Common Cuckoo Eggs

Famous quotes containing the words common, cuckoo and/or eggs:

    There is something antique, even, in his style of treating his subject, reminding us that Heroes and Demi-gods, Fates and Furies, still exist; the common man is nothing to him, but after death the hero is apotheosized and has a place in heaven, as in the religion of the Greeks.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    When daisies pied and violets blue,
    And lady-smocks, all silver-white,
    And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
    Do paint the meadows with delight,
    The cuckoo then on every tree
    Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
    Cuckoo!
    Cuckoo, cuckoo—O word of fear,
    Unpleasing to a married ear.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called “weasel words.” When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a “weasel word” after another there is nothing left of the other.
    Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)