SARAH JANE: You’re serious, aren’t you?
THE DOCTOR: About what I do, yes. Not necessarily the way I do it.
Robert Holmes (1926-1986) British television screenwriter
Doctor Who (1963), 11×01 “The Time Warrior,” Part 3 (1973-12-29)
(Source)
(Source (Video)). Often Sarah Jane's line is misquoted as "Doctor, are you serious?"
Quotations about:
gravity
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
It is a mathematical fact that the casting of this pebble from my hand alters the center of gravity of the Universe.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 7 (1834)
(Source)
Quoting Herr Teufelsdröckh. This chapter first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, No. 55 (1834-07).
Solemnity is the fool’s shield and buckler.
[La gravité est la bouclier des sots.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 1637 / 1051 (1720-1755) [ed. Guterman (1963)]
(Source)
(Source (French), # 1051). Other translations:Gravity is the shield of fools.
[tr. Clark (2012), # 1637]Solemnity is the shield of idiots.
[E.g.]
Nothing’s more playful than a young Cat, nor more grave than an old One.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 3680 (1732)
(Source)
In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1862-12-01) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union)
(Source)
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humourist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy No. 1, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 3 (1979)
(Source)
This line (and much of its surroundings) are not in the original radio play.
A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for erudition.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 202 (1820)
(Source)
Life is much too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
Vera; or, The Nihilists, Act 2 [Prince Paul] (1881)
(Source)
Almost always paraphrased, "Life is too important to be taken seriously."
In Lady Windermere's Fan, Act 2 (1892), he recycled the line as "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it."
Also (mis)attributed to G.K. Chesterton. More discussion of this quotation: Life Is Too Important To Be Taken Seriously – Quote Investigator.
The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
