I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances.
W. S. GilbertRead
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus, I know the scientific names of beings animalculous; In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote humorously portrays a character who is overly proud of his knowledge and skills.
In this quote, W. S. Gilbert presents a comic character who boasts about his extensive knowledge across various fields, including calculus and biology, while using exaggerated language to emphasize his pride and self-importance. The humor lies in the absurdity of the character's claim to be an expert in so many areas while remaining oblivious to the fact that such broad knowledge is both unrealistic and comically pretentious.
Themes
KnowledgeHumorPrideExpertiseAbsurdity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of humility in learning, one might use this quote to illustrate how overconfidence can be humorous.
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When I got to 'The Daily Show,' they asked me to have a political opinion. It turned out that I had one, but I didn't realize quite how liberal I was until I was asked to make passionate comedic choices as opposed to necessarily successful comedic choices.
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One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.
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All my humor is based upon destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, Iβd be standing on the breadline right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.
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...it is not necessary to the child to awaken to the sense of the strange and humorous by giving a man a luminous nose...to the child it is sufficiently strange and humorous to have a nose at all.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
Audacious ribald: your laughter will finish in hideous boredom before morning.
George Bernard ShawRead
I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.
Ellen DegeneresRead