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BELOVED: My love is fresh and ruddy,
to be known among ten thousand.
His head is golden, purest gold,
his locks are palm fronds
and black as the raven.
His eyes are like doves
beside the water-courses,
bathing themselves in milk,
perching on a fountain-rim.
His cheeks are beds of spices,
banks sweetly scented.
His lips are lilies,
distilling pure myrrh.
His hands are golden, rounded,
set with jewels of Tarshish.
His belly a block of ivory
covered with sapphires.
His legs are alabaster columns
set in sockets of pure gold.
His appearance is that of Lebanon,
unrivalled as the cedars.
His conversation is sweetness itself,
he is altogether lovable.

דּוֹדִ֥י צַח֙ וְאָד֔וֹם דָּג֖וּל מֵרְבָבָֽה׃
רֹאשׁ֖וֹ כֶּ֣תֶם פָּ֑ז קְוֻצּוֹתָיו֙ תַּלְתַּלִּ֔ים שְׁחֹר֖וֹת כָּעוֹרֵֽב׃
עֵינָ֕יו כְּיוֹנִ֖ים עַל־אֲפִ֣יקֵי מָ֑יִם רֹֽחֲצוֹת֙ בֶּֽחָלָ֔ב יֹשְׁב֖וֹת עַל־מִלֵּֽאת׃
לְחָיָו֙ כַּעֲרוּגַ֣ת הַבֹּ֔שֶׂם מִגְדְּל֖וֹת מֶרְקָחִ֑ים שִׂפְתוֹתָיו֙ שֽׁוֹשַׁנִּ֔ים נֹטְפ֖וֹת מ֥וֹר עֹבֵֽר׃
יָדָיו֙ גְּלִילֵ֣י זָהָ֔ב מְמֻלָּאִ֖ים בַּתַּרְשִׁ֑ישׁ מֵעָיו֙ עֶ֣שֶׁת שֵׁ֔ן מְעֻלֶּ֖פֶת סַפִּירִֽים׃
שׁוֹקָיו֙ עַמּ֣וּדֵי שֵׁ֔שׁ מְיֻסָּדִ֖ים עַל־אַדְנֵי־פָ֑ז מַרְאֵ֙הוּ֙ כַּלְּבָנ֔וֹן בָּח֖וּר כָּאֲרָזִֽים׃
חִכּוֹ֙ מַֽמְתַקִּ֔ים וְכֻלּ֖וֹ מַחֲמַדִּ֑ים זֶ֤ה דוֹדִי֙

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22. Song of Songs (of Solomon; Canticles) 5:10ff, Poem 4 (Song (Cant) 5:10-16) [tr. NJB (1985)]
    (Source)

The speakers of different lines in the Song are not identified in the original text, but interpolated by different scholars and traditions (not always the same way).

(Source (Hebrew)). Alternate translations:

My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among ten thousand.
His head is as the most fine gold,
his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters,
washed with milk, and fitly set.
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers:
his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl:
his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold:
his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.
[tr. KJV (1611)]

THE BRIDE: My Beloved is fresh and ruddy,
to be known among ten thousand.
His head is golden, purest gold,
his locks are palm fronds
and black as the raven.
His eyes are doves
at a pool of water,
bathed in milk,
at rest on a pool.
His cheeks are beds of spices,
banks sweetly scented.
His lips are lilies,
distilling pure myrrh.
His hands are golden, rounded,
set with jewels of Tarshish.
His belly a block of ivory
covered with sapphires.
His legs are alabaster columns
set in sockets of pure gold.
His appearance is that of Lebanon,
unrivalled as the cedars.
His conversation is sweetness itself,
he is altogether lovable.
[tr. JB (1966)]

THE WOMAN: My lover is handsome and strong;
he is one in ten thousand.
His face is bronzed and smooth;
his hair is wavy,
black as a raven.
His eyes are as beautiful as doves by a flowing brook,
doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.
His cheeks are as lovely as a garden
that is full of herbs and spices.
His lips are like lilies,
wet with liquid myrrh.
His hands are well-formed,
and he wears rings set with gems.
His body is like smooth ivory,
with sapphires set in it.
His thighs are columns of alabaster
set in sockets of gold.
He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains
with their towering cedars.
His mouth is sweet to kiss;
everything about him enchants me.
[tr. GNT (1992 ed.)]

WOMAN: My lover is radiant and ruddy;
he stands out among ten thousand!
His head is finest gold;
his wavy hair, black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
by channels of water.
They are bathing in milk,
sitting by brimming pools.
His cheeks are like fragrant plantings,
towers of spices.
His lips are lilies
dripping liquid myrrh.
His arms are gold cylinders
studded with jewels.
His belly is smooth ivory
encrusted with sapphires.
His thighs are pillars of whitest stone
set on pedestals of gold.
His appearance -- like Lebanon,
stately, like the cedars.
His mouth is everything sweet,
every bit of him desirable.
[tr. CEB (2011)]

THE YOUNG WOMAN: My beloved is all radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
beside springs of water,
bathed in milk,
fitly set.
His cheeks are like beds of spices,
yielding fragrance.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
His arms are rounded gold,
set with jewels.
His body is an ivory panel,
decorated with sapphires.
His legs are alabaster columns,
set upon bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
His speech is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
[tr. NRSV (2021 ed.)]

My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Preeminent among ten thousand.
His head is finest gold,
His locks are curled
And black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
By watercourses,
Bathed in milk,
Set by a brimming pool.
His cheeks are like beds of spices,
Banks of perfume
His lips are like lilies;
They drip flowing myrrh.
His hands are rods of gold,
Studded with beryl;
His belly a tablet of ivory,
Adorned with sapphires.
His legs are like marble pillars
Set in sockets of fine gold.
He is majestic as Lebanon,
Stately as the cedars.
His mouth is delicious
And all of him is delightful.
[tr. RJPS (2023 ed.)]

 
Added on 2-Jun-26 | Last updated 12-May-26
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More quotes by Bible, Vol. 1. Old Testament

“Boys like obvious,” Phryne told her. “Men prefer subtle but boys only stop thinking about sex when they are thinking about food. Or football. The adolescent male is a strange and horrible creature unless, of course, one’s tastes run the same way.”

Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 14, Queen of the Flowers, ch. 15 [Phryne to Dot] (2004)
    (Source)
 
Added on 14-May-26 | Last updated 14-May-26
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twain clothes womanClothes make the man, but they do not improve the woman.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Inscription (1908-02), Eve’s Diary (1906-06)
    (Source)

Handwritten inscription in the front of a first edition of Eve's Dairy. The book was banned in several locations for including illustrations (by Lester Ralph) showing a naked Eve.

See also Twain for more information.
 
Added on 27-Feb-26 | Last updated 27-Feb-26
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PETER: Wendy, one girl is worth more than twenty boys.

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 1 (1904, pub. 1928)
    (Source)

In Barrie's novelization, Peter and Wendy, ch. 3 "Come Away, Come Away!" (1911), this is rendered:

"Wendy," he continued, in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, “Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.”
 
Added on 10-Dec-24 | Last updated 10-Dec-24
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A friend and mourner recalled that, growing up, she believed cats and dogs were the same animal, but that cats were the females and dogs the males. This is entirely credible.

Anna Quindlen (b. 1953) American journalist, novelist
Article (1991-04-07), “Mr. Smith Goes to Heaven,” New York Times
    (Source)

Part of an obituary for her dog, Jason Oliver C. Smith. Reprinted in Thinking Out Loud (1993).
 
Added on 22-Mar-23 | Last updated 24-Feb-25
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A middle-aged white male wearing a tie and saying anything with some conviction will be believed by at least 55 percent of people, especially if they already want to believe it. (Sixty-five percent if he has a classy accent.)

Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley (b. 1966) American television writer and producer
“One of the defenses of Trump is — literally — a TV-cartoon joke,” Washington Post (14 Nov 2019)
    (Source)
 
Added on 9-Jul-21 | Last updated 9-Jul-21
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ANN ANDERSON: Here’s something else you must remember: husbands like to be alone once in awhile.
JENNIE ANDERSON: Why?
ANN ANDERSON: You never know why, but I can always tell when James wants to be alone. A mood comes over him. I can always see it in his eyes before it gets there. I don’t know where the mood comes from or why, but that’s when I leave him alone. It seems sometimes things get so fickle in a man that he comes to feel that everything is closing in on him — and that’s when he wants to be left alone. You understand, don’t you?
JENNIE ANDERSON: No!

James Lee Barrett (1929-1989) American author, producer, screenwriter
Shenandoah (1965)
    (Source)
 
Added on 23-Sep-20 | Last updated 23-Sep-20
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Male supremacy: Doctrine built upon three forms of superiority: the ability to grow a handlebar mustache, the ability to answer most of Nature’s calls efficiently, and the possession of pockets.

Marie Shear (1940-2017) American writer and feminist activist
“Media Watch: Celebrating Women’s Words,” New Directions for Women (May/Jun 1986)
    (Source)
 
Added on 7-May-20 | Last updated 7-May-20
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MEG: They’re either married or gay. And if they’re not gay, they’ve just broken up with the most wonderful woman in the world, or they’ve just broken up with a bitch who looks exactly like me. They’re in transition from a monogamous relationship and they need more space. Or they’re tired of space, but they just can’t commit. Or they want to commit, but they’re afraid to get close. They want to get close, you don’t want to get near them.

Lawrence Kasdan (b. 1949) American screenwriter, director, producer
The Big Chill (1983) [written with Barbara Benedek]

Regarding men.
 
Added on 22-Jan-16 | Last updated 22-Jan-16
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Like young men from the dawn of time, I decided to choose the risk of death over certain humiliation.

Ben Aaronovitch (b. 1964) British author
Whispers Under Ground (2012)
 
Added on 16-Dec-15 | Last updated 16-Dec-15
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The problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.

Robin Williams (1951-2014) American comedian and actor
(Attributed)
 
Added on 22-Oct-15 | Last updated 22-Oct-15
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Unless you intend to kill him immediately thereafter, never kick a man in the balls. Not even symbolically. Or perhaps especially not symbolically.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Friday [Friday Jones] (1982)
 
Added on 22-Sep-15 | Last updated 22-Sep-15
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Properly regarded, male vanity is a virtue, not a vice. Treated correctly, it makes him enormously pleasanter to deal with.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Friday [Friday Jones] (1982)
 
Added on 25-Aug-15 | Last updated 25-Aug-15
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Have you ever said to yourself, “If only I were a man”? Or are you quite content with being a woman?

No, I have never wanted to be a man. I have often wanted to be more effective as a woman, but I have never felt that trousers would do the trick!

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1941-10), “If You Ask Me,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 58
    (Source)
 
Added on 24-Jun-15 | Last updated 5-May-26
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“The female mind is certainly a devious one, my lord.”
Vetinari looked at his secretary in surprise. “Well, of course it is. It has to deal with the male one.”

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 37, Unseen Academicals (2009)
 
Added on 17-Jun-15 | Last updated 6-Jul-25
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That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why, then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex; regard us then as Beings placed by Providence under your protection, and in imitation of the Supreme Being make use of that power only for our happiness.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)
Letter to John Adams (31 Mar 1776)
 
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Sexes. One has the look of a wound, the other of something skinned.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1797 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]
    (Source)

I could not find an analog in other translations of the Pensées.
 
Added on 28-Oct-13 | Last updated 31-Dec-24
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