The supposed icon of the “Spanish reconquest” actually spent much of his career defending Muslim kingdoms against their Muslim and Christian enemies

And so it was that when the armies of the two taifa kingdoms clashed at the Battle of Cabra in 1079, each was led by a detachment of Castilian knights. The commander of those supporting al-Mu’tamid was a seasoned warrior named Rodrigo de Vivar. When he routed ‘Abd Allah’s forces and their leader, his bitter enemy Garcia Ordoñez, the Muslim troops of the Sevelle acclaimed Rodrigo as al-sayyid (“lord,” in Arabic), which his Castilian countrymen imitated, calling him El Cid. The supposed icon of the “Spanish reconquest” actually spent much of his career defending Muslim kingdoms against their Muslim and Christian enemies.

B. Catlos, Kingdoms of faith (2018) 220

He’ll pass then, whereas Kennedy could never have passed them

One Senator did not share those feelings [that the South could block civil rights]. “Smarter than they are” though Richard Russell may have been – smarter than his opponents in the Senate – it was not other senators who were Russell’s real opponents now, but the new President, and Russell felt that would change everything. The Kennedy bills would be passed now, Russell told a friend. “He’ll pass then, whereas Kennedy could never have passed them.” (465)

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4: the passage of power (2012), 465

Senatorial power had been a coefficient of Presidential weakness

Senatorial power had been a coefficient of Presidential weakness, and for thirty years, Presidents had either like Grant, or indecisive, or simply cowed by the mighty Senate. But with the crack of the assassin’s gunshot that struck down McKinley, and, to the rage of Senator Mark Hanna, put “that dammed cowboy” Theodore Roosevelt in the White House, the era of weak Presidents was over.

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 3: master of the senate (2002), 37

The people should have as little to do as may be about the government

Each state, the Framers decided, would be represented by only two senators; the first Senate of the United state consisted of just twenty-six men. Another was the most by which senators would be elected. When one of the Framers, James Wilson of Pennsylvanie, suggested that they be elected by the people, not a single member of the Convention rose to support him. “The people should have as little to do as may be about the government,” Roger Sherman declared. “They lack information and are constantly liable to be misled.” 

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 3: master of the senate (2002), 9

His actual work load for an entire year ... totals approximately 4.6 minutes

And to undo another myth, rodeo is not cruel to animals. Compared to the arduous life of any 'using horse' on a cattle or dude ranch, a bucking horse leads the life of Riley. His actual work load for an entire year, i.e., the the amount of time he spends in the arena, totals approximately 4.6 minutes, and nothing done to him in the arena or out could in any way be called cruel.

G. Ehrlich, The solace of open spaces (1985), 126

If he's 'strong and silent' it's because there's probably no one to talk to

In our hellbent earnestness to romaniticise the cowboy we've ironically disesteemed his true character. If he's 'strong and silent' it's because there's probably no one to talk to. If he 'rides away into the sunset' it's because he's been on horseback since four in the morning moving cattle and he's trying, fifteen hours later, to get home to his family. If he's a 'rugged individualist' he's also part of a team: ranch work is team work and even the glorified open range cowboys of the 1880s rode up and down the Chisholm Trail in the company of twenty or thirty other riders.

G. Ehrlich, The solace of open spaces (1985), 63-4

How can I get that hand out of his pocket – so I can cut his balls off

Johnson told an assistant: “You know the difference between Hubert and me? When Hubert sits across from [Labour leader] Reuther and Reuther’s got that limp hand stuck in his pocket and starts talking … Hubert will sit there smiling away and thinking all the time, ‘How can I get his hand out of his pocket so I can shake it?’ When Reuther sits across from me,” Lyndon Johnson said, “I’m smiling and thinking all the time, ‘How can I get that hand out of his pocket – so I can cut his balls off !”

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 3: master of the senate (2002), 459

Bluegrass is not an old-time style at all

[Bluegrass] is not an old-time style at all; it did not begin to take shape as a distinct entity until the mid-1940s, and it was not named till a decade later… the music, of course, drew upon earlier string band and vocal styles and repertory (as most forms of country music did), but they inherited and borrowed styles were significantly modified [i.e., updated]

B. Malone, Country Music USA (5th Edition, 2018), 380

It's a first century job with nineteenth-century amenities

Part of the sheepherder's mystique is having opted to be an outsider. It's a first century job with nineteenth-century amenities - a traditional wagon with rounded top and a ship-tight interior, a saddle horse, and stock dog to get the work done. But to have chosen a life of solitude is seen as a sign of failure. In most cases they've abandoned the world for less saintly reasons than spiritual transformation. More often, it's a social defect that's kept these men at bay - women troubles, alcohol, low self-esteem. Others prefer the company of animals. But in the process of keeping their distance they may learn what makes the natural world tick and how to stay sane.

G. Ehrlich, The solace of open spaces (1985), 29

So fascinated by Rodgers’s tenor yodeling sound that they thought of him as a deity

The most bizarre manifestation of Rodgers’s worldwide appeal came right after World War II in Kenya, after a British missionary played some of Jimmie’s records for members of the Kipsigis tribe. Apparently, some of the tribesmen were so fascinated by Rodgers’s tenor yodeling sound that they thought of him as a deity and they made up a sing about him called “Chemirocha” that they sang at religious ceremonies for many years 

B. Malone, Country Music USA (5th Edition, 2018), 101

On no account would he be a party to the crowning of an upstart usurper of the legitimist Bourbon throne

But would every cardinal have shown the same courage as he when summoned as Dean of the Sacred College by the dreaded Napoleon in 1804 to accompany Pius VII to Paris for his coronation? The Cardinal King, as he then was, refused to go. It was a bold stance for an old man of eighty to take, and it brought about a physical collapse. But he would not budge. Not for nothing was he a believer in the divine right of kings. On no account would he be a party to the crowning of an upstart usurper of the legitimist Bourbon throne.

J. Lees-Milne, The last Stuarts (1983), 161

The Cardinal referred to George III as the Elector of Hanover.

Till his dying day, the Cardinal [Henry Benedict Stuart] referred, with a cold smile, to George III as the Elector of Hanover.

J. Lees-Milne, The last Stuarts (1983), 144

Had he boldly apostatized before he set out for Scotland he would probably have succeeded in this expedition

He [Charles Edward Stuart, the Young pretender] had never had strong religious convictions and only his father's undeviating faith and efforts to inculcate the necessity of his son's adherence to Catholicism prevented him from renouncing it before the Forty-Five. The irony of the story lies in the Prince's wavering. Had he boldly apostatized before he set out for Scotland he would probably have succeeded in this expedition and rallied that large body of secret Jacobite sympathizers who could not stomach the prospect of being ruled by another papist Stuart.

J. Lees-Milne, The last Stuarts (1983), 90

My dear, I hope you are a Jacobite

That pillar of Toryism Samuel Johnson, in a benign and paternal mood, apropos of nothing took his host's niece's hand and said to her, 'My dear, I hope you are a Jacobite.' The uncle with some warmth asked his guest what he meant by such a question. 'Why, sir,' said the doctor, 'I meant no offence to your niece; I meant her a great compliment. A Jacobite, sir, believes in the divine right of kings. He that believes in the divine right of kings believes in a divinity. A Jacobite believes in the divine right of bishops. He that believes in the divine right of bishops believes in the divine authority of the Christian religion.

J. Lees-Milne, The last Stuarts (1983), 3

It isn't about me not being able to see them, but them not being able to see me

The dean's always been doubtful; he says a confession box won't stop them going back to a passing thuggish friar; after all I know who most of my parish are, even with a screen between us, and they know I know, and I know they know. What privacy is this? I think this is where the dean most shows his lack of subtlety. It isn't about me not being able to see them, but them not being able to see me - does he understand that?

S. Harvey, The western wind (2018), 52

Life would be simpler if morally objectionable things like corruption also had unambiguously negative economic consequences

Life would be simpler if morally objectionable things like corruption also had unambiguously negative economic consequences. But the reality is a lot messier. Looking at just the last half a century, there are certainly countries, like Zaire under Mobutu or Haiti under Duvalier, whose economy was ruined by rampant corruption. At the other extreme, we have countries like Finland, Sweden and Singapore, which are known for their cleanliness and have also done very well economically. Then we have countries like Indonesia that were very corrupt but performed well economically. Some other countries - Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China come to mind—have done even better than Indonesia during this period, despite ingrained corruption on a widespread and often massive scale (though not as serious as in Indonesia). 

H. Chang, Bad Samaritans (2007), 162

I see it matters to you what his motives are but it is of no importance for me

'You and I are very different in the way we look at things,  Ashton said, 'and it has taken the advent of Kemp to make this difference clearer - I think to both of us. I see it matters to you what his motives are but it is of no importance for me. Motives are a labyrinth we need not enter. All that matters is the use that can be made of his words....'

B. Unsworth, The quality of mercy (2011), 265

People have been dreaming about reviving American cricket ever since it died during the Civil War

People have been dreaming about reviving American cricket ever since it died during the Civil War, 160 years ago. It was killed by a shortage of pitches, kit and coaching, and by the rise of baseball, the great American pastime. Baseball had two advantages. It was easier to play - all you needed was a bat, a ball, four bases and a field - and if you were good at it, you could make a lot more money. Plenty of professional crickets made the switch.

A. Bull, 'Cricket in the USA: the American dream', in L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2025), 122

From the age of 30, he took 436 Test wickets at 24

Even accounting for that series [2023Ashes], Anderson had grown old with astonishing grace  From the age of 30, he took 436 Test wickets at 24 - a total surpassed by only nine others in their entire career. From 35, he took 224 at 22, the bowling equivalent of Jack Hobbs's 100 first class hundreds after the age of 40. And since turning 40 himself, Anderson took 47 at 27.

L. Booth, 'Notes from the Editor', L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2025), 18

He was born to be Emperor of Cochin-China, to smoke 36-fathom pipes, to have 6,000 wives and 1,400 catamites

At eighteen, he [Flaubert] decides that some freakish wind must have mistakenly transported him to France: he was born, he declares, to be Emperor of Cochin-China, to smoke 36-fathom pipes, to have 6,000 wives and 1,400 catamites; but instead, displaced by this meteorological hazard, he is left with immense, insatiable desires, fierce boredom, and an attack of the yawns.

J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), 142

There shall be a twenty-year ban on novels set in Oxford and Cambridge

4) There shall be a twenty-year ban on novels set in Oxford and Cambridge, and a ten year ban on other university fiction. No ban on fiction set in polytechnics (though no subsidy to encourage it). No ban on novels set in primary schools; a ten-year ban on secondary-school fiction. A partial ban on growing-up novels (one per author allowed). A partial ban on novels written in the historic present (again, one per author). A total ban on on novels where the main character is a journalist or a television presenter.

J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), 111-2

Actually, the whole list of proposed literary bans is great. In full, the narrator bans novels 

1. Where people revert to the 'natural condition' of man
2. About incest
3. Set in abbatoirs
4. Set in Oxford and Cambridge (as above)
5. Set in South America (quota system)
6. With scenes of bestiality
7. About small forgotten wars in distant parts of the British Empire
8. Where any major character is identified by a single letter
9. About other novels
10. With 'allegorical, metaphorical, allusive, offstage, imprecise and ambiguous uses of God' 

I didn't relish this: not least because it meant that I didn't break my silence till the cheese course

I don't even care for harmless, comic coincidences. I once went out to dinner and discovered that the seven other people present had all just finished reading A Dance to the Music of Time. I didn't relish this: not least because it meant that I didn't break my silence till the cheese course.

J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), 70-71

Mary still suggested popery to most English people.

Mary still suggested popery to most English people. Indeed, one explanation for the failure to develop a stronger Marian devotional tradition in Anglicanism may be that those who had the strongest feelings about Mary became Catholic, 

G. Woodman, 'The Blessed Virgin Mary in Seventeenth-Century Anglican Theology: a Study in Doctrine and Devotion' Sobornost 46.1 (2024), 20

If he got the chance he used to go to London for the day when he knew people were coming

When she [her mother] and Dada went away, I was left alone with Grandpapa [Lord Northwood]. He was very old, and queer and silent. He hated people, and never spoke to the people who came to the house [Knole]; in fact, if he got the chance he used to go to London for the day when he knew people were coming, and I used to be left alone to entertain them. It amused me later on, when sometimes I was had downstairs to make fourteen, to see him sitting quite mute between two wretched women who were trying to make conversation to him, or else crushing them into silence: 'You have lovely gardens here, Lord Northwood.' 'What do you know about gardens?', he would snap at them.

N. Nicolson and V. Sackville-West, Portrait of a marriage (1973), 11-12