Quotations Weblog

Continuing the my favorite quotations series, here are a few of my favorite quotations from Robertson Davies.

Davies (1913 – 1995) is a Canadian writer, professor, and journalist who wrote 11 novels and a number of plays. Outside of Canada he isn’t very well known—I have to admit I hadn’t heard of him until I discovered that a few of my favorite quotations shared the same author’s name. If the quotations are any indication, I’m sure his written works are excellent.

• More quotations from Robertson Davies
• Robertson Davies biography and bibliography

Continuing the my favorite quotations series, here are my favorite quotations from Richard Feynman. Feynman was a Nobel prize-winning physicist and created a well-known series of lectures on physics, but more importantly he was a character who divided his time between physics, practical jokes, and hobbies ranging from playing the drums to safecracking.

I first heard of Richard Feynman just after his death in 1988. Fortunately much of his knowledge and wit has been preserved in books, notably the classic Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman. Whether you’re interested in physics or not it’s a very entertaining read.

• More quotations from Richard Feynman

When I tell people I run a quotations website, almost all of them ask “what are some of your favorite quotations?” I always have trouble answering this question—the real answer is that if I could choose just a few favorites, I wouldn’t need this huge website to keep track of them all. I had a short list of favorites back in high school, but since then it’s grown into the website you see here, including nearly 3,000 of my “favorites” in my personal collection.

Nevertheless, there are some quotations I enjoy more than others, so I’m going to start highlighting them in posts like this one, with a few favorites from an author or subject.

This weeks entry: Douglas Adams was probably my favorite writer in high school, and he’s still one of my favorites although he died in 2001. His Hitchhiker’s Guide series is some very funny science fiction, and I enjoy his writing style even more than the characters and plots. Here are a few of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:

• More quotations from Douglas Adams

Welcome to the first Special Feature (formerly Quotes of the Week) of the new millenium, and please ignore the fact that we skipped the entire year of 1999. Sigh. We will be doing articles more regularly now, but we won’t fall into the trap of calling them “of the week” again.

To start things off, I would like to throw the spotlight on Dr. Laurence J. Peter, an oft-quoted man of much wisdom and humor. Dr. Peter is the author of The Peter Principle, a cynical book about business that, while published 25 years ago, is even more true today.

This is a very readable, funny book (if it had been published 20 years later, I’m sure it would have been illustrated by Dilbert cartoons.) Despite its casual tone, it actually makes some very serious observations about the world of business, which certainly hasn’t dramatically improved since the book was written.

Dr. Peter went on to write several more books, including The Peter Pyramid, before he died in 1988. Below I’ve selected some of my favorite humorous quotations from Dr. Peter, some of which are new to this site and will soon be joining my collection of quotations.

Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.

If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.

Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.

Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.

In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.

The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.

Speak when you are angry–and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret.

If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?

Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for example, makes a wonderful ancestor.

Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.

An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.

To further explore the world of Dr. Laurence J. Peter, check out the following books (in association with Amazon.com):

• The Peter Principle
• Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Times

I used to hate Elizabeth Taylor. Of course I blamed Hollywood, but I still condemned her white skin while playing the part of Cleopatra. That milky white skin and those violet eyes (always looked blue to me anyway) just didn’t belong on the Queen of Egypt. I imagined Cleopatra with dark Nubian skin and a long lean figure. I blamed Hollywood’s infatuation with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton for a white Cleopatra. I scoffed at the television every time I surfed past her Egyptian-clad face. Of course, that was all before.

Egypt has a history longer than I can comprehend. I feel pride at the thought that the country I live in has survived for over 200 years. I feel pride that the blood that courses through my veins belonged to the Roman Empire, which lasted well over 600 years. I cannot imagine, however, the thought of a civilization that has survived for over 6000 years. My mind boggles at the idea that Egypt has and always will be a force on Earth.

With a civilization this old, there were many rulers, some of indigenous origin, and others were invading kings. There were the Nubian pharaohs, the Persian princes, and the Greek pharaohs. Cleopatra was a Greek pharaoh, the first to actually become fully Egyptian. She spoke the language as her own, she worshipped their gods as her own and she ruled as only an Egyptian could. Her blood may have been Greek, her skin may have been milky white (probably not considering the sun, but anyway), but her heart was entirely Egyptian.

Considering her power, one would think that many quotations would be recorded. At least her dying words as she lay the asp on her neck. Maybe the words she uttered into Antony’s ear, convincing him to betray the Roman Empire would have been saved. Yet, once again, history has been written by the victors and the words of this woman are unrecorded.

Looking at the film now, Cleopatra could have looked like Elizabeth Taylor (unlikely, but it’s a little more palatable now). Looking at Egypt now, I wonder if history 2000 years from now will look at our era as a time when Egypt was under Muslim rule, after which, the old priests revived the original religion of the gods and returned to the practice of embalming the dead. The pharaohs of Egypt may once again rule all of the known world, and our time was merely a 2000 year footnote listed on the Egyptian tablets.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Some report that this aspic [asp] was brought unto her in the basket with figs and that she had commanded them to hide it under the fig leaves, so that when she should think to take out the figs the aspic should bite her before she should see her; howbeit, that when she would have taken away the leaves for the figs she perceived it and said: ‘Art thou here then?’ And so, her arm being naked, she put it to the aspic to be bitten. Others say again that she kept it in a box and that she did prick and thrust it with a spindle of gold, so that the aspic being angered withal, leaped out with great fury, and bit her in the arm. Howbeit, few can tell the truth. For they report also that she had hidden poison in a hollow razor which she carried in the hair of her head. And yet was there no mark seen on her body or any sign discerned that she was poisoned, neither also did they find this serpent in her tomb. But it was reported only that there were seen certain fresh steps or tracks where it had gone, on the tomb side toward the sea, and specially by little pretty bitings in her arm, scant to be discerned, the which it seemed Caesar [Augustus Caesar] himself gave credit unto, because in his triumph he carried Cleopatra’s image with an asp biting her arm. And thus goeth the report of her death.”

Plutarch, “Life of Marcus Antonius”, A.D. 46-120

• Anthony and Cleopatra Paperback by William Shakespeare – The famous play by Shakespeare (sequel to Julius Caesar). Much of the play was taken directly from Plutarch’s “Life of Marcus Antonius.”
• Caesar and Cleopatra : A History Paperback by George Bernard Shaw – A history of the epic of the Queen of Egypt by the famous George Bernard Shaw.
• The Memoirs of Cleopatra : A Novel Paperback by Margaret George – A historical novel that transports you back to the life of the Queen of Egypt. Technically fiction, but researched nearly to the point of fact. This book was rated highly by amazon.com book readers.
• Cleopatra Paperback by Diane Stanley, Peter Vennema – A history book with a twist. Lots of lavish pictures and the in-depth discussion of why Plutarch might not have been the best source for the facts concerning her life.

• Cleopatra: The Last of the Ptolemies – The best site for Cleopatra links, but this comes with a warning. It is a Geocities site, so prepare for the advert. Also, there are a lot of graphics, so prepare for a wait to download. Other than that, this site is great for links page to other Cleopatra pages.