A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Quotes
"It was in Warwick Castle that I came across the curious stranger whom I am going to talk about."
"He attracted me by three things: his candid simplicity, his marvelous familiarity with ancient armor, and the restfulness of his company-for he did all the talking."
"He seemed to drift away imperceptibly out of this world and time, into some remote era and old forgotten country."
"Exactly as I would speak of my nearest personal friends or enemies, he spoke of Sir Bedivere, Sir Bors de Ganis, Sir Launcelot of the Lake, Sir Galahad, and all the other great names of the Table Round."
"Midnight being come at length, I read another tale, for a nightcap."
"Sir Launcelot du Lake. And so he departed from them and betaught them unto God."
"Truly, said Sir Launcelot, yonder one knight shall I help, for it were shame for me to see three knights on one."
"I am an American. I was born and reared in Hartford, in the State of Connecticut."
"I could make anything a body wanted-anything in the world, it didn't make any difference what."
"Sir, ye shall not so, said Merlin, for the knight is weary of fighting and chasing."
"But just then I heard the harsh music of rusty chains and bolts, a light flashed in my eyes, and that butterfly, Clarence, stood before me!"
"I wasn't even respected. I had no pedigree, no inherited title."
"The grandest field that ever was; and all my own; not a competitor; not a man who wasn't a baby to me in acquirements and capacities."
"But as MEN I looked down upon him and his nobles-privately."
"It was fight or look on, all day and every day; and sing, gamble, dance, carouse half the night every night."
"Those banks of beautiful ladies, shining in their barbaric splendors, would see a knight sprawl from his horse in the lists with a lanceshaft the thickness of your ankle clean through him and the blood spouting, and instead of fainting they would clap their hands and crowd each other for a better view."
"The first thing you want in a new country is a patent office; then work up your school system; and after that, out with your paper."
"A newspaper has its faults, and plenty of them, but no matter, it's hark from the tomb for a dead nation, and don't you forget it."
"You can't resurrect a dead nation without it; there isn't any way."
"The money's in the details; the more details, the more swag."
"He had a good knack at getting in the complimentary thing here and there about a knight that was likely to advertise."
"It was quaint and sweet and simple, full of the fragrances and flavors of the time."
"All this was marked by noble heralds, who bare him best, and their names."
"When King Aswisance of Ireland saw Sir Gareth fare so, he marveled what he might be."
"I had made a pretty handsome progress when Sir Sagramor's challenge struck me."
"It is only by the grace of God that he does not burst for envy of the mind that can beget, and tongue that can deliver, such great and mellow-sounding miracles of speech."
"The abbot's joy to see me was pathetic. Even to tears; but he did the shedding himself."
"She would remain to deliver the goods, of course."
"Old habit of mind is one of the toughest things to get away from in the world."
"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising."
"A superstitious despair possessed the heart of every monk and published itself in his ghastly face."
"I can do this miracle; I shall do this miracle; yet I do not try to conceal from you that it is a miracle to tax the occult powers to the last strain."
"When I work, Father, be sure there will be no devil's work connected with it."
"But about that time I noticed that the motive power had taken to standing on one leg, and I found that there was something the matter with the other one."
"It is the spirit that stoopeth the shoulders, I ween, and not the weight; for armor is heavy, yet it is a proud burden, and a man standeth straight in it."
"I was so pale I couldn't think for a moment; then I got softly and carefully up and unstrapped my knapsack."
"How wonderful is truth, come it in whatsoever unexpected form it may!"
"Your soldierly stride, your lordly port—these will not do. You stand too straight, your looks are too high, too confident."
"It is wisdom; none can gainsay it. Let us go on, Sir Boss. I will take note and learn, and do the best I may."
"I was hungry enough for literature to want to take down the whole paper at this one meal."
"The genuine spiritlessness is wanting; that's what's the trouble. It's all amateur—mechanical details all right, almost to a hair; everything about the delusion perfect, except that it don't delude."
"Words realize nothing, vivify nothing to you, unless you have suffered in your own person the thing which the words try to describe."
"Intellectual 'work' is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward."
"The law of work does seem utterly unfair-but there it is, and nothing can change it: the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in cash, also."
"I don't care anything for the Church's curse. Let me help you."
"None can harm him, none insult him more. He is in heaven now, and happy."
"How could one go peacefuller than that? It was his reward for a cruel life patiently borne."
"We fought and struggled and succeeded; meaning by success, that we lived and did not die."
"The masters are these: nobles, rich men, the prosperous generally. These few, who do no work, determine what pay the vast hive shall have who do work."
"An age barren of reverence for superiors and respect for authority!"
"You see, he knew his own laws just as other people so often know the laws; by words, not by effects."
"An ye do not know your country's laws, it were time ye learned them."
"Peace, good man, these are extraordinary requests, and you may not hope to have them granted."
"I myself am the m-" "Silence, for God's sake!"
"Here's a two-dollar-and-a-half chump with a thirty-dollar style. Pity but style was marketable."
"Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself."
"I was ready and willing to get free now; I hadn't wanted to get free any sooner."
"The reign of universal peace would begin then, to end no more forever."
"We imagined we had educated it out of them; they thought so, too; the Interdict woke them up like a thunderclap!"
"I think so. I placed four of my boys there as a guard-inside, and out of sight."
"We sha'n't have to leave our fortress now when we want to blow up our civilization."
"All men are become exactly equal; they are upon one common level, and religion is free."
"I signed it 'The Boss,' and dated it from Merlin's Cave."
"We sat silent awhile, thinking. Then my mind was made up, and I said: 'Yes, everything is ready; everything is shipshape, no detail is wanting.'"
"It's a pleasant old palace, this is; I wonder if we shall ever again—but never mind about that."
"It was almost like having us all together again."
"Imagine such human muck as this; conceive of this folly!"
"We had conquered; in turn we were conquered."