Quotes from Jerome K. Jerome

To be amiable and cheerful is a good religion for a work-a-day world. We are so busy not killing, not stealing, not coveting our neighbour's wife, we have not the time to be even just to one another for the little while we are together here.

The neighbourhood of Pangbourne, where the quaint little Swan Inn stands, must be as familiar to the habitues of the Art Exhibitions as it is to its own inhabitants.

It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch one another and find sympathy. We differ widely enough in our nobler qualities. It is in our follies that we are at one. Some of us are pious, some of us are generous. Some few of us are honest, comparatively speaking; and some, fewer still, may possibly be truthful. But in vanity and kindred weaknesses we can all join hands.

A new life begins for us with every second. Let us go forward joyously to meet it. We must press on whether we will or no, and we shall walk better with our eyes before us than with them ever cast behind.

Noto che la gente fa sempre giganteschi preparativi per il bagno quando si sta per avvicinare all'acqua, ma che poi, una volta nei pressi, sono ben pochi quelli che si tuffano.

I read the prescription.  It ran: "1 lb. beefsteak, with 1 pt. bitter beer every 6 hours. 1 ten-mile walk every morning. 1 bed at 11 sharp every night. And don't stuff up your head with things you don't understand.

My fellow-passengers generally let on that they were going to see sick relatives

War still was the stern school where men learnt virtue, duty, forgetfulness of self, faithfulness unto death.

No, what was said in his case was that he, who didn't care for carved oak, should have his drawing-room panelled with it, while people who do care for it have to pay enormous prices to get it. It seems to be the rule of this world. Each person has what he doesn't want, and other people has what he does want. (Chapter VI)

Ser pobre é detalhe sem importância. Ser conhecido por ser pobre é que dói.

I cannot help thinking that if the tens of thousands of decent American men and women to whom this thing must be their country's shame, would take their courage in both hands and speak their mind, America might be cleansed from this foul sin.

Obi?nuin?a te face orb la tot ceea ce nu vrei s? vezi.

Will it be the same in the future? Will the prized treasures of today be the cheap trifles of the day before? (Chapter VI)

And I am careful of my work, too.  Why, some of the work that I have by me now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn't a finger-mark on it.  I take a great pride in my work; I take it down now and then and dust it.  No man keeps his work in a better state of preservation than I do.

If I am guilty, said the Earl, may this bread choke me when I eat it! Then he put the bread into his mouth and swallowed it, and it choked him, and he died. (Chapter XII)

George got out his banjo after supper, and wanted to play it, but Harris objected: he said he had got a headache, and did not feel strong enough to stand it. George thought the music might do him good - said music often soothed the nerves and took away a headache; and he twanged two or three notes, just to show Harris what it was like. Harris said he would rather have the headache.

But, though I crave for work, I still like to be fair.  I do not ask for more than my proper share.

Harris, as he occasionally explains to George and to myself, has daughters of his own, or, to speak more correctly, a daughter, who as the years progress will no doubt cease practising catherine wheels in the front garden , and will grow up into a beautiful and respectable young lady. This naturally gives Harris an interest in all beautiful girls up to the age of thirty-five or thereabouts; they remind him, so he says, of home.

everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses. George

Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.

George said: You know we are on the wrong track altogether. We must not think of things we could do with, but only of the things that we can't do without. (Chapter III)

firm belief in all that is good and beautiful, and in the ultimate success of every true and honest endeavour

Now, I will drink no German beer. The white wine of the country, with a little soda-water; perhaps occasionally a glass of Ems or potash. But beer, never — or, at all events, hardly ever." It is a good and useful resolution, which I recommend to all travellers. I

People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained.