Churchill said everything

[tee rex]

I find him quoted more by Americans than Britons (insofar as he is quoted by real people rather than PR bots). He is a safer bet than any 20th century President, and while a leftish UK minority might pause before invoking him, his domestic baggage never crossed the Atlantic (bloody airlines).

[Lang Spoon]

Golden rule of quizzing - if a question involves a quote, it's Churchill, Twain or Wilde, and the context will generally give away which is more likely.

Samuel Johnson fans are a dying breed I fear.

[Lang Spoon]

Dorothy Parker was way sharper with the bon mot than Wilde as well, but she seems consigned to oblivion too.

[multipleman78]

"Anything can be done, out there, if you put your mind to it, you know. You can't fly like Superman but you can win World titles." Frank Bruno.

[Hot Pepsi]

Golden rule of quizzing - if a question involves a quote, it's Churchill, Twain or Wilde, and the context will generally give away which is more likely.

This is my experience, though you occasionally get a George Bernard Shaw in there too.

[Lang Spoon]

Has anyone here ever tried to read a Shaw play recently? Good Christ. Didactic nonsense.

[Hot Pepsi]

We did Pygmalion in junior high. That was his, right?

[Lang Spoon]

Aye.

[Lang Spoon]

We did The Devil's Disciple. Flatulent pish.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I was in The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet, not one of his more popular works.

[Levin]

I enjoyed Saint Joan when it was on at the National recently.

[Diable Rouge]

Has anyone here ever tried to read a Shaw play recently? Good Christ. Didactic nonsense.

As you'd expect of someone who invented his own alphabet.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Dorothy Parker was way sharper with the bon mot than Wilde as well, but she seems consigned to oblivion too.

Gary Glitter must be looking at the quotability of Oscar Wilde and wondering where he went wrong.

I have rarely been angrier, than when i was brought as part of a group to see "The Doctor's dilemma" by Shaw, and couldn't leave. If I had been a less nervous teenager, I would have started booing the performers (even though they didn't write it).

[Eggchaser]

Nah. That was Kit Marlowe.

I thought it was the St Albans Chicken Freezer.

Incidentally, Shaw's Corner is a fascinating little place to visit.

[tee rex]

Dorothy Parker was way sharper with the bon mot than Wilde as well, but she seems consigned to oblivion too.

How many wars did she win, eh? Eh?

Which is the point, really. Quoting things Churchill didn't say is not because of the quality of the quip. It's the association, it's external not internal. It's "I win coz Churchill!".

That one about tax is a classic case - "no government ever taxed their way to prosperity", or some version thereof. Who cares if Parker or Shaw or Twain said it? Who cares if it's rubbish? The people it's aimed at never read (or possibly heard of) those elitey eggheads. But Churchill ... no answer to that, mate.

[NHH]

Churchill was also such a rat that most political positions can be found being espoused by him. It only makes sense if you're treating him like some sort of Ur-father of the fucking nation, a George Washington style figure, to which fuck that fucking shit.

[caja-dglh]