Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

—Robert Benchley

silence speech English

About Robert Benchley

Portrait of Robert Benchley

Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist, newspaper columnist and actor. From his beginnings at The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's...

More quotations from Robert Benchley

Why don't you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini?

—Robert Benchley

An ardent supporter of the hometown team should go to a game prepared to take offense, no matter what happens.

—Robert Benchley

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

—Robert Benchley

talent writing fame

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't.

—Robert Benchley

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.

—Robert Benchley

More quotations tagged with “English”

I don't have an English accent because this is what English sounds like when spoken properly.

I think I succeeded as a writer because I did not come out of an English department. I used to write in the chemistry department. And I wrote some good stuff. If I had been in the English department, the prof would have looked at my short stories, congratulated me on my talent, and then showed me how Joyce or Hemingway handled the same elements of the short story. The prof would have placed me in competition with the greatest writers of all time, and that would have ended my writing career.

—Kurt Vonnegut

talent career writing English

Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.

—William Shakespeare

Every English poet should master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them.

—Robert Graves

Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?

—Clarence Darrow

History

4 May 2014 Added