“‘Bravo, Watson! Voila la devise de notre firme: nous allons essayer en tout cas.’”
Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle Archives sur Sherlock Holmes [a 1956 translation]
“We know that happiness comes to men when they are caught up, absorbed in a meaningful task or duty to be done, a task or duty which in turn sheds justification and sanction back down upon their humble labors.”
Mr. Max in Richard Wright Native Son
“’Christmas is a typical case of the old Christian tradition, precisely because it gathers so many things into itself, including things that are pagan. People talk about Paganism in Christianity, and do not realize that even by that metaphor of measurement they are implying that Christianity is larger than Paganism.’”
G.K. Chesterton in G.K.’s Weekly Nov. 11, 1928 quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 15 #2-3 (November-December 2011)
“a noodle shop between two skyscrapers.”
The self-deprecating self-assessment of incoming Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, quoted in Ottawa Citizen July 25, 1998 [and he duly died after less than two undistinguished years in office... but it’s not obvious that his predecessor or successor were skyscrapers either].
In my latest Epoch Times column I praise people for observing the externals of Christmas then urge them to open their hearts, minds and ears just a little wider while singing carols.
“With your usual rapid grasp of the inessentials, you regard the mushrooms as the most important element of Mr. Hillerman’s plan.”
A character in Jack Hitt, ed., The Perfect Murder
He had many dinners alone with General George Marshall during the war, after “two stiff, bourbon old-fashioneds which the Chief liked to mix himself. There would be talk of course, but absolutely no war talk. That day he probably had had to make decisions that affected the fate of nations; tomorrow he would face problems equally crucial. But that evening he would be calm and unworried as he listened to my chatting. Once, I asked him how he stood up under the strain; he answered: ‘I’ve had to train myself never to worry about a decision once it’s made. You worry before you make it, but not after. You make the best judgement you can about a problem – then forget it. If you don’t, your mind is not fit to make the next decision.’”
Frank Capra The Name Above the Title
“As the ostrich observed, Where is everybody?”
Anthony Boucher, The Case of the Seven Sneezes (1942), quoted in “Top Ten Detective Fiction Wise Cracks” compiled by “Gramps", in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 2 #6 Issue 15 (April-May 1999)