Jerome, Jerome K. -- Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), ch. 10 (1889)

Dave — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 21:09:13 +0000

It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions. After eggs and bacon, it says, “Work!” After beefsteak and porter, it says, “Sleep!” After a cup of tea (two spoonsful for each cup, and don’t let it stand more than three minutes), it says to the brain, “Now, rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!”
After hot muffins, it says, “Be dull and soulless, like a beast of the field — a brainless animal, with listless eye, unlit by any ray of fancy, or of hope, or fear, or love, or life.” And after brandy, taken in sufficient quantity, it says, “Now, come, fool, grin and tumble, that your fellow-men may laugh — drivel in folly, and splutter in senseless sounds, and show what a helpless ninny is poor man whose wit and will are drowned, like kittens, side by side, in half an inch of alcohol.”

Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), ch. 10 (1889)
(Source)

Austen, Jane -- Letter (1808-06-15) to Cassandra Austen

Dave — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 17:10:45 +0000

You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Letter (1808-06-15) to Cassandra Austen
(Source)

First recorded use of the term "sponge-cake" in English.

Greenwood, Kerry -- Phryne Fisher, Book 5, The Green Mill Murder (1993)

Dave — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 18:35:43 +0000

“Come on, now. Home we go and a nice cuppa,” said Mr. Butler, who was convinced that tea was the cure for most female ills, from miscarriage to bankruptcy.

Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 5, The Green Mill Murder (1993)

WIST Quotations

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), ch. 10 (1889)

Austen, Jane -- Letter (1808-06-15) to Cassandra Austen

Greenwood, Kerry -- Phryne Fisher, Book 5, The Green Mill Murder (1993)