Themes

"The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That’s one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population—the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority."

"The principle of brotherhood expounded by the agitator of Nazareth preserved the germ of life, of truth and justice, so long as it was the beacon light of the few. The moment the majority seized upon it, that great principle became a shibboleth and harbinger of blood and fire, spreading suffering and disaster."

"The majority cares little for ideals or integrity. What it craves is display."

"The majority represents a mass of cowards, willing to accept him who mirrors its own soul and mind poverty."

"There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth."

"Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as "right" in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as "brute force.""

"Shall we then judge a country by the majority, or by the minority? By the minority, surely. 'Tis pedantry to estimate nations by the census, or by square miles of land, or other than by their importance to the mind of the time."

"The man who is right is a majority. We, who have God and conscience on our side, have a majority against the universe."

"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong."

"One with the law is a majority."

"A majority can do anything."

"Supreme power rests in the will of all or of the majority."

"If you are cast in a different mould to the majority, it is no merit of yours: Nature did it."

"A man in the right, with God on his side, is in the majority, though he be alone, for God is multitudinous above all populations of the earth."

"Jeszcze Polska nie umarła, Kiedy my żyjemy Co nam obca moc wydarła, Szablą odbijemy."

"Polish national anthem reminds me primarily of victory. Surely every athlete will confirm my words."

"The Star-Spangled Banner celebrates the fact that, after a night of battle, the country's flag was still there. The Polish national anthem celebrates the fact that, after centuries of battle, the country is still there. This cautious, realistic anthem — "Poland is not yet lost"..."

"Sławna pieśń legionów polskich poczyna się od wierszy, które są godłem historii nowej: Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, kiedy my żyjemy. Słowa te mówią, że ludzie mający w sobie to, co istotnie stanowi narodowość, zdolni są przedłużać byt swojego kraju niezależnie od warunków politycznych tego bytu, i mogą nawet dążyć do urzeczywistnienia go na nowo..."

"Pokud matička Praha, perla západního slovanského světa, se začíná ztrácet v německém moři, co asi čeká Slovensko, mou drahou vlast, pro kterou je Praha zdrojem duchovní kultury? Zatížen touto myšlenkou, vzpomněl jsem si na starou polskou píseň „Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, póki my żyjemy“. Tato známá melodie vyvolala v mém srdci vzdorné „Hej, Slovaci, ešte naša slovenska reč žije“… Běžel jsem do svého pokoje, zapálil svíci a tužkou napsal do svého deníku tři verše. Píseň byla hotova v okamžiku."

"[E]ven though Poland had made a major contribution to the victory which put an end to the Second World War, in June 1945 a representative of our country was not allowed to put his signature to the United Nations Charter. We remember that event when Artur Rubinstein, seeing that there was no Polish delegation at the concert to mark the signing of the Charter, decided to play the "Dąbrowski Mazurka", Poland's national anthem, to demonstrate that "Poland was not lost yet", that Poland lived on. I am recalling this because I had a very touching moment a few days ago in the same San Francisco opera house, to which I was invited for the opening of the season. This time it was the orchestra that played the "Dąbrowski Mazurka", and at that moment the memories of the great Artur Rubinstein and his performance came back with full force and it was very touching indeed for me."

"Wy jesteście na tym froncie zbrojnym ramieniem Polski, wy jesteście odpowiedzią daną Niemcom za dzień 1 września 1939 roku, wy jesteście jednym żywym dowodem, że jeszcze Polska nie zginęła i nie zginie!"

"Rodacy! Wobec całego narodu polskiego i wobec całego świata pragnę powtórzyć te nieśmiertelne słowa: Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, póki my żyjemy."

"Obecne niepowodzenie jest chwilowe, zwycięstwo będzie po naszej stronie. I pamiętajcie: Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, póki my żyjemy. I to, co nam obca przemoc wzięła, siłą odbierzemy."

"Let this great day of concord come, when Russians will be united with you with the same feelings and, fighting for the same cause and against a common enemy, they will have the right to intone with you your national song, this hymn of Slavic unity: Poland is not yet lost."

"Uderzenie tak sztuczne, tak było potężne, Że struny zadzwoniły jak trąby mosiężne I z trąb znana piosenka ku niebu wionęła, Marsz tryumfalny: Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła!... Marsz Dąbrowski do Polski! I wszyscy klasnęli, I wszyscy: "Marsz Dąbrowski!" chorem okrzyknęli!"

"Staś wypoczywał i polował. Znalazłszy wśród narzędzi karawany dłuta i młotki zajmował się prócz tego w chłodniejszych godzinach wykuwaniem na wielkiej gnejsowej skale napisu: "Jeszcze Polska...", albowiem chciał, żeby pozostał jakiś ślad pobytu ich w tych stronach. Anglicy, którym przetłumaczył napis, dziwili się, że chłopcu nie przyszło na myśl uwiecznić na tej afrykańskiej skale swego nazwiska. Ale on wolał wyryć to, co wyrył."

"Hej, dziesięciu! czas do dzieła, Ciemna zgliszcz drużyno! Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, Gdy za Polskę giną!"

"Jeszcze Polska nie zginóła. Bziałoczerwóna kukarda. Mniejwa łufnoszcz w Bogu, Nam została tylko wzgarda, Bo Bóg dobry spraziedliwy Nie dopuszczy tego, Żeby Polok nieszczeszliwy Ni mniał kraju swego."

"Every Christmas Alec received a tie from Charvet and a check drawn on a bank he had never heard of."

""I want you to wear something conservative and elegant, made by a gentile tailor." Rothstein gave him hundreds of neckties from the house of Charvet ..."

"[N]or by the hundred-dollar pink Charvet shirts from Paris he could ill afford on the clerk's salary he earned at the French embassy in Knightsbridge."

"Mitchell wore a gray Savile Row suit and a Charvet oxford so tightly woven it shimmered like mica."

"[T]he dinner guests were undoubtedly rail-thin young things in perfect Boldini-portrait tailored frock coats and Charvet floppy bow ties."

"Charvet, the legendary chemisier opposite the Ritz hotel. He could happily have lived in Paris forever. He did not know where he had acquired such tastes."

"We'll get you dressed up in the finest dark suits and white stiff collars — no color except for a gorgeous Charvet tie."

"In Liechtenstein, the plumage of an international business man - the Kiton double-breasted suit, the Hermes tie, and the Charvet shirt — was protective coloration, nothing more."

"At seven o'clock he took a shower and put on a clean white shirt and a Charvet tie — a gift from a grateful client."

"He stopped in the Charvet shop and bought a dozen shirts and neckties [...] instructing that his old clothing be discarded."

"[T]he richest-looking ensemble he possessed: a navy hard-finished worsted suit with pinstripes, nipped at the waist, a tab-collared shirt with a white collar and spaced-out pale-blue stripes on the shirtfront, a solid French-blue crepe de chine silk necktie from Charvet in Paris..."

"The sun was very hot, so I took off my coat. It got hotter still, so I took off my shirt. It went on getting hotter, so I took off my vest and my pants, and there I was, my dear, practically in the nude, apart from a dainty little number by Charvet, which cost the earth considering that nobody ever sees it..."

"You should always carry a handkerchief. Two, even. One for show and one for blow, my father, the ambassador, used to say. Here. Charvet, Paris. You can keep it. Nice color, don't you think? Go ahead, cry. No one's looking. Get it out of your system. I think it's marvelous to cry."

"Absently, he picked up a gayish tie that was laid out beside a heavy silk shirt. 'Charvet' said the label. Where had he read of Charvet?"

"I've brought you a tie from Charvet, Daddy." "Is it loud?" "Very." "Good." They were all so pleased with one another that they burst out laughing."

"[H]is clothes might have cost a lot even if they were badly cut, and his tie, though rather loud, she recognized as a Charvet."

"[A] man lying on one of the couches with his coat off and his shirt open over a Charvet scarf you could have found in the dark by listening to it purr."

"Hortense shook her head. She had noticed that this extraordinarily relaxed man had fine, well-kept hands and that his tie, however the worse for mauling, had upon it the unmistakable Charvet stamp. She couldn't imagine a man in a Charvet tie rifling her luggage."

""He wasn't literary; he himself made jokes about the writers of "nine-dollar words," he worked the homespun line in public as religiously as he wore Charvet shirts."

"[T]he private detective, with his mocking smile and cold wit, his chivalry, his magic appeal to women, his Charvet ties..."

"He has— or had— 3000 Charvet neckties … which is more than Charvet has now."

"Sebastian entered — dove-grey flannel, white crepe-de-Chine shirt, a Charvet tie, my tie as it happened, a pattern of postage stamps."