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1
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Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
(Alexander Pope (1688-1744), British satirical poet. Lord Hervey, in Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, l. 308 (1735).
The line has passed into common usage, and achieved notoriety in the 1960s when it was used to head the London Times leader July 1, 1967, on Mick Jagger and Keith Richard's arrest on drugs charges—an article which was thought to have contributed to their acquittal.)
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Alexander Pope
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2
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Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
(Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), British poet. Hurt No Living Thing (Sing-Song) (l. 1-3). . .
The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti. Vol. 2. R. W. Crump, ed. (1986) Louisiana State University É Press.)
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Christina Georgina Rossetti
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3
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Madam, or sir, would you visit on the butterfly the sins of the caterpillar?
(Herman Melville (1819-1891), U.S. author. The Confidence-Man (1857), ch. 22, The Writings of Herman Melville, vol. 10, eds. Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, and G. Thomas Tanselle (1984).
Spoken by the bachelor.)
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Herman Melville
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4
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It is blue-butterfly day here in spring....
(Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. "Blue-Butterfly Day.")
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Robert Frost
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5
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I became the butterfly. I got out of the cocoon, and I flew.
(Lynn Redgrave (b. 1943), British actor; relocated to America. As quoted in the New York Times Magazine, p. 80 (June 6, 1993).
The daughter and sister of famous and oppressive English actors, Redgrave was describing her resettlement from England to California, which was followed by a successful diet, marriage, and acting career.)
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Lynn Redgrave
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6
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"And wisdom is a butterfly
And not a gloomy bird of prey...."
(William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "Tom O'Roughley.")
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William Butler Yeats
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7
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The butterfly, a cabbage-white,
(His honest idiocy of flight)
Will never now, it is too late,
Master the art of flying straight,
(Robert Graves (1895-1985), British poet, novelist, critic. Flying Crooked (l. 1-4). . .
Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press.)
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Robert Graves
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8
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An omnibus across the bridge
Crawls like a yellow butterfly,
And, here and there, a passer-by
Shows like a little restless midge.
(Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish author. Symphony in Yellow (l. 1-4). . .
Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press.)
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Oscar Wilde
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9
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Spin and die,
To live again as butterfly.
(Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), British poet. The Caterpillar (Sing-Song) (l. 7-8). . .
The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti. Vol. 2. R. W. Crump, ed. (1986) Louisiana State University É Press.)
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Christina Georgina Rossetti
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10
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Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
(Muhammad Ali (b. 1942), U.S. boxer. Quoted in The Story of Cassius Clay, ch. 8, George Edward Sullivan (1964).
Muhammad Ali's catchphrase was said to have originated with his aide Drew "Bundini" Brown.)
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Muhammad Ali
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Poets
