W. S. Gilbert Quotes

Quotes about:

• It isn't so much what's on the table that matters, as what's on the chairs.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Food, Cooking, Tables

  9 Copy quote

• He did nothing in particular, and did it very well.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Work, Peers, Wells

  'Iolanthe' (1882) act 2

  49 Copy quote

• Life's a pudding full of plums.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Life, Pudding, Plums

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.965, Oxford University Press

  35 Copy quote

• I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Sorry, World, Unjust

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.703, Oxford University Press

  47 Copy quote

• Oh, wouldn't the world seem dull and flat with nothing whatever to grumble at?

  W. S. Gilbert

  World, Dull, Flats

  25 Copy quote

• When everyone is somebody, then no one's anybody.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Men, Assessment

  William Schwenck Gilbert, “King Goodheart”

  57 Copy quote

• It's love that makes the world go round.

  W. S. Gilbert

  World, Criminal Mind, Rounds

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.504, Oxford University Press

  33 Copy quote

• Deerstalking would be a very fine sport if only the deer had guns.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Sports, Animal, Gun

  45 Copy quote

• Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Giving, Details, Statistics

  The Mikado act 2 (1885)

  39 Copy quote

• No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have; and I think he's a dirty little beast.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Sarcastic, Dirty, Thinking

  37 Copy quote

• Oh, don't the days seem lank and long When all goes right and nothing goes wrong, And isn't your life extremely flat With nothing whatever to grumble at!

  W. S. Gilbert

  Life, Long, Flats

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.607, Oxford University Press

  27 Copy quote

• As is gloriously sung in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "H.M.S. Pinafore," in the words of W. S. Gilbert: "Things are seldom as they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream."

  W. S. Gilbert

  Milk, Masquerade, Cream

  48 Copy quote

• I am the Captain of the Pinafore ; And a right good captain too! . . . . And I'm never, never sick at sea! What, never? No, never! What never? Hardly ever! He's hardly ever sick at sea! Then give three cheers, and one cheer more, For the hardy Captain of the Pinafore!

  W. S. Gilbert

  Cheer, Sea, Sick

  H.M.S. Pinafore act 1 (1878)

  22 Copy quote

• When in that House MPs divide/If they've a brain and cerebellum, too/They've got to leave that brain outside/And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Mps, House, Leader

  Arthur Sullivan, W. S. Gilbert (2008). “The Savoy Operas: The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan: The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.457, Penguin UK

  30 Copy quote

• Saturday afternoon, although occurring at regular and well-foreseen intervals, always takes this railway by surprise.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Luck, Afternoon, Surprise

  24 Copy quote

• Life is a joke that's just begun.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Life Is, Jokes

  'The Mikado' (1885) act 1

  11 Copy quote

• Faint heart never won fair lady!
  Nothing venture, nothing win
  Blood is thick, but water's thin
  In for a penny, in for a pound
  It's Love that makes the world go 'round!

  W. S. Gilbert

  Heart, Winning, Blood

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.505, Oxford University Press

  7 Copy quote

• No good play is a success; fine writing and high morals are useless on the stage. I have been scribbling twaddle for thirty-five years to suit the public taste, and I should know.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Writing, Years, Play

  0 Copy quote

• It's true I've got no shirts to wear;
  It's true my butcher's bill is due;
  It's true my prospects all look blue -
  But don't let that unsettle you.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Blue, Looks, Bills

  William Schwenck Gilbert, “To The Terrestrial Globe”

  7 Copy quote

• I know everybody's income and what everybody earns,
  And I carefully compare it with the income-tax returns

  W. S. Gilbert

  Income, Return, Manners

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.537, Oxford University Press

  2 Copy quote

• I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person, of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Facts, Ancestry, Descent

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.637, Oxford University Press

  29 Copy quote

• I love my fellow creatures - I do all the good I can - yet everybody says I'm such a disagreeable man!

  W. S. Gilbert

  Love, Men, Philanthropy

  W. S. Gilbert, Ian C. Bradley (2016). “The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan”, p.537, Oxford University Press

  7 Copy quote

• Man is nature's sole mistake.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Mistake, Men, Sole

  'Princess Ida' (1884) act 2

  8 Copy quote

• My family pride is something inconceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Pride, Helping, My Family

  The Mikado act 1 (1885)

  3 Copy quote

• Wherever valor true is found, true modesty will there abound.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Humility, Pride, Modesty

  11 Copy quote

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