Gelett Burgess Quotes

Imagination is like a lofty building reared to meet the sky; whereas fancy is a balloon that soars at the wind's will.

To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life.

There is work that is work and there is play that is play; there is play that is work and work that is play. And in only one of these lies happiness.

Love is only chatter, friends are all that matter.

I never saw a purple cow; I never hope to see one; But I can tell you, anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.

Hurry not a woman's favor; neither forcer her hastily to surrender to thee. For she goeth into love as she goeth into the waters at the seashore; first a hand and then a lip goeth she in by littles. She diveth not, she leapeth not from the pier; but by gentle shocks and cries of protest she entereth slowly; yet when the waters of love encompass her, then she is supported. She swimmeth in her joy; she floateth on the tide of happiness.

The fear of women is the beginning of knowledge.

Old friends, we say, are best, when some sudden disillusionment shakes our faith in a new comrade.

Son, if a maiden love thee, thou shalt appear handsome in her sight; she shall praise thine eyes, and the corners of thy mouth, yea, she shall admire thy hands. Though thou wert even as the orangutan yet shall she paint thee with fancies.

If in the last few years you have not discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.

The temptation to vivify the tale and make it walk abroad on its own legs is hard to deny.

Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies.

To make fun of a person to his face is a brutal way of amusing one's self; be delicate and cunning, and keep your laugh in your sleeve, lest you frighten away your game.

Most women have all other women as adversaries; most men have all other men as their allies.

It was Matisse who took the first step into the undiscovered land of the ugly.

When the waitress puts the dinner on the table, the old men look at the dinner. The young men look at the waitress.

Without bigots, eccentrics, cranks and heretics the world would not progress.

If thou makest a statement concerning women, lo, she shall immediately try to disprove it straightway. She goeth by contraries.

Men like to pursue an elusive woman like a cake of wet soap - even men who hate baths.

Her heart is older than her head; yea, her emotion is the mother of her reason

A good woman would rather be the mother of a genius than the wife of a hero

My feet, they haul me Round the House, They hoist me up the Stairs; I only have to steer them, and They Ride me Everywheres.

Count no matron happy until she hath passed thirty, and hath not waxed fat.

To take the world as one finds it

Repeat not the manner of a flirtation; for lo, all the world shall hear of it, and women will taunt thee.

Maxims are like lawyers who must need to see but one side of the case.

A woman findeth in her last lover much of her first love; but a man seeth his next-to-the-last love, alway.

Love endeth like the chianti flask, its drops are bitter.

Verily, men do foolish things thoughtlessly, knowing not why; but no woman doeth aught without a reason.

Tell not thy previous loves to a woman, lest she also telleth thee hers.

A maiden's first kiss cometh hard, yea, it is as the first olive out of a bottle, requiring much skill; but the rest are easy.

The old say, "I remember when." The young say, "What's the news?"

In the mind of a woman, to give birth to a child is the short cut to omniscience.

A reproof entereth more into a woman of sense than an hundred compliments into a fool.

A woman and a mouse, they carry a tale wherever they go.

Woo her not till thou hast seen her mother, for a score of years worketh wonders.

Thinking a smile all the time will keep your face youthful.

Style is doing things not in any way but in the best way.

If you wish to be positive, which means youthful, never speak of the past any more than you can help.

As the cat lapses into savagery by night, and barbarously explores the dark, so primal and titanic is a woman with the love madness.

Some women are to be captured by storm and some taken by siege; yet if there be not a traitor in her heart that shall deliver up the garrison, thou shalt not prevail over her.

No man knoweth how another man maketh his love, for women tell not.

Can a woman entertain a man and a pet at the same time? I say unto thee, one of the twain shall suffer jealousy.

It is in the blood of genius to love play for its own sake, and whether one uses one's skill on thrones or women, swords or pens, gold or fame, the game's the thing.

Many a maid have I won by a quarrel, when flattery was in no wise helpful; but take heed that thou art in the wrong, so that thou mayest acknowledge thine error.

There is indeed no such thing in life as absolute darkness; one's eyes revolt and hasten to fill the vacuum by floating in sparks, dream patterns, figures whimsical and figures grotesque, shifting and clad in complementary colors, to appease the indignant cups and rods of the retina.

As the dog becomes thoroughbred in the laws of clan and caste; obedient, fraternal and loyal; so is the man who accepts the gentleman's code.

Seek one woman whom thou canst trust, and to her who lovest thee best, tell thy secrets. She will deliver thee from the hands of strange women, she will expose their craft; and of her who flattereth thee, will she make known the reason.

Ah, yes! I wrote the "Purple Cow" - I'm sorry, now, I wrote it! But I can tell you anyhow, I'll kill you if you quote it!

My son, beware of a plain damsel who charmeth thee, for she needeth much wile, and useth diverse weapons.