25 Quotes by Nigel Rees

People will say what they want to say, in the way they want to.

How come there's only one Monopolies Commission?

I am only too aware that I am open to Rees's Second Law of Quotation: However sure you are that you have attributed a quotation correctly, an earlier source will be pointed out to you.

My toils in the quotation field have led me to formulate two or three laws about the way people use and abuse quotations. My first law is: When in doubt, ascribe all quotations to Bernard Shaw - which I don't mean to be taken literally, but as a general observation of the habit people have of attaching remarks to the nearest obvious speaker. Churchill, Wilde, Orson Welles and Alexander Woollcott are other useful figures upon whom to father remarks when you don't know who really said them.

Rees's First Law of Quotations: When in doubt, ascribe all quotations to George Bernard Shaw.

Lord Castlerosse was taken to task by Nancy Astor over the size of his stomach. 'What would you say if that was on a woman?' she asked, pointedly. 'Half an hour ago it was,' he replied.

Der spring is sprung Der grass is riz I wonder where dem boidies is?

Lord Castlerosse was taken to task by Nancy Astor over the size of his stomach. ‘What would you say if that was on a woman?’ she asked, pointedly. ‘Half an hour ago it was,’ he replied.

My job involves searching for ‘lost’ quotations – that is, trying to find out who came up with a quotable saying that lingers in someone’s mind and which they wish to use for their own purpose and which they cannot find in conventional dictionaries of quotation.