Quotes

Quotes about Race


The Hare and the Tortoise A hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race. The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue. Slow but steady wins the race.

Aesop

The Sick Lion A lion, unable from old age and infirmities to provide himself with food by force, resolved to do so by artifice. He returned to his den, and lying down there, pretended to be sick, taking care that his sickness should be publicly known. The beasts expressed their sorrow, and came one by one to his den, where the Lion devoured them. After many of the beasts had thus disappeared, the Fox discovered the trick and presenting himself to the Lion, stood on the outside of the cave, at a respectful distance, and asked him how he was. I am very middling, replied the Lion, but why do you stand without? Pray enter within to talk with me. No, thank you, said the Fox. I notice that there are many prints of feet entering your cave, but I see no trace of any returning. He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others.

Aesop

The Salt Merchant and His Ass A peddler drove his Ass to the seashore to buy salt. His road home lay across a stream into which his Ass, making a false step, fell by accident and rose up again with his load considerably lighter, as the water melted the sack. The Peddler retraced his steps and refilled his panniers with a larger quantity of salt than before. When he came again to the stream, the Ass fell down on purpose in the same spot, and, regaining his feet with the weight of his load much diminished, brayed triumphantly as if he had obtained what he desired. The Peddler saw through his trick and drove him for the third time to the coast, where he bought a cargo of sponges instead of salt. The Ass, again playing the fool, fell down on purpose when he reached the stream, but the sponges became swollen with water, greatly increasing his load. And thus his trick recoiled on him, for he now carried on his back a double burden.

Aesop

The Oxen and the Butchers The oxen once upon a time sought to destroy the Butchers, who practiced a trade destructive to their race. They assembled on a certain day to carry out their purpose, and sharpened their horns for the contest. But one of them who was exceedingly old (for many a field had he plowed) thus spoke: These Butchers, it is true, slaughter us, but they do so with skillful hands, and with no unnecessary pain. If we get rid of them, we shall fall into the hands of unskillful operators, and thus suffer a double death: for you may be assured, that though all the Butchers should perish, yet will men never want beef. Do not be in a hurry to change one evil for another.

Aesop

The Mischievous Dog A dog used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to bite them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck so that the Dog might give notice of his presence wherever he went. Thinking it a mark of distinction, the Dog grew proud of his bell and went tinkling it all over the marketplace. One day an old hound said to him: Why do you make such an exhibition of yourself? That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any order of merit, but on the contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you as an ill mannered dog. Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

Aesop

The Thief and His Mother A boy stole a lesson-book from one of his schoolfellows and took it home to his Mother. She not only abstained from beating him, but encouraged him. He next time stole a cloak and brought it to her, and she again commended him. The Youth, advanced to adulthood, proceeded to steal things of still greater value. At last he was caught in the very act, and having his hands bound behind him, was led away to the place of public execution. His Mother followed in the crowd and violently beat her breast in sorrow, whereupon the young man said, I wish to say something to my Mother in her ear. She came close to him, and he quickly seized her ear with his teeth and bit it off. The Mother upbraided him as an unnatural child, whereon he replied, Ah! if you had beaten me when I first stole and brought to you that lesson-book, I should not have come to this, nor have been thus led to a disgraceful death.

Aesop

And he gave it for his opinion, "that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together."

Jonathan Swift

Perhaps I am doomed to retrace my steps under the illusion that I am exploring, doomed to try and learn what I should simply recognize, learning a mere fraction of what I have forgotten.

Andre Breton

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountains majesties Above the fruited plain. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

Katharine Lee Bates

It is disgraceful when the passers-by exclaim, "O ancient house! alas, how unlike is thy present master to thy former one." [Lat., Odiosum est enim, cum a praetereuntibus dicatur:--O domus antiqua, heu, quam dispari dominare domino.]

Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd, And mother Eve the humble distaff held, Who then his pedigree presumed to trace, Or challenged the prerogative of place? [Lat., Primus Adam duro cum vertet arva ligone, Pensaque de vili deceret Eva colo: Ecquis in hoc poterat vir nobilis orbe videri? Et modo quisquam alios ante locandue erir?

Samuel Foote

Few sons attain the praise Of their great sires and most their sires disgrace.

Homer ("Smyrns of Chios")

See where she comes, apparelled like the spring, Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king Of every virtue gives renown to men!

William Shakespeare

And now, my honey love, Will we return unto thy father's house And revel it as bravely as the best, With silken coats and caps and golden rings, With ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things; With scarfs and fans and double change of brav'ry, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knav'ry.

William Shakespeare

O fair undress, best dress! it checks no vein, But every flowing limb in pleasure drowns, And heightens ease with grace.

James Thomson (1)

The apples that grew on the fruit-tree of knowledge By woman were pluck'd, and she still wears the prize To tempt us in theatre, senate, or college-- I mean the love-apples that bloom in the eyes. - Horace Smith and James Smith,

Horace Smith and James Smith

Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of wheat, rye, barley, fetches, oats, and pease; Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatched with stover, them to keep; Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims, Which spongy April at thy hest betrims To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom groves, Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, Being lasslorn; thy pole-clipt vineyard; And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard, Where thou thyself dost air--the queen o' th' sky, Whose wat-ry arch and messenger am I, Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace, Here on this grass-plot, in this very place, To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain. Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

William Shakespeare

Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.

Eliza Farnham

Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone--glimmering through the dream of things that were; First in the race that led to glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away--Is this the whole?

Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)

No spring, nor summer beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one autumnal face; Young beauties force our love, and that's a rape; This doth but counsel, yet you cannot scape.

Dr. John Donne

Sweet babe, in thy face Soft desires I can trace, Secret joys and secret smiles, Little pretty infant wiles.

William Blake

Baseball is a game of race, creed, and color. The race is to first base. The creed is the rules of the game. The color? Well, the home team wears white uniforms, and the visiting team wears gray.

Joe Garagiola

The light of love, the purity of grace, The mind, the Music breathing from her face, The heart whose softness harmonized the whole, And, oh! the eye was in itself a Soul!

Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)

Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief she is beautiful. •Sophia Loren Nothing's beautiful from every point of view. •Horace Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the first it takes away. •George Brossin Méré ...It's a sort of bloom on a woman. If you have it you don't need to have anything else; and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have. •James Matthew Barrie In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. •Christopher Morley Beauty is power; a smile is its sword. •Charles Reade Beauty is only skin deep, but it's a valuable asset if you're poor or haven't any sense. •Kin Hubbard Beauty is not caused. It is. •Emily Dickinson Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused. •Edward Gibbon My heart that was rapt away by the wild cherry blossoms—will it return to my body when they scatter? •Kotomichi Beauty's tears are lovelier than her smile. •Campbell Champagne is the only wine a woman can drink and still remain beautiful. •Mme. de Pompadour Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless, but impairs what it would improve. •Pope Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth. •Lazarus Long Honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar. •Shakespeare It is good that the young are beautiful; it is the only advantage they have. •The Duchess of Windsor Love that has nothing but beauty to keep it in good health is short lived, and apt to have ague fits. •Erasmus The beautiful are never desolate, But someone always loves them. •Bailey Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. •Ambrose Bierce Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away. •Luis Cernuda Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. •Ralph Waldo Emerson Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do. But beautiful women don't need to know about men. It's the men who have to know about beautiful women. •Katherine Hepburn A bachelor never quite gets over the idea that he is a thing of beauty and a boy forever. •Helen Rowland There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. •Countess of Blessington Truth exists for the wise, beauty for the feeling heart. •Johann von Schiller When a girl ceases to blush, she has lost the most powerful charm of her beauty. •Gregory I The average man is more interested in a woman who is interested in him than he is in a woman, any woman, with beautiful legs. •Marlene Dietrich Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. •John Keats I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas? •Jean Kerr The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt. •Anonymous What ever beauty may be, it has for its basis order, and for its essence unity. •Father Andre Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference. •Aristotle I'm not ugly, but my beauty is a total creation. •Tyra Banks Exuberance is beauty. •William Blake Even with all my wrinkles! I am beautiful! •Bessie Delanay As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker. •Ralph Waldo Emerson Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. •Kahlil Gibran Beauty is worse than wine, it intoxicates both the holder and beholder. •Immermann Beauty is a short-lived tyranny. •Socrates Beauty is the bait which with delight allures man to enlarge his kind.

Sophia Loren

I pity bashful men, who feel the pain Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain, And bear the marks upon a blushing face, OF needless shame, and self-impos'd disgrace.

William Cowper

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