There is little sense in attempting to change external conditions, you must first change inner beliefs, then outer conditions will change accordingly.
I nominate the Reverend Ian Paisley for the position of First Minister of northern Ireland.
A chief petty officer taught me shorthand, which got me promoted to yeoman first class.
Every man in the time of courtship and in the first entrance of marriage, puts on a behavior like my correspondent’s holiday suit.
Simonides, a poet famous in his generation, is, I think, author of the oldest satire that is now extant, and, as some say, of the first that was ever written.
Always interline a contract before signing it, merely to impress the Party of the First Part. The one who puts his signature to Articles of Agreement drawn up by the other fellow is establishing a dangerous precedent.
The first sign of extravagance is to buy trousers that one does not need.
First make yourself unpopular, then you will be taken seriously.
If I didn’t have this affliction, I would be the first. As a rule the if-clause contains an unfulfillable condition, or the patient’s own arrangement, which only he can change.
It is an ill thing to be the first to bring news of ill.
Zeus, first cause, prime mover; for what thing without Zeus is done among mortals?
The first dog I had was owned by an abusive couple. He was very skittish. He wouldn’t let me hold him. It was explained to me that it was because of how he was treated.
I sold my first screenplay six months before ‘Glee,’ but they had the option for a year and now it’s back with me.
He whose first emotion, on the view of an excellent work, is to undervalue or depreciate it, will never have one of his own to show.
Be thou incapable of change in that which is right, and men will rely upon thee. Establish unto thyself principles of action; and see that thou ever act according to them. First know that thy principles are just, and then be thou.
In heaven, after antipasti, the first course will be pasta.
The process of education in the oldest profession in the world is like any other educational process, in that it requires time andeffort and patience; it can only be acquired by taking one step at a time, though the steps become accelerated after the first few.
Genius has oftenest been the pariah of his time, the unhoused god whom none cared for, unnamed till they whom he first promoted, enriched and honored, found it honorable to own their benefactor.
Why had I become a writer in the first place? Because I wasn’t fit for society; I didn’t fit into the system.
Once you’ve been first, it cannot be done again. Not by you, not by anyone else.