There's life for you. Spend the best years of your life studying penmanship and rhetoric and syntax and Beowulf and George Eliot, and then somebody steals your pencil.
Dorothy ParkerRead
That woman speaks eighteen languages, and can't say 'No' in any of them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote humorously highlights a woman's inability to refuse requests, regardless of her linguistic skills.
Dorothy Parker's quote points out the irony of someone being highly educated and skilled in many languages, yet lacking the ability to assertively decline requests. It reflects on the societal pressures and expectations often placed on women to be accommodating and helpful, poking fun at the contrast between her impressive talents and her vulnerability in social situations.
Themes
WomanLanguagesNoAssertivenessHumor
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about assertiveness training at a women's empowerment workshop.
More from Dorothy Parker
All quotes βMy land is bare of chattering folk; / the clouds are low along the ridges, / and sweet's the air with curly smoke / from all my burning bridges.
Dorothy ParkerRead
Prince or commoner, tenor or bass, Painter or plumber or never-do-well, Do me a favor and shut your face - Poets alone should kiss and tell.
Dorothy ParkerRead
They say of me, and so they should, It's doubtful if I come to good. I see acquaintances and friends Accumulating dividends And making enviable names In science, art and parlor games. But I, despite expert advice, Keep doing things I think are nice, And though to good I never come Inseparable my nose and thumb.
Dorothy ParkerRead
It is that word 'hunny,' my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.
Dorothy ParkerRead
I canβt write five words but that I change seven.
Dorothy ParkerRead
Similar quotes
Some people think it is difficult to be a Christian and to laugh, but I think it's the other way around. God writes a lot of comedy, its just that he has so many bad actors.
Garrison KeillorRead
Some people have such a talent for making the best of a bad situation that they go around creating bad situations so they can make the best of them.
Jean KerrRead
This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.
Lin YutangRead
Humor is very interesting to me. My films are not comedies, but there's comedy in them from time to time, absurdities, just like in real life.
David LynchRead
You have to have a thick skin, yes. If you're going to do something as foolhardy as standup, you've got to be able to take it on the chin if someone has a go at you.
Bill BaileyRead
Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.
Will RogersRead