I.B. George Quotes

If you must commit suicide ... always contrive to do it as decorously as possible; the decencies, whether of life or of death, should never be lost sight of.

There are no countries in the world less known by the British than those selfsame British Islands.

If you feel yourself to be above the mass, speak so as to raise the mass to the height of your argument.

The air is crowded with birds -- beautiful, tender, intelligent birds -- to whom life is a song.

All good Literature rests primarily on insight.

No deeply rooted tendency was ever extirpated by adverse judgment. Not having originally been founded on argument, it cannot be destroyed by logic.

As all Art depends on Vision, so the different kinds of Art depend on the different ways in which minds look at things.

Murder, like talent, seems occasionally to run in families.

In its happiest efforts, translation is but approximation, and its efforts are not often happy. A translation may be good as translation, but it cannot be an adequate reproduction of the original.

What's the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile.

And smile, smile, smile.

A married man turns his staffe into a stake.

There is great force hidden in a sweet command.

Before you make a friend, eate a bushell of salt with him.

God heales, and the Physitian hath the thankes.

I was taken by a morsell, saies the fish. [I was taken by a morsel, says the fish.]

When a Lackey comes to hells doore, the devills locke the gates.

Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love, or life.

When prayers are done, my Lady is ready.

A beane in liberty is better then a comfit in prison.

Hee that hath one hogge makes him fat, and hee that hath one son makes him a foole.

The resolved mind hath no cares.

If the staffe be crooked, the shadow cannot be straight.

The bird loves her nest.

Keep good company, and you shall be of the number.

With customes wee live well, but Lawes undoe us.

Gaming, women, and wine, while they laugh they make men pine.

The Royall Crowne cures not the head-ach. [The Royal Crown cures not the headache.]

You may bring a horse to the river, but he will drinke when and what he pleaseth.

A sad, wise valor is the brave complexion.

Give me simplicity, that I may live, So live and like, that I may know Thy ways, Know them and practise them: then shall I give For this poor wreath, give Thee a crown of praise.

Hell is full of good meanings and wishings.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul, like seasoned timber, never gives.

Mend your clothes and you may hold out this year.

A feather in hand is better then a bird in the ayre.

Laugh not too much; the witty man laughs least: For wit is news only to ignorance. Lesse at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest Thy person share, and the conceit advance.

Let thy mind's sweetness have its operation upon thy body, clothes, and habitation.

He that trusts much Obliges much, says the Spaniard.

Hee that goes barefoot, must not plant thornes.

If the braine sowes not corne, it plants thistles.

No day so clear but hath dark clouds.

Never ask a man what he knows, but what he can do.

When a fortune comes without calling, it's apt to leave without asking.

What you know is a club for yourself, and what you don't know is a meat-ax for the other fellow.

What immigration really does is redistribute wealth away from workers toward employers.

My parents were very poor, but we never felt any sense of need or want. It was a very close, loving, tightly-knit family growing up, and I never felt any sense of deprivation or anything like that.

Criticism is the art of appraising others at one's own value.

All that is necessary to raise imbecility into what the mob regards as profundity is to lift it off the floor and put it on a platform.

A life spent in constant labor is a life wasted, save a man be such a fool as to regard a fulsome obituary notice as ample reward.

Opening Night: The night before the play is ready to open.