I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“I had rather be in my grave than in my present situation, I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world; and yet they charge me with wanting to be a king.”
“I had rather be Mercury, the smallest among seven [planets], revolving round the sun, than the first among five [moons] revolving round Saturn.”
“I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”
“I had rather be poor in His service than rich in my own.”
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family, and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.”
Source: Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution : Annotated Correspondence
“I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a Mind.”
“I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, then that this universall Frame, is without a Minde. And therefore, God never wrought Miracle, to convince Atheisme, because his Ordinary Works Convince it. It is true, that a little Philosophy inclineth Mans Minde to Atheisme; But depth in Philosophy, bringeth Mens Mindes about to Religion.”
“I had rather chop this hand off at a blow,
And with the other fling it at thy face.”
Source: First Tetralogy In Plain and Simple English: Includes Henry VI Parts 1 - 3 & Richard III
“I had rather complain of ill-fortune than be ashamed of victory.”
Source: Annotated Essays of Michel de Montaigne with English Grammar Exercises: by Michel de Montaigne (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
“I had rather eleven died nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.”
“I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.”
“I had rather fashion my mind than furnish it.”
Source: Complete Essays
“I had rather follow you to your grave than see you owe your life to any but a regular-bred physician.”
“I had rather get a root canal without anesthesia than to call your customer service office for help.”
“I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad and to travel for it too!”
“I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else.”
“I had rather have everybody on my side than be armed to the teeth.”
Source: The messages and papers of Woodrow Wilson
“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.”
Source: Much Ado About Nothing Simplified!: Includes Study Guide, Biography, and Modern Retelling
“I had rather live in a cottage with you than reign empress of all the world without you.”
Source: Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion
“I had rather live with cheese and garlic in a windmill.”
“I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is.”
Source: Plutarch's Complete Works
“I had rather munch a crust of brown bread and an onion in a corner, without any more ado or ceremony, than feed upon turkey at another man?s table, where one is fain to sit mincing and chewing his meat an hour together, drink little, be always wiping his fingers and his chops, and never dare to cough nor sneeze, though he has never so much a mind to it, nor do a many things which a body may do freely by one?s self.”
“I had rather munch a crust of brown bread and an onion in a corner, without any more ado, or ceremony, than feed upon turkey at another man's table.”
Source: Don Quixote
“I had rather never receive a kindness than never bestow one.”
“I had rather ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me.”
Source: The poetical works of George Herbert
“I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.”
“I had rather stand the shock of a basilisk than the fury of a merciless pen.”
Source: Sir Thomas Browne's Religio medici: Urn burial, Christian morals, and other essays
“I had rather starve to death here, being a free man, than to have plenty in slavery. I cannot be a slave any more,--nobody could hold me as a slave now, except in irons. Old as I am, I would rather face the Russian fire, or die at the point of the sword, than go into slavery. [Philip Younger, 72 years old]”
Source: The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves
“I had rather take a wound most true than wear a smile that is but counterfeit”
Source: Zori 1ª Parte
“I had rather take my chance that some traitors will escape detection than spread abroad a spirit of general suspicion and distrust, which accepts rumor and gossip in place of undismayed and unintimidated inquiry.”
Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses
“I had rather, if cruelty has been prevented by the four prints [The Four Stages of Cruelty], be maker of them than of the [Raphael] cartoons.”
“I had reached a point in my career in which I was ready to try something new in my writing, and the idea of a novel has always been in the back of my mind.”
“I had reached the conclusion myself that sex was not a division but a continuum, that almost nobody was altogether of one sex or another, and that the infinite subtlety of the shading from one extreme to the other was one of the most beautiful of nature's phenomena.”
“I had reached the point, at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a Freeman in fact, while I remained a slave in form,”
Source: My bondaje and my freedom
“I had reached up and pulled the castle of dreams down around him.”
“I had read [Charles] Dickens's novels were often published serially. I thought it would be fun to write a book, just sitting down and writing a chapter every day, not knowing what would happen next. So that's how I wrote the first draft. And then of course I had to go back and make sure everything worked and change things.”
“I had read a lot of books on World War II, but I didn't know that downed airmen had hiked over the frozen peaks of the Pyrenees Mountains in shoes that didn't fit, in clothes that weren't warm enough, with German and Spanish patrols searching for them.”
“I had read a poem about a girl with 'silvery laughter' but Shun's sounded to me as if someone had fallen down a long flight of steps with a basket of cheap tin pans.”
Source: Fool's Assassin
“I had read a Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life...her voice slid in and curved down trough and over the words. She was nearly singing.”
“I had read an early profile of [Tony] Blair by Frank Millar in which he said that Blair was very keen on the 'consent principle'.”
“I had read enough mediocre scripts and was determined not to inflict another one on the world.”
“I had read my way not to knowledge but into an inscrutable oblivion.”
Source: The Summer Without Men
“I had read on the face of surroundings; some broken, some disconnected, some cracked expectations.”
“I had read some books on the Baha'i Faith. I had read - I was looking into Buddhism and trying to understand sort of the agnostic approach, so there was just a bunch of stuff I was just looking at.”
“I had read the Animal House script, and by hook and crook, I finally got an audition. It was a great one. John Landis followed me out into the hallway afterward and said, "I've never done this before, but you've got the job. Now don't tell anyone!" I've never had a director do that. It was one of those Hollywood-dream-come-true stories. They saw me as a surfer or cowboy, not a preppie, but someone begged and borrowed me an audition, and I went in and got it.”
“I had read the criticisms of me and my movies and they were discerning. They said that Crawford needs a new deal, and they asked if I was doomed to explore forever the emotional misfortunes of the super-sexed modern young woman. And so, to break away from the pattern, I wanted to do "The Gorgeous Hussy". Selznick laughed at me. 'You can't do a costume picture. You're too modern.' But I begged and begged and begged, and so they let me do it. I was totally miscast.”
“I had read the scripts that Nora Ephron had written as a movie about Mike McAlary. We were never able to make it at HBO because we couldn't cast it properly and when I left I called Nora and said, "Look, I actually think that the movie luckyguyindustry has changed. It's very unlikely that you'd be able to make this as a movie. I actually think it's a play."”
“I had read tons of science fiction. I was fascinated by other worlds, other environments. For me, it was fantasy, but it was not fantasy in the sense of pure escapism.”
“I had read too many memoirs that were written after the writer or the director was past his or her prime.”
“I had real concerns about the relationship between nature and culture and places I wanted to write about... I thought, well, maybe I should try prose. It was a real struggle to begin because, first of all, there were so many words on the page - it was terrifying... Beginning was awful.”