What is your favourite quote?

Just, thinking what is your favourite quote?

Sorry men who use this forum but I always thought it was funny how there was an African proverb being:

"If you don't want trouble in your house do as your wife says"

Frances,

Please, don't take it 1st degree but there's an (allegedly) Arab proverb that says:

"Si tu ne sais pas pourquoi tu bats ta femme, elle le sait".
"You may not know why you're beating up your wife but she does know why".

It's not my favourite quote (far from it) but it's quite clashing with yours...

There's a nicer one by La Rochefoucauld:

"Dans les premières passions les femmes aiment l'amant, et dans les autres elles aiment l'amour".
"In early passions women are in love with the lover, while in later ones they are in love with love".

Dutch Proverb quotes

"Opportunity creates desire."

"Men should be like coffee, hot sweet and strong"

"Roses fall, but the thorns remain."

"Those that dislike cats will be carried to the cemetery in the rain"

"The generous man enriches himself by giving; the miser hoards himself poor"

"We grow too soon old and too late smart"

"Better lose the anchor than the whole ship"

"To get eggs there must be some cackling"

"Death and taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them"

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."

"Promises make debt, and debt makes promises."

"There are no better masters than poverty and wants."

"Women are programmed to love completely;
Men are prgrammed to spread it around."

Beryl Bainbridge - from an interview in a UK national newspaper.

This is a bit discouraging for those contemplating marriage:


"Love! Of course, love. Flames for a year. Ashes for thirty".

Guiseppe di Lampedusa.

This quote came from a very animated, somewhat fiery natured British Member of Parliament during a debate in the House of Commons when he referred to a Government Minister's personal verbal criticism of him:

"It was like being savaged by a dead sheep".

Quotes about Scotland:

"There are no more impressive sights than a Scotsman on the make".
(J M Barrie)

"It's never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine". I like that one!
(P G Wodehouse)

"Minds like ours, my dear James, must always be above national prejudices, and in all companies it gives me true pleasure to declare, that, as a people, the English are very little indeed inferior to the Scotch."
(Christopher North) Scotch indeed! :-( That's a drink!

Quotes about Wales:

"It profits a man nothing much to give his soul for the whole world...But for Wales!"
(Robert Bolt in 'Man for All Seasons', the story about Sir Thomas More).

'The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it!'
(Dylan Thomas. The Welsh national anthem is called 'The Land of My Fathers'.)

'I often think that we can trace all the disasters of English history to the influence of the Welsh'.
(Evelyn Waugh).

All quotes about the Welsh seem to be negative!! You notice all the quotes are made by Englishmen! :-)

NOW...quotes about England:

'The English are busy...they don't have time to be polite!"
(Montesquieu).

'I am American bred, I have seen much to hate here...much to forgive... but in a world where England is finished and dead, I do not wish to live'.
(Alice Duer Miller).

'We must be free or die, who speak the tongue that Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold which Milton held'.
(William Wordsworth).

'England is a nation of shopkeepers'.
(Napolean)

'It's not that the Englishman can't feel - it is that he is afraid to feel. He has been taught at his public school that feeling is bad form. He must not express great joy or sorrow, or even open his mouth too wide when he talks - his pipe might fall out if he did'.
(E M Forster)

This last one must be true in a sense! When I was at uni I got talking with this really nice French girl, also a student, and she told me that she noticed that many English men (not women..only men) never seemed to open their mouths much at all when they spoke. I looked around...and it seemed to be true. I also noticed that it was mainly guys from the South of England. Strange.

"This is a victory for France."
Jacques Chirac in 1998 when France won the football World Cup.

"This is a victory for Europe."
Jacques Chirac in 2003 when England won the rugby World Cup, even though England beat France in the semi-final and Scotland, Wales and Ireland all lost in the final.

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"Britain is Mary's dowry."
Pope John Paul II (probably a cryptic message meaning "Britain should give up its sovereignty and national wealth to Brussels.)

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We don't agree with the Americanisation of the world. . . we are saying that together we can build a new superpower. . . and its name will be Europe”,
Pierre Moscovici, French Foreign Minister, Daily Mail, 24 May 2001.

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“If Britain joined the euro, public services would get worse”,
Geoff Martin of Unison, Sun, 2 January, 2002.

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“Why do France and Britain still have their own seat on the UN Security Council? Of course we should amalgamate these into a powerful European seat”.
Dick Benschop, Dutch Europe Minister, Die Welt, 16 April, 2002.

I meant to say "Jacques Chirac in 2003 when England won the rugby World Cup, even though England beat France in the semi-final and Scotland, Wales and Ireland all lost in the QUARTER final."

"The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scots as a joke, but the Scots haven't seen the joke yet."

Oliver Herford
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"Oat - a grain the English use to feed their horses, but the Scots use to feed themselves."

Dr Samuel Johnson in the first ever English dictionary.

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"The Grand Canyon came into existence when a Scotsman dropped a penny into a hole in the ground."

Anon

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This one has to be the best -

"Europe is France and Germany. The rest are just trimmings."

Charles de Gaulle.

Quote from Ed Norton (Art Carney) on the 1950's American TV show “The Honeymooners” — it’s the song they sing where he works (down in the sewers of New York):

“When the tides of life turn against you,
And the current upsets your boat,
Don't waste those tears on what might have been,
Just lie on your back and float.”

http://www.honeymooners.net/

*“If Britain joined the euro*

Nah! Just ain't gonna 'appen, mate! Never nah way! O'ill bet ya a pahnd on vat!

ADAM.....what do you think of my Cockney accent?

Damian - I can kind of see what you mean in the first quote and kind of see the humour, even though its sad :(

I quite like what Drew Morphett once said commentating Aussie Rule football where St Kilda were playing someone else. Aussie Jones (player for St Kilda) was on the verge of a running goal and he said:

"Go on Aussie, make a hero of yourself, son!"

Although it is technically not a quote it's still a great line. Along with:

"They go out their way to prove that they smell her on you" - Kurt, Nirvana - Lounge Act, Nevermind

And someone else who was Irish said this but I can't remember who it was:

"Alcohol was invented to stop the Irish from ruling the world."

So, I might as well open this thread up to favourite lines of any kind.

Adam :

"This is a victory for France"
Jacques Chirac in 1998 when France won the football World Cup.
"This is a victory for Europe"
Jacques Chirac in 2003 when England won the rugby World Cup.

Chirac was kind enough towards England who won only 6 Rugby Grand Slams (5 for Wales and 8 for France). England won just 11 Five-Six Nations tournaments : Wales 14 and France 16.