[Ads-l] Quotes from Famous Short Stories

MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL
Thu Jan 18 18:37:15 UTC 2018


"I would prefer not to." Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener" serialized in _Putnam's Magazine_ 11/1853, 12/1853

https://books.google.com/books?id=e0E9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA546#v=onepage&q&f=false

" Which came out of the opened door,--the lady, or the tiger?" Frank Stockton, "The Lady, or the Tiger?" _The Century_  11/1882
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000000492480;view=1up;seq=97


"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" A. Conan Doyle, "The Sign of the Four" _Lippincott's_ 2/1890
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x030220116;view=1up;seq=54
I thought this one had been previously discussed on the list, but I didn't see it in the archives.

"The game is afoot."  A. Conan Doyle, " The Adventure of the Abbey Grange"  _The Strand_ 9/1904
The quote appears as far back as Shakespeare Henry IV, but seems to be most associated with Sherlock Holmes.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005607521;view=1up;seq=253


" “Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes."
A. Conan Doyle "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" _The Strand_ 12/1892 (this may be a little long for a short story)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924066351978;view=1up;seq=671

" "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." F. Scott Fitzgerald "The Rich Boy" _Red Book Magazine_ 2/1926

" I long ago come to the conclusion that all life is six to five against."  Damon Runyon, "A Nice Price" _Collier's_ 9/8/1934
http://www.unz.org/Pub/Colliers-1934sep08-00007


" Some day, somewhere … a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son … do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider."  Damon Runyon "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" _Collier's_ 1/28/1933
http://www.unz.org/Pub/Colliers-1933jan28-00007

" "Do you like card tricks?"
"No, I hate card tricks," I answered. 
"Well, I'll just show you this one." 
He showed me three."
W. Somerset Maugham "Mr. Know All" _ Cosmopolitan_ Jan 1925


> ----
> 
> Quotation dictionaries don't usually include many quotations from short stories, but I'm trying to do so in my upcoming revised edition.  Can
> anyone point me to crucial or particularly memorable quotes from any of these famous short stories:
> 
> 
> Anton Chekhov, "The Bet"
> 
> Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
> 
> Raymond Carver, "Cathedral"
> 
> 
> Or, for that matter, I would welcome any suggestions of crucial or particularly memorable quotes from other short stories as well.
> 
> Fred Shapiro
> 


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