Quotes about accent (134 quotes, page 2)

“In the upstairs bedroom, old Ann dies very slowly, remembering the events of the long-ago wedding night and the next morning… She is attended by a nurse with an Irish accent (Eileen Atkins), who sometimes prompts her: "Remember a happy time!" Dissolve to Ann's memory of a happy time. It is so mundane that if it qualifies as a high point in her life, it compares with Paris Hilton remembering a good stick of gum.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/evening-2007 of Evening (29 June 2007)
Reviews, One-and-a-half star reviews

Life , Wedding , Memory , Time

“A proficient signer can see accents in any particular sign language, even between, say, the south or north of Italy. Any actor pretending to sign in a movie stands out as doing exactly that: pretending.”

Emilio Insolera (1979) Actor and film producer

Source: As quoted in Emilio Insolera. The film director, visual community member and activist is a man on a mission. https://www.kansaiscene.com/2009/12/emilio-insolera/ (December 1, 2016), Kansai Scenel)

“Here's a viewer's guide to BP media briefings. Whenever you hear someone with a British accent talking about this on behalf of British Petroleum they are not telling you the truth. That's the bottom-line.”

Anthony Weiner (1964) American politician

Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBIdZYOUNS8 on MSNBC (June 7, 2010)

Truth

“When a man has been the lover of a woman as that man had been hers, with the vibrating communion of a voluptuousness unbroken for two years, that woman maintains a sort of physiological, quasi-animal instinct. A gesture, the accent of a word, a sigh, a blush, a pallor, are signs for her that her intuition interprets with infallible certainty. How and why is that instinct accompanied by absolute oblivion of former caresses? It is a particular case of that insoluble and melancholy problem of the birth and death of love.”

Paul Bourget (1852–1935) French writer

Source: Cosmopolis (1892), Ch. 5 "Countess Steno"

Love , Death , Lovers , Birth

“In Paris, one is always reminded of being a foreigner. If you park your car wrong, it is not the fact that it's on the sidewalk that matters, but the fact that you speak with an accent.”

Roman Polanski (1933) Polish-French film director, producer, writer, actor, and rapist

Polanski : His Life and Films (1982)

Cars

“[Scottish accent] "We don't need your English bastard pounds! We're our own country, we'll have our own bloody money, eh?!" "Would you like your own currency?" "Ah, it's complicated mathematically. Let's just have yours with our photos, I think that's the best way!"”

Michael McIntyre (1976) British comedian

Source: Live at the Apollo (November 26, 2007)

Money , Way , Photo , Mathematics

“Meryl Streep, in her Protestant way, is stuck on words; she flashes clever accents as a mask for her deeper failures. (And she cannot deliver a Jewish line; she destroyed Nora Ephron’s snappy dialogue in Hearburn.) Streep’s work doesn’t travel. Try dubbing her for movie houses in India: there’d be nothing left, just that bony, earnest horse face moving its lips. Imagine, on the other hand, lesser technicians like Hedy Lammarr, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner: these women have an international and universal appeal, crossing the centuries. They would have been beautiful in Egypt, Greece, Rome, medieval Burgundy, or eighteenth-century Paris. Susan Hayward played Bathsheba. Try to picture Streep in a Bible epic! Streep is incapable of playing the great legendary or mythological roles. She has no elemental power, no smouldering sensuality.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Source: Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992), p. 16

Women , Beauty , Way , Travel

“A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some spot of native land, where it may get the love of tender kinship for the face of earth, for the labours men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar unmistakeable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge: a spot where the definiteness of early memories may be inwrought with affection, and kindly acquaintance with all neighbours, even to the dogs and donkeys, may spread not by sentimental effort and reflection, but as a sweet habbit of the blood. At five years old, mortals are not prepared to be citizens of the world, to be stimulated by abstract nouns, to soar above preference into impartiality; and that prejudice in favour of milk with which we blindly begin, is a type of the way body and soul must get nourished at least for a time. The best introduction to astronomy is to think of the nightly heavens as a little lot of stars belonging to one's own homestead.”

George Eliot book Daniel Deronda

Daniel Deronda (1876)

Love , Life , Men , World

“A carefully preserved English accent also upped the fear factor.”

Zadie Smith On Beauty

Unspecified edition, p. 155.
On Beauty (2005)

Fear

“Pearson had a good grasp of French, although his accent was terrible.”

Judy LaMarsh (1924–1980) Canadian politician, writer, broadcaster and barrister.

Source: Memoirs Of A Bird In A Gilded Cage (1969), CHAPTER 7, The Favreau tragedy, p. 134

“Mr Liversedge…saw the whole ridiculous Oriental susah in true proportion. Here men would murder for five dollars, here men would seek divorce because their wives sighed at the handsomeness of the film star P. Ramlee…. nodding at the lucid exposition of Mr Lim from Penang, though contemning inwardly the Pommie accent…”

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer

Fiction, Beds in the East (1959)

Men , Star

“Her voice was completely English. For some reason I had expected a foreign accent; but I could place this exactly. It was my own; product of boarding school, university, the accent of what a sociologist once called the Dominant Hundred Thousand.”

John Fowles book Daniel Martin

Daniel Martin (1977)

School , Universe

“She spoke, they were but a few hurried words —
Of the sweet flowers around, the heat, the night —
Yet were they such as the blest heart records
For many an after-moment's long delight;
They touch'd upon his spirit's inmost chords;
Though broken was the sense, the accents light,
Yet sweeter was to him that tremulous tone
Than all that eloquence were proud to own.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

26th August 1826) Metrical Fragments No. II. Tasso’s last interview with the Princess Leonora. (under the pen name Iole
The London Literary Gazette, 1826

Flowers , Sense , Light , Heart

“The mind, like the body, has its contagious diseases and its scurvy. …[W]e catch everything from those with whom we come in contact; their gestures, their accent, etc.”

Julien Offray de La Mettrie book Man a Machine

Man a Machine (1747)

Disease

“He would have left a Greek accent slanting the wrong way, and righted up a falling man.”

Henry David Thoreau book A Plea for Captain John Brown

A Plea for Captain John Brown (1859)

Way

“Every time I turn on the television and hear a manager from the lower divisions, they’ve usually got a Scottish accent. I don’t know the reason for that but let’s hope it continues. I like the philosophy of Scottish managers, they’ve always got this will to win and this work ethic, which I believe in.”

George Graham (1944) Scottish footballer

Interview, Sport.co.uk, 14 January 2011

Hope , Time

“Shakespeare shows us tradition is a meaningless abstraction for the poet itself and I give thanks for for this poet reaching after nothing more distant than the impassioned accents of its own voice as it issued from an intuitive mind.”

Herbert Read (1893–1968) English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art

Form in Modern Poetry (first published 1932) published -Vision Press, Estover, 1948
Form in Modern Poetry(1932)

Distant

“Thus when the names of heroes we declare,
Names, whose unpolished sounds offend the ear,
We add, or lop some branches which abound,
Till the harsh accents are with smoothness crowned
That mellows every word, and softens every sound.”
Idcirco si quando ducum referenda virumque Nomina dura nimis dictu, atque asperrima cultu, Illa aliqui, nunc addentes, nunc inde putantes Pauca minutatim, levant, ac mollia reddunt.

Marco Girolamo Vida (1485–1566) Italian bishop

Book III, line 320
De Arte Poetica (1527)

“Now I know what you are thinking; “how did he know what was drawn in the envelope?” Clearly, I must have detected in his voice the accent of my home town, Bristol, so he’s only going to be thinking of a tractor or marrying your own sister. A tractor's easier to draw so Bob's your uncle… and your Dad. And you'd be right.”

Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist

Other TV and web appearances, E4 Mind Control Night

Home , Thinking , Sister , Drawing

“I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth,
And sounds as if it should be writ on satin,
With syllables which breathe of the sweet South,
And gentle liquids gliding all so pat in,
That not a single accent seems uncouth,
Like our harsh northern whistling, grunting guttural,
Which we're obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Stanza 44.
Beppo (1818)

Love , Kiss

“[On Churchill's Accent] "Ve must conquer da Narjies!" Now, we were fighting and killing Nazis. We all left and went looking for Narjies!”

Mel Brooks (1926) American director, writer, actor, and producer

The 2,000 Year Old Man (and sequels)

Fight

“His opinion of verses.
That he wrote all his first in prose, for so his master Camden had learned him.

That verses stood by sense without either colours or accent; which yet other times he denied.”

Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English writer

Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden (1711)

Sense , Learning , Time

“It's as if you're playing left-handed. Or like everyone else is playing with a tennis racket and you have a salmon.(On performing with an American accent)”

Hugh Laurie (1959) British actor, comedian, writer, musician and director

Source: [2006-08-21, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060821/ap_en_tv/people_hugh_laurie, Hugh Laurie plays U.S. doctor on `House', Associated Press (via Yahoo! News), 2006-08-21]

“The express pulled into the Stazione Termini in Rome five minutes ahead of schedule with a feminine shriek. Ruiz found a porter with no difficulty, tipped him the standard 100 lire for his two pieces of luggage, and gave directions. The priest’s Italian was adequate, but hardly standard; it made the facchino grin with delight every time Ruiz opened his mouth. He had learned it by reading, partly in Dante, mostly in opera libretti, and consequently what he lacked in accent he made up for in flowery phrases; he was unable to ask the way to the nearest fruit stall without sounding as though he would throw himself into the Tiber unless he got an answer.”

James Blish book A Case of Conscience

Source: A Case of Conscience (1958), Chapter 14 (p. 171)

Way , Learning , Time , Reading

“The problem was compounded when unrestrained exploitation and discrimination accented the bewilderment of the newcomer, and high rates of illegitimacy and fragile family relationships resulted.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Family Planning - A Special and Urgent Concern (1966)
Context: During the past half century Negroes have migrated on a massive scale, transplanting millions from rural communities to crammed urban ghettoes. In their migration, as with all migrants, they carried with them the folkways of the countryside into an inhospitable city slum. The size of family that may have been appropriate and tolerable on a manually cultivated farm was carried over to the jammed streets of the ghetto. In all respects Negroes were atomized, neglected and discriminated against. Yet, the worst omission was the absence of institutions to acclimate them to their new environment. Margaret Sanger, who offered an important institutional remedy, was unfortunately ignored by social and political leaders in this period. In consequence, Negro folkways in family size persisted. The problem was compounded when unrestrained exploitation and discrimination accented the bewilderment of the newcomer, and high rates of illegitimacy and fragile family relationships resulted.

Family , Problem

“[Singing as U2, in Irish accent] Hello! Some old Celtic bollocks!”

Bill Bailey (1965) English comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author

Part Troll (2004)

Singing

“Holligsworth would have gone with me to the hither verge of life, and have sent his friendly and hopeful accents far over on the other side, while I should be treading the unknown path.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne book The Blithedale Romance

The Blithedale Romance (1852)
Context: Hollingworth's more than brotherly attendance gave me inexpressible comfort. Most men - and certainly I could not always claim to be one of the exceptions - have a natural indifference, if not an absolute hostile feeling, towards those whose disease, or weakness, or calamity of any kind causes to falter or faint among the rude jostle of our existence. The education of Christianity, it is true, the sympathy of a like experience and the example of women, may soften and, possibly, subvert this ugly characteristic of our sex; but it is originally there, and has likewise its analogy in the practice of our brute brethren, who hunt the sick and disabled member of the herd from among them, as an enemy. It is for this reason that the stricken deer goes apart, and the sick lion grimly withdraws into his den. Except in love, or the attachments of kindred, or other very long and habitual affection, we really have no tenderness. But there was something of the woman moulded into the great, stalwart frame of Holligsworth; nor was he ashamed of it, as men often are of what is best in them, nor seemed ever to know that there was such a soft place in his heart. I knew it well, however, at that time, although afterwards it came nigh to be forgotten. Methought there could not be two such men alive as Holligsworth. There never was any blaze of a fireside that warmed and cheered me, in the down—sinkings and shiverings of my spirit, so effectually as did the light out of those eyes, which lay so deep and dark under his shaggy brows. Happy the man that has such a friend beside him when he comes to die!... How many men, I wonder, does one meet with in a lifetime, whom he would choose for his deathbed companions! It still impresses me as almost a matter of regret that I did not die then, when I had tolerably made up my mind to it; for Holligsworth would have gone with me to the hither verge of life, and have sent his friendly and hopeful accents far over on the other side, while I should be treading the unknown path.

Life , Hope

“You just say "Anna" and then add "ees," with the accent on the "ees."”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Summer 1966, in The Diary Of Anais Nin, Volume 7 (1966-1974)
Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
Context: At a lecture I am asked to pronounce my name three times. I try to be slow and emphatic, "Anaïs — Anaïs — Anaïs. You just say "Anna" and then add "ees," with the accent on the "ees."

“And all day long, so close and near,
As in a mystic dream I hear
Their gentle accents kind and dear —
The old familiar voices.”

Dinah Craik (1826–1887) English novelist and poet

"Magnus and Morna", in Thirty Years, Poems New and Old (1880)
Context: And all day long, so close and near,
As in a mystic dream I hear
Their gentle accents kind and dear —
The old familiar voices.
They have no sound that I can reach —
But silence sweeter is than speech;

Dreams

“I feel like a citizen of the world. I have now lived outside of India, where I grew up, longer than I lived in India. I have picked up traditions and even accents from India, the United States, and Denmark. I struggle with my cultural identity – where do I really come from? And even harder, where do I really belong? Everywhere or nowhere? Since many of my stories are about women trying to find their place in society, their cultural identities play a major role in driving their narrative.”

Amulya Malladi (1974) Indian writer

On her identity struggles in “Amulya Malladi: How I Write” https://www.writermag.com/writing-inspiration/author-interviews/amulya-malladi/ in The Writer (2018 May 22)

World , Feeling , Women

“Nothing ever stops me. Certainly coming into Hollywood, I knew that there would be certain limitations. But I also couldn’t play a woman or I couldn’t play a white hero. To play Asian and to speak with accents because I speak Japanese, it never really bothered me. All I always look for in every piece is how can I use this piece to move to the next step? So the worst thing about playing Asian bad guys would be to not be remembered…”

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (1950) American actor

On being undaunted as an actor in “Comic-Con 2001: An Interview With Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa” http://fanboyplanet.com/comic-con-2001-an-interview-with-cary-hiroyuki-tagawa/ in Fanboy Planet (2001 Jul 27)

Bad luck , Guy