Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by W. S. Gilbert (English Dramatist)

W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911,) fully Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, was an English parodist and librettist. He is best known for his collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan on light operas.

Born in London, Gilbert studied at King’s College London and became a clerk in the Privy Council Office (1857–62.) Called to the Bar in 1864, he made his living from magazine contributions to Punch and Fun, for which he penned much funny verse under his boyhood nickname ‘Bab.’ This verse was collected in Bab Ballads (1869.)

Gilbert also wrote a Christmas burlesque, Dulcemara, or The Little Duck and The Great Quack (1866) and The Palace of Truth (1870,) which both made a hit on the stage, followed by Pygmalion and Galatea (1871.)

Gilbert is best known as the librettist of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s light operas. Their remarkable partnership, which began in 1871, scored its first success with Trial by Jury under Richard D’Oyly Carte’s administration at the London Royalty Theatre in 1875. Following light operas such as The Sorcerer (1877,) HMS Pinafore (1878,) The Pirates of Penzance (1879,) The Mikado (1885,) The Gondoliers (1889,) and The Grand Duke (1896) were famous for their jibing, topsy-turvy humor, accented by Sullivan’s scores. Their works were presented initially at the Opéra Comique and from 1881 in the new Savoy Theatre, which had been built explicitly by D’Oyly Carte.

Hesketh Pearson wrote the biography Gilbert: His Life and Strife (1957.) Michael Ainger wrote Gilbert and Sullivan—A Dual Biography (2002.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by W. S. Gilbert

Deer hunting would be fine sport, if only the deer had guns.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Hunting

I always voted at my party’s call, and I never thought of thinking for myself at all.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Elections, Voting

It isn’t so much what’s on the table that matters, as what’s on the chairs.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Eating, Food

Matrimonial devotion doesn’t seem to suit her notion.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Marriage

Darwinian man, though well-behaved, at best is only a monkey shaved.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Evolution

When constabulary duty’s to be done, a policeman’s lot is not a happy one.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Law

Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest:
Love, hopeless love, my ardent soul encumbers:
Love, nightmare-like, lies heavy on my chest,
And weaves itself into my midnight slumbers!
—W. S. Gilbert

Down went the owners—greedy men whom hope of gain allured: oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Tragedy, Disasters

My family pride is something inconceivable. I can’t help it. I was born sneering.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Pride

No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have; and I think he’s a dirty little beast.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Opinion, Opinions

I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person, of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Ancestry, Ancestors

He led his regiment from behind –
He found it less exciting.
But when away his regiment ran,
His place was at the fore, O.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: The Military, Leadership

Things are seldom what they seem.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Appearance

Oh, wouldn’t the world seem dull and flat with nothing whatever to grumble at?
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Complaining

I often think it’s comical how nature always does contrive that every boy and every gal, that’s born into this world alive, is either a little Liberal, or else a little Conservative.
—W. S. Gilbert

The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone, All centuries but this, and every country but his own.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Satisfaction

You have no idea what a poor opinion I have of myself; and how little I deserve it.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Inferiority

When every blessed thing you have is made of silver, or of gold, you long for simple pewter.
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Reality, Opportunities

I love my fellow creatures—I do all the good I can—yet everybody says I’m such a disagreeable man!
—W. S. Gilbert
Topics: Charity

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