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,— Path, motive, guide, original, and end", Samuel Johnson, Motto to the Rambler, No. 7
George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter
By Still Waters (1906)
