Fig Quotes 

Let the world slide, let the world go; A fig for care, and a fig for woe! If I can't pay, why I can owe, And death makes equal the high and low.
John Heywood
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More Fig Quotes 

I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this Fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.

Sylvia Plath

— Ch. 7 (The Bell Jar (1963))

Tags: saw, myself, sitting, crotch, tree, starving, death, couldn't, mind

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Yes, sing the song of the orange-tree, With its leaves of velvet green: With its luscious fruit of sunset hue, The fairest that ever were seen; The grape may have its bacchanal verse, To praise the Fig we are free; But homage I pay to the queen of all, The glorious orange-tree.

J. K. Hoyt

— The Orange-Tree.

Tags: sing, song, orangetree, leaves, velvet, green, luscious, fruit, sunset

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But beside it I have planted a green Bay-tree, A sweet Bay, an Olive, and aTurkey Fig, A Fig, an Olive, and a Bay.


— 1929  From a Garden in the Antipodes,'Detail'.

Tags: beside, planted, green, sweet, Bay, Olive

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Then hath thy orchard fruit, thy garden flowers, Fresh as the air, and new as are the hours. The early cherry, with the later plum, Fig, grape, and quince, each in his time doth come: The blushing apricot, and woolly peach Hang on thy walls, that every child may reach.

Ben Jonson

— 1616  The Forest,'To Penshurst'.

Tags: Then, orchard, fruit, garden, flowers, Fresh, air, new, hours

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Fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.


— Of postwar agreements to govern Eastern Europe. Quoted in Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas The Wise Men (1986).

Tags: leaves, democratic, procedure, hide, nakedness, Stalinist, dictatorship

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Fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.

george f. kennan

— On postwar accords regarding Eastern Europe, as quoted in The Wise Men (1986) by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas

Tags: leaves, democratic, procedure, hide, nakedness, Stalinist, dictatorship

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A Fig for those by law protected! Liberty's a glorious feast! Courts for Cowards were erected, Churches built to please the Priest.

Robert Burns

— c.1786  'The  Jolly Beggars', or 'Love and Liberty, a Cantata', chorus to a song to the tune'Jolly Mortals, fill your glasses'.

Tags: law, protected, Liberty's, glorious, feast, Courts, Cowards, erected, Churches

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I never yet touched a Fig leaf that didn't turn into a price tag.

Saul Bellow

— Humboldt's Gift (1975, p. 159)

Tags: never, yet, touched, leaf, turn, price, tag

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The type of Fig leaf which each culture employs to cover its social taboos offers a twofold description of its morality. It reveals that certain unacknowledged behavior exists and it suggests the form that such behavior takes.

freda adler

— P. 55. (Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal (1975))

Tags: type, leaf, culture, employs, cover, social, taboos, offers, twofold

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No thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a Fig. If you tell me that you desire a Fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

epictetus

— Book I, ch. 15.

Tags: thing, great, created, suddenly, more, bunch, grapes, you, tell

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I call a Fig a Fig, a spade a spade.

Menander

— Unidentified fragment 545

Tags: call, spade

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You go down to the pick up station Craving warmth and beauty You settle for less than fascination A few drinks later you're not so choosy When the closing lights strip off the shadows On this strange new flesh you've found Clutching the night to you like a Fig leaf You hurry To the blackness And the blankets To lay down an impression And your loneliness.

joni mitchell

— "Down to You" from Court and Spark

Tags: You, down, pick, station, warmth, beauty, settle, less, fascination

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Brambles, in particular, protect and nourish young fruit trees, and on farms bramble clumps (blackberry or one of its related cultivars) can be used to exclude deer and cattle from newly set trees. As the trees (apple, quince, plum, citrus, Fig) age, and the brambles are shaded out, hoofed animals come to eat fallen fruit, and the mature trees (7 plus years old) are sufficiently hardy to withstand browsing. Our forest ancestors may well have followed some such sequences for orchard evolution, assisted by indigenous birds and mammals.

bill mollison

— Permaculture: A Designers' Manual, Chapter 12.7 (1988)

Tags: protect, nourish, young, fruit, trees, farms, bramble, clumps, blackberry

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A feather of a hawk was bound Bound around my neck A poultice made of Fig The eager little vultures pecked

joanna newsom

— Jackrabbits

Tags: feather, hawk, bound, neck, poultice, eager, little, vultures

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“If ambush I must, then ambush I will,” Aillas muttered to himself. “A Fig for chivalry, at least until the war is won.”

jack vance

— Chapter 10, section 3 (p. 518)

Tags: ambush, then, Aillas, muttered, himself, chivalry, least, war, won

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The illusion of Sin and Guilt, the madness of our species, is the act of cursing the world under the misapprehension that one is cursing only one part of it. To curse the Fig tree, as in the funniest and most misunderstood parable of Jesus , is to curse the soil in which it grew, the seed, the rains, the sun; the whole world, eventually because no part is truly separate from the whole . The fallacy is that one can judge the part in isolation from the whole is "the Lie that all men believe."

robert anton wilson

— The Historical Illuminatus as spoken by Sigismundo Celine

Tags: illusion, Sin, Guilt, madness, our, species, act, cursing, world

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I would not give a Fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.


— Oliver Wendell Holmes, in The Executive's Compass: Business and the Good Society, p.5

Tags: give, simplicity, side, complexity, life, other

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Now learn a parable of the Fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: / So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.


— Bible, in The Universalist's Book of Reference: Containing All the Principal Facts and .., p.205

Tags: Now, learn, parable, tree, When, branch, yet, tender, putteth

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And he spake to them a parable; Behold the Fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own slaves that summer is now nigh at hand.


— Bible, in An American Commentary on the New Testament, Volume 1; Volumes 6-7, p.305

Tags: spake, parable, Behold, tree, trees, When, now, shoot, see

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As soon as Eve ate the apple of wisdom, she reached for the Fig leaf.

Judson K. Cornelius

— Church Humour (2002, p. 11)

Tags: soon, Eve, ate, apple, wisdom, reached, leaf

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Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the Fig is. If you say to me now that you want a Fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen.


— Epictetus, Discourses, What Philosophy Promises, Chapter XV. Geo. Long's translation.

Tags: Nothing, great, produced, suddenly, grape, you, me, now, want

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There is a Fig tree In ancient story, The giant Aswattha, The everlasting, Rooted in heaven, Its branches earthward: Each of its leaves Is a song of the Vedas, And he who knows it Knows all the Vedas.


— Krishna; Chapter 15, verse 1; Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood translation

Tags: There, tree, ancient, story, giant, everlasting, Rooted, heaven, branches

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Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the Fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. [22] And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.


— 21:21–22 (KJV).

Tags: Verily, you, faith, doubt, done, tree, mountain, removed, cast

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I call a Fig a Fig, a spade a spade.


— Unidentified fragment 545

Tags: call, spade

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No thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a Fig. If you tell me that you desire a Fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.


— Book I, ch. 15. (Discourses)

Tags: thing, great, created, suddenly, more, bunch, grapes, you, tell

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Surely Allah has chosen four cities from amongst all others, just as He, the Noble and Grand has said (in the Noble Qur’an): "I swear by ‘the Fig’ and ‘the olive’ and the ‘Mountain of Sinai’ and by this protected city." ‘The Fig’ is the city of Madinah; ‘The olive’ is the city of Baitul Maqdas (in Jerusalem); ‘The Mountain of Sinai’ is Kufah; and the protected city is Makkah."


— Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 77 (Shi'ite Hadith)

Tags: Allah, chosen, four, cities, amongst, others, Noble, Grand, Quran

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May the Children of the Stock of Abraham , who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and Fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.


— George Washington, letter to the Hebrew congregation of Newport, Rhode Island (1790).

Tags: May, Children, Stock, Abraham, who, dwell, land, continue, merit

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Constantly contemplate the whole of time and the whole of substance, and consider that all individual things as to substance are a grain of a Fig, and as to time the turning of a gimlet .


— X, 17. (Book X)

Tags: Constantly, contemplate, whole, time, substance, consider, individual, things, grain

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Chinks in America 's EGALITARIAN armor are not hard to find. Democracy is the Fig leaf of elitism.

florence king

— Roget's Thesaurus of Words for Intellectuals: Synonyms, Antonyms, and Related Terms Every Smart Person Should Know How to Use (2011, p.153)

Tags: Chinks, America, armor, hard, find, Democracy, leaf, elitism

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