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Basil Quotes

Browse 35 quotes about Basil.

Basil Quotes

“Of all the herbs, Jasmine thought, basil was her soul mate. She rubbed her fingers over a leaf and sniffed deeply at the pungent, almost licorice scent. Basil was sensuous, liking to stretch out green and silky under a hot sun with its feet covered in cool soil. Basil married so well with her favorite ingredients: rich ripe tomatoes, a rare roast lamb, a meaty mozzarella. Jasmine plucked three leaves from her basil plant and slivered them in quick, precise slashes, then tucked them into her salad along with a tablespoon of slivered orange rind. Her lunch today was to be full of surprises. She wanted to impress as well as amuse this particular guest. They would start with a tomato soup in which she would hide a broiled pesto-stuffed tomato that would reveal itself slowly with every sip. Next she would pull out chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese and mint. Then finish with poached pears, napped heavily in eau-de-vie-spiked chocolate.”

PearsChickenBasilJasmine MarchTomato Soup
Book:How to Cook a Tart
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“I can smell fennel, lemongrass and cinnamon. But there's something more... something that ties those three spices together. What is this powerful aroma underneath it all? "'Holy basil'! And he used fresh leaves!" Holy... ... basil? "It's a spice native to Southeast Asia and sacred to the Hindu religion. Just one whiff of it... ... sends a refreshing sensation throughout the entire body. In Ayurvedic medicine, it's even considered an elixir of life!" *Ayurveda is the name of Hindu traditional medicine in which proper diet plays a large role.* "Really? What an amazing spice!" "However... ... holy basil rarely makes it to Japan while still fresh! It should be nearly impossible to procure! How on earth did you get it?!" "Oh, that? We raise it year-round for our seminar. And how do we cultivate it? Well... that's a trade secret." "What?! He raises his own uber-rare spices?!" "That's the Shiomi seminar for you." ""Shiomi"? They must mean Professor Jun Shiomi, the academic expert on spices!" "Man, this scent is not just powerful, it's addictive! But that's not the only thing going on in this dish. There's something else, something that spurs you on to the next bite... tartness? Yogurt!" "Good guess, Yukihira. Holy basil is so strong it can easily overpower all other spices if you aren't careful. But adding in yogurt mellows it out." Not only that, the spices he used have the curcumin compound, which is known to aid the liver in detoxifying the blood. That together with the lactic acids in yogurt increases how well the body absorbs it!”

ScentSpicesHinduYogurtBasilAkira Hayama
Book:食戟のソーマ 8 [Shokugeki no Souma 8]
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“Virtues are in the middle, the royal way about which the saintly elder (Saint Basil the Great) said, "Travel on the royal way and count the miles." As I said, the virtues are at the midpoint between excess and laxness. That is why it is written, "Do not turn to the right or the left" (Prov 4:27) but travel on the "royal way" (Num. 20:17). Saint Basil also says, "The person who does not allow his thoughts to incline towards excess or deprivation but directs it to the midpoint, that of virtue, is upright in heart."”

WayHeartPersonsDoeSaidTruthTurnsLeftVirtueWrittenMiddleSaintMilesExcessRoyalEldersDeprivationInclineBasil
Author:Dorotheus of Gaza
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“The scent organ was playing a delightfully refreshing Herbal Capriccio - rippling arpeggios of thyme and lavender, of rosemary, basil, myrtle, tarragon; a series of daring modulations through the spice keys into ambergris; and a slow return through sandalwood, camphor, cedar and newmown hay (with occasional subtle touches of discord - a whiff of kidney pudding, the faintest suspicion of pig's dung) back to the simple aromatics with which the piece began. The final blast of thyme died away; there was a round of applause; the lights went up.”

LightSimplePiecesKeysReturnDiedSeriesFinalsRoundsSubtleCulinaryDaringOrgansSuspicionPigsScentOccasionalApplauseSpicesBlastRefreshingDiscordKidneysPuddingHayLavenderCedarsRosemaryMyrtleBasilThymeSandalwood
Book:The Collected Works of Aldous Huxley: Brave new world
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“That's definitely true! It was before my father died, so I can't attribute it to an obsession with death. When I was seven, I loved those old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone. The Scarlet Claw was one of my faves. And I loved all the Halloween's and that film about the haunted house... Burnt Offerings, with Oliver Reed. Every birthday party was a slumber party and we'd watch horror films.”

I CanFilmFatherHousePartyActingWatchesHorrorDiedSevenObsessionAttributesOfferingHalloweenHolmesClawsHorror FilmSlumberReedsScarletBirthday PartyFather DiedMy Father DiedHaunted HousesBasilFaveSlumber Party
Author:Cate Blanchett
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“When I was thinking about what we could do in terms of what production values of Broadway might be able to add to the show, I had this thought that it would be really cool if we had a coup de théâtre. What would they want? And then I was like, an amazing, enormous tuna puppet that was like 30 by 40 feet would be pretty incredible. So I called up Basil Twist, and he got really excited immediately and started sketching out his idea, and I think it's a real highlight of the show.”

IfsThinkingWantIdeasRealShowsMightWould BeAbleValuesTermFeetAddIncrediblesProductionsExcitedEnormousBeing RealBroadwayTwistsReally CoolPuppetsHighlightsSketchingCoupsTunaBasil
Author:Alex Timbers
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“I have been right, Basil, haven’t I, to take my love out of poetry, and to find my wife in Shakespeare’s plays? Lips that Shakespeare taught to speak have whispered their secret in my ear. I have had the arms of Rosalind around me, and kissed Juliet on the mouth.”

Has BeensPlaySpeakSecretWifeHavensTaughtArmsMouthsEarsLipsMy WifeJulietBasilShakespeare's Plays
Book:The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays
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“Basil..discovered a guild of abortionists, or sagae, that were doing a booming trade in Caesarea, and the surrounding environs. They provided herbal potions, pessaries, and even surgical remedies for women who wished to avoid child-bearing. The bodies of the children were then harvested and sold to cosmetologists in Egypt, who used the collagen for the manufacture of various beauty creams.”

ChildrenBodyUsedTradeVariousRemedyCreamEgyptPro LifeGuildsBasilCollagen
Author:Grant George
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“Pounding fragrant things - particularly garlic, basil, parsley - is a tremendous antidote to depression. But it applies also to juniper berries, coriander seeds and the grilled fruits of the chilli pepper. Pounding these things produces an alteration in one's being - from sighing with fatigue to inhaling with pleasure. The cheering effects of herbs and alliums cannot be too often reiterated. Virgil's appetite was probably improved equally by pounding garlic as by eating it.”

PleasureEffectsFoodProduceEatingFruitSeedsCheerAppetiteVegetablesFatigueAntidoteHerbsBerriesPeppersAlterationsGarlicBasilParsley
Author:Patience Gray
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“The repeat run of Fawlty Towers (BBC2) drew bigger audiences than ever and deservedly so. Statistical surveys reveal that only the television critic of the Spectator is incapable of seeing the joke, which is that Basil Fawlty has the wrong temperament to be a hotel proprietor, just as some other people have the wrong temperament to be television critics.”

PeopleRunningAudienceSeeingTelevisionJokesBiggerCriticsClassicRepeatsHotelTowersIncapableTemperamentSpectatorsSurveysBasilFawlty Towers
Book:Glued To The Box
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