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Descriptive Quotations

Descriptive Quotations

This page gives you two alternative ways of asking what is essentially the same question. If the three columns were labelled A, B and C (from left to right), you can either ask who said A of B, or of whom (or of what) C said A.

Right ... as long as that's clear then ...

  Said of Said by
[like] a rattlesnake with a silencer on its rattle Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A real centaur – part man, part horse's ass Click to show or hide the answer
That's one small step for [a] man ... one giant leap for mankind Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Home of lost causes and forsaken beliefs Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
If he was not a great man, he was at least a great poster Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
He couldn't see a belt without hitting underneath it Click to show or hide the answer
The Enchantress of Numbers Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... as pure as the driven slush Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Two skeletons copulating on a tin roof (sound of ... instrument) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A drinker with a writing problem Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
He can't kick with his left foot, he can't head a ball, he can't tackle and he doesn't score any goals. Apart from that he's alright Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
There have been a few players described as the new George Best over the years, but this is the first time it's been a compliment to me Click to show or hide the answer
... the Pickwick Papers of television Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a nation of shopkeepers (attributed) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a fight between two bald men over a comb Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre; c'est de la folie (It's magnificent, but it isn't war; it's madness) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
" ... the only person I would be apprenticed to" (at the Conservative Party Conference in 2013) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a British masterpiece (in Notes from a Small Island, 1996) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A rose–red city, half as old as time Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Great chieftain o' the puddin' race Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Wee sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie Click to show or hide the answer
Alea iacta est (the die is cast) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... like eating a whole box of liqueur chocolates in one go Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The dismal science Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The sea–green incorruptible Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber–insulated sex in a seedy hotel round about quarter to one on a Tuesday morning after an evening at the Caprice? Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have, without the strain of this trial, radiance? How would she appeal? Has she had a happy married life? Has she been able to enjoy, rather than endure, her husband Jeffrey? Click to show or hide the answer
... like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much–loved and elegant friend Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The Devil's walking parody on all four–footed things Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... if I were your husband, I'd drink it (in response to "... if I were your wife, I'd poison your tea") – attributed Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A modest little man with much to be modest about Click to show or hide the answer
A sheep in sheep's clothing
There's less to him than meets the eye
... and you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober. (In response to "... you are drunk") – attributed Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
In victory, deserve it; in defeat, need it! Click to show or hide the answer
[like] a female llama surprised in her bath Click to show or hide the answer
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning Click to show or hide the answer
Before it we never had a victory; after it we never had a defeat
Scotland's greatest ever ambassador! Click to show or hide the answer
[The Russian people's] worst misfortune was his birth: their next worst – his death Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
In defeat indomitable, in victory unbearable. Click to show or hide the answer
... the Bullfrog of the Pontine Marshes Click to show or hide the answer
It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash (he didn't coin the description, but wished he had) Click to show or hide the answer
That wuthering height ... Click to show or hide the answer
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma Click to show or hide the answer
My geese that laid the golden eggs and never cackled Click to show or hide the answer
A one–eyed Scottish idiot Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
I did not have sexual relations with that woman Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... pure Australian shite Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Whoopee man, that may have been a small one for Neil but it's a long one for me Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
'Twas a cruel necessity Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
What shall we do with this bauble? There, take it away [when dismissing Parliament in 1653] Click to show or hide the answer
... unmanageable, unpleasant and dirty. Kissing her was like kissing Hitler. Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The original good time that was had by all Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
She's slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
... that pretty German toy Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
I played vulgar; she is vulgar Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... an organised hypocrisy Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Let the boy win his spurs Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Renowned as one of the duskiest and smokiest holes in the whole of the industrial north (1844) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a vampire who stole my style Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A desperate disease requires a desperate remedy [the remedy was] Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The son of a bitch is a ballet dancer. He's the best ballet dancer that ever lived and if I get a chance, I'll strangle him with my bare hands Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The bigger they come, the harder they fall (he didn't invent the saying – but he brought it to popular notice) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer Click for more information
... a semi–housetrained polecat Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... Attila the Hen Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Light held together by moisture Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
I think it would be a good idea Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Oh! he is mad is he? Then I wish he would bite some of my other generals! Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The most remarkable man I ever met ... I do not say the ablest man; I say the most remarkable and the most interesting ... an intellectual phenomenon Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... not worth the paper it's written on Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The Alf Garnett of British politics Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
It is the unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism, but one should not suggest that the whole of British industry consists of practices of this kind (House of Commons statement, May 1973) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A tragedy for the party. He's got no ideas, no experience and no hope Click to show or hide the answer
He is not mad in the least. He's a very astute person, a clever person Click to show or hide the answer
Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest? Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The wisest fool in Christendom Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A Flanders mare Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
[being attacked by him was like] being savaged by a dead sheep. Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The self–appointed King of the Gutter Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Well George, we knocked the bastard off (to fellow–New Zealander and lifelong friend George Lowe – "often wrongly attributed to Tensing" – Nigel Rees) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
He seemed such a nice old gentleman ... I thought I'd give him my autograph as a souvenir. Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a horse designed by a committee. Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomlesse Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time Click to show or hide the answer
Worth seeing, but not worth going to see (quoted by his biographer, James Boswell) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A harmless drudge Click to show or hide the answer
A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people Click to show or hide the answer
The last refuge of a scoundrel Click to show or hide the answer
[it demonstrates] the triumph of hope over experience Click to show or hide the answer
The longest suicide note in history Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it (1980 film) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The great Satan Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The ultimate aphrodisiac Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Mad, bad and dangerous to know Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
He saw foreign policy through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Mr. Balfour's poodle Click to show or hide the answer
When they circumcised [him], they threw away the wrong bit Click to show or hide the answer
He can run, but he can't hide (after his opponent said he planned to "hit and run") Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
You're a nasty piece of work, aren't you? (In an interview on The Andrew Marr Show, BBC1, March 2013) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Fortissimo at last Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... the opium of the people Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Well Mr. Baldwin. This is a pretty kettle of fish! Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The bubonic plagiarist Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
She has the eyes of Caligula, but the mouth of Marilyn Monroe Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
You've no idea what it costs to keep that old man in poverty Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
'... the thinking man's crumpet' Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
'the last Englishman to rule India' Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
'God's second blunder' Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
To be sure he was born in Ireland, but being born in a stable does not make a man a horse Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... something halfway between a girls' school and a lunatic asylum (Diary, 1942) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
She delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
If all the young ladies who attended [it] were laid end to end, no one would be the least surprised. Click to show or hide the answer
"a bold merry slut" ... "pretty, witty Nell" Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
"Hasn't she kept it clean?!" (on collecting the BBC SPOTY award, in 1972) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
'tis a sharp remedy, but a sure one for all ills Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... ten years ahead of his time Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane, and smells like Cheetah Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
This mad dog of the Middle East Click to show or hide the answer
[He is] all England needs – another queen who can't dress Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
I think this would be a good time for a beer Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A date that will live in infamy Click to show or hide the answer
[He] has wonderful moments, and dreadful quarters of an hour Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... the most over–rated critter for eating purposes in kingdom come, but the most striking example we have of the power of propaganda Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked [US Secretary of State] Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
" ... out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have" Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Hats off gentlemen – a genius! Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Half Church of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot (in the poem Harold the Dauntless) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The vertical expression of a horizontal desire, legalised by music Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The extreme form of censorship Click to show or hide the answer
[he] wasn't born; he was quarried Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
"little bags of mystery" Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The longest–running farce in the West End Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
It looks for all the world as if St Paul's Cathedral has come down ... and pupped Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The first Spice Girl (and an inspiration to us all) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
He has the mulishness of a weak man with stupidity Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
... a good walk spoiled Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
[It] was made first, and then heaven; and heaven was copied after [it] (Pacific island) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
He speaks to me as if I were a public meeting Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
We have made [her] acquaintance ... I wish we had her in the War Office Click to show or hide the answer
The only real genius with an IQ of 60 Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
A triumph of the embalmer's art Click to show or hide the answer
... like a hogshead of its own beer: froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, but excellent in the middle Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
I have seen gigantic palaces before, but never such a sublime one Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
[It] was won on the playing fields of Eton ("almost certainly apocryphal"Wikipedia) Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
It has been a damned nice thing – the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life (often misquoted as "It was a damned close–run thing")
There is something of the night about him Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
An excellent man: he has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends Click to show or hide the answer
A squalid little raffle Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
He immatures with age Click to show or hide the answer
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven! Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Just an idea ... just pie in the sky Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
It's like putting out a cigarette with both feet, and wiping your bottom with a towel, to the beat of the music (attributed on Wikipedia to "a member of [Chubby] Checker's entourage") Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23