When that book came out, it was like Columbus telling about America at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella.
quote by Theodore White
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Columbus
Once upon a time there was an Italian,
And some people thought he was a rapscallion,
But he wasn't offended,
Because other people thought he was splendid,
And he said the world was round,
And everybody made an uncomplimentary sound,
But he went and tried to borrow some money from Ferdinand
But Ferdinand said America was a bird in the bush and he'd rather have a berdinand,
But Columbus' brain was fertile, it wasn't arid,
And he remembered that Ferdinand was married,
And he thought, there is no wife like a misunderstood one,
Because if her husband thinks something is a terrible idea she is bound to think it a good one,
So he perfumed his handkerchief with bay rum and citronella,
And he went to see Isabella,
And he looked wonderful but he had never felt sillier,
And she said, I can't place the face but the aroma is familiar,
And Columbus didn't say a word,
All he said was, I am Columbus, the fifteenth-century Admiral Byrd,
And, just as he thought, her disposition was very malleable,
And she said, Here are my jewels, and she wasn't penurious like Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi, she wasn't referring to her children, no, she was referring to her jewels, which were very very valuable,
So Columbus said, Somebody show me the sunset and somebody did and he set sail for it,
And he discovered America and they put him in jail for it,
And the fetters gave him welts,
And they named America after somebody else,
So the sad fate of Columbus ought to be pointed out to every child and every voter,
Because it has a very important moral, which is, Don't be a discoverer, be a promoter.
poem by Ogden Nash
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Poem For Columbus Day
They never tell you
whether October 12
was Columbus' birthday
or the day he discovered
America
and somehow America
makes every October 12
a Monday
and if there had never
been a Columbus
there'd be no school holiday,
Paul and Carol would choose
some other weekend
to marry
I'd have stayed in New York
waiting for you to return
from your nephew's funeral
(who was also named Christopher)
there'd have been no reunion
no gathering together
you'd have grown up in Italy,
I'd have lived in Leeds, England,
there'd be no reason to be here.
poem by Rochelle Ratner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Hardly I count my faded previous births
Once in Alaska I caught fish and lived in my Igloo
Unfortunately not married till I die.
When Christopher Columbus found America
I was a Turtle in the Pacific Ocean.
I served as a butler to Duke of Edinburgh in the Victorian era.
During the World War (II) I was the Alsatian pet dog to Adolf Hitler.
Now I live in America with my singsong beloved and two old suitcases that full of bygone unlimited hopes.
Sometimes in my colored dreams I see turtles, Igloos, dogs and I play baseball with Hitler, Columbus and Duke of Edinburgh.
*** Many happy returns of the day to Independent America!
poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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I also hate those holidays that fall on a Monday where you don't get mail, those fake holidays like Columbus Day. What did Christopher Columbus do, discover America? If he hadn't, somebody else would have and we'd still be here. Big deal.
quote by John Waters
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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America
(Francis Scott Key)
Oh, say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so
Gallantly streaming?
America, America, America
America, America, America
And the rocket's red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there
Oh, say, does that star
Spangled banner yet wave
Over the land of the free
And the home of the brave!
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America
ooohhh
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Discovers' Day October 8,2007
Who?
Just who
authorized
the printer of my
wall calender
to remove Columbus
replacing him with
Discovers' Day?
Who, just who?
When I bought the calender
sure I did not read the fine print.
Didn't think I needed to.
Is it because he and his men
may have brought
smallpox and syphilis
and based on where they landed
didn't really
discover America?
In fact they missed
what they were
sailing for.
It was a shorter route
to the East Indies;
missed by several thousand miles.
We've know this for a long time.
Why take him off
my calender now?
What about the parades-
The Columbus Day Sales-
Am I still going to get 20% off?
No mail today.
Federal employees
Got the day off.
Maybe it's not
Such a big thing?
Do only I miss Columbus?
poem by Tom J. Mariani
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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America slept because most Americans preferred it that way.
quote by Ferdinand Mount
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Write America (Revision)
I write America
in order to form a perfect union
assuming there is a union at all
and not just some Texas mama's boy
standing off to the side
watching it fall
for the strong
for the weak
and for those who refuse to speak
I hurt on their behalf
and for them
I write America.
I write America
the beautiful
conquered from sea to shining sea
known now only for the names
who 'discovered' it
Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci
who failed to realize
there were already people here
I always wondered
how you could discover something
that's already been discovered
for credit where credit is due
I write America.
I would continue to write America
but America responds only to threats
so instead I just watch America
I watch slices of the American Pie
devoured left and right
but all across the board
the skin tone in invariably white
I am the property of a nation
built on the countries it has conquered
and a heritage it will never own
until the day the American dream includes me
I just watch America.
poem by Harlequin Rose
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I am anchoring off her coast
I am Christopher Columbus
She is America!
poem by Framarz Bagheri
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America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.
quote by Oscar Wilde
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If America had been discovered as many times as I have, no one would remember Columbus.
quote by Sean Connery
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Columbus only discovered that he was in some new place. He didn't discover America.
quote by Louise Erdrich
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honored by posterity because he was the last to discover America.
quote by James Joyce
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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What a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it.
quote by Margot Asquith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Miss America
You were the apple of the publics eye as you cut the ribbon at the local mall
A mirage for both you and us. how can it be real?
We love your body in that photograph, your home state sure must be proud
The queen of the united states, or have you lost your crown
Well arent you miss america
Dont you miss america
Wont you miss america
Our love
Well are you really who we think you are
Or does your smile seem to wear you down
Is the girl who you once were screaming jump out
And the dream that you must live - a disease for which there is no cure
This roller coaster ride youre on wont stop to let you off
Well arent you miss america
Dont you miss america
Wont you miss america
Our love
Miss america, miss america
Miss america, miss america
Well its true just take a look - the cover sometimes makes the book
And the judges, do they ever ask to read between your lines
In your cage at the human zoo, they all stop to look at you
Next year, what will you do when you have been forgotten
Well arent you miss america
Dont you miss america
Wont you miss america
Our love
song performed by by Styx, music by James Young
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In a turning point for humanity, Columbus received a visa to America.
aphorism by Octav Bibere
Submitted by Octav Bibere
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I can not help thinking of those who had discovered America before Columbus did and drowned on their way back.
aphorism by Valeriu Butulescu from Immensity of the Point, translated by Eva A. Ziem
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In America, they are paranoid about ruining the reputations of people once they are dead and cannot answer back. They have this fascination which to me seems cruel and morbid. I do not want any part of it.
quote by Isabella Rossellini
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Do Not Love You Isabella
(tim rice/john farrar)
I do not love you isabella
I never have i never will
I saunter through this ceremony
Confidence high, enthusiasm nil
My reasoning need not detain you
But woman it's not all bad news
Very few find peace and succor
In the spouse or life that they choose
He will crush you
Has no pity
Wave on wave on wave of grief
I shall love him
Understand him
That he loves me in my belief
I do not need you isabella
If i did we'd not be here
We'd be in some lovers' haven
Our way ahead and dreams so clear
I welcome you into my family
Into its dark internal wars
Let me enter into battle
I have the will, i have the cause
Noone leaves him
But they're damaged
And stripped of every vestige of good
Is he man or is he devil?
I see but dread the likelihood
I shall not stay poor isabella
So never heed my marriage vow
Believe in time you won't regret this
Though it may disturb you now
Abandon all attempts to love me
Don't fool yourself that's what you feel
When you at last decide to hate me
At least your emotion will be real
Wolfish, savage
Tuned to madness
Love is stifled, joy denied
I do hate him
I am wretched
A cold contaminated bride
Isabella! isabella!
I do not love you isabella
I never have i never will
I saunter through this ceremony
Confidence high, enthusiasm nil
My reasoning need not detain you
But woman it's not all bad news
Very few find peace and succor
In the spouse or life that they choose
Isabella! isabella!
song performed by by Olivia Newton-John
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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For all its terrible faults, in one sense America is still the last, best hope of mankind, because it spells out so vividly the kind of happiness that most people actually want, regardless of what they are told they ought to want.
quote by Ferdinand Mount
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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