The way you wear your hat,
The way you sip your tea,
The mem’ry of all that —
No, no! They can’t take that away from me!Ira Gershwin (1896-1983) American lyricist [b. Israel Gershowitz]
“They Can’t Take That Away from Me”, Shall We Dance (1937)
(Source)
Quotations about:
quirk
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
You know, here in America we’re loyal to our flaws. It’s like, if we change even our flaws there’s something wrong.
William "Bill" Maher (b. 1956) American comedian, political commentator, critic, television host.
“Bill Maher, Incorrect American Patriot,” Interview with Sharon Waxman, Washington Post (8 Nov 2002)
(Source)
So long as a man rides his hobbyhorse peaceably and quietly along the King’s highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him — pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?
Laurence Sterne (1713-1786) Anglo-Irish novelist, Anglican clergyman
Tristam Shandy, Book 1, ch. 7 (1760-1767)
There is no great genius without a touch of madness.
[Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit.]
Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
(Attributed)
Attributed to Aristotle in Seneca the Younger, "On Tranquility of Mind [De Tranquillitate Animi]" (17.10) (c. AD 60). (Source (Latin)).
Alternate translations:
This quotation as such is not found in surviving Aristotle. It may either represent something from Aristotle that has been lost since Seneca, or else Seneca fabricating a quote, quoting something spurious, or paraphrasing something Aristotle did write, e.g., his comments about madness/melancholy and poets/prominent talents (here and here). See also the Pseudo-Aristotle, Problemata, Book 30, ch. 1:
- "There is no great genius without a mixture of madness." [Example (1851)]
- "No great genius was without a mixture of insanity." [tr. Langsdorf (1900)]
- "No great genius has ever been without a touch of insanity." [tr. Stewart (1900), "On Peace of Mind"]
- "No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness." [Example (1906)]
- "No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness." [tr. Basore (1932)]
- "No great genius has ever existed without a dash of lunacy." [tr. Davie (2007)]
- "There was never any great genius without a tincture of insanity." [tr. @sentantiq (2018)]
- "There was never a genius without a tincture of madness."
- "No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness."
Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy or politics or poetry or the arts are clearly of an atrabilious temperament, and some of them to such an extent as to be affected by diseases caused by black bile, as is said to have happened to Heracles among the heroes? [tr. Forster (1927)]
Everyone is more or less mad on one point.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“On the Strength of a Likeness”
