“Tomás de Torquemada: It's better to lose your skullcap than your skull.”
Mel Brooks (1926) American director, writer, actor, and producer
History of the World, Part I
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Quotes
“A blow from your friend is better than a kiss from your enemy.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 118
“Remember, Mr Sharpe, an officer's eyes are more valuable than his sword!”
Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer
General Arthur Wellesley, p. 61
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Eagle (1981)
“Of course a bilingual state is more expensive than a unilingual one — but it is a richer state.”
Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) 15th Prime Minister of Canada
Remark in 1968, quoted in Improving Canada's Democracy (2006) by Terry Julian, p. 14
“For present joys are more to flesh and blood
Than a dull prospect of a distant good.”
John Dryden book The Hind and the Panther
Pt. III, lines 364–365.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)
“There has been a comparatively greater proportion of good queens, than of good kings.”
Sarah Grimké (1792–1873) American abolitionist
Letter 9 (August 25, 1837).
Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1837)
“Four things greater than all things are,—
Women and Horses and Power and War.”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist
The Ballad of the King's Jest, Stanza 4
Other works
“A walk down 14th street is more amazing than any masterpiece of art.”
Allan Kaprow (1927–2006) American artist
[[http://streets2k5.albuscav.us/upstage_guide.pdfStreets 2K5 international festival Of Street Art (May 2005) p. 19
“It is more profitable to be mindful of our own faults than of those of our age.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop
Aphorisms and Reflections (1901)
“Vengeance must end somewhere, and what better place to stop than at the prince?”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer
Source: 1960s, Julian (1964), Chapter 2
“A bully is nothing more than a bunch of bull with a Y attached to its rear.”
Lorin Morgan-Richards (1975) American poet, cartoonist, and children's writer
Excerpt from the book The Goodbye Family Unveiled (2017) by Lorin Morgan-Richards.
Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American judge
Concurring, Dennis v. United States, 339 U.S. 162, 184 (1950).
Judicial opinions
“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.”
Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Of Eating of Flesh, Tract 1
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“He had more on his mind than his mind could hold.”
David Lange (1942–2005) New Zealand politician and 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand
Referring to an unsuitable applicant for a high-ranking government position.
Source: A New Zealand Dictionary of Political Quotations, p. 94.
“The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths.”
Aleksandr Pushkin (1799–1837) Russian poet
The Hero ll. 64-65, quoted in Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov
“If you would be accounted great by your contemporaries, be not too much greater than they.”
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist
Source: Epigrams, p. 346
“Routine and discipline. It held the ship together no less securely than copper and tar.”
Douglas Reeman (1924–2017) British author
A Tradition of Victory, Cap 11 "So Little Time"
“A good general rule is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa.”
Stephen Potter (1900–1969) British writer
One-Upmanship (1952) ch. 14
On wine-tasting.
“A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath
Than my sonne's wife, Elizabeth.”
Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) British writer
"The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire", reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).