Name that quote!

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A thread for seeing if anybody knows who said it first (or got caught, anyway).

Mine: For the life of me I can't figure out where I got "If you can't be good, be normal; if you can't be normal, be good.)

My gramma? My butt? Help!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 15 March 2004 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Here's hoping it wasn't your grandma's butt.

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Was it Mae West?

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 15 March 2004 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

are you sure you dont mean "It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly." by Oscar Wilde?

― Kunal, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I mean more like "if you're CRAZY don't be evil; if you can't figure out how to be good you should probably just follow the norm."

I can't remember where I heard it!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Tell me that you meant this one:
"If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle."
Samuel Johnson

― Kunal, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:11 (twenty-two years ago)

This one is still older:
"If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him.
If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near."
Sun-Tzu

― Kunal, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

"Only time can heal a broken heart.
Just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs."

Miss Piggy
(who is not literary but I expect will write a novel someday.)

― Clellie, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

...If I can't be good, i said,
I might as well be bad.
--E Dickinson

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 22:42 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, I'm beginning to think my gramma read more widely than she let on.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Now we're at it, I'd like to trace the origin of this quote - words to the effect of "If there's a revolver in the first act, it has to go off in the last". This is attributed to Chekhov, but I've never found a reference that confirms that, though a revolver does behave like that in "The Seagull". If Chekhov didn't say it, who did?

― Bunged Out (Jake Proudlock), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Er, I mentioned this on another thread, but this seems to be an apt place to ask again ... does the phrase "beating a dead horse" refer to Raskolnikov and Crime and Punishment or something else?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you not mean flogging a dead horse?

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Though he supported the measure, British politician and orator John Bright thought the Reform Bill of 1867, which called for more democratic representation, would never be passed by Parliament. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to 'flog a dead horse' to make it pull a load. This is the first recorded use of the expression, which is still common for 'trying to revive interest in an apparently hopeless issue.' Bright's silver tongue is also responsible for 'England is the mother of Parliament,' and 'Force is not a remedy,' among other memorable quotations. He was wrong about the Reform Bill of 1867, however. Parliament 'carried' it, as the British say."
-From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997.)

― Kunal, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 11:41 (twenty-two years ago)

In other words, not a one of us knows who said it!

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

thank you *smile*

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

Argh argh argh, this is driving me crazy.

What is the full quote/author of that person who said it was good to have friends with contrary opinions because it was like rough bark to scratch against?

― I want to smother him in electronic butter. (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Wednesday, 25 July 2012 08:42 (thirteen years ago)

that said i love the guy; even these issues i have with him are like what oliver wendell holmes described as reassuring prejudices, that one can rub one's back against, the way a cow rubs his against a tree.
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 14 October 2011 11:54 (9 months ago) Permalink

― alimosina, Wednesday, 25 July 2012 17:15 (thirteen years ago)

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