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A. A. Milne

38 quotes

“They have almost brought it off, the War to End Peace, for which they have been striving for three years. What an incredible joke! A war 'to defend the freedom of the Straits and the sanctity of our graves in Gallipoli', says Punch magnificently. Of course you can think of it like that, and it sounds quite dignified and natural. But you may also think, as I do, of those five or ten or twenty men, our chosen statesmen, sitting round a table; the same old statesmen; each with his war memories thick upon him; each knowing his own utter incompetence to maintain a war or to end a war.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Chanak Crisis; 'Another Little War', The Daily News (4 October 1922), quoted in P. N. Furbank, E. M. Forster: A Life, Volume Two: Polycrates' Ring 1914–1970 (1978; 1979 ed.), p. 112
“Tell the innocent visitor from another world that two people were killed at Serajevo, and that the best that Europe could do about it was to kill eleven million more.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peace with Honour, 1934.
“I wrote somewhere once that the third-rate mind was only happy when it was thinking with the majority, the second-rate mind was only happy when it was thinking with the minority, and the first-rate mind was only happy when it was thinking.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: War with Honour, Macmillan War Pamphlets, Issue 2 (1940).
“They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace — Christopher Robin went down with Alice. They've great big parties inside the grounds. "I wouldn't be king for a hundred pounds", Says Alice.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whenever I walk in a London street,”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree Took great care of his mother Though he was only three. James James said to his mother Mother he said, said he: You mustn't go down to the end of the town if you don't go down with me. James James Morrison's Mother Put on a golden gown. James James Morrison's Mother Went to the end of the town James James Morrison's Mother Said to herself, said she: I can go right down to the end of the town and be back in time for tea!”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Halfway down the stairs Is a stair Where I sit. There isn't any Other stair Quite like It. I'm not at the bottom, I'm not at the top; So this is the stair Where I always Stop. Halfway up the stairs Isn't up, Isn't down. It isn't in the nursery, It isn't in the town. And all sorts of funny thoughts Run round my head: "It isn't really Anywhere! It's somewhere else Instead!”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think about it.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was One, I had just begun. When I was Two, I was nearly new. When I was Three I was hardly me. When I was Four, I was not much more. When I was Five, I was just alive. But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever, So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we asked Pooh what the opposite of an Introduction was, he said "The what of a what?" which didn't help us as much as we had hoped, but luckily Owl kept his head and told us that the Opposite of an Introduction, my dear Pooh, was a Contradiction; and, as he is very good at long words, I am sure that that's what it is.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're just in time for a little smackerel of something.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shall I look too?" said Pooh, who was beginning to feel a little eleven o'clockish. And he found a small tin of condensed milk, and something seemed to tell him that Tiggers didn't like this, so he took it into a corner by itself, and went with it to see that nobody interrupted it.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pooh said good-bye affectionately to his fourteen pots of honey, and hoped they were fifteen; and he and Rabbit went out into the Forest.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Piglet looked up, and looked away again. And he felt so Foolish and Uncomfortable that he had almost decided to run away to Sea and be a Sailor, when suddenly he saw something.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One day when Pooh was thinking, he thought he would go and see Eeyore, because he hadn't seen him since yesterday.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now it happened that Kanga had felt rather motherly that morning, and Wanting to Count Things — like Roo's vests, and how many pieces of soap there were left, and the two clean spots in Tigger's feeder.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes," said Tigger, "they're very good flyers, Tiggers are. Strornry good flyers.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Piglet took Pooh's arm, in case Pooh was frightened.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And he respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anyone who can spell Tuesday, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Owl took Christopher Robin's notice from Rabbit and looked at it nervously. He could spell his own name WOL, and he could spell Tuesday so that you knew it wasn't Wednesday, and he could read quite comfortably when you weren't looking over his shoulder and saying "Well?" all the time, and he could—”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've got a sort of idea," said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's a very good one." "I don't suppose it is either," said Eeyore.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to begin.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lucky we know the forest so well, or we might get lost," said Rabbit half an hour later, and he gave the careless laugh which you give when you know the Forest so well that you can't get lost. Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...and then he and Roo pushed each other about in a friendly way, and Tigger accidentally knocked over one or two chairs by accident, and Roo accidentally knocked over one on purpose, and Kanga said, "Now then, run along.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit. "No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You only blinched inside," said Pooh, "and that's the bravest way for a Very Small Animal not to blinch that there is.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well," said Pooh, "what I like best—" and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know something Pooh. I'm not going to do just nothing anymore." "You mean never again?" "Well, not so much. They just don't let you.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I shouldn't be surprised if it hailed a good deal tomorrow", Eeyore was saying. "Blizzards and what-not. Being fine today doesn't mean anything. It has no sig - what's that word? Well, it has none of that. It's just a small piece of weather.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I plant a honeycomb outside my house, then it will grow up into a beehive.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh walked hand in hand down the forest path and they said goodbye. So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them along the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest a little boy and his bear will always be playing.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That's what Jagular's always do", said Pooh, much interested. "They call 'Help! Help!' and then when you look up, they'll drop on you.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They wanted to come in after the pounds", explained Pooh, "so I let them. It's the best way to write poetry, letting things come".”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I found a little beetle, so that beetle was his name, And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same. I put him in a matchbox, and I kept him all the day...And Nanny let my beetle out Yes, Nanny let my beetle out She went and let my beetle out- And beetle ran away.She said she didn't mean it, and I never said she did, She said she wanted matches, and she just took off the lid She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult to catch An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match.She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't mind As there's lots and lots of beetles which she's certain we could find If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid- And we'd get another matchbox, and write BEETLE on the lid.We went to all the places which a beetle might be near, And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear, And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout: "A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!"It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can be And he had a sort of look as if he thought it might be ME, And he had a kind of look as if he thought he ought to say: "I'm very, very sorry that I tried to run away."And Nanny's very sorry too, for you know what she did, And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid, So Nan and me are friends, because it's difficult to catch An excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match.”
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source