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Quotations for All Occasions Compiled by Catherine Frank C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S N E W Y O R K ColumbiaUniversityPress NewYork Chichester,WestSussex PublishersSince1893 Copyright(cid:1)2000ColumbiaUniversityPress Allrightsreserved LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Quotationsforalloccasions / compiledbyCatherineFrank. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-231-11290-4(acid-freepaper) 1.Quotations,English.I.Frank,Catherine. PN6084.O3 Q68 2000 082-dc21 00-024048 (cid:2)(cid:1) CaseboundeditionsofColumbiaUniversityPressbooksareprinted onpermanentanddurableacid-freepaper. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Also Available TheColumbiaWorldofQuotations(CD-ROM) Generaleditors:RobertAndrews,MaryBiggs,MichaelSeidel FamousLines TheColumbiaDictionaryofFamiliarQuotations byRobertAndrews TheColumbiaDictionaryofQuotations byRobertAndrews TheConciseColumbiaDictionaryofQuotations byRobertAndrews Women’sWords TheColumbiaBookofQuotationsbyWomen byMaryBiggs FamilyWisdom The2,000MostImportantThingsEverSaidAboutParenting, ChildrenandFamilyLife bySusanGinsberg ICanResistEverythingExceptTemptation AndOtherQuotationsfromOscarWilde byKarlBeckson OfthePeople,BythePeople,ForthePeople AndOtherQuotationsfromAbrahamLincoln byGaborBorritt HitchYourWagontoaStar AndOtherQuotationsfromRalphWaldoEmerson byKeithFrome Simplify,Simplify AndOtherQuotationsfromHenryDavidThoreau byK.P.VanAnglen NotBloodyLikely! AndOtherQuotationsfromBernardShaw byBernardF.Dukor WheninDoubt,TelltheTruth AndOtherQuotationsfromMarkTwain byBrianCollins Contents Introduction ix DaysoftheWeek 56 Sunday 57 Monday 59 Tuesday 60 Every Year Wednesday 61 Friday 61 Birthday 3 Saturday 62 NewYear 4 January 63 MartinLutherKingDay 6 February 63 ChineseNewYear 8 March 64 Valentine’sDay 11 April 65 February29 14 May 67 St.Patrick’sDay 14 June 68 AprilFool’sDay 16 July 69 Easter 18 August 69 Passover 20 September 70 IslamicNewYear 22 October 70 Ramadan 23 November 70 Mother’sDay 25 December 71 MemorialDay 28 Spring 71 Father’sDay 29 Summer 74 IndependenceDay 31 Autumn 76 LaborDay 34 Winter 80 RoshHashanah 36 YomKippur 39 Halloween 41 Occasionally VeteransDay 44 Thanksgiving 45 BacktoSchool 87 Hanukkah 48 TakingExams 88 Kwanzaa 50 FallinginLove 90 Christmas 51 BreakingUp 92 NewYear’sEve 55 Proposals 93 Contents • vi Engagement 96 Apology 167 MovingIn(WithaPartner) 98 Praise 168 QuittingSmoking 98 Forgiving 168 QuittingDrinking 100 Vowing 169 LosingWeight 102 Praying 170 Wedding 104 Celebrating 172 StartingaBusiness 106 Confessing 172 Promotion 108 Winning 172 BecomingaParent 109 Losing 173 BecomingaGrandparent 114 Reconciliation 175 MovingHouse 114 WeddingAnniversary 116 FamilyReunion 119 Once in a Lifetime SchoolReunion 120 HospitalsandDoctors 122 Illness(Mild) 124 Birth 179 SevereIllness 125 FirstBaby 180 Separation 127 SecondBaby 181 Divorcing 128 ThirdBaby 181 Reuniting 134 DeathofaChild 182 Disasters 134 FirstDayofSchool 183 Bereavement 135 Puberty 184 Funeral 138 HighSchool 186 Recovery 140 Turning16 186 Vacation 141 ComingOut(Socially) 188 Travel 142 College 188 WritingaReport 144 Graduation 191 Drinking 145 FirstSex 193 Toasting 147 FirstCar 197 GivingaSpeech 148 FirstLove 197 SeekingaFavor 151 FirstJob 198 FinancialSuccess 151 Marriage(First) 200 FinancialLoss 152 FirstHome 204 Meals 153 Baptism 206 Parties 155 Confirmation 209 Meetings 157 FirstCommunion 209 Interviews 157 Bar,BatMitzvah 211 Introductions 157 ComingOut 214 Consolation 158 Turning18 215 Awards,Rewards,andCongratulation 159 Turning20or21 215 Inspiring 160 SecondMarriage/Remarriage 217 Invitation 162 ThirdMarriage 218 Welcome 163 Turning30 218 SayingGoodbye 164 Turning40 221 ConcludingaDeal 165 MiddleAge 223 Thanks 166 Turning50 225 vii • Contents LosingaParent 227 Turning70 240 LosingaSpouse 228 Turning80 241 Menopause 230 Turning90 242 Turning60 232 Turning100 242 Turning65 233 Death 243 Retirement 233 OldAge 237 Index 247 This page intentionally left blank Introduction On the most important occasions of our lives, we often find ourselves at aloss forwords.Whenwemostwanttoconsole,celebrate,explain,inspire,orthank, we end up repeating phrases like “Words cannot express how I feel” or “I just don’t know what to say.” Quotations for All Occasions may just be the book to supplythosewordsor inspireyou to come up withsome of your own. Our failure to speak on important occasions sometimesresultsfromasense that it may be inappropriate to craft a fine turn of phrase in a time of great emotion. Eloquence maybe misconstruedwhenitcommemoratesthelossof a friend, for example. (Turn to the section on bereavement and you will see that Samuel Johnson had something to say about the incompatibility of grief and “remote allusions and obscure opinions.”) Onthe other hand,toreadorshare the comments of Plato, John Donne, or Woody Allen on the subject of death can help to put our own grief into perspective, and enable us to offer words insteadof tears to consolea friend. Even on joyful occasions, le mot juste may not be a high priority.Whenyou are shopping for turkey and trying to figure out how to fit your entire family around your dinner table, you may not have the energy to compose a moving statementaboutthemeaningofThanksgivingtosetthetoneforthefeast.Quo- tationsforAllOccasionsmaygiveyoutheinspirationtoimpressyourguestswith aquotationfromSarahJosephaHale,thefounderofthemoderncelebrationof the holiday, or to reassure them with Erma Bombeck’s comment that on this onedayeveryoneshouldbeexoneratedfromdieting.Whycomeupwithatoast for your child’s wedding when the poet Richard Wilbur has already done the workforyou?Whysharewithyourchildtheintimatedetailsofyourfirstsexual encounter when you can let Moll Flanders, Martina Navratilova, and Holden Caulfieldtellall?WhysufferalonewhenFlorenceKingandUrsulaLeGuincan enlightenyouaboutthebenefitsofmenopause,andwhenBettyFordcaninspire you to battle an addiction? Quotations for All Occasions can supply you with quotations to inspire and console you and bail you out when you just don’t Introduction • x knowwhattosayaboutdeath,Thanksgiving,marriage,sex,menopause,recovery, or any of the many occasions that confront us over the course of ayearor over the courseof a lifetime. Quotations for All Occasions is a collection of quotations about many of the celebrations and rites of passage in the calendar year and in our personallives. Thecollectioncontainsthreesections.First,therearequotations,beginningwith New Year’s Day and ending with New Year’s Eve, about the occasions we ex- perience every year. Then there are quotations about events that happen occasionally;theylacktheinevitabilityofthecalendar,buttheyarebynomeans unique. Finally, the third section of the collection contains quotations about those occasions that happen once in a lifetime, about the milestones by which we measure our development,countour gainsandnumber our losses. In the first section, “Every Year,” there are quotations for all the important festivals and religious celebrations, for all the seasons, all the months, eventhe days of the week. (You may never again look quite the same way at Monday afteryoulearnwhatBrendaSpencerdidbecauseshehatedit,oratTuesdayafter youreadElizabethTaylor’sreportofhowRichardBurtonwaswonttocelebrate it.) Browsing through the quotations in this first section of the book you will notice the diverse views that writers have of these shared experiences,andper- hapscometoabetterunderstandingofhowourcultureandourplacecondition oursenseofthepassingyear.TheChineseNewYear,theMuslimNewYear,and theJewishNewYear,forexample,fallondaysdifferentfromtheChristianNew Year. The quotations included here reflect the customs associated with these different holidaysandalsohighlightthedifferentperspectivesaffordedbyinsiders and outsiders to a given tradition. If you have never celebrated Chinese New Year,youmayregretyourculture’slackof a“KitchenGod”afteryoureadAmy Tan’s description. If you do routinely commemorate this festival, you maystill beimpressedwiththeprosepoemthatOsbertSitwellcreateswithhislistofthe lyricalnamesfordifferentkindsofnoisyfireworks.Evenwithinagivenculture, the same holiday may have different tones for different participants.American Christians reading Herman Wouk’s quotation onHanukkah,forexample,may come to better appreciate that the American celebration of Christmasmakesit difficult to find a niche for another December holiday. Ralph WaldoEmerson, MarkTwain,andStephenVincentBene´trecalltheicecreamandpatrioticsongs, the speeches and the fireworks that many Americans associate with Indepen- dence Day. Reformers like Williams Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, and Fr- ancesWrightremindusthat,forslavesorforwomenwithouttherighttovote, this celebration of “liberty and justice for all” was felt as a yearly reminder of theircountry’shypocrisy.AsyousurveythequotationsonValentine’sDay,note how the customs and lore of the day have changed over time. Chaucer and Shakespeare charm the reader when they recall the traditional lore about the

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On the most important occasions of our lives, we often find ourselves at a loss for words; when we want to console, celebrate, explain, inspire, or thank, we end up repeating such uninspiring, uninformative phrases as "Words cannot express how I feel." To help us find the right words, Catherine Fran