Proverbial Quotes

• The reason for the slow progress of the world seems to lie in a single fact. Every man is born under the yoke, and grows up beneath the oppressions of his age. He can only get a vision of the unselfish forces in the world by appealing to them, and every appeal is a call to arms. If he fights he must fight, not one man, but a conspiracy. He is always at war with a civilization. On his side is proverbial philosophy, a galaxy of invisible saints and sages, and the half-developed consciousness and professions of everybody. Against him is the world, and every selfish passion in his own heart.

  John Jay Chapman

  Growing Up, Philosophy, Lying

  John Jay Chapman (1900). “Practical Agitation”

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• The proverbial philosophy of a people helps us to understand more about them than any other kind of literature.

  Lafcadio Hearn

  Philosophy, People, Literature

  Lafcadio Hearn (2012). “Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn”, p.117, tredition

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• Families, generally, suck. And I say that as someone who, like my husband, had parents who proved the proverbial exception to the rule.

  Julie Burchill

  Husband, Exception To The Rule, Parent

  "Suffer little children? Give me a break" by Julie Burchill, www.theguardian.com. August 2, 2008.

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• The proverbial German phenomenon of the verb-at-the-end about which droll tales of absentminded professors who would begin a sentence, ramble on for an entire lecture, and then finish up by rattling off a string of verbs by which their audience, for whom the stack had long since lost its coherence, would be totally nonplussed, are told, is an excellent example of linguistic recursion.

  Douglas Hofstadter

  Communication, Long, Example

  "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid". Book by Douglas Hofstadter, 1979.

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• I am told that there is a proverbial phrase among the Inuit: 'a long time ago, in the future.' Let the children see our history, and maybe it will help to shape the future.

  Romeo LeBlanc

  Children, Long, Inuit

  Address to the Empire Club and the Royal Commonwealth Society, June 26, 1996.

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• If you check your ego at the door when it comes to comedy, you've got a pretty good shot at making a great movie that you can commit yourself to, you can jump off the proverbial cliff with, and have a great time, and the audiences respond to that.

  Dwayne Johnson

  Doors, Ego, Cliffs

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• My interest in the sciences started with mathematics in the very beginning, and later with chemistry in early high school and the proverbial home chemistry set.

  Rudolph A. Marcus

  Home, School, Science

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• To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbsial disgrace.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Stones, Folly, Disgrace

  "Epistles (Letters)". Book by Marcus Tullius Cicero (Book X, Chapter 20), 68-43 BC.

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• All things come to those who wait.

  Violet Fane

  Patience, Funny Inspirational, Life Changing

  Violet Fane (1872). “From Dawn to Noon: Poems”, p.85

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• Good things come to those who initiate.

  Susan RoAne

  Patience, Fitness, Workout

  Susan RoAne (2009). “Face to Face: How to Reclaim the Personal Touch in a Digital World”, p.21, Simon and Schuster

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• Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

  John Heywood

  Birthday, Gratitude, Horse

  John Heywood (1562). “The Proverbs, Epigrams, and Miscellanies of John Heywood ...”, p.391

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• Good things come to those who hustle

  Chuck Noll

  Fitness, Patience, Workout

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• All is well that ends well

  Emily Rodda

  Wise, Drama, Italian

  Emily Rodda (2008). “The Key to Rondo”, p.332, Scholastic Inc.

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• Good things come to those who wait.

  Jess C Scott

  Inspirational, Funny, Patience

  Jess C. Scott (2010). “Porcelain”, p.147, jessINK

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• All's well that ends well.

  John Heywood

  Wise, Wisdom, Drama

  John Heywood (1867). “The proverbs and epigrams of John Heywood: with an app. of variations”, p.21

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• I guess good things come to those who wait.

  Kurt Busch

  Patience, Monday, Funny Inspirational

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• All good things come to those who wait.

  Paullina Simons

  Patience, Monday, Funny Inspirational

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• It is far easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle's eye, hump and all, than for an erstwhile colonial administration to give sound and honest counsel of a political nature to its liberated territory.

  Kwame Nkrumah

  Eye, Giving, Political

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• More and more, Democrats are starting to worry they that they have a more um, colorful version of Jimmy Carter on their hands. Obama acts cool as a proverbial cucumber but that awful '70s show seems frightfully close to a rerun.

  Eric Alterman

  Hands, Worry, Reruns

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• Hit the nail on the head.

  John Heywood

  Wise, Wisdom, Latin

  John Heywood (1963). “A Dialogue of Proverbs”, Berkeley : University of California Press

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• You don't go walking into the proverbial lion's den lightly. You start with a good breakfast.

  Jim Butcher

  Motivational, Breakfast, Lions

  Jim Butcher (2000). “Storm Front: Book one of The Dresden Files”, p.98, Penguin Group

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• It is odd to think that there is a word for something which, strictly speaking, does not exist, namely, "rest." We distinguish between living and dead matter; between moving bodies and bodies at rest. This is a primitive point of view. What seems dead, a stone or the proverbial "door-nail," say, is actually forever in motion. We have merely become accustomed to judge by outward appearances; by the deceptive impressions we get through our senses.

  Max Born

  Moving, Science, Thinking

  Max Born (2013). “The Restless Universe”, p.1, Courier Corporation

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• (Scottish Terriers) have all the compactness of a small dog and all the valor of a big one. And they are so exceedingly sturdy that it is proverbial that the only thing fatal to them is being run over by an automobile - in which case the car itself knows it has been in a fight.

  Dorothy Parker

  Running, Dog, Fun

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• Why, of all places in Johannesburg, the Indian location should be chosen for dumping down all kaffirs of the town, passes my comprehension. Of course, under my suggestion, the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population, and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Thinking, Mixing, Suggestions

  Letter to Dr. Porter, Medical Officer of Health for Johannesburg, February 15, 1905.

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• The proverbial notion of historical distance consists in our having lost ninety-five of every hundred original facts, so the remaining ones can be arranged however one likes.

  Robert Musil

  Distance, Historical, Likes

  Robert Musil, Burton Pike, David S. Luft (1995). “Precision and Soul: Essays and Addresses”, p.117, University of Chicago Press

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