Joe’s Quotes

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an Emperor
Josef Essberger
Charlie Chaplin’s speech from “The Great Dictator” movie

Manners
Josef Essberger
“It is possible to be born an aristocrat without ever becoming a gentleman.” (Nicholas Ridley)

Life
Josef Essberger
“Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” (John Lennon)

Divorce
Josef Essberger
“Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.” (Dr Johnson on divorce laws)

The Oxford Secret
Josef Essberger
“It is a secret in the Oxford sense. You may tell it to only one person at a time.” (Lord Franks)

Meeting the eye
Josef Essberger
“There is less to him than meets the eye.” (Tallulah Bankhead) The normal expression is “there is more to something/somebody than meets the eye”, meaning that the thing or person is deeper than surface appearances suggest.

Arguing with a woman
Josef Essberger
“Arguing with a woman is like trying to fold the airmail edition of The Times in a high wind.” (Lord Mancroft) The Times is a newspaper. It used to be large format (ie, it had very large pages). The airmail edition was printed on very thin, light-weight paper.

Advice on reviewing books
Josef Essberger
“I never read a book before reviewing it. It prejudices a man so.” (Sydney Smith)

Do come again
Josef Essberger
“You must come again when you have less time.” (Walter Sickert to Denton Welch)

When words lose their meaning
Josef Essberger
“When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom” (Confucius)

7 of my Favourite Quotations
Josef Essberger
A “quotation” is usually a short text – perhaps one or two sentences – written or spoken by one (usually famous) person and often repeated or at least known by others. Here are 7 of my favourite quotations, arranged (loosely) from humorous to serious. Have a look at them and try to understand them. You […]

Some seek knowledge
Josef Essberger
“Some seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge – and that is curiosity. Some seek knowledge that they may be known to have knowledge – and that is vanity. Some seek knowledge that they may give to others their knowledge – and that is charity.” Bernard of Clairveaux Saint Bernard of Clairveaux was a French […]