Dukes Quotes

And everybody praised the Duke Who this great fight did win. "But what good came of it at last?" Quoth little Peterkin. "Why, that I cannot tell," said he, "But 'twas a famous victory." ~ Robert Southey

Los Angeles is a town where status is all and status is only given to success. Dukes and millionaires and playboys by the dozen may arrive and be glad-handed for a time, but they are unwise if they choose to live there because the town is, perhaps even creditably, committed to recognising only professional success, and nothing else, to be of lasting value. The burdensome obligation imposed on all its inhabitants is therefore to present themselves as successes, because otherwise they forfeit their right to respect in that environment ... There is no place in that town for the "interesting failure" or for anyone who is not determined on a life that will be shaped in a upward-heading curve. ~ Julian Fellowes

The Grand Duke [of Tuscany] ... after observing the Medicaean plants several times with me ... has now invited me to attach myself to him with the annual salary of one thousand florins, and with the title of Philosopher and Principal Mathematicial to His Highness; without the duties of office to perform, but with the most complete leisure; so that I can complete my Treatises ... ~ Galileo Galilei

When I got through, Duke Ellington stood up and started the applause. ~ Ruth Brown

The Duke of Dunstable had one-way pockets.
He would walk ten miles in the snow to chisel an orphan out of tuppence. ~ P.G. Wodehouse

They don't hang dukes, darling. He'd be let off by reason of insanity. Everyone knows the upper classes are batty. ~ Rhys Bowen

Maybe what I want ain't anywhere in the world, but I want it, so I think there is such a thing. I want a guy that's wide open. I want him to be a real guy, maybe even a tough guy, but I want a window in him. He can have his dukes up every other place but not with me. And he got to need the hell out of me. He got to be the kind of guy that if he aint' got me he ain't got nothing. And brother, that guys' going to have something! ~ John Steinbeck

And, conversely, she went on to herself, sneering at the Grand Duke's palace, poverty is wasted on the poor, who never know how to make the best of things, are only the rich without money, are just as useless at looking after themselves, can't handle their cash just like the rich can't, always squandering it on bright, pretty, useless things in just the same way. ~ Angela Carter

Shows have a tendency to end when they're over. 'The Dukes of Hazzard' has not ended for the fans, and it has not ended for the cast or the crew, and I'm very proud to be a part of that. ~ John Schneider

Imagine if all those kings and dukes hadn't commissioned those crazy cathedrals, paintings and music ... we'd still be living in sticks and mud. Because none of those things made any economic sense. Human beings' capacity to 'waste time' is a miracle - but that's exactly what art is for. ~ Ha-Joon Chang

Shit, a hillbilly ho' MMA reality show? It could've aired right after Buckwild. All you'd need is an above ground swimming pool - one of those fancy ones from Sears with the wrap around decking - and you'd have the perfect cracker coliseum. Who wouldn't pay to see a couple spitting-mad, big-haired Daisy-Dukes kick the shit out of each other while some good-old-boys drank themselves stupid cheering them on? ~ E.V. Iverson

For years Belpher oysters had been the mainstay of gay supper parties at the Savoy, the Carlton and Romano's. Dukes doted on them; chorus girls wept if they were not on the bill of fare. And then, in an evil hour, somebody discovered that what made the Belpher oyster so particularly plump and succulent was the fact that it breakfasted, launched and dined almost entirely on the local sewage. There is but a thin line ever between popular homage and execration. ~ P.G. Wodehouse

Ghetto Haikus
Friendship needs just two.
Hot relationships needs three.
But bitches can't count.

Nigga don't need no
cherry blossoms to haiku.
Dis niggaz got skillz.

Any of yoos seen
Moesha or Latesha?
Bitches owe me cash.

Obama's whiter
than Spring laundry day at Duke's
house in Baton Rouge. ~ Beryl Dov

It was clear from looking at him that Will's relationship with cake had been a passionate and enduring one. ~ Martin Dukes

The reason he [Duke Kahanamouku] didn't like me was that I liked him too much. ~ Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz

A duke's son MUST know about poisons. It's the way of our times. ~ Frank Herbert

A citizen of the United States, means a member of this new nation. The principle of government being radically changed by the revolution, the political character of the people was also changed from subjects to citizens.
The difference is immense. Subject is derived from the latin word 'sub' and 'jacio', and means one who is under the power of another; but a citizen is an unit of mass of free people, who, collectively, possess sovereignty .
Subjects look up to a master, but citizens are so far equal, that none have hereditary rights superior to others. Each citizen of a free state contains, within himself, by nature and constitution, as much of the common sovereignty as another. In the eye of reason and philosophy, the political condition of citizens is more exalted than that of noblemen. Dukes and earls are the features of kings, and may be made by them at pleasure; but citizens possess in their own right original sovereignty. ~ David Ramsay

In this country kings or dukes don't amount to nothing. The greatest man around then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was the President; so I started calling Lester the President. It got shortened to Pres. ~ Billie Holiday

Jesus' fathomless love changes how you and I will live in our moments, how we'll love in our neighborhoods, and what we'll be known for in eternity. ~ Jennifer Dukes Lee

Ned: I figured it was time for a picnic by the menagerie.
Jenny: And you brought me? Why not take the woman you're marrying?
Ned: She's grown up with the Duke of Ware. Lions seem less ferocious. ~ Courtney Milan

My," Miss Simms said, wide-eyed. "I do hope dukes aren't held to the same standard. Can't be healthy for a man, always stifling his ejaculations. ~ Tessa Dare

People will always go to games. And not just Duke versus North Carolina. Even Appalachian State against Chatworth. ~ Sonny Vaccaro

Wall-to-wall masterpieces, after all, ought to be preferred to wall-to-wall decorative arts, even if the decorative arts are of the highest quality peppered and salted with dukes and tiaras. ~ Joseph Alsop

A batsman's skill and technique are judged on how he faces the Duke ball in England ~ Tony Greig

I'm fortunate now that I coach at Duke University and we've won a lot. I have some kids who haven't failed that much. But when they get to college, they're going to fail some time. That's a thing that I can help them the most with. ~ Mike Krzyzewski

It's been a lifetime of trying to have less beef. Beef comes very naturally to me. I was born with my dukes up, but that's not always necessary anymore. I have to retrain myself. ~ Kelly Reichardt

Then she loomed up, filling the door, filling the room with the aroma, the prestige, the arrogance, the pomp, the pride of all the Dukes and Duchesses swollen in one wave. And as a wave breaks, she broke, as she sat down, spreading and splashing and falling over Oliver Bacon, the great jeweler (…) ~ Virginia Woolf

It made me sad to think how silly, useless, and trivial his life had been. It mattered very little now that he had gone to so many parties and had hobnobbed with all those princes, dukes, and counts. They had forgotten him already. ~ W. Somerset Maugham

was no thought of appointing hereditary dukes - to have done this would have been simply to prepare the way for the king or his posterity to be ousted, as had been the case with the Merovingians, and was also with the Karolings in France. The early dukes were simply regionary, beneficiary, or official. Growth ~ William Stubbs

I was sick of the way my lyrics had been extrapolated, their meanings subverted into polemics and that I had been anointed as the Big Bubba of Rebellion, High Priest of Protest, the Duke of Disobedience, Leader of the Freeloaders, Kaiser of Apostasy, Archbishop of Anarchy, the Big Cheese. Horrible titles any way you want to look at it. All code words for Outlaw. ~ Bob Dylan

information, listening to every word with rapt attention. Now that she had established herself in the duke's household, the last thing ~ Brenda Novak

But it's a strange thing when people judge you because you're not doing some big Hollywood film. Are you suggesting I should be in 'The Dukes of Hazzard?' I mean, hello? ~ Joseph Fiennes

Jessica's Daisy Dukes are even shorter than Catherine Bach's, which I honestly didn't think was possible. ~ Jay Chandrasekhar

Alex had returned home to find a most unwelcome development, which had arrived through the letterbox in the superficially innocent form of a brown envelope. It might as well have been a letter bomb for its explosive impact on Alex's day. It contained his school report. ~ Martin Dukes

Take all your dukes and marquesses and earls and viscounts, pack them into one chamber, call it the House of Lords to satisfy their pride and then strip it of all political power. It's a solution so perfectly elegant and preposterous that only the British could have managed it. ~ Charles Krauthammer

I think the most joyous thing in life is to loaf around and watch another bloke do a job of work. Look how popular are the men who dig up London with electric drills. Duke's son, cook's son, son of a hundred kings, people will stand there for hours on end, ear drums splitting. Why? Simply for the pleasure of being idle while watching other people work. ~ Dorothy L. Sayers

No, she couldn't blame this one on him. This one was entirely hers. She'd sent him running away.
Everyone knew it, too, which was nowhere more apparent than in the carriage once they were all settled in and headed off.
Lisette was unusually silent. The duke's wooden expression said that he wished he could be anywhere else but here. And Tristan was studying her with a cold gaze.
He did that for a mile or so before he spoke. "You're a cruel woman, Jane Vernon."
"Tristan!" Lisette chided. "Don't be rude."
"I'll be as rude as I please to her," he told his sister, with a jerk of his head toward Jane. "That man is mad for her, and she just keeps toying with him."
Guilt swamped Jane. And she'd thought that spending half a day trapped with Dom would be bad? She must have been dreaming.
"It's none of our concern," Lisette murmured.
"The hell it isn't." Tristan stared hard at Jane. "Is this about Nancy? About the fact that if she has a child, Dom will lose the title and the estate?"
"No, of course not!" How dared he!
"Tristan, please--" Lisette began.
"That's why you jilted him years ago, isn't it?" Tristan persisted. "Because he no longer had any money, and you'd lose your fortune if you married him?"
"I did not jilt him!" Jane shouted.
An unnatural silence fell in the carriage, and she cursed her quick tongue. But really, this was all Dom's fault for never telling his family the truth. She was tired of being made to l ~ Sabrina Jeffries

By the end of his sixteen-course meal in Buckingham Palace, Ramsay McDonald discovered he had changed his mind about the workers owning the means of production. From now on, he felt it better that the Dukes and Duchesses should continue to own the means of production. The workers would just have to make do with what was left over. ~ Tony Benn

You can't have been here long, you haven't got a pot belly. ~ Prince Philip

People think there's a rigid class system here, but dukes have been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans. ~ Prince Philip

What do you envision for your future, Anna?"
His abrupt question struck a nerve in me. It was the same question I'd been asking myself for months.
"I don't know," I said. "I used to know what I wanted, but not anymore."
He considered this, watching me with curiosity. "What did you want?"
I reached down and touched the water. "A family, mostly."
"And you no longer want that?"
I dried my hands on my jeans, trying not to get emotional. At one time, I wanted a loving husband and a houseful of kids more than anything in the world. But I'd let go of those dreams. I couldn't even adopt a child. What would the Dukes say if they caught me playing house?
"I can't have those things," I told him, still avoiding his stare. "And I'm tired of wanting things I can't have."
His voice was low when he responded. "Perhaps children are out of the question, but you could still have a husband, in secret."
My eyes flew up to his, and my skin sizzled as his words settled over me. I opened my mouth, but couldn't speak. His light eyes played chicken with mine, not backing down from his claim.
"It's too dangerous," I said.
"You are young." He didn't state it in a condescending way, but I still bristled. "Someday you may agree that there are dangers worth facing."
I swallowed, wishing my crazy heart would stop trying to break out of my rib cage. ~ Wendy Higgins

Well, at the very beginning of the Amboy Dukes, I was doing background but I never sang my own songs. I would sing them for the guys to show them how I wanted the songs to go, but I always had lead vocalists. ~ Ted Nugent

In a world where you can choose to be anything, choose to be KIND. ~ Jennifer Dukes Lee

Service. [Exeunt.] SCENE 6. The same. The DUKE's palace. [Enter PROTEUS.] PROTEUS. To leave my Julia, shall I be forsworn; To love fair Silvia, shall I be forsworn; To ~ William Shakespeare

Duke is an ugly word in Kentucky. Nothing in the world compares to the joy of beating those hateful swine from Duke. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

I don't believe in anti-heroes. Duke Wayne played a mean guy but never an anti-hero. ~ Joel McCrea

When the emperor is crowned or the three dukes are appointed, rather than sending a gift of jade carried by four horses, remain still and offer the Way. ~ Laozi

Come hither, all ye empty things,
Ye bubbles rais'd by breath of Kings;
Who float upon the tide of state,
Come hither, and behold your fate.
Let pride be taught by this rebuke,
How very mean a thing's a Duke;
From all his ill-got honours flung,
Turn'd to that dirt from whence he sprung. ~ Jonathan Swift

I'd take her to the top of the widow's tower at Ainsdale Castle, late at night, and we'd watch the moon rise. The widow's tower was very high but she wasn't afraid. Sometimes I'd steal a pie from the kitchens and we'd picnic up there. I brought up a blanket, too, so she wouldn't have to sit on the bare stone floor."
Mrs. Crumb made an aborted movement, as if she'd meant to turn to face him and then changed her mind.
He let the wineglass dangle by his side. "I told her a rabbit lived on the moon and she believed me. She believed everything I told her then."
"What rabbit?"
"There." He roused himself, straightening.
He drew back, fitting her against his chest and setting his chin on her shoulder. She smelled of tea and housekeeperly things, and she was warm, so warm. He caught up her right hand in his and traced the moon with it. "D'you see? There are the long ears, there the tail, there the forepaws, there the back."
"I see," she whispered.
"I told her the rabbit had lavender fur and ate pink moon clover up there." His mouth twisted, as he remembered. "She'd watch me with big blue eyes, her mouth half-open, a bit of piecrust on her dress. She hung on every word."
He could hear her breath, could feel the tremble of her limbs. Did she fear him?
"D'you believe me?" he asked against her ear, his lips wet with wine. She was a housekeeper and housekeepers didn't matter in the grand schemes of kings and dukes and little girls who wished upo ~ Elizabeth Hoyt

You know, I always when people ask me, like, what is my most favorite song, I quote Duke Ellington, when they would ask him, what's his favorite composition? And I say, I haven't written it yet. Because, you know, there are different songs for different occasions. ~ Stevie Wonder

Dave ignored him and kept right on jogging. When he reached me, he jumped into the passenger seat Dukes of Hazzard style. "Can you drive?"

Well, that was debatable, given my close encounter with the wall but I wasn't going to get into that now. I eyed him warily. "What are you doing here?"

"No time for that. Can you put your foot on the clutch?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't like what he was implying. I may have just almost hit the wall but I wasn't a complete idiot. "I could put my foot in your crotch if you like?" I suggested.

A slow smile spread across his face and I looked away. God, that was supposed to insult him, not amuse him. Or turn me on. ~ Belinda Williams

One of Duke's very strict rules was to take his dick out any time a woman demanded it of him. He reached deep and put his favorite friend carefully on the fake wood.
She turned and cringed. "Jesus, dicks are so fucking ugly. Why you think putting your grandmother's jewelry on it will make it more fetching is beyond me."
Duke covered his dick's ears and snarled back at Dove, "You'll hurt his feelings. ~ Debra Anastasia

We should go," he said gruffly, his face inscrutable.

"Why?" Her heartbeat thundered. She gripped his arms tight to keep herself from twining her own about his neck.

He lowered his mouth to her ear, brushing it with a feather-soft kiss. "It isn't safe."

Her answering shiver had nothing to do with the cold. She had never stood so close to any man, had never fought the urge to press herself even closer.

"What could happen?" she whispered.

He cupped her face in his hands. "Anything. ~ Erica Ridley

Life is a blink in the eye of eternity, too brief to be wasted, not even a moment of it. ~ Martin Dukes

Ambition is your own yoke, not His! And the lust of wealth, the desire for power, the craving for human love - all that is a yoke of your own making - and if you will wear it, it will gall you. There is more joy in being unknown than in being known and there is less care in having no wealth than in having much of it. We often go the wrong way to work in seeking true restfulness and happiness. ~ Jennifer Dukes Lee

Frazier was not a big man at all. Frazier was about 5'9, but he would make anyone run. Put up your dukes and cover up because he's coming. He never backed up from anyone. ~ George Foreman

The Duke [John Wayne] was a massive figure. He looked like a heavy piece of hauled lumber, and it didn't seem like any man could stand shoulder to shoulder with him. ~ Bob Dylan

King of England, and you, duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the kingdom of France ... settle your debt to the king of Heaven; return to the Maiden, who is envoy of the king of Heaven, the keys to all the good towns you took and violated in France. ~ Joan Of Arc

The only place where David Duke and I are alike is we are both wizards under the sheets. ~ Edwin Edwards

I need a bath." He chuckled. "You smell of smoke, as do I." The duke turned, leaning heavily on his cane. "Jameson, open the carriage door. We shall return to the house." Beth smiled up at Christian. "Shall we adjourn to the house to get some ointment for your hands and a bath, my love?" His eyes lit. "A bath?" Grandfather snorted. "Someone send to London for a special license! Now. ~ Karen Hawkins

Children and teenagers don't easily relate to stories about kings and dukes, and to tell only stories about kings and dukes is to ignore the regular people. ~ Tim Crouch

The duke's son and the pauper girl. I suppose as a couple we were the most interesting thing in view.
I took the champagne glass from Armand and finished what he hadn't. As Sophia had said, it wasn't swill.
So much for my manners.
"Why am I here?" I asked curtly, handing back the empty flute.
"Because I invited you."
I dropped my voice. "Did you find out anything about Rue?"
"Is that why you came?"
"No, I came because I simply can't get enough of people looking down their noses at me. The girls at school are getting frightfully lax about it."
"Are they? How remiss of them. We're taught from the cradle how to look down our noses, you know, we rich sons of bitches. Perhaps Westcliffe's curriculum is a tad too liberal these days."
"Why, yes, my lord," I said very audibly. "I would enjoy seeing the rest of the boat."
"The yacht."
"That, yes. ~ Shana Abe

I tried to cheer her up. We watched movies in bed. I sang to her even - though I sang like shit. And when she was too tired to read ... I read to her. Her stupid historical romance books. About dukes and London and far away kingdoms that no longer existed in society. She loved it. So I loved it. ~ Rachel Van Dyken

The Duke of Edinburgh has perfected the art of saying hello and goodbye in the same handshake. ~ Jennie Bond

I am an urchin, standing in the cold, elbowed aside by the glossy rich visitors in their fur coats and ostentatious jewellery, being fussed into the hotel by pompous-looking doormen.
'No problem. I'd better get home, actually Mr – Gustav. A drink is very tempting, but maybe not such a good idea after all.' I pat my pockets. 'And I'm skint.'
'Pavements not paved with gold yet, eh?' He moves on along the facade of the grand hotel to the corner, and waits. He's staring not back at me but down St James Street. I wage a little war with myself. He's a stranger, remember.
The newspaper headlines, exaggerated by the time they reach the office of Jake's local rag: Country girl from the sticks raped and murdered in London by suave conman.
Even Poppy would be wagging her metaphorical finger at me by now. Blaming herself for not being there, looking out for me. But we're out in public here. Lots of people around us. He's charming. He's incredibly attractive. He's got a lovely deep, well spoken voice. And he's an entrepreneur who must be bloody rich if he owns more than one house. What the hell else am I going to do with myself when everyone else is out having fun?
One thing I won't tell him is that my pockets might be empty, but my bank account is full.
'One drink. Then I must get back.'
He doesn't answer or protest, but with a courtly bow he crooks his elbow and escorts me down St James. We turn right and into the far more subtle splendour of Dukes ~ Primula Bond

I'm actually from Mt. Kisco, New York, which is in Westchester County, and when I auditioned for 'Dukes,' I told them I was from Snailville, Georgia, which doesn't exist, and I'd just graduated first in my class from the Georgia School of High Performance Driving, which also doesn't exist. But they bought it. ~ John Schneider

Duke told me of planned...efforts against police response. As soon as possible after such conversations I would call the appropriate law enforcement agency in that city's jurisdictional area and alert them to Duke's information. Several times in follow-up conversations Duke would convey his surprise at how well prepared certain police agencies were to the Klan's presence, almost as if they knew beforehand what was going to happen ~ Ron Stallworth

I have decided. I want to be about the cause of Jesus. I want to follow Christ, not the crowd. ~ Jennifer Dukes Lee

LEONATO
Neighbours, you are tedious.
DOGBERRY
It pleases your worship to say so, but we are the poor duke's officers; but truly, for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find it in
my heart to bestow it all of your worship. ~ William Shakespeare

It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good. ~ Ray Charles

I would like to go to Russia very much - although the bastards murdered half my family. ~ Prince Philip

The Duke of Wellington brought to the post of first minister immortal fame,-a quality of success which would almost seem to include all others. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Happiness isn't a destination. It's a journey. And sometimes the journey is hard. ~ Jennifer Dukes Lee

key. I need to move up into Duke's job. Then I'll be top boy on Beck's side. Then I'll ~ Lee Child

My teachers are Duke Ellington and nature. ~ Toru Takemitsu

For the Vanderbilts lived in a day when flaunting one's money was not only accepted but celebrated. What may have started as playacting, as dressing up as dukes and princesses for fancy dress balls in fairytale palaces, soon developed into a firm conviction that they were indeed the new American nobility. ~ Arthur T. Vanderbilt II

When the cardinal came to a closed door he would flatter it
oh beautiful yielding door! Then he would try tricking it open. And you are just the same, just the same." He pours himself some of the duke's present. "But in the last resort, you just kick it in. ~ Hilary Mantel

I listen to tons of hard rock and metal, like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, etc., but I also listen to Beethoven and Mozart, to Discharge and the Bad Brains, and to Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington. So I think there's merit to both the melodic punk and to the hardcore stuff too. ~ Dave Smalley

Jazz was not only built in the minds of the great ones, but on the backs of the ordinary ones. ~ Cab Calloway

At the time, I was driving a 1970 Ford truck that I'd bought for a thousand bucks. In my world, if a vehicle runs and has air in its tires, then it's worth a thousand dollars! The price never changes. I abused that truck for several years, only to sell it for a thousand bucks for an upgrade. It had a rebuilt hot rod engine and was fast! When we cut firewood in the rain, my truck would slide all over dirt roads and occasionally bounce off trees, so both of the truck's sides were badly dented. After a while, I couldn't open either door. It was real-life Dukes of Hazzard!
I remember the first time Missy approached the door and tried to open it. I told her the door wouldn't open, and she started to go around to the other side. I informed her that the other door didn't open, either. As she looked at me with a blank stare, I said, "Rule number one: if you want to go with me, you've got to crawl through the window. ~ Jase Robertson

Pride overcame Paul's fear. "You dare suggest a duke's son is an animal?" he demanded.
"Let us say I suggest you may be human," she said. "Steady! I warn you not to try jerking away. I am old, but my hand can drive this needle into your neck before you escape me. ~ Frank Herbert

You say the naughtiest things for a duke."
He arched a brow. "How many dukes have you known?"
She glanced up as if trying to remember. "None but you. ~ Juliette Cross

What shall we say when people ask us how we met?"

The corners of her mouth twitched. "We'll say I was in my nightrail, brushing my hair in peaceful solitude, when you climbed up to my balcony and - "

"Do you even have a balcony?"

She pursed her lips. "You're not invited upon it, regardless."

He gave her a slow, naughty smile. "No one's ever *invited* to scale a balcony. ~ Erica Ridley

It did always seem so to us: but now, in the
division of the kingdom, it appears not which of
the dukes he values most; for equalities are so
weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice
of either's moiety. ~ William Shakespeare

A fully equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and dukes are just as great a terror - and they last longer. ~ David Lloyd George

You're a duke's brother. A knight. And I'm a whore."
He grabbed her wrist. "Don't call yourself that. I wouldn't let anyone else talk about you that way - why should I let you?"
"Very well. Call me a fallen woman, then."
"Do you think that matters to me? My mother used to say that there was no such thing as a fallen woman. You just had to look for the man who pushed her down. ~ Courtney Milan

Lives the man that can figure a naked Duke of Windlestraw addressing a naked House of Lords? ~ Thomas Carlyle

When you meet anyone in the flesh you realize immediately that he is a human being and not a sort of caricature embodying certain ideas. It is partly for this reason that I don't mix much in literary circles, because I know from experience that once I have met and spoken to anyone I shall never again be able to feel any intellectual brutality towards him, even when I feel I ought to - like the Labour M.P.s who get patted on the back by dukes and are lost forever more. ~ George Orwell

A friend of mine jokes that I have a painstaking royalty complex. Like maybe I was a duke in a past life. ~ Frank Ocean

A robber is more high-toned than what a pirate is - as a general thing. In most countries they're awful high up in the nobility - dukes and such. ~ Mark Twain

Recently, a judge of the prestigious 2014 British Forward Prize for Poetry was moved to observe that "there is an awful lot of very powerful, lyrical, and readable poetry being written today," but we need education, because "we have lost the sense that poetry sits halfway between prose and music - that you can't expect to read it like a novel."

A few years ago, the New York Times published an op-ed of mine, about learning poetry by heart. The response to it confirmed that people of all ages think about poetry as a kind of inspired music, embodying beauty and insight. On one hand, poetry has always flowed from music, as rap and hip-hop remind us big-time. Rappers know how poetry walks and talks. So we have music, or deeply felt recitations of poems that belong to collective memory. On the other hand, we have overly instructive prose poems, as well as the experiments of certain critical ideologies, or conceptual performance art. These aspects seem to represent the public, Janus face of poetry. ~ Carol Muske-Dukes

I'm the Duke of Riverside. I build things here and pretty much keep the peace, and discourage certain behaviors. If you think all that has been achieved through entirely civil and lawful means, you've had your head in a bucket. ~ Ellen Kushner

You managed not to get eaten then? ~ Prince Philip

Nay, but he prated, And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms Against your honor, That, with the little godliness I have, I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray you, sir, Are you fast married? Be assured of this, That the magnifico is much beloved; And hath, in his effect, a voice potential As double as the duke's: he will divorce you; Or put upon you what restraint and grievance The law, - with all his might to enforce it on, - Will give him cable. ~ William Shakespeare

Her gaze collided with the duke's. His eyes were a clear, pale green. Why was he staring so intently when there was hardly another woman less interesting than she? ~ Carolyn Jewel

The cosy glow which had been enveloping the Duke became shot through by a sudden chill. It was as if he had been luxuriating in a warm shower bath, and some hidden hand had turned on the cold tap. ~ P.G. Wodehouse

Perhaps you'd care for a synonym bun, suggested the duke. ~ Norton Juster

I think my real depressions started when I was about 16 and doing The Patty Duke Show. I would go to bed at about 10 o'clock on a Friday night and not get up again until 6:30 Monday morning. ~ Patty Duke

Duke Chartres used to boast that no man could have less real value for character than himself, yet he would gladly give twenty thousand pounds for a good one, because he could immediately make double that sum by means of it. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

There are only two things: love, all sorts of love, with pretty girls, and the music of New Orleans or Duke Ellington. Everything else ought to go, because everything else is ugly. ~ Boris Vian