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Below
THE
BELT

 

This woman did not fly to extremes; she lived there.

Quentin Crisp

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SHE HAD MUCH IN COMMON WITH HITLER, ONLY NO MOUSTACHE.

Noël Coward

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He brings to the fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a lazy summer afternoon at a cricket match.

Aneurin Bevan on Clement Attlee

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THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GENTLEMAN IS REMINISCENT OF A POKER. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT A POKER GIVES OFF THE OCCASIONAL SIGNS OF WARMTH.

Benjamin Disraeli on Robert Peel

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There are two ways to dislike poetry: one is to dislike it; the other is to read Pope.

Oscar Wilde

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NATURE, NOT CONTENT WITH DENYING HIM THE ABILITY TO THINK, HAS ENDOWED HIM WITH THE ABILITY TO WRITE.

A. E. Housman

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The tautness of his face sours ripe grapes.

William Shakespeare

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She was a large woman who seemed not so much dressed as upholstered.

J. M. Barrie

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SHE PLUNGED INTO A SEA OF PLATITUDES, AND WITH THE POWERFUL BREASTSTROKE OF A CHANNEL SWIMMER, MADE HER CONFIDENT WAY TOWARDS THE WHITE CLIFFS OF THE OBVIOUS.

W. Somerset Maugham

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He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation perfectly delightful.

Sydney Smith on Lord Macauley

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THOU HAST NO MORE BRAIN THAN I HAVE IN MINE ELBOWS.

William Shakespeare

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You’ve got the subtlety of a bullfrog.

H. G. Wells

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WHY DON’T YOU GET A HAIRCUT? YOU LOOK LIKE A CHRYSANTHEMUM.

P. G. Wodehouse

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He couldn’t see a belt without hitting below it.

Margot Asquith on David Lloyd George

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WHY DON’T YOU WRITE BOOKS PEOPLE CAN READ?

Nora Joyce to her husband James Joyce

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Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.

Oscar Wilde

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IS HE JUST DOING A BAD ELVIS POUT, OR WAS HE BORN THAT WAY?

Freddie Mercury on Billy Idol

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He would kill his own mother just so that he could use her skin to make a drum to beat his own praises.

DID YOUR MOTHER NEVER TELL YOU NOT TO DRINK ON AN EMPTY HEAD?

Billy Connolly

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His impact on history would be no more than the whiff of scent on a lady’s handkerchief.

David Lloyd George on Arthur Balfour

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DO THOU AMEND THY FACE, AND I’LL AMEND MY LIFE.

William Shakespeare

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If Kitchener was not a great man, he was at least, a great poster.

Margot Asquith

 

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A gentleman is

NEVER RUDE EXCEPT

ON PURPOSE.

Christopher Hitchens

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I SEE HER AS ONE GREAT STAMPEDE OF LIPS DIRECTED AT THE NEAREST DERRIÈRE.

Noël Coward

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In defeat unbeatable; in victory unbearable.

Winston Churchill on Bernard Montgomery

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IF I SAY THAT HE IS EXTREMELY STUPID, I DON’T MEAN THAT IN A DEROGATORY SENSE. I SIMPLY MEAN THAT HE’S NOT VERY INTELLIGENT.

Alan Bennett