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;void(0)) . . . BIRTH see: "ABORTION" see: "BIRTHDAYS" (below) see: "CHILDBIRTH" see: "LIFE" see: "HOME & FAMILY" for other related links [Describing what labor pains feel like:] Take your bottom lip and pull it over your head. --Carol Burnett (b. 1933) American television actress. Quoted by Bill Cosby in _Fatherhood_[1986]. There is, in fact, no reason to believe that any given natural phenomenon, however marvelous it may seem today, will remain forever inexplicable. Soon or late the laws governing the production of life itself will be discovered in the laboratory, and man may set up business as a creator on his own account. The thing, indeed, is not only conceivable; it is even highly probable. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (18801956) American journalist and literary critic. _Treatise on the Gods_ [1930], ch. 5 "Its State Today" [Telegram to Mrs. Sherwood on the arrival of her baby:] Good work, Mary. We all knew you had it in you. --Dorothy Parker (18931967) American critic and humorist. In Alexander Woolcott _While Rome Burns_ [1934]. When we are born we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools. --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _King Lear_, act 4, sc. 6, [16051606] 'Do you know who made you?' 'Nobody, as I knows on,' said the child, with a short laugh. The idea appeared to amuse her considerably; for her eyes twinkled, and she added 'I 'spect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me.' --Harriet Beecher Stowe (18111896) American writer and philanthropist. [Sister of Henry Ward Beecher, daughter of Lyman Beecher.] _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, ch. 21 [1852] Augustus passed laws to tighten the sanctions against celibacy and to increase revenue, He failed, however, to make marriage and the raising of children more popular childlessness was too attractive. --Tacitus [or Publius Cornelius Tacitus or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus] (c.55c.117), Roman orator, lawyer, senator, and historian. _Annals_, bk. 3.25 Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot. _Pudd'nhead Wilson_ [1894] ch. 7 epigraph: "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" ----- prepotency [pree-POTE-n-see], noun: 1. The quality or condition of having superior power, influence, or force; predominance. 2. (Biology) The capacity, on the part of one of the parents, as compared with the other, to transmit more than his or her own share of characteristics to their offspring. viviparous (vi-vip`a-rous) Producing young in a living state, as most mammals, or as those plants the offspring of which are produced alive, either by bulbs instead of seeds, or by the seeds themselves germinating on the plant, instead of falling, as they usually do; -- opposed to oviparous.  ;void(0)) BIRTH CONTROL . . see: "ABORTION" see: "SEX" A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said 'no'. --Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935) American actor, screenwriter, and director. At a nightclub in Washington [April 1965]. Whenever I hear people discussing birth control, I always remember that I was the fifth. --Clarence Darrow (18571938) American lawyer. _The Story of My Life_, ch. 2 [1932] It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. . . . Three generations of imbeciles are enough. --Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (18411935) Justice of the United States Supreme Court, legal historian, and philosopher. Writing the majority Supreme Court opinion upholding the right of the state of Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck who was deemed to be 'feeble-minded;' in _Buck v. Bell_ [1927]. The upper economic classes are presumably slightly better endowed with ability at least with ability to succeed in our social system and yet are not reproducing fast enough to replace themselves, either absolutely or as a percentage of the total population. We may, therefore, try to remedy this state of affairs, by pious exortation and appeals to patriotism, or by the more tangible methods of family allowances, cheaper education, or income-tax rebates for children. The lowest strata, allegedly less well-endowed genetically, are reproducing relatively too fast. Therefore birth-control methods must be taught them; they must not have too easy access to relief or hospital treatment lest the removal of the last check on natural selection should make it too easy for children to be produced or to survive; long unemployment should be a ground for sterilization, or at least relief should be contingent upon no further children being brought into the world; and so on. That is to say, much of our eugenic program will be curative and remedial merely, instead of preventive and constructive. --Julian Huxley (18871975) English biologist, philosopher, educator, and author. (Grandson of T.H. Huxley.) "Eugenics and Society" in _Man Stands Alone_ [1941] Contraceptives should be used on all conceivable occasions. --Spike [Terence Alan] Milligan (19182002) Irish novelist, poet, musician, and comedian. _The Last Goon Show of All_ [1972] No woman can call herself free who cannot choose the time to be a mother or not as she sees fit. --Margaret Sanger (18831966) American nurse and birth control advocate. "The Case for Birth Control" in _Physical Culture_ [April 1917]. Prevention of birth is premature murder, and it makes no difference whether it is a life already born that one snatches away or a life that is coming to birth. --Tertullian [Quintas Septimus Florens Tertullianus] (c. 155/160after 220) Early Christian theologian, polemicist, and moralist. _The Christian's Defense_ [c. 215] - Jack and Jill Went up the hill To have a little fun. Stupid Jill Forgot the pill And now they have a son. --anon. - . . see: "AGE" for related links see: "TIME" for related links - A man is as old as he feels; a woman as old as she looks. --"Appletons' Journal" [2 July 1870] & see: A man is only as old as the woman he feels. --Groucho [Julius Henry] Marx (18951977) American film comedian. Quoted in Laurence J. Peter _Peter's Quotations_ [1977]. - She was a handsome woman of forty-five and would remain so for many years. --Anita Brookner (b. 1928) British novelist and art historian. _Hotel du Lac_ [1984] A lady of 'a certain age,' which means Certainly aged. --Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (17881824) English Romantic poet and satirist. _Don Juan_, canto VI, st. 69 [1821] I never complained that my birthday was overlooked; people were even surprised, with a touch of admiration, by my discretion on this subject. But the reason for my disinterestedness was even more discrete: I longed to be forgotten in order to be able to complain to myself. --Albert Camus (19131960) French novelist, dramatist, and essayist who won the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature. _The Fall_ [1956] 'There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents.' 'Certainly,' said Alice. 'And only *one* for birthday presents, you know. There's glory for you! --Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (18321898) English writer and logician. _Thorough the Looking-Glass_, ch. 6 [1872] The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain. --Chinese Proverb In Bob Phillips _Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts_, p. 12 [1993]. What is there to celebrate? Birthdays are automatic things. Anyway, birthdays are for children. --Albert Einstein (18791955) German-American physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. In _New York Times_ [12 March 1944]. I occasionally get birthday cards from fans. But its often the same message: They hope its my last. --Al Forman National League baseball umpire. "Time" [25 August 1961] She may very well pass for forty-three, In the dusk with a light behind her. --W. S. Gilbert (18361911) English writer of comic and satirical verse. _Trial by Jury _ [1875] [Responding to telegram from his agent, HOW OLD CARY GRANT?:] OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU? (Attributed, but denied as authentic by Mr. Grant.) --Cary Grant [Alexander Archibald Leach] (19041986) English actor. The Grecian ladies counted their age from their marriage, not their birth. --Homer (c. 850? BC) Greek epic poet. Attributed in Thomas Fielding _Select Proverbs of All Nations_, p. 212 [1824]. May you live to be a hundred years, With one extra year to repent. --Irish toast [Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, speaking:] The Force will be with you always. --George Lucas (b. 1944) American screenwriter and producer. _Star Wars_ [1977] (screenplay) The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, and wills. --attributed to Richard John Needham (19121996) British-born Canadian writer. Is that a birthday? 'tis, alas! too clear; 'Tis but the funeral of the former year. --Alexander Pope (16881744) English poet. _To Mrs. M.B._ l. 9 She took to telling the truth; she said she was forty-two and five months. It may have been pleasing to the angels, but her elder sister was not gratified. --Saki [Hector Hugh Munro] (18701916) Scottish writer. _Reginald_ [1904] Take every birthday with a grain of salt. This works much better if the salt accompanies a large margarita. --John Wagner (b. 1949) British comics writer. "Maxine" cartoon Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years. --Oscar Wilde (18541900) Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet. _The Importance of Being Earnest_ , act III [1895] - I raise my glass to say, It's your birthday, that's true; And to celebrate the fact That I'm younger than you. --anon. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. --anon. -- A famous author was autographing copies of his new novel in a department store. One gentleman pleased him by bringing up not only his new book for signature, but two of his previous ones as well. My wife likes your stuff, he remarked apologetically, so I thought Id give her these signed copies for a birthday present. A surprise, eh? hazarded the author. Ill say, agreed the customer. Shes expecting a Mercedes. . . see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for related links Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are bitterer than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim. --Charles Buxton (18221871) English author. _Notes of Thought_, p. 243 [1873] O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other. --Thomas Carlyle (17951881) Scottish historian and political philosopher. _The French Revolution: A History_ [1837] The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do or who do nothing. --Samuel Johnson (17091784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. 1 Sept. 1759 issue of _The Idler_ (essays in the newspaper "The Universal Chronicle"). Here is a rule to remember in the future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, "This is a misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune." --Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121180) Roman emperor [161180] and Stoic philosopher. _Meditations_ Book IV, Number 49 I don't want to be bitter about life about love and friendship and all the human emotional entanglements. I've had more than my share of human disappointments, deprivations, disillusionment. I want to love people and life above all; I want to be able to say always, 'if you feel bitter or disillusioned, there is something wrong with yourself, not with people, not with life.' --Henry Miller (18911980) American novelist and essayist. Letter to Anaοs Nin [24 May 1933]. An angry woman is vindictive beyond measure, and hesitates at nothing in her bitterness. --Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn (17921870) French-Swiss lyric poet Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Notable Thoughts About Women_, p. 251 [1882]. Some old women and men grow bitter with age. The more their teeth drop out the more biting they get. --George Dennison Prentice (18021870) American journalist. _Prenticeana_ [1860] O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes! --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _As You Like It_, V, ii [1599] ----- acrimony (noun) ['ζ-krκ-mo-ni] Physical or psychological bitterness, rancor, hostile resentment. rancorous (adj.) ['rang-ker-uh s] Full of bitterness or rage, unforgiving, spite-filled. rankle (intransitive verb) To cause persistent feelings of bitterness, resentment, or anger saturnine [SAT-uhr-nyn], adjective: 1. Born under or being under the astrological influence of the planet Saturn. 2. Gloomy or sullen in disposition. 3. Having a sardonic or bitter aspect. Ex.: A saturnine prison guard sits and broods -- and every now and then, gets up and shoots an unseen prisoner. --John Walsh, review of The Silence Between Two Thoughts, "Independent," June 11, 2004 end page | BABIES - BARTENDERS | BASEBALL | BASTARDS - BEATLES (THE) | BEAUTY | BED - BEGINNINGS | BEHAVIOR - BELIEF | BENNY (JACK) - BIBLE | BICYCLES - BIRDS | BIRTH - BITTERNESS | BLAME - BLOGGING | BLONDES - BOOK BURNING | BOOKS | BOOMERS (THE) - BOXING | BOYS - BREAKING UP | BREASTS - BRITAIN | BROADWAY - BROTHERLY LOVE | BUGS BUNNY - BUREAUCRACY | BURMA SHAVE - BUSYBODIES | | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The Reviews | |
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