Innovative, influential, inspiring dramatist
Poet, illustrator, and dramatist; Gilbert wrote 14 comic operas with music written by Sir Arthur Sullivan and over 75 plays—many still being performed c. 150 years after they were written. Ridiculing party politics, nepotism, patriotism, and the British class system; they may have not gone out of style because they were never in any kind of conventional style to start. The innovative creativity in their performances came in part from their ability to finance the productions themselves rather than having to rely on conventional funding that required artistic restraints and conformance to traditional methods. Gruff and quick-tempered on the outside, warm and a loyal friend when close, Gilbert set new styles and became an important influence on most playwrights that came after him especially in the line of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw.
H.M.S. Pinafore, 1878
H.M.S. Pinafore, 1878
Patience, 1881
“My object all sublime I shall achieve in time— To let the punishment fit the crime.”
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“Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream…”
from H.M.S. Pinafore, 1878
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“Black sheep dwell in every fold;
All that glitters is not gold…
Gild the farthing if you will,
Yet it is a farthing still…”
from H.M.S. Pinafore, 1878
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“He will/I shall learn the truth with sorrow;
Here today and gone tomorrow.”
from H.M.S. Pinafore, 1878
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“Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
And isn't your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!”
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“Wherever valor true is found, true modesty will there abound.”
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“Deer-stalking would be a very fine sport if only the deer had guns.”
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“In for a penny, in for a pound
It's Love that makes the world go 'round!”
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“In all the woes that curse our race, there is a lady in every case.”
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“Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.”
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“If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare,
You must get up all the germs of the transcendental terms, and plant them everywhere.”
from Patience, 1881
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“And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief,
Depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.”
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