Page:Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922).djvu/712

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674
RIDICULE
RIGHT
1

L'on ne saurait mieux faire voir que le magnifique et le ridicule sont si voisins qu'ils se touchent.

There is nothing one sees oftener than the ridiculous and magnificent, such close neighbors that they touch.

De FontenelleŒuvres. Dialogues des Marts. (1683) IV. 32. Ed. 1825. Used by Edward, Lord OxfordMs. Common Place Book.
(See also Blair)


2

Ridiculum acri
Fortius ac melius magnas plerumque secat res.

Ridicule more often settles things more thoroughly and better than acrimony.

HoraceSatires. Bk. I. 10. 14.
(See also Shaftesbury)


3

En general, le ridicule touche au sublime.

Generally the ridiculous touches the sublime.

MarmontelŒuvres Complettes. (1787) V. 188.
(See also Blair)


4

Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.

There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

 Napoleon I to Abbé du Pradt, at Warsaw. See Histoire de l'Ambassade dans la Grande Duché de Vasovie. Ed. 2. P. 219. Attributed also to Talleyrand. (Traced from Napoleon to Paine, Paine to Blair.)


5

The sublime and ridiculous are often so nearly related that it is difficult to class them separately. One step below the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.

Thomas PaineThe Age of Reason. Pt. II.
(See also Blair)


6

How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule?

ShaftesburyCharacteristics. Letter Concerning Enthusiasm. Pt. I. Sec. II.


7

'Twas the saying of an ancient sage that humour was the only test of gravity, and gravity of humour. For a subject which would not bear raillery was suspicious; and a jest which would not bear a serious examination was certainly false wit.

ShaftesburyCharacteristics. Letter Concerning Enthusiasm. Pt. I. Sect. V. Referring to Leontinus.
(See also Leontinus under Argument)
(See also Horace)


8

Truth, 'tis supposed, may bear all lights; and one of those principal lights or natural mediums by which things are to be viewed in order to a thorough recognition is ridicule itself.

ShaftesburyEssay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour. Pt. I Sec. I.


9

I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is: "My God, make our enemies very ridiculous!" God has granted it to me.

VoltaireLetter to M. Damilaville, May 16, 1767.


RIGHT; RIGHTS

10

Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property: together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.

Samuel AdamsStatement of the Rights of the Colonists, etc. (1772)
(See also Adams under Charity, Lincoln under Equality)


11

Right as a trivet.

R. H. BarhamThe Ingoldsby Legends. Autoda-fé.


12

They made and recorded a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called the rights of man.

BurkeOre the Army Estimates. Vol. III. P. 221.


13

Sir, I would rather be right than be President.

Henry CuciSpeech. (1850) Referring to the Compromise Measure.


14

He will hew to the line of right, let the chips fly where they may.

Roscoe ConklingSpeech at the National Convention, Chicago, 1880, when General Grant was nominated for a third term,


15

But 'twas a maxim he had often tried,
That right was right, and there he would abide.

CrabbeTales. Tale XV. The Squire and the Priest.


16

Be sure you are right, then go ahead.

David CrockettMotto. In War of 1812.


17

The rule of the road is a paradox quite,
If you drive with a whip or a thong;
If you go to the left you are sure to be right,
If you go to the right you are wrong.

Henry ErskineRule of the Road.


18

For right is right, since God is God,
And right lie day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin.

F. W. FaberThe Right Must Win. St. 18.


19

Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.

William Lloyd Garrison. In his Life. Vol. III. P. 390.


20

The equal right of all men to the use of land is as clear as their equal right to breathe the air—it is a right proclaimed by the fact of their existence. For we cannot suppose that some men have a right to be in this world, and others no right.

Henry GeorgeProgress and Poverty. Bk. VII Ch. I.
(See also More)


21

And wanting the right rule they take chalke for cheese, as the saying is.

Nicholas GrimaldPreface to his Trans, of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Three Bookes of Duties to Marcus his Sonne. Same expression in GowerConfessio Amanlis