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		J. Edgar Hoover		Dean Acheson
A real centaur – part man, part horse's ass		Lyndon B. Johnson
That's one small step for [a] man ... one giant leap for mankind		The first moon landing		Neil Armstrong
Home of lost causes and forsaken beliefs		Oxford		Matthew Arnold
If he was not a great man, he was at least a great poster		Lord Kitchener		Margot Asquith
He couldn't see a belt without hitting underneath it		David Lloyd George
The Enchantress of Numbers		Ada Lovelace		Charles Babbage
Power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages		The press		Stanley Baldwin
... as pure as the driven slush		Herself		Tallulah Bankhead
Two skeletons copulating on a tin roof (sound of ... instrument)		Harpsichord		Sir Thomas Beecham
A drinker with a writing problem		Himself		Brendan Behan
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		David Beckham		George Best
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		Cristiano Ronaldo
... the Pickwick Papers of television		Coronation Street		John Betjeman
... a nation of shopkeepers (attributed)		The English		Napoleon Bonaparte
... a fight between two bald men over a comb		The Falklands conflict		Jorge Luis Borges
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)		Charge of the Light Brigade		General Pierre Bosquet
" ... the only person I would be apprenticed to" (at the Conservative Party Conference in 2013)		George Osborne		Karren Brady
... a British masterpiece (in Notes from a Small Island, 1996)		The chocolate digestive biscuit		Bill Bryson
A rose–red city, half as old as time		Petra, Jordan		J. W. Burgon
Great chieftain o' the puddin' race		Haggis		Robert Burns
Wee sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie		A mouse
Alea iacta est (the die is cast)		Crossing the Rubicon		Julius Caesar
... like eating a whole box of liqueur chocolates in one go		Venice		Truman Capote
The dismal science		Economics		Thomas Carlyle
The sea–green incorruptible		Maximilien Robespierre
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?		Jeffrey Archer		Mr. Justice Caulfield
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?		Mary Archer
... like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much–loved and elegant friend		Extension to the National Gallery		Prince Charles
The Devil's walking parody on all four–footed things		Donkey		G. K. Chesterton
... if I were your husband, I'd drink it (in response to "... if I were your wife, I'd poison your tea") – attributed		Lady Nancy Astor		Winston Churchill
A modest little man with much to be modest about		Clement Atlee
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		Bessie Braddock
In victory, deserve it; in defeat, need it!		Champagne (Pol Roger)
[like] a female llama surprised in her bath		Charles de Gaulle
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning		Battle of El Alamein
Before it we never had a victory; after it we never had a defeat
Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!		Sir Harry Lauder
[The Russian people's] worst misfortune was his birth: their next worst – his death		(Nikolai) Lenin
In defeat indomitable, in victory unbearable.		Field Marshal Montgomery
... the Bullfrog of the Pontine Marshes		Benito Mussolini
It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash (he didn't coin the description, but wished he had)		Naval tradition
That wuthering height ...		Lord Reith
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma		Russia (sic)
My geese that laid the golden eggs and never cackled		Staff of Bletchley Park
A one–eyed Scottish idiot		Gordon Brown		Jeremy Clarkson
I did not have sexual relations with that woman		Monica Lewinsky		Bill Clinton
... pure Australian shite		Braveheart		Billy Connolly
Whoopee man, that may have been a small one for Neil but it's a long one for me		Being the 3rd man on the Moon		Charles 'Pete' Conrad
'Twas a cruel necessity		Execution of Charles I		Oliver Cromwell
What shall we do with this bauble? There, take it away [when dismissing Parliament in 1653]		The mace
... unmanageable, unpleasant and dirty. Kissing her was like kissing Hitler.		Marilyn Monroe		Tony Curtis
The original good time that was had by all		Marilyn Monroe		Bette Davis
She's slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie		Joan Crawford
... that pretty German toy		The Christmas tree		Charles Dickens
I played vulgar; she is vulgar		Madonna		Marlene Dietrich
... an organised hypocrisy		A Conservative government		Benjamin Disraeli
Let the boy win his spurs		Edward, the Black Prince		Edward III
It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face		The bombing of Buckingham Palace		Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother)
Renowned as one of the duskiest and smokiest holes in the whole of the industrial north (1844)		Stockport		Friedrich Engels
... a vampire who stole my style		Kate Moss		Marianne Faithfull
A desperate disease requires a desperate remedy [the remedy was]		The gunpowder plot		Guy Fawkes
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		Charlie Chaplin		W. C. Fields
The bigger they come, the harder they fall (he didn't invent the saying – but he brought it to popular notice)		Jim Jeffries		Bob Fitzsimmons
... dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle		A horse		Ian Fleming
... a semi–housetrained polecat		Norman Tebbit		Michael Foot
... Attila the Hen		Margaret Thatcher		Clement Freud
Light held together by moisture		Wine		Galileo Galilei
I think it would be a good idea		Western civilisation		Mahatma Gandhi
Oh! he is mad is he? Then I wish he would bite some of my other generals!		General James Wolfe		George II
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		Charles Stewart Parnell		W. E. Gladstone
... not worth the paper it's written on		A verbal contract		Samuel Goldwyn
The Alf Garnett of British politics		Enoch Powell		Roy Hattersley
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)		Lonrho		Edward Heath
A tragedy for the party. He's got no ideas, no experience and no hope		William Hague
He is not mad in the least. He's a very astute person, a clever person		Saddam Hussain
Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?		Thomas (à) Becket		Henry II
The wisest fool in Christendom		James I of England		Henry IV of France (or Sully)
A Flanders mare		Anne of Cleves		Henry VIII
[being attacked by him was like] being savaged by a dead sheep.		Geoffrey Howe		Denis Healey
The self–appointed King of the Gutter		Neil Kinnock		Michael Heseltine
Well George, we knocked the bastard off (to fellow–New Zealander and lifelong friend George Lowe – "often wrongly attributed to Tensing" – Nigel Rees)		First ascent of Mount Everest		Edmund Hillary
He seemed such a nice old gentleman ... I thought I'd give him my autograph as a souvenir.		Neville Chamberlain		Adolf Hitler
... a horse designed by a committee.		Camel		Sir Alec Issigonis
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		Smoking tobacco		James I of England
I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in		J. Edgar Hoover		Lyndon B. Johnson
... so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time		Gerald Ford
Worth seeing, but not worth going to see (quoted by his biographer, James Boswell)		The Giant's Causeway		Dr. Samuel Johnson
A harmless drudge		Lexicographer
A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people		Oats
The last refuge of a scoundrel		Patriotism
[it demonstrates] the triumph of hope over experience		A second marriage
The longest suicide note in history		1983 Labour manifesto		Gerald Kaufman
... a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it (1980 film)		The Shining		Stephen King
The great Satan		USA		Ayatollah Khomeini
The ultimate aphrodisiac		Power		Henry Kissinger
Mad, bad and dangerous to know		Lord Byron		Lady Caroline Lamb
He saw foreign policy through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe		Winston Churchill		David Lloyd George
Mr. Balfour's poodle		The House of Lords
When they circumcised [him], they threw away the wrong bit		Herbert Samuel
He can run, but he can't hide (after his opponent said he planned to "hit and run")		Billy Conn		Joe Louis
You're a nasty piece of work, aren't you? (In an interview on The Andrew Marr Show, BBC1, March 2013)		Boris Johnson		Eddie Mair
Fortissimo at last		Niagara Falls		Gustav Mahler
... the opium of the people		Religion		Karl Marx
Well Mr. Baldwin. This is a pretty kettle of fish!		The abdication crisis		Queen Mary
The bubonic plagiarist		David Frost		Jonathan Miller
She has the eyes of Caligula, but the mouth of Marilyn Monroe		Margaret Thatcher		François Mitterand
You've no idea what it costs to keep that old man in poverty		Mahatma Gandhi		Lord Mountbatten
'... the thinking man's crumpet'		Joan Bakewell		Frank Muir
'the last Englishman to rule India'		Himself		Jawaharlal Nehru
'God's second blunder'		Woman		Friedrich Nietzsche
To be sure he was born in Ireland, but being born in a stable does not make a man a horse		Duke of Wellington		Daniel O'Connell
... something halfway between a girls' school and a lunatic asylum (Diary, 1942)		The BBC		George Orwell
She delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B		Katharine Hepburn		Dorothy Parker
If all the young ladies who attended [it] were laid end to end, no one would be the least surprised.		The Yale promenade dance
"a bold merry slut" ... "pretty, witty Nell"		Nell Gwyn(ne)		Samuel Pepys
"Hasn't she kept it clean?!" (on collecting the BBC SPOTY award, in 1972)		Princess Anne		Mary Peters
'tis a sharp remedy, but a sure one for all ills		Execution (or the axe)		Sir Walter Raleigh
... ten years ahead of his time		Martin Peters		Alf Ramsey
... someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane, and smells like Cheetah		A hippy		Ronald Reagan
This mad dog of the Middle East		Muamar al Gadaffi
[He is] all England needs – another queen who can't dress		Boy George		Joan Rivers
I think this would be a good time for a beer		Abolition of prohibition (1933)		Franklin D. Roosevelt
A date that will live in infamy		Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
[He] has wonderful moments, and dreadful quarters of an hour		Richard Wagner		Gioachino Rossini
... the most over–rated critter for eating purposes in kingdom come, but the most striking example we have of the power of propaganda		Turkey		Damon Runyan
We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked [US Secretary of State]		Cuban missile crisis		Dean Rusk
" ... out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have"		Lincoln Cathedral		John Ruskin
Hats off gentlemen – a genius!		Chopin		Robert Schumann
Half Church of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot (in the poem Harold the Dauntless)		Durham (Cathedral)		Walter Scott
The vertical expression of a horizontal desire, legalised by music		Dancing		George Bernard Shaw
The extreme form of censorship		Assassination
[he] wasn't born; he was quarried		Tommy Smith		Bill Shankly
"little bags of mystery"		Sausages		André Simon
The longest–running farce in the West End		House of Commons		Cyril Smith MP
It looks for all the world as if St Paul's Cathedral has come down ... and pupped		Brighton Pavilion		Sydney Smith
The first Spice Girl (and an inspiration to us all)		Margaret Thatcher		The Spice Girls
... a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design		Arthur's Seat		Robert Louis Stevenson
He has the mulishness of a weak man with stupidity		John Major		Norman Tebbit
... a good walk spoiled		Golf		Mark Twain
[It] was made first, and then heaven; and heaven was copied after [it] (Pacific island)		Mauritius
He speaks to me as if I were a public meeting		W. E. Gladstone		Queen Victoria
We have made [her] acquaintance ... I wish we had her in the War Office		Florence Nightingale
The only real genius with an IQ of 60		Andy Warhol		Gore Vidal
A triumph of the embalmer's art		Ronald Reagan
... like a hogshead of its own beer: froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, but excellent in the middle		Great Britain		Voltaire
I have seen gigantic palaces before, but never such a sublime one		Castle Howard		Horace Walpole
[It] was won on the playing fields of Eton ("almost certainly apocryphal" – Wikipedia)		The Battle of Waterloo		Duke of Wellington
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		Michael Howard		Ann Widdecombe
The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable		Fox hunting		Oscar Wilde
An excellent man: he has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends		George Bernard Shaw
A squalid little raffle		Premium bonds		Harold Wilson
He immatures with age		Tony Benn
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!		The French Revolution		William Wordsworth (in The Prelude)
Just an idea ... just pie in the sky		Communism		Boris Yeltsin
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")		The Twist		Anonymous

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24