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The last three ships we took proved to be manned entirely by orphans, and so we had to let them go. One would think that Great Britain’s mercantile navy was recruited solely from her orphan asylums – which we know is not the case.

— W. S. Gilbert The Pirates of Penzance (1879)

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More quotes by W. S. Gilbert

Things are seldom what they seem;
Skim milk masquerades as cream.

H.M.S. Pinafore (1878)

I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.

Three little maids from school are we,
Pert as a schoolgirl well can be,
Filled to the brim with girlish glee.

When your process of extermination begins, let our deaths be as swift and painless as you can conveniently make them.

The Pirates of Penzance (1879)

Man is a ribald—Man’s a rake,
Man is Nature’s sole mistake!

All W. S. Gilbert quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: W. S. Gilbert (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.