Brought to you by the typing fingers of Sir Hans
dok@fwi.uva.nl
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: Some persons are likeable in spite of their unswerving integrity.
@R: in Edward Anthony _O Rare Don Marquis_ (1962)
@K: integrity
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him:
`Whose?'
@R: in Edward Anthony _O Rare Don Marquis_ (1962)
@K: money, work
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand
Canyon and waiting for the echo.
@R: in Edward Anthony _O Rare Don Marquis_ (1962) p. 146
@K: poetry
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: The art of newspaper paragraphing is to stroke a platitude until it
purrs like an epigram.
@R: in Edward Anthony _O Rare Don Marquis_ (1962) p. 354
@K: writing
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: A hypocrite is a person who... but who isn't?
@R: in Frederick B. Wilcox _A Little Book of Aphorisms_
@K: hypocrisy
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: A pessimist is a person who has to listen to too many optimists.
@R: in Frederick B. Wilcox _A Little Book of Aphorisms_
@K: pessimism
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: Pity the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
@R: in Frederick B. Wilcox _A Little Book of Aphorisms_
@K: environment
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: [Middle age is] the time when a man is always thinking that in a week
or two he'll feel just as good as ever.
@R: in Frederick B. Wilcox _A Little Book of Aphorisms_
@K: age
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: Ours is a world where people don't know what they want and are willing
to go through hell to get it.
@R: in _Treasury of Humorous Quotations_
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: dedicated to babs
with babs knows what
and babs knows why
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927)
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: each generation wastes a little more
of the future with greed and lust for riches
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927)
@K: generations
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: i have got you out here
in the great open spaces
where cats are cats
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) xiv `mehitabel has an adventure'
@K: animals:cats
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: butt wotthehell
archy wotthehell
it s cheerio
my deario that
pulls a lady trough
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) xlvi `cheerio, my deario'
@K: optimism
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: but wotthehell archy wotthehell
jamais triste archy jamais triste
that is my motto
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) xlvi `mehitabel sees paris'
@K: optimism
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: girls we was all of us ladies
we was o what the hell
and once a lady always game
by crikey blood will tell
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) xxxv `mehitabel dances with bores'
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: an optimist is a guy
that has never had
much experience
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `certain maxims of archy'
@K: optimism
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: insects have
their own point
of view about
civilization
a man
thinks he amounts
to a great deal
but to a
flea or a
mosquito a
human being is
merely something
good to eat
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `certain maxims of archy'
@K: animals:insects
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: many a man spanks his
children for
things his own
father should have
spanked out of him
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `certain maxims of archy'
@K: punishment
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: procrastination is the
art of keeping
up with yesterday
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `certain maxims of archy'
@K: procrastination
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: a certain
alloy of expidiency improves the
gold of morality and makes
it wear all the longer
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `clarence the ghost'
@K: expidiency
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: what in hell
have i done to deserve
all these kittens
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `mehitabel and her kittens'
@K: parenthood
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: dance mehitabel dance
caper and shake a leg
what little blood is left
will fizz like whine in a keg
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `mehitabel dances with boreas'
@K: age
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `the lesson of the moth'
@K: happiness
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: the high cost of
living isnt so bad if you
dont have to pay for it
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `the merry flea'
@K: economics
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: we parted each feeling
superior to the other
and is not that
feeling after all one
of the great
desiderata of social intercourse
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `the merry flea'
@K: superiority
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: there is something to be said
for the lyric and imperial
attitude
that everything is for
you until you discover
that you are for it
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `the robin and the worm'
@K: self-importance
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: but wotthehell wotthehell
oh I should worry and fret
death and I will coquette
there s a dance in the old dame yet
toujours gai toujours gai
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `the song of mehitabel'
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: beauty gets the best of it
in this world
@R: _archy and mehitabel_ (1927) `unjust'
@K: beauty
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: the females of all species are most
dangerous when they appear to retreat
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `a farewell'
@K: women
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: a great many people
who spend their time mourning
over the brevity of life
could make it seem longer
if they did a little more work
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `archy on this and that'
@K: work
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: a man who is so dull
that he can learn only by personal experience
is too dull to learn
anything important by experience
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `archy on this and that'
@K: learning
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: an old stomach
reforms more whiskey drinkers
than a new resolve
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `archy on this and that'
@K: drinking
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: i suppose the human race
is doing the best it can
but hells bells thats
only an explanation
its not an excuse
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `archy says'
@K: mankind
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: no form of government
matters nearly as much
as the spirit and intelligence
brought to the administration
of any form of government
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `archys newest deal'
@K: government
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: boss there is always
a comforting thought
in time of trouble when
it is not our trouble
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `comforting thoughts'
@K: adversity
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: too many creatures
both insects and humans
estimate their own value
by the amount of minor irritation
thay are able to cause
to greater personalities than themselves
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `pride'
@K: irritations
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: it is a cheering thought to think
that god is on the side of the best digestion
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `the big bad wolf'
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: it wont be long now it wont be long
till earth is barren as the moon
and sapless as a mumbled bone
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `what the ants are saying'
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: it wont be long now it wont be long
man is making deserts of the earth
it wont be long now
before man will have used it up
so that nothing but ants
and centipedes and scorpions
can find a living on it
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `what the ants are saying'
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: what man calls civilization
always results in deserts
@R: _archy does his part_ (1935) `what the ants are saying'
@K: civilization
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: toujours gai, archy, toujours gai
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) i `the life of mehitabel the cat'
@K: optimism
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: as I was crawling
through the holes in
a swiss cheese
the other
day it occured to
me to wonder
what a swiss cheese
would think if
a swiss cheese
could think and after
cogitating for some
time I said to myself
if a swiss cheese
could think
it would think that
a swiss cheese
was the most important
thing in the world
just as everything that
can think at all
does think about itself
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) xl `archygrams'
@K: thought
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: did you ever
notice that when
a politician
does get an idea
he usually
gets it all wrong
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) xl `archygrams'
@K: politics
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: honesty is a good
thing but
it is not profitable to
its possessor
unless it is
kept under control
if you are not
honest at all
everybody hates you
and if you are
absolutely honest
you get martyred
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) xl `archygrams'
@K: honesty
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: now and then
there is a person born
who is so unlucky
that he runs into accidents
which started out to happen
to somebody else
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) xli `archy says'
@K: luck
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: the only way boss
to keep hope in the world
is to keep changing its
population frequently
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `archy and the old un'
@K: hope
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: i never think at all when i write
nobody can do two things at the same time
and do them both well
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `archy on the radio'
@K: writing
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: --antonius the emperor
and epictetus the slave
arrived at the same
philosophy of life
that there is neither mastery
nor slavery
except as it exists
in the attitude of the soul
toward the world.
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `archy turns highbrow for a minute'
@K: servitude
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: mans feet have grown
so big that he
forgets his littleness
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `archy turns revolutionist'
@K: unimportance
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: man eats the big fish
the big fish eat the
little fish
the little fish
eat insects
in the water
the water insects
eat the water plants
the water plants
eat mud
mud eats man
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `archys song'
@K: aggression
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: it takes all sorts of
people to make an
underworld
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `mehitabel again'
@K: crime
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: i should describe the human race
as a strange species of bipeds
who cannot run fast enough
to collect the money
which they owe themselves.
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `quote and only man is vile quote'
@K: acquisition
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: man is a queer looking gink
who uses what brains he has
to get himself into trouble with
and then blames it on the fates
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `quote and only man is vile quote'
@K: adversity
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: i have noticed
that when
chickens quit
quarreling over their
food they often
find that there is
enough for all of them
i wonder if
it might not
be the same way
with the
human race
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `random thoughts by archy'
@K: selfishness
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: having something
to say is the thing
being sincere
counts for more than forms of expression
@R: _archys life of mehitabel_ (1933) `the stuff of literature'
@K: sincerity
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: I love you as New Englanders love pie!
@R: _Sonnets to a Red-Haired Lady_ (1922) XII
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) *
@Q: An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe in it.
@R: _The Sun Dial_
@K: idea
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) +
@Q: Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes.
@K: fishing
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) +
@Q: In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that
child's parent of grandparent.
@K: parenthood
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937) +
@Q: Poetry is what Milton saw when he went blind.
@K: people:Milton, John; poetry
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937)
@Q: Blood will tell, but it often tells too much.
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937)
@Q: Happiness is the interval between periods of unhappiness.
@K: happiness
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937)
@Q: If a child shows himself to be incorrigible, he should be decently and
quietly beheaded at the age of twelve, lest he grow to maturity marry, and
perpetuate his kind.
@K: children
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937)
@Q: The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.
@K: progress
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937)
@Q: The successful people are the ones who can think up things for the rest
of the world to keep busy at.
@A: Marquis, Don (1878-1937)
@Q: There is nothing so habit-forming as money.
@K: money
Hans,
--
Sir Hans dok@fwi.uva.nl
i never think at all when i write
nobody can do two things at the same time
and do them both well -- Don Marquis