Quotes about maid
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P.G. Wodehouse photo
Luís de Camões photo

“A sad event and worthy of Memory,
Who draws forth men from their (closed) sepulchres,
Befell that piteous maid, and pitiful
Who, after she was dead was (crowned) queen.”

Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet

O caso triste, e dino da memória,
Que do sepulcro os homens desenterra,
Aconteceu da mísera e mesquinha
Que depois de ser morta foi Rainha.

Stanza 118, lines 5–8 (tr. Ezra Pound); of Inês de Castro.
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto III

Lana Turner photo

“I find men terribly exciting, and any girl who says she doesn't is an anemic old maid, a streetwalker, or a saint.”

Lana Turner (1921–1995) American actress

Quoted in Lewis, John: Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles (2017), p. 91.
Miscellaneous

George William Russell photo
Thomas Robert Malthus photo
Rudyard Kipling photo

“There rise her timeless capitals of Empires daily born,
Whose plinths are laid at midnight, and whose streets are packed at morn;
And here come hired youths and maids that feign to love or sin
In tones like rusty razor-blades to tunes like smitten tin.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Naaman's Song http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/LimitsRenewals/naamansong.html, Stanza 2.
Other works

William Wordsworth photo

“She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:”

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways, st. 1 (1799).
Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800)

Ludovico Ariosto photo

“And thus she helps the Maid to check her grief
Which, being vented, is less bitter now.”

Così fa ch'ella un poco il duol raffrena;
Ch'avendo ove sfogarlo, è meno acerbo.
Canto XLII, stanza 28 (tr. B. Reynolds)
Orlando Furioso (1532)

Thomas Nashe photo

“Spring, the sweet spring, is the year's pleasant King,
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,
Cuckoo, jug, jug, pu wee, to witta woo!”

Thomas Nashe (1567–1601) English Elizabethan pamphleteer and poet

Source: Summer's Last Will and Testament http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/summ1.htm (1600), lines 161-164.

Paul McCartney photo

“Lovely Rita, Meter Maid, nothing could come between us.
When it gets dark I'll tow your heart away”

Paul McCartney (1942) English singer-songwriter and composer

"Lovely Rita" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Lyrics, The Beatles

“As [Phoenix] drew near her room, she heard a woman's voice saying, "It will be easier for us when that monster of yours dies."
"There will be another one, and she will be the same," answered Chia Lien's voice.
"You can make Patience your wife," the woman said. "She will be easier to manage."
"She won't even let me touch Patience," Chia Lien said. "And Patience doesn't dare complain, though she doesn't like her vigilance either. I wonder what I have done to deserve such a wife."
Phoenix shook with rage. Thinking that Patience must have complained behind her back, she turned to her and slapped her face. She then burst into the room, seized Pao-er's wife and struck her repeatedly. Fearing that Chia Lien would bolt from the room, she planted herself at the door while she denounced the woman. "Prostitute!" she cried, "you seduce your mistress's husband and then plot to murder her! And you," she turned to Patience, "you prostitutes are all in conspiracy against me, though you pretend to be on my side." She struck Patience again.
Patience was outraged. She cried, "You two—is it not enough for you to do this shameful thing without dragging me in?" She also made for Pao-er's wife.
Chia Lien, who had until now stood helplessly watching Phoenix beat Pao-er's wife, took the opportunity to hide his own embarrassment by beating Patience. "Who are you to raise your hand against her?" he said to the maid.
Patience retreated and said, weeping, "But why did you drag me into it?"
Phoenix's anger mounted when she saw that Patience was afraid of Chia Lien and commanded her to ignore him and beat Pao-er's wife. The maid, outraged and helpless, ran out of the room, crying and threatening to kill herself.
Phoenix now threw herself at Chia Lien, crying that he might as well kill her then and there since he wanted to get rid of her. Chia Lien grew desperate. He seized a sword from the wall and said he would gladly oblige if she insisted.
Yu-shih and others arrived on the scene. "What is the matter now?"”

Wang Chi-chen (1899–2001)

she asked. "Everything was going well a moment ago."
Emboldened by the presence of the newcomers, Chia Lien became more menacing. Phoenix, on the other hand, quieted herself and left the scene to seek the protection of the Matriarch. She threw herself sobbing into the Matriarch's arms and said, "Save me, Lao Tai-tai. Lien Er-yeh wants to kill me."
Source: Dream of the Red Chamber (1958), pp. 198–199

Hồ Xuân Hương photo

“To hell with the fate that makes you share a man… You slave like the maid, but without the pay. If I had known how it would go, I think I would have lived alone.”

Hồ Xuân Hương (1772–1822) Vietnamese poet

As quoted in Vietnam Past and Present: The North, ed. Andrew Forbes and David Henley (Cognoscenti Books, 2012)

Will Cuppy photo

“Henry VIII had so many wives because his dynastic sense was very strong whenever he saw a maid of honor.”

Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part V: Merrie England, Henry VIII

John Milton photo
Dafydd ap Gwilym photo

“I am twisted with passion – plague on all the girls of the parish! since I suffered from trysts which went amiss, and could never win a single one of them, neither gentle hopeful maid, nor little lass, nor hag, nor wife.”

Dafydd ap Gwilym (1320–1380) Welsh poet

Plygu rhag llid yr ydwyf,
Pla ar holl ferched y plwyf!
Am na chefais, drais drawsoed,
Onaddun' yr un erioed
Na morwyn fwyn ofynaig,
Na merch fach, na gwrach, na gwraig.
"Merched Llanbadarn" (The Girls of Llanbadarn), line 1; translation from Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson (ed. and trans.) A Celtic Miscellany (Harmondsworth: Penguin, [1951] 1975) p. 209.

James I of Scotland photo
Thomas Tickell photo

“The sweetest garland to the sweetest maid.”

Thomas Tickell (1685–1740) English poet and man of letters

To a Lady with a Present of Flowers.

Thomas Lovell Beddoes photo
George Bernard Shaw photo
Robert Erskine Childers photo

“Most of England's wit and manhood scintillated in the sunlight, while British matrons and England's fairest maids lit up with looks of proud affection; bosoms heaved in sympathetic unison with the measured tramp of the ammunition boots….”

Robert Erskine Childers (1870–1922) Irish nationalist and author

"In the Ranks of the C.I.V." By Erskine Childers, Smith & Elder and Co. (London, 1901), p. 20.
Literary Years and War (1900-1918)

Natacha Rambova photo
Matthew Lewis (writer) photo
William S. Burroughs photo
Ausonius photo

“O maid, while youth is with the rose and thee,
Pluck thou the rose: life is as swift for thee.”

Collige, virgo, rosas, dum flos novus et nova pubes,<br/>et memor esto aevum sic properare tuum.

Ausonius (310–395) poet

Collige, virgo, rosas, dum flos novus et nova pubes,
et memor esto aevum sic properare tuum.
"De Rosis Nascentibus", line 49; translation from Helen Waddell Mediaeval Latin Lyrics ([1929] 1943) p. 29.

Alcaeus of Mytilene photo

“O violet-tressed Sappho chaste,
O maid with honeyed smile!
I fain would tell what is in my breast,
Did shame me not beguile.”

Alcaeus of Mytilene (-600–-560 BC) ancient Greek poet

"To Sappho", as translated by Walter Petersen

Russell Brand photo
Alasdair MacIntyre photo
Madame de La Fayette photo
Agatha Christie photo
Marianne von Werefkin photo
Jerome photo

“Sometimes the character of the mistress is inferred from the dress of her maids.”
Interdum animus dominarum ex ancillarum habitu iudicatur.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Letter 54
Letters

Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo
Euripidés photo

“Oh, if I had Orpheus' voice and poetry
with which to move the Dark Maid and her Lord,
I'd call you back, dear love, from the world below.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 358
Context: Oh, if I had Orpheus' voice and poetry
with which to move the Dark Maid and her Lord,
I'd call you back, dear love, from the world below.
I'd go down there for you. Charon or the grim
King's dog could not prevent me then
from carrying you up into the fields of light.

“The maid my true heart loves would not my true love be;
She seeks another man; another maid loves he;
And me another maid her own true love would see:
Oh, fie on her and him and Love and HER and me!”

Bhartrihari (570) Indian linguist, poet and writer

Nītiśataka 2
Variant translation from K.M. Joglekar:
That woman about whom I constantly meditate has no affection for me; she, however, yearns after another who is attached to someone else; while a certain woman pines away for me. Fie on her, on him, on the God of Love, on that woman, and on myself.
Śatakatraya

Julian of Norwich photo

“I saw her ghostly, in bodily likeness: a simple maid and a meek, young of age and little waxen above a child, in the stature that she was when she conceived.”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

The First Revelation, Chapter 4
Context: He brought our blessed Lady to my understanding. I saw her ghostly, in bodily likeness: a simple maid and a meek, young of age and little waxen above a child, in the stature that she was when she conceived.

Walter Scott photo

“Widowed wife and wedded maid.”

The Betrothed, Chap. xv.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Eleanor Farjeon photo

“The world never knows, and cannot for the life of it imagine, what this man sees in that maid and that maid in this man. The world cannot think why they fell in love with each other. But they have their reason, their beautiful secret, that never gets told to more than one person; and what they see in each other is what they show to each other; and it is the truth.”

Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Context: The world never knows, and cannot for the life of it imagine, what this man sees in that maid and that maid in this man. The world cannot think why they fell in love with each other. But they have their reason, their beautiful secret, that never gets told to more than one person; and what they see in each other is what they show to each other; and it is the truth. Only they kept it hidden in their hearts until the time came. And though you and I may never know why this lane is called Shelley's, to us both it will always be the greenest lane in Sussex, because it leads to the special secret I spoke of.

Nathalia Crane photo

“They lower pails from heaven's walls to catch the milk-maids mirth.”

Nathalia Crane (1913–1998) American writer

"Prescience" <!-- p. 18 -->
The Janitor's Boy And Other Poems (1924)
Context: p>A precious place is Paradise and none may know its worth,
But Eden ever longeth for the knicknacks of the earth.The angels grow quite wistful over worldly things below;
They hear the hurdy-gurdies in the Candle Makers Row.They listen for the laughter from the antics of the earth;
They lower pails from heaven's walls to catch the milk-maids mirth.</p

Jerome K. Jerome photo

“In what awe you stood of her! How miserable you were when you had offended her! And yet, how pleasant to be bullied by her and to sue for pardon without having the slightest notion of what your fault was! How dark the world was when she snubbed you, as she often did, the little rogue, just to see you look wretched; how sunny when she smiled! How jealous you were of every one about her! How you hated every man she shook hands with, every woman she kissed—the maid that did her hair, the boy that cleaned her shoes, the dog she nursed—though you had to be respectful to the last-named! How you looked forward to seeing her, how stupid you were when you did see her, staring at her without saying a word! How impossible it was for you to go out at any time of the day or night without finding yourself eventually opposite her windows!”

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)
Context: And who would not risk its terrors to gain its raptures? Ah, what raptures they were! The mere recollection thrills you. How delicious it was to tell her that you loved her, that you lived for her, that you would die for her! How you did rave, to be sure, what floods of extravagant nonsense you poured forth, and oh, how cruel it was of her to pretend not to believe you! In what awe you stood of her! How miserable you were when you had offended her! And yet, how pleasant to be bullied by her and to sue for pardon without having the slightest notion of what your fault was! How dark the world was when she snubbed you, as she often did, the little rogue, just to see you look wretched; how sunny when she smiled! How jealous you were of every one about her! How you hated every man she shook hands with, every woman she kissed—the maid that did her hair, the boy that cleaned her shoes, the dog she nursed—though you had to be respectful to the last-named! How you looked forward to seeing her, how stupid you were when you did see her, staring at her without saying a word! How impossible it was for you to go out at any time of the day or night without finding yourself eventually opposite her windows!

Alfred, Lord Tennyson photo

“He maid thaim na gud fest perfay
And nocht-forthi yneuch had thai.”

John Barbour (1316–1395) Scottish poet

Although for food they hungered sore
He sent them drink, enough and more!
Bk. 14, line 363; p. 334.
The Brus

Hillary Clinton photo
William Logan (author) photo
Bulleh Shah photo
Angel Chooi photo

“As a maid (in maid café), you have to be in your best behavior and always have the best customer service game on while smiling for the entire day and interacting with patrons.”

Angel Chooi Malaysian teacher, model, online streamer and cosplayer

Source: Angel Chooi cited in " The rise of maid cafés in Malaysia and why it’s actually kinda cool https://eksentrika.com/maid-cafe-malaysia-king-angel/" on Eksentrika.