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Clever jabs

277 quotes from 161 people

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The one great principle of the English law is to make business for itself.
Charles Dickens1812–1870Bleak House (1853), Chapter XXXIXIn context
- Laws
“O Tiger-lily,” said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, “I wish you could talk!”
“We can talk,” said the Tiger-lily: “when there’s anybody worth talking to.”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Chapter IIIn context
- Talking
I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another’s company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend to you a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success.
Ernest Hemingway1899–1961A Farewell to Arms (1929), Book II, Chapter XVIn context
- Health
Shakespeare is the happy huntingground of all minds that have lost their balance.
James Joyce1882–1941Ulysses (1922), Part II, Episode 10In context
Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.
James Joyce1882–1941A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Chapter V (2 of 3)In context
- Patriotism
You have clearly proved, that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for qualifying a legislator; that laws are best explained, interpreted, and applied, by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding, and eluding them.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag, Chapter VIIn context
- Laws
- Politics
I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag, Chapter VIIn context
There was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms, Chapter VIn context
- Laws
- Truth & Lies
The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter
Dashiell Hammett1894–1961The Maltese Falcon (1930), Chapter 12In context
- Talking
Yes, if a man’s character is to be abused, say what you will, there’s nobody like a relation to do the business.
William Makepeace Thackeray1811–1863Vanity Fair (1848), Chapter XIXIn context
- Family
A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave
William Shakespeare1564–1616King Lear (c. 1606), Act II, Scene II, spoken by KentIn context
Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them they are not worth the search.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act I, Scene I, spoken by BassanioIn context
- Talking
God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act I, Scene II, spoken by PortiaIn context
- Men
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act I, Scene II, spoken by PortiaIn context
He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598), Act I, Scene I, spoken by BeatriceIn context
- Faith