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DINNER
DIPLOMACY/DIPLOMATS
DIRT/DIRTY --- DISABILITY

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DINNER

see: "FOOD & DRINK" for related links

^

From _With the Flag on the Seven Seas: Fifty Years
a Seafarer_ by Admiral Sir Bulwark Bloode [1907]:

The Pacific Station had its ups and downs. My first mission
when I took command of the "Myrmidon" was to track down
some Solomon Islanders who had eaten a Quaker missionary.
By all accounts he was a strange fellow who did not drink
nor eat meat and walked around barefoot. It seems he stuck
his nose into some native war and got eaten for his troubles.
The poor devil was wrapped in palm leaves, parboiled in
salt water and then lightly grilled.
--_The Folio Book of Humorous Anecdotes_
Introduced by Edward Leeson [2005], "Food, Drink and Entertaining"

^

... Forevermore, when I hear the name Estee Lauder,
I'll remember the time she told a wealthy customer that
she could make her face creams last longer by storing
them in the refrigerator. The labels came off in the cold,
and the customer's maid served face cream at a formal
dinner as mayonnaise. Oops.
--Paul Carroll, reviewing Todd G. Buchholz
_New Ideas From Dead CEOs_ in "The Wall Street Journal" [27 June 2007].

I do dinner in three phases. Serve the
food, clear the table, bury the dead.
--Phyllis Diller (b. 1917)
American comedian.
_Like a Lampshade In a Whorehouse: My Life In Comedy_ [2005]

It isn't so much what's on the table
that matters, as what's on the chairs.
--attributed to W. S. Gilbert (1836—1911)
English writer of comic and satirical verse.

The best number for a dinner party is two
— myself and a dam' good head waiter.
--Nubar Gulbenkian (1896—1972)
British industrialist and philanthropist.
"Daily Telegraph" [14 January 1965]

My mother's menu consisted of
two choices: take it or leave it.
--attributed to Buddy Hackett [Leonard Hacker] (1924—2003)
American comic.

^

Alfred Hitchcock (1889—1980)
British film director.

Hitchcock, who enjoyed food, was put out to find totally
inadequate quantities served up at a private dinner he
attended. Toward the end of the evening the host said,
'I do hope you will dine again with us soon.'

'By all means,' assented Hitchcock. 'Let's start now.'

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

^

A man is in general better pleased when he has
a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife
talks Greek.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
Quoted in Sir John Hawkins _Life of Samuel Johnson_ [1787].

[To a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea:]
You managed not to get eaten, then?
--Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1921)
Consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
Quoted in Barbara Karg, Rick Sutherland, & Lucie
Cave _The World's Stupidest Celebrities_ [2008].

Dinner at the Huntercombes' possessed only two dramatic
features: the wine was a farce and the food a tragedy.
--Anthony Powell (1905—2000)
English novelist.
_The Acceptance World_ [1955]

In Detroit, Mrs. Dorothy Van Dorn, suing for
divorce, complained that her husband 1) put
all their food in a freezer; 2) kept the freezer
locked; 3) made her pay for any food she ate,
and, 4) charged her the 3% Michigan sales tax.
--"Time" (mag.) [10 December 1951]

Women have the right to work wherever they
want, as long as they have the dinner ready
when you get home.
--John Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison] (1907—1979)
American motion-picture actor.
Attributed in Michael Turback _The John Wayne Code_ [2006].

After a good dinner one can forgive
anybody, even one's own relations.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
_A Woman of No Importance_, act 2 [1893]

-

A 2-panel cartoon from an early-70s MAD magazine:

1920s family at the supper table, with husband, wife,
five kids, and a feast.

Husband: How come there's no dessert?

Wife: I didn't have time to bake anything.

1970s family at the supper table, with husband, wife,
two kids, and Hamburger Helper.

Husband: How come there's no dessert?

Wife: I didn't have time to defrost anything.

-

-----

deipnosophist [dyp-NOS-uh-fist], noun:
Someone who is skilled in table talk.

postprandial [post-PRAN-dee-uhl], adjective:
Happening or done after a meal.

repast (noun)
Something taken as food; a meal.

repletion, noun:
1. The condition of being completely filled or supplied.
2. Excessive fullness, as from overeating.



DIPLOMACY / DIPLOMATS

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see: "AGREEMENT"
see: "COMPROMISE"
see: "FOREIGN POLICY"
see: "NEUTRALITY"
see: "TACT"
see: "OCCUPATIONS" for other related links
see: "POLITICS" for other related links
see: "WAR & PEACE" for other related links


The great questions of the time are not decided
by speeches and majority decisions — that was
the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and
blood.
--Otto von Bismarck (1815—1898)
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia 1862—1890.
He unified Germany with a series of successful wars and
became the first Chancellor 1871—1890 of the German Empire.
Speech to the Prussian Diet [30 September 1862].

For the mass public, it is easier to understand
problems if they are reduced to black/white
dichotomies. It is easier to understand policies
if they are attached to individuals who are
simplistically labeled as hawks or doves. Yet
in today's world any attempt to reduce its
complexities to a single set of ideological
propositions, to a single personality, or to
a single issue is in itself a distortion. Such
distortion also raises the danger that public
emotions become so strong as to make the
management of a genuinely complex foreign
policy well-nigh impossible.
--Zbigniew Brzezinski (b. 1928)
Polish-American political scientist.
_Power and Principle_ [1983]

I have found out the art of deceiving diplomatists;
I speak the truth, and I am certain they will not
believe me.
--Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810—1861)
Piedmontese statesman who helped bring about the
unification of Italy and served as the first prime minister.
Quoted in Charles de Mazade _The Life of Count Cavour_ [1877].

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
--Winston Churchill (1874—1965)
British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1940—1945, 1951—1955].
Speech at the White House [26 June 1954].

-

A state worthy of the name has no friends — only interests.
--Charles de Gaulle (1890—1970)
French soldier and statesman, President [1959—1969].
"The Thoughts of Charles de Gaulle"
ed. Jack Monet _New York Times_ [12 May 1968]


Diplomats are useful only in fair weather.
As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.
--Charles de Gaulle (1890—1970)
French soldier and statesman, President [1959—1969].
_Newsweek_ [1 October 1962], "Gaullism? Never Heard Of It"

-

You have to take chances for peace, just as you must
take chances in war . . . The ability to get to the verge
without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you
try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the
brink, you are lost.
--John Foster Dulles (1888—1959)
American diplomat and Secretary of State [1953—1959].
Quoted by James Shepley in "Life" [16 January 1956].

A diplomat is a man who always remembers
a woman's birthday but never remembers her
age.
--attributed to Robert Frost (1874—1963)
American poet.

Diplomacy is to do and say
The nastiest thing in the nicest way.
--Isaac Goldberg (1887—1938)
American writer.
_The Reflex_ [October 1927]

Once upon a time our traditional goal in war — and can
anyone doubt that we are at war? — was victory. Once
upon a time we were proud of our strength, our military
power. Now we seem ashamed of it. Once upon a time
the rest of the world looked to us for leadership. Now
they look to us for a quick handout and a fence-straddling
international posture.
--Barry Goldwater (1909—1998)
American conservative politician.
_Why Not Victory?_ [1962]

[On dealing with Balkan leaders:]
If you can prevent the deaths of people still alive,
you're not doing a disservice to those already killed.
--Richard Holbrooke (1941—2010)
American diplomat.
Attributed, [summer 1998].

The moment we engage in confederations, or alliances
with any nation we may from that time date the down-
fall of our republic.
--Andrew Jackson {Old Hickory} (1767—1845)
American military hero and 7th president of the United States [1829—1837].
To James Branch, criticizing John Quincey Adams [3 March 1826], quoted
in Robert V. Remini _Andrew Jackson & the Course of American Freedom_ [1981].

-

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with
all nations, entangling alliances with none.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
In his first Inaugural Address [4 March 1801].


I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United
States never to take an active part in the quarrels
of Europe. Their political interests are entirely
distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their
balance of power, their complicated alliances,
their forms and principles of government, are
all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal
war.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
In a letter to James Madison [11 June 1823].

-

Let us never negotiate out of fear.
But let us never fear to negotiate.
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917—1963)
American Democratic statesman, President of the U.S. [1961—1963].
Inaugural Address [20 January 1961].

Most foreign policies that history has marked highly,
in whatever country, have been originated by leaders
who were opposed by experts.
--Henry Alfred Kissinger (b. 1923)
German-born American diplomat.
_Years of Upheaval_ [1982]

No modern nation has ever constructed a foreign
policy that was acceptable to its intellectuals.
--Irving Kristol (1920—2009)
American founder of the neoconservative movement.
"American Intellectuals and Foreign Policy," in _Foreign Affairs_ # 45, [1966/67]

Animosity is not a policy.
--Henry Cabot Lodge Sr. (1850—1924)
Republican U.S. senator [1893—1924].
Speech delivered in the Senate [6 January 1915].

Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is
a temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost
sure to be unwise in statesmanship.
--James Russell Lowell (1819—1891)
American poet, critic, essayist, and diplomat.
Quoted in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 76 [1886].

Since love and fear can hardly exist together,
if we must choose between them, it is far
safer to be feared than loved.
--Niccolς Machiavelli (1469—1527)
Florentine statesman and political philosopher.
_The Prince_ [written 1513] ch. 8

We have a habit of trying to get our fingers into
every corner of the globe. I think we do that too
often, some-times too heavily, and perhaps a little
restraint in the other direction might be beneficial
in the years ahead.
--Mike Mansfield (1903—1977)
American politician and Democratic senator from Montana [1952—1977].
During a Senate debate on military assistance [July 1966].

The naοve notion that we can preserve freedom by exuding
goodwill is not only silly, but dangerous. The more adherents
it wins, the more it tempts the aggressor.
--Richard Nixon (1913—1994)
American Republican statesman, President [1969—1974].
_The Real War_ [1980]

We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies.
Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it
is our duty to follow.
--Lord Palmerston [Henry John Temple] (1784—1865)
British politician.
Speech in House of Commons [1 March 1848].

You can always get the truth from an American
statesman after he has turned seventy, or given
up all hope of the presidency.
--Wendell Phillips (1811—1884)
American abolitionist and reformer.
Speech [7 November 1860].

For the truth is that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge
would be historical nonentities — and a great many
people would be alive today — had Washington not
helped bring them to power and the governments
of the United States, Britain, China and Thailand
not supported them, armed them, sustained them
and restored them.
--John Pilger,
"The Friends of Pol Pot,"
_The Nation_, magazine, [11 May 1998]

A statesman is a politician who is dead.
--Thomas Brackett Reed (1839—1902)
American lawyer and politician.
Quoted in "L.A. Times" [10 October 1896].

There is a homely old adage which runs,
'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you
will go far.' If the American nation will
speak softly, and yet build and keep at
a pitch of the highest training a
thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe
Doctrine will go far.
--Theodore Roosevelt (1858—1919)
American Republican statesman and President [1901—1909].
Speech in Chicago [3 April 1903].

-

Just being an American nowadays is not always
comfortable. In the sensitive new areas some
will denounce American aid as imperialism; but
if it is not forthcoming we are denounced for
indifference or discrimination. And sometimes
if we stand correctly aloof from the local political
scene we are accused of supporting reaction and
the status quo. But if we don't keep our hands
off and indicate some preference for policies or
politicians then we are denounced for interfering.
We are damned if we do and damned if we don't
— at least now and then.
--Adlai E. Stevenson (1900—1965)
American Democratic politician.
_Call to Greatness_ [1954]


No administration can conduct a sound foreign
policy when the future sits in judgment on the
past and officials are held accountable as dupes,
fools, or traitors for anything that goes wrong.
--Adlai E. Stevenson (1900—1965)
American Democratic politician.
_Call to Greatness_ [1954]

-

A diplomat. . . is a person who can tell you to go to
hell in such a way that you actually look forward to
the trip.
--Caskie Stinnett (1911—1998)
American writer.
_Out of the Red_, 4 [1960]

^

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Pιrigord (1754—1838)
French statesman.

The role played by Talleyrand behind the scenes in
the July Revolution of 1830, which brought Louis
Philippe to the throne, remains as obscure now as
it was to his contemporaries. A widely told story
relates how the elderly statesman, sitting in his
house in Paris during the three days of riots, heard
the pealing of the bells and remarked, 'Ah, the
tocsin! We're winning.'

'Who's we, mon prince?'

Talleyrand gestured for silence. 'Not a word.
I'll tell you who we are tomorrow.'

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

^

We may well be unable to afford to be the world's
policeman, but neither can we afford to fail to live
up to the responsibilities that the accidents of a
bountiful land and a beneficient fate have placed
upon us.
--William Westmoreland (1914—2005)
American soldier.
_A Soldier Reports_ [1976]

-

An ambassador is an honest man sent to
lie abroad for the good of his country.
--Henry Wotton (1568—1639)
English poet and diplomat.
Written in the album of Christopher Fleckmore in 1604.


[Advice to a young diplomat:]
Tell the truth, and so puzzle and confound your adversaries.
--Henry Wotton (1568—1639)
English poet and diplomat.
Attributed in Kate Louise Roberts
_Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations_ [1922].

-

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice
doggie' until you can find a rock.
--Variously attributed to either Will Rogers or "anon."

-

[On the difference between a diplomat and a lady:]

When a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps.
When he says perhaps, he means no.
If he says no, he is not a diplomat.

When a lady says no, she means perhaps.
When she says perhaps, she means yes.
But when she says yes, she is no lady.

--an "old aphorism" in "The Independent" (NY) [10 April 1920]

-

-----

amity [AM-uh-tee], noun:
Friendship; friendly relations, especially between nations.

comity [KOM-uh-tee], noun:
A state of mutual harmony, friendship, and respect, especially
between or among nations or people; civility. comity of nations,
1. The courteous recognition by one nation of the laws and
institutions of another.
2. The group of nations observing international comity.

concordat (noun)
A signed written agreement between two or
more parties (nations) to perform some action.
Synonyms: compact, covenant

emollient (adj.) [κ-'mahl-yκnt or ee-'mahl-yκnt]
Softening, soothing; making less harsh or abrasive.

plenipotentiary (adj.) [ple-ni-pκ-'ten-chi-e-ri or -'ten-chκ-ri ]
Invested with full power to reach decisions.

rapprochement (noun):
The establishment or state of cordial relations.



DIRT/DIRTY

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.

see: "CLEAN LIVING"
see: "SCANDAL"


The sun, though it passes through dirty
places, yet remains as pure as before.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
_The Advancement of Learning_ [1605]

[On a film set of a tenement:]
Goldwyn: Why is everything so dirty here?
William Wyler (director): Because it's supposed to be a slum area.
Goldwyn: Well, this slum cost a lot of money.
It should look better than an ordinary slum.
--Samuel Goldwyn [Schmuel Gelbfisz] (1882—1974)
American film producer.
Recalled by William Wyler in Arthur Marx
_Goldwyn: The Man Behind the Myth_ [1976].

By those who look close to the ground
dirt will be seen. I hope I see things from
a greater distance.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
Quoted in Washington Irving _The Crayon Miscellany_, p. 229 [1885].

Throw dirt enough, and some will stick.
--_A letter from a Catholick gentleman to
his Popish friends_ [6 November 1678]

Damn all expurgated books, the dirtiest
book of all is the expurgated book.
--Walt Whitman (1819—1892)
American poet.
Quoted in Morris L. Ernst & William Seagle
_To the Pure: A Study of Obscenity and the Censor_ [1928].

What's the ugliest
Part of your body?
What's the ugliest
Part of your body?
Some say your nose
Some say your toes
But I think it's
Your mind.
--Frank Zappa (1940—1993)
American rock musician and songwriter.
What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? [1968 song sung by the Mothers of Invention].

-

Every time you throw some
dirt, you lose a little ground.
--anon.

Never wrestle with a pig. You only
get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
--anon.

It isn't difficult to make a mountain out
of a molehill — just add a little dirt.
--anon.

Dirt cheap.
--proverbial simile

Dirt poor.
--proverbial simile

Filthy rich.
--proverbial simile

Treat him like dirt.
--proverbial simile

As dirty as a pig.
--proverbial simile

Dig up dirt on him.
--proverbial cliche

Caked with mud.
--proverbial cliche

-----

bedraggle (verb) [bκ-'drζ-gl]
(1) To soak (cloth) until clinging, hanging heavily and limp;
(2) to soak (clothes) until they drag along the ground;
(3) to soil by dragging through mud.

clart (noun) [klah(r)t]
1/ Lumps of mud on the shoes.
2/ The mud itself from which the lumps are formed.



DISABILITY

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.

see: "HEALTH" for related links


-

The school year progressed slowly. I felt
as if I had been in the sixth grade for years,
yet it was only October. Halloween was
approaching. Coming from Ireland, we had
never thought of it as a big holiday, though
Sarah and I usually went out trick-or-
treating.

For the last couple of years I had been too
sick to go out, but this year Halloween fell
on a day when I felt quite fine. My mother
was the one who came up with the Eskimo
idea. I put on a winter coat, made a fish
out of paper, which I hung on the end
of a stick, and wrapped my face up in a
scarf.

[...]

We walked around the neighborhood with
our pillow-case sacks, running into other
groups of kids and comparing notes: the
house three doors down gave whole candy
bars, while the house next to that gave
only cheap mints.

I felt wonderful. It was only as the night
wore on and the moon came out and the
older kids, the big kids, went on their
rounds that I began to realize why I felt
so good. No one could see me clearly.
No one could see my face.

--Lucy Grealy (1963—2002)
American poet.
(Who was diagnosed at the age of nine with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare
form of cancer, which had left her with an extremely disfigured face.)
_Autobiography Of A Face_, ch. 7 [1994]

-

^

Alexander Procofieff De Serversky (1894—1974)
Russian-born American aviator and aeronautical
engineer.

De Serversky was visiting a fellow aviator in the hospital.
The young man had just had his leg amputated; de
Serversky, who had been walking on an artificial
limb for some time, tried to cheer him up. 'The loss
of a leg is not so great a calamity,' he said. 'Look
at me, I dance, I fly, I drive a car, I go everywhere.
And another thing: if you get hit on a wooden leg
it doesn't hurt a bit! Try it!' The patient raised his
walking-stick and brought it down on de Serversky's
leg with considerable force. 'You see,' said de
Serversky cheerfully. 'If you hit an ordinary man
like that, he'd be in bed for five days.' With these
words he took leave of the young man and limped
out into the corridor, where he collapsed in
excruciating pain. The aviator had struck him on
his good leg.

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

^

-

Anything can happen to anybody. I remember the last movie I did
I played a paraplegic in a movie called "Above Suspicion," and
I went to a rehab center and I worked with the people there so
I could simulate being a paraplegic. And every day I would get
in my car and drive away and go, 'Thank God, that's not me,' and
seven months later I was in this condition. And I remember in a
way the smugness of that, as if I were privileged in a way. The
point is we are all one big great family and any one of us can get
hurt at any moment. So that taught me a really big lesson about
complacency. We should never walk by somebody who's in a
wheelchair and be afraid of them or think of them as a stranger.
It could be us — in fact, it is us.
--Christopher Reeve (1952—2004)
American actor, director, producer, and writer.
Oprah Winfrey television interview [4 May 1998]
(Reeve became a paraplegic in 1995 after being thrown by a horse.)


You play the hand you're dealt,
and I think the game's worthwhile.
--Christopher Reeve (1952—2004)
American actor, director, producer, and writer.
In "Irish Times" [6 February 1999].

-


end page



| DANCING - DAY | DEATH - PAGE 1 (A-G) | DEATH - PAGE 2 (H-Z) | DEBATE - DEEDS | DECEPTION | DEFEAT - DELAY | DEMOCRACY | DENIAL - DESIRE | DESPAIR - DICKENS (CHARLES) | DICTIONARY - DILIGENCE | DINNER - DISABILITY | DISAGREEMENT - DISGUISE | DISHONESTY - DOCTORS | DOGS | (ON) DOING GOOD - DREAMS | DRESS - DRUNKENNESS | DUELS - DUTY |
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