“He knew what had to be done. It is not always the same as knowing what to do.”
Dan Simmons book The Fall of Hyperion
Source: The Fall of Hyperion (1990), Chapter 34 (p. 310)
“He knew what is what.”
Source: Jane Scroop (her lament for Philip Sparrow) (likely published c. 1509), Colyn Cloute (published c. 1550), Line 1106. Compare: "He knew what ’s what", Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part i, canto i, line 149.
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John Skelton14
English poet 1460–1529Related quotes
“He knew what 's what, and that 's as high
As metaphysic wit can fly.”
Samuel Butler (poet) (1612–1680) poet and satirist
Canto I, line 149
Source: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)
“Every spy and saboteur knew what he had to expect when he was arrested.”
Paul Blobel (1894–1951) German SS officer and Holocaust perpetrator
Quoted in "The Eichmann Kommandos" - Page 154 - by Michael Angelo Musmanno - 1961.
“Jack was embarrassed — never hero more,
And as he knew not what to say, he swore.”
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement
The Island (1823), Canto III, Stanza 5.
Alice Borchardt (1939–2007) American fiction writer
Beguiled
“Old enough to look as if he knew what to do, young enough to look as if he could do it.”
Steve Perry (1947) American writer
Source: The Tejano Conflict (2014), Chapter 4