Hilaire Belloc Quotes (54 Quotes)

The chief defect of Henry King Was chewing little bits of string.

Be content to remember that those who can make omelettes properly can do nothing else.

The grace of God is courtesy.

Any subject can be made interesting, and therefore any subject can be made boring.

When people call this beast to mind, They marvel more and more At such a little tail behind, So large a trunk before.

Physicians of the utmost fame, Were called at once but when they came They answered, as they took their fees, 'There is no Cure for this Disease.'

Just as there is nothing between the admirable omelet and the intolerable, so with autobiography.

I shoot the Hippopotamus with bullets made of platinum,because if I use the leaden one his hide is sure to flatten em.

Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.

For every time she shouted 'Fire' They only answered 'Little liar' And therefore when her aunt returned, Matilda, and the house, were burned.

The microbe is so very small: You cannot take him out at all.

A smell of burning fills the startled air The Electrician is no longer there.

I said to Heart, 'How goes it' Heart replied 'Right as a Ribstone Pippin' But it lied.

And the men that were boys when I was a boy Shall sit and drink with me.

Dead Lucre: burnt Ambition: Wine is best.

It happened that a few weeks later Her aunt was off to the theater To see that interesting play The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.

I am writing a book about the Crusades so dull that I can scarcely write it.

Remote and ineffectual don.

I'm tired of love; I'm still more tired of rhyme; but money gives me pleasure all the time.

It is the best of all trades, to make songs, and the second best to sing them.

Loss and possession, death and life are one, There falls no shadow where there shines no sun.

He is largely right in his conclusions, somewhat over-selective in his facts most of what you will read thereafter you will find happily fits into his analysis, which is as it should be, because, as I said, he is indeed largely right.

I have wandered all my life, and I have also traveled; the difference between the two being this, that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.

The Microbe is so very small You cannot make him out at all, But many sanguine people hope To see him through a microscope.

The Devil, having nothing else to do Went off to tempt my Lady Poltagrue. My Lady, tempted by a private whim, To his extreme annoyance, tempted him.

The whole art of the political speech is to put 'nothing' into it. It is much more difficult than it sounds.

Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight, But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

Be at the pains of putting down every single item of expenditure whatsoever every day which could possibly be twisted into a professional expense and remember to lump in all the doubtfuls.

Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone.

Oh, my friends, be warned by me, That breakfast, dinner, lunch and tea, Are all human frame requires.

Oh let us never, never doubt what nobody is sure about

It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation.

Alas That such affected tricks Should flourish in a child of six.

Money gives me pleasure all the time.

To my poor self on my deathbed,
And all my dear companions dead,
Because of the love that I bore them,
Dona Eis Requiem.

And mothers of large families (who claim common sense) will find a Tiger well repay the trouble and expense.

Matilda told such dreadful lies, It made one gasp and stretch one's eyes Her aunt, who, from her earliest youth, Had kept a strict regard for truth, Attempted to believe Matilda The effort very nearly killed her.

He therefore was at strenuous pains To atrophy his puny brains And registered success in this Beyond the dreams of avarice Till when he had at last become Blind, paralytic, deaf and dumb Insensible and cretinous He was admitted ONE O.

When I am dead, I hope it may be said: His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.

An institute run with such knavish imbecility that if it were not the work of God it would not last a fortnight.

the more powerful, the more acute, and the more sensitive minds of our time are clearly inclining toward the Catholic side.

Every major question in history is a religious question. It has more effect in molding life than nationalism or a common language.

The accursed power which stands on Privilege (And goes with Women, and Champagne, and Bridge) Broke - and Democracy resumed her reign (Which goes with Bridge, and Women and Champagne).

When I am dead, I hope it is said, 'His sins were scarlet, but his books were read'.

The moment a man talks to his fellows he begins to lie.

All men have an instinct for conflict: at least, all healthy men.

Of all fatiguing, futile, empty trades, the worst, I suppose, is writing about writing.

How slow the shadow creeps but when 'tis past How fast the shadows fall. How fast How fast.

From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there's nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.

Of courtesy, it is much less Than courage of heart or holiness, Yet in my walks it seems to me That the Grace of God is in courtesy.