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BOYS --- BRAGGING
BRAIN (THE) -- BRAVERY
BREAKFAST --- BREAKING UP

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BOYS

see: "AGE" for related links
see: "HOME & FAMILY" for related links
see: "THE HUMAN RACE" for related links


If a boy is not trained to endure and to bear trouble, he will grow
up a girl; and a boy that is a girl has all a girl's weakness without
any of her regal qualities. A woman made out of a woman is God's
noblest work; a woman made out of a man is His meanest.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister; brother of
Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.
In Henry Ward Beecher and Edna Dean Proctor, _Life Thoughts:
Gathered From the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher_ [1858].

The fact that boys are allowed to exist at all is evidence
of a remarkable Christian forbearance among men.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
Quoted in Franklin Dickerson Walker
_San Francisco's Literary Frontier [1939]

I am fond of children (except boys).
--Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832—1898)
English writer and logician.
Letter to Kathleen Eschwege [24 October 1879].

I am convinced that every boy, in his heart, would
rather steal second base than an automobile.
--Thomas Campbell Clark (1899—1977)
American lawyer, Attorney General, and
Justice of the Supreme Court [1949—1967].
Quoted in _American Trial Lawyers Association News Letter_, vol. 10 [1968].

Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.
--Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard (1868—1930)
American humorist.
Attributed in Herbert V. Prochnow
_Speaker's Handbook of Epigrams and Witticisms_ [1955].

Little boys may be an intolerable nuisance; but
when they are not there we regret them, we find
ourselves homesick for their very intolerableness.
--Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)
English novelist (grandson of T.H. Huxley.)
_Beyond the Mexique Bay_ [1934]

The parent who could see his boy as he really is would
shake his head and say: 'Willy is no good: I'll sell him.'
--Stephen Butler Leacock (1869—1944)
Canadian humorist.
_The Lot of the Schoolmaster_ [1916]

Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them
on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of
the forest, a little boy and his bear will always be
playing.
--A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne (1882—1956)
English writer for children.
_House at Pooh Corner_, ch. 10 [1928]

Anyone with a child in school knows the signs all too well. I am
intrigued by the faith parents now invest — the craze began about
1990 — in psychologists who diagnose their children as suffering
from a defect known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD. Of
course, I have no way of knowing whether this "disorder" is an
actual, physical, neurological condition or not, but neither does
anybody else in this early stage of neuroscience. The symptoms
of this supposed malady are always the same. The child or, rather,
the boy — forty-nine out of fifty cases are boys — fidgets around
in school, slides off his chair, doesn't pay attention, distracts his
classmates during class, and performs poorly. In an earlier era
he would have been pressured to pay attention, work harder,
show some self-discipline. To parents caught up in the new
intellectual climate of the 1990s, that approach seems cruel,
because my little boy's problem is ... *he's wired wrong!* The
poor little tyke — *the fix has been in since birth!* Invariably
the parents complain, "All he wants to do is sit in front of the
television set and watch cartoons and play Sega Genesis."
For how long? "How long? For hours at a time." Hours at a
time; as even any young neuroscientist will tell you, that boy
may have a problem, but it is not an attention deficit.
--Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)
American journalist and novelist.
_Hooking Up_ [2000]
(Ellipsis & emphasis in original text.)

-----

urchin (noun) ['κr-chin]
A mischievous boy, a brat, especially
if a bit soiled and bedraggled.



BRAGGING

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see: "CONCEIT"
see: "EGOTISM"
see: "EXAGGERATION"
see: "HUBRIS"
see: "NOISE"
see: "PRIDE"
see: "SHOWOFFS"
see: "SNOBS"
see: "TALK TOO MUCH"
see: "VANITY"
see: "COMMUNICATION" for other related links


^

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay) (b. 1942)
American heavyweight boxer.

Irritated by Ali's perpetual boasts of 'I am
the greatest,' a colleague asked the boxer
what he was like at golf. 'I'm the best,'
replied Ali. 'I just haven't played yet.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

Honest and courageous people have very little to say about either
their courage or their honesty. The sun has no need to boast of his
brightness, nor the moon of her effulgence.
--Hosea Ballou (1771—1852)
American theologian.
Quoted in H. D. M. Spence, Joseph Exell, & Charles Neil
(eds.) _Thirty Thousand Thoughts_, p. 10 [1889].

To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that
period [the 1880s] would need a far less brilliant pen
than mine.
--Sir Max Beerbohm (1872—1956)
English satirist and caricaturist.
Quoted in Bohun Lynch
_Max Beerbohm in Perspective_, p. 26 [1922].

Boast is always a cry of despair, except in
the young when it is a cry of hope.
--attributed to Bernard Berenson (1865—1959)
Lithuanian-born American art critic and historian.

Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.
--Bible
"Proverbs" 27:2 NKJV

Fools carry their daggers in their open mouths.
--Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818—1885)
American humorist.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 49 [1886].

Self-laudation abounds among the unpolished; but
nothing can stamp a man more sharply as ill-bred.
--Charles Buxton (1823—1871)
English author.
_Notes of Thought_ [1873]

Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe,
Sadder than owl songs or the midnight blast,
Is that portentous phrase, 'I told you so.'
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
_Don Juan_, Canto XIV, Stanza 50 [1823]

Be wiser than other people, if you
can; but do not tell them so.
--Lord Chesterfield [Philip Dormer Stanhope] (1694—1773)
British writer and politician.
Letter to his son [19 November 1745].

If you could see your ancestors,
All standing in a row,
There might be some among them
Whom you wouldn't care to know.
But there's another matter which
Requires a different view;
If you could see your ancestors,
Would they be proud of you?
--Rufus Craig
Attributed in _National Genealogical Society Quarterly_, vol. 37-40 [1949]

I am that same David Crockett, fresh from
the backwoods, half horse, half alligator,
a little touched with the snapping-turtle.
I can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio,
ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip
without a scratch down a honey-locust. I
can whip my weight in wildcats, and, if
any gentleman pleases, for a ten-dollar
bill he can throw in a panther. I can hug
a bear too close for comfort, and eat any
man opposed to General Jackson.
--David Crockett (1786—1836)
American folk hero who died at the Alamo.
In _David Crockett: His Life & Adventures_, by John S.C. Abbott [1874].

It ain't braggin' if you can do it.
--Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (1910—1974)
American professional baseball player.
Quoted in "Washington Post" [3 February 1983].

The louder he talked of his honor, the
faster we counted our spoons.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_The Conduct of Life_ "Worship" [1860]

There is no need to show your ability before everyone.
--Baltasar Graciαn (1601—1658)
Spanish Jesuit philosopher.
_The Art of Worldly Wisdom_ [1647]

A man who shows me his wealth is like a
begger who shows me his poverty; they are
both looking for alms — the rich man for
the alms of my envy, the poor man for the
alms of my guilt.
--Ben Hecht (1893—1964)
American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter.
_A Child of the Century_ [1954]

This sad little lizard told me that he was a Brontosaurus
on his mother's side. I did not laugh; people who boast
of ancestry often have little else to sustain them.
Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness
in a world in which happiness is in short supply.
--Robert Heinlein (1907—1988)
American science-fiction writer.
_Time Enough for Love_ [1973]

Don't take up a man's time talking about the smartness of
your children; he wants to talk to you about the smartness
of his children.
--Edgar Watson Howe (1854—1937)
American journalist and author.
_Country Town Sayings_ [1911]

There are braying men in the world as well as braying
asses; for what is loud and senseless talking other than
a way of braying?
--Sir Roger L'Estrange (1616—1704)
English journalist and pamphleteer.
Attributed in _The New Era_, vol. III [1873].

It is far more impressive when others discover
your good qualities without your help.
--attributed to Judith "Miss Manners" Martin (b. 1938)
American newspaper columnist.

The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your
friends that you know famous men proves only that
you are yourself of small account.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.
_The Summing Up_ [1938]

-

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman
is always looking for a shoulder to put her head on.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
_In Defense of Women_ [1918]

& note:

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman
is always looking for someone to complain to.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
_The New York Evening Mail_ [15-16 Nov. 1917]

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When all is summed up, a man never speaks of
himself without loss; his accusations of himself
are always believed, his praises never.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Treasury of Thought_ [10th ed. 1884].

& see:

Say nothing good of yourself, you will be distrusted;
say nothing bad of yourself, you will be taken at your
word.
--Joseph Roux (1834—1886)
French parish priest and writer.
_Meditations of a Parish Priest_, # 22 "Joy" [1886].

-

It is a great deal better to live a holy life than
to talk about it. . . . Light-houses don't ring
bells and fire cannon to call attention to their
shining — they just shine.
--Dwight Lyman Moody (1837—1899)
American evangelist and publisher.
Quoted in S. P. Linn _Golden Gleams of Thought_, p. 140 [1906, 9th ed.].

To have a thing is little, if you're not allowed to show it;
and to know a thing is nothing, unless others know you
know it.
--Charles Neaves (1800—1876)
Scottish theologian, judge and writer.
Attributed in Rev. John Booth
_Epigrams, Ancient and Modern_ [1865].

Do you wish people to think well of you?
Don't speak well of your-self.
--Blaise Pascal (1623—1662)
French mathematician, physicist, and moralist.
_Pensιes_, no. 4 [1670]

-

It will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_All's Well That Ends Well_, IV, iii [1602—1604]


There is not one wise man in twenty that will praise himself.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
Attributed in Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_, p. 139 [1908 ed].

-

Tell me what you brag about and I'll tell you what you lack.
--Spanish proverb

It therefore comes to pass that everyone is fond of
relating his own exploits and displaying the strength
both of his body and his mind, and that men are on
this account a nuisance one to the other.
--Benedict de Spinoza (1632—1677)
Dutch-Jewish philosopher, the foremost exponent of 17th century Rationalism.
_Ethics_, pt. III [1677]

I mustn't go singling out names. One must not be
a name-dropper, as Her Majesty remarked to me
yesterday.
--attributed to Norman St. John Stevas (b. 1929)
British politician, author, and barrister.
Leader of the House of Commons [1979-1981].

-

^

Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] [1835—1910]
American humorist, writer, and lecturer.

Mark Twain loved to brag about his hunting and fishing
exploits. He once spent three weeks fishing in the
Maine woods, regardless of the fact it was the state's
closed season for fishing. Relaxing in the lounge car
of the train on his return journey to New York, his
catch iced down in the baggage car, he looked for
someone to whom he could relate the story of his
successful holiday. The stranger to whom he began
to boast of his sizable catch appeared at first
unresponsive, then positively grim. 'By the way,
who are you, sir?' inquired Twain airily. 'I'm the
state game warden,' was the unwelcome response.
'Who are you?' Twain nearly swallowed his cigar.
'Well, to be perfectly truthful, warden,' he said
hastily, 'I'm the biggest damn liar in the whole
United States.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]


Whoo-oop! I'm the old original iron-jawed, brass-
mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the
wilds of Arkansaw.—Look at me! I'm the man
they call Sudden Death & General Desolation! Sired
by a hurricane, dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother
to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the
mother's side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators
and a bar'l of whiskey for breakfast when I'm in robust
health, & a bushel of rattlesnakes & a dead body when
I'm ailing! I split the everlating rocks with my glance,
and I squench the thunder when I speak! Whoo-oop!
Stand back & give me room according to my strength!
Blood's my natural drink, & the wails of the dying is
music to my ear! Cast your eye on me, gentlemen! —
and lay low and hold your breath, for I'm bout
to turn myself loose!
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Life on the Mississippi_, ch. 3 [1883]


Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely
laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Following the Equator_ [1897], ch. 5 epigraph: "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar"

-

I am Xerxes, great king, king of kings, the king of all
countries which speak all kinds of languages, the king
of the entire big far-reaching earth.
--Xerxes I (519 B.C.—465 B.C.)
Persian king [486—465 B.C.].
Foundation tablet at Persepolis,
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {ed.} _History in Quotations_ [2004].
(Xerxes was defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis.)

-

[Of Shakespeare:]
A great man! Why, I doubt if there are
six his equal in the whole of Boston.
--said to William Gladstone by an unnamed Bostonian.

-----

bloviate [BLOH-vee-ayt], intransitive verb:
To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

braggadocio [brag-uh-DOH-see-oh; -shee-oh; -shoh], noun:
1. A braggart.
2. Empty boasting.
3. A swaggering, cocky manner.

fanfaronade (noun) [fζn-fζ-rκ-'neyd]
Verbal fanfare: boasting or blustering boisterously.
A person given to fanfaronades is a "fanfaron."

gasconade (noun)
Boastful or blustering talk.

rodomontade (noun)
Boastfulness: pretentious, self-important, or self-indulgent
boasting, speech, or behavior



BRAIN (THE)

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see: "THE MIND" for related links


Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
(Retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_.)

The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching
for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make
its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary
nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it
doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it! (It's rather
like getting tenure.)
--Daniel Dennett (b. 1942)
American philosopher.
_Consciousness Explained_, ch. 7 [1991]

Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition
of knowledge you forget something that you knew before.
It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless
facts elbowing out the useful ones.
--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859—1930)
Scottish-born writer of detective fiction.
_A Study in Scarlet_, ch. 2 [1887]

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers,
Consultin' with the rain;
And my head I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin',
If I only had a brain.
--E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896—1981)
American songwriter.
"If I Only Had a Brain" 1939 song in the movie _The Wizard Of Oz_.

[Professor Wagstaff (Groucho Marx):]
Baravelli, you've got the brain of four-year-old
boy, and I bet he was glad to get rid of it.
--"Horse Feathers" [1932 movie]
Screenplay by Will B. Johnstone, Bert Kalmar, S.J. Perelman, and Harry Ruby.

There is a large number of women whose brains are closer in size
to the gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This
inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a
moment; only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists
who have studied the intelligence of women . . . recognize today
that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution,
and that they are closer to children and savages than to an
adult, civilized man.
--Gustave Le Bon (1841—1931)
French social psychologist best known for his study
of the psychological characteristics of crowds.
_Revue d'Anthropologie_ [1879]

I am a bear of very little brain, and long
words bother me.
--A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne (1882—1956)
English writer for children.
_Winnie-the-Pooh_ch. 4 [1926]

[When Isadora Duncan regretted that they could
not have a child together, saying, 'Think what a
child it would be with my body and your brains':]
I know, but suppose the child was so unlucky as
to have my body and your brain?
--George Bernard Shaw (1856—1950)
Irish dramatist and critic.
Quoted in Lewis Copeland and Faye Copeland
_10,000 Jokes, Toasts & Stories_ [1939].

Give me the young man who has brains
enough to make a fool of himself.
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894)
Scottish essayist, poet, and novelist.
_Virginibus Puerisque_ [1881], ch. II "Crabbed Age and Youth"

Brains are never a handicap to a girl if she
hides them under a see-through blouse.
--attributed to Bobby Vinton (b. 1935)
American singer.

-

The hypothalamus is one of the most important
parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of
motivation, among other functions. The
hypothalamus controls the "Four F's":
1. fighting;
2. fleeing;
3. feeding;
and
4. mating.
--Anonymous Psychology professor




BRAVERY

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.

see: "BOLDNESS"
see: "COURAGE"
see: "FEAR"
see: "CHARACTER" for other related links


It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
--Ζsop (c.620 B.C.—c.560 B.C.)
(Thought to be a legendary figure.)
_Ζsop's Fables_
"The Wolf and the Kid"

[At age four, when asked his condition after hot coffee was spilt on his legs:]
Thank you, madam, the agony is abated.
--Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800—1859)
English politician and historian.

We come to know best what men are, in their worse jeopardies.
--Samuel Daniel (1562—1619)
English poet and dramatist.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 54 [1886].

Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery. ... Common
experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery.
A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will
dare espouse an unpopular cause ..... True courage and manhood come
from the consciousness of the right attitude toward the world, the faith in
one’s own purpose, and the sufficiency of one’s own approval as a justification
for one’s own acts.
--Clarence Darrow (1857—1938)
American lawyer.
Quoted in S.T. Joshi (ed.), _Closing Arguments:
Clarence Darrow on Religion, Law, and Society_ [2005].

People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery
they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbors.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
_Middlemarch_, bk. VIII, ch. LXXII [1871—1872]

A brave man is a man who dares to look the
Devil in the face and tell him he is a Devil.
--attributed to James A. Garfield (1831—1881)
20th President of the United States [1881].

We are the boys
That fear no noise
When the thundering cannons roar.
--Oliver Goldsmith (1728—1774)
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist.
_She Stoops to Conquer_ [1773 play]

True bravery is shown by performing without witness what
one might be capable of doing before all the world!
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, #216 [1665]

Fortune favors the brave.
--Latin proverb

There's a brave fellow! There's a man of pluck!
A man who's not afraid to say his say,
Though a whole town's against him.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_John Endicott_, II, ii [1868]

I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-General
Harrison hanged, drawn and quartered; which was
done there, he looking as cheerful as any man
could do in that condition.
--Samuel Pepys (1633—1703)
English diarist and naval administrator.
Entry of 1660 in _Diary_.

Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral
bravery is a much higher and truer courage.
--Wendell Phillips (1811—1884)
American abolitionist and reformer.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 54 [1886].

Discretion is the better part of valor.
--William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
English dramatist.
_King Henry IV_, part I, act 5, sc. 4, l. 118 [1597]

The brave only know how to forgive ... a
coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.
--Laurence Sterne (1713—1768)
Irish-born English novelist.
"Joseph's History Considered", a sermon in
_The Complete Works of Laurence Sterne_ [1872].

There was once a man in China who liked pictures of dragons.
His clothing and his furniture were therefore accordingly adorned
with dragons. This deep affection for their kind was brought to the
attention of the Dragon Lord, who one day sent a real dragon to
stand outside the man's window. It is said that he probably died
of fright.
--Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659—1719)
Japanese samurai.
_Hagakure_ (Hidden in the Leaves)_ [1716], now known as __The Book of the Samurai_.

Fortune favors the brave.
--Virgil (70—19 B.C.)
Roman poet.
_Aeneid_bk. 10, l. 284 [c. 29-19 B.C.]

Men of the South! It is better to die on
your feet than to live on your knees!
--Emiliano Zapata (1879—1919)
Mexican revolutionary, champion of agrarianism, who fought in
guerrilla actions during and after the Mexican Revolution [1911—1917].
In Nigel Rees _Brewer's Famous Quotations_, p. 250 [2006].

-----

doughty DOW-tee, adjective:
Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.
Ex.: "He was obsessed with the Arctic, his imagination stoked by
epic accounts of the doughty pioneers who had led wooden ships
into uncharted waters and northern mists."
--Sara Wheeler, "In Cold Blood?"
_New York Times_ [25 February 2001]

intrepid in-TREP-id, adjective:
Fearless; bold; brave; undaunted; courageous;
as, an intrepid soldier; intrepid spirit.

temerity (noun) [tκ-'me-rκ-ti]
Recklessness, foolhardy disregard for danger.
The sense of today's word, the noun, is diametrically
opposed to "timidity" despite the similarity sound.



BREAKFAST

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.

see: "FOOD & DRINK" for related links


People who insist on telling their dreams
are among the terrors of the breakfast table.
--Sir Max Beerbohm (1872—1956)
English satirist and caricaturist.
Review of "Peter Pan" in _The Saturday Review_ [7 January 1905].

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like
a prince, and dinner like a pauper.
--Adelle Davis (1904—1974)
American nutritionist and author.
_Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit_ [1970]

What you need for breakfast, they say in East
Tennessee, is a jug of good corn liquor, a thick
beefsteak, and a hound dog. Then you feed the
beefsteak to the hound dog.
--Charles Kuralt (1934—1997)
American journalist and broadcaster.
_Dateline America_ [1979]

The only way to eat well in England
is to have breakfast three times a day.
--attributed to W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.

-

Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together
in the golden evening, and for a long time they were
silent.

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said
Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to
yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say,
Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"
said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.

--A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne (1882—1956)
English writer for children.
_Winnie-the-Pooh_ [1926]

-



BREAKING UP

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.

see: "GOODBYE"
see: "LEAVING"
see: "PARTING"
see: "REJECTION"
see: "LOVE & MARRIAGE (OR NOT)" for other related links


-

[ . . . ] What'll I do
When you
Are far away
And I am blue,
What'll I do?
What'll I do
When I
Am wond'ring who
Is kissing you,
What'll I do?
What'll I do
With just
A photograph
To tell my troubles to?
When I'm alone
With only
Dreams of you
That won't come true,
What'll I do? [ . . . ]

--Irving Berlin (1888—1989)
American songwriter.
"What'll I Do?" [1924 song]

-

[To Henry VIII 'from my doleful prison in the Tower, this sixth of May, 1536':]
Whereas you send unto me, willing me to confess
a truth, and so to obtain your favor ... let not your
grace ever imagine that your poor wife will ever be
brought to acknowledge a fault where not so much
as a thought ever proceeded. And to speak a truth,
never prince had wife more loyal in all duty and in
all true affection than you have ever found in Ann
Bullen — with which name and place I could willingly
have contented myself, if God and your grace's
pleasure had been so pleased.
--Anne Boleyn [also spelled Bullen] (1507?—1536)
Second wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

What's new? How is the world treating you?
You haven't changed a bit, lovely as ever, I must admit
What's new? How did that romance come through?
We haven't met since then, gee, but it's nice to see you again
What's new? Probably I'm boring you
But seeing you is grand, and you were sweet to offer your hand
I understand. Adieu! Pardon my asking what's new
Of course you couldn't know, I haven't changed, I still love you so.
--Johnny Burke (1908—1964)
American lyricist.
"What's New?" [c. 1952 song]

But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love forever.
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met — or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
--Robert Burns (1759—1796)
Scottish poet and songwriter.
"Ae Fond Kiss" st. 2

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.
--William Congreve (1670—1729)
English dramatist.
"The Mourning Bride" [1697]

Women suffer more from disappointment than men,
because they have more of faith and are naturally
more credulous.
--Marguerite de Valois (1553—1615)
Queen of France and Navarre.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 108 [1886].

[Referring to her estranged brother:]
His years with others must the sweeter be
For those brief days he spent in loving me.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
"Brother and Sister", st. IX

-

"Ending," by Gavin Ewart (1916—1995)

The love we thought would never stop
now cools like a congealing chop.
The kisses that were hot as curry
are bird-pecks taken in a hurry.
The hands that held electric charges
now lie inert as four moored barges.
The feet that ran to meet a date
are running slow and running late.
The eyes that shone and seldom shut
are victims of a power cut.
The parts that then transmitted joy
are now reserved and cold and coy.
Romance, expected once to stay,
has left a note saying GONE AWAY.

-

They're writing songs of love,
But not for me;
A lucky star's above,
But not for me.
With love to lead the way,
I've found more clouds of grey
Than any Russian play
Could guarantee.
I was a fool to fall
And get that way;
Heigh ho! Alas! And al-
So lackaday!
Love ain't done right by Nell;
However— what the hell!
I guess he's not for me.
--Ira Gershwin (1896—1983)
American songwriter.
"But Not For Me"
[1930 song from the musical _Girl Crazy_; music by George Gershwin.]

If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?
--Cynthia Heimel (b. 1947)
American playwright and author.
Title of book [1991]

-

In the wee small hours of the morning,
While the whole wide world is fast asleep,
You lie awake and think about the girl
And never even think of counting sheep.
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,
You'd be hers if only she would call.
In the wee small hours of the morning,
That's the time you miss her most of all.

--Bob Hilliard (1918—1971)
American lyricist.
"In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" [1955 song]
(Music by David Mann.)

-

It is folly to pretend that one ever wholly recovers
from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always
leave a scar. There are faces I can never look upon
without emotion. There are names I can never hear
spoken without almost starting.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Hyperion_, bk. II, ch. III [1839]

And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, 'There is no memory of him here!'
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.
--Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892—1950)
American poet.
"Time does not bring relief"

Anxiety is love's greatest killer. It creates the failures. It makes
others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you.
You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with
his panic.
--Anaοs Nin (1903—1977)
French-born American writer.
_The Diary of Anaοs Nin_, vol. 4
[Written 1944—1947 & first published in 1966.]

-

"After A While" [1971]
by Veronica Shoffstall

After a while, you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans.
And futures have a way of falling down in midflight.

After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn...
With every goodbye, you learn.

-

I met my old lover on the street today
She seemed so glad to see me; I just smiled
And we talked about the old times, and drank
ourselves some beers
Still crazy after all these years.
--Paul Simon (b. 1941)
American singer and songwriter.
"Still Crazy After All These Years" [1975 song]

Life often seems like a long shipwreck, of which the debris
are friendship, glory, and love; the shores of existence are
strewn with them.
--Germaine de Staλl (1766—1817)
French writer.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Pearls of Thought_, p. 65 [1882].

-

I hold it true, whate'er befall,
I feel it when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809—1892)
English poet.
"In Memoriam A. H. H." [1850]
(Arthur Henry Hallam was the fiancι of Tennyson's
sister Emily and died suddenly in September 1833.)

& see:

Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than
never to have been loved.
--William Congreve (1670—1729)
English dramatist.
"The Way of the World", act 2, sc. I [1700]

-

Whatever happened to you, whatever happened to us
We missed the proverbial boat, the plane and the train and the bus
Push came to shove, we fell out of love, we tore each other apart...
Love is grand but I can't understand why we broke each other's heart.
--Loudon Wainwright III (b. 1946)
American songwriter.
"Whatever Happened to Us" [1975 song]

All discarded lovers should be given a
second chance, but with somebody else.
--Mae West (1893—1980)
American stage and film actress.
In Joseph Weintraub _The Wit and Wisdom of Mae West_ [1967].

-

The mailman passes by,
And I just wonder why
He never stops to ring my front doorbell.
There's not a single line from that dear old love of mine,
No, not a word since I last heard 'Farewell.'

I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
And make believe it came from you.
I'm gonna write words, oh, so sweet,
They're gonna knock me off my feet.
A lot of kisses on the bottom,
I'll be glad I got' em.
I'm gonna smile and say, 'I hope you're feeling better,'
And close 'with love' the way you do.
I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter,
And make believe it came from you.

--Joe Young (1889—1939)
American songwriter.
"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter"
1935 song, sung by Fats Waller w/music by Fred E. Ahlert.

-

-

Max (Dan Monahan): Bob, listen to this. She dumped
me Bob. She said she never wants to see me again.

Bob McGraw (Tim Matheson): Let me tell you
something about women, they always say the
opposite of what they mean.

Max (reading letter) Oh yeah? "If you come within
a three block radius of my house I will have my new
boyfriend, Vito, rip off your head and spit in your
neck."

Bob McGraw: You're right kid, you've been dumped.

--"Up the Creek" [1984 film]
Screenplay by Jim Kouf, et al.

-


end page



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