Behind every great man is a good brother. – Nathan Followill
Never make a companion equal to a brother. – Hesiod
How wonderful is death! Death and his brother sleep. – Percy Bysshe Shelley
Ignore reality, there’s nothing you can do about it. – Natalie Imbruglia
Your True Nature Is Love. There’s Nothing You Can Do About It. – Byron Katie
Big sisters and brothers… I am telling you, it never changes. – Janet Jackson
Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. – Marc Brown
Accuracy is twin brother to honesty, and inaccuracy to dishonesty. – Nathaniel Hawthorne
When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life. – Antisthenes
Every man’s in his own hands, with a little help from his brothers. – Janet Morris
The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder. – Jane Austen
I’d go at anyone. I took all of my brothers’ bull. It made me who I am. – Rob Gronkowski
My older sister is bossy, my brother is a stirrer and me – well, I am perfect! – Jenny Eclair
Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty; inaccuracy is a near kin to falsehood. – Tryon Edwards
(on Warner Brothers) This studio has more suspensions than the Golden Gate Bridge. – Humphrey Bogart
I’ll kill you with my own hands rather than let you put the mark of Cain on my brother! – Abraham Polonsky
The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out of his nose. – Garrison Keillor
When we trust our brother, whom we have seen, we are learning to trust God, whom we have not seen. – James Freeman Clarke
My brother, if it’s not in the Bible, He’s not in it!! If it’s not in the Word of God, He is not in it. – Benny Hinn
Fredo, you’re my older brother and I love you. But don’t ever take sides against the Family again. Ever. – Mario Puzo
My family are police officers, detectives. My brother Mitch is FBI. Mitch is like that – a stern enforcer. – Bernie Mac
Breast cancer is not just a woman’s issue – it affects all of us: the brothers, husbands, fathers, children and friends. – Ralph Lauren
Being pretty on the inside means you don’t hit your brother and you eat all your peas – that’s what my grandma taught me. – Lord Chesterfield
I hear you’re looking for a sexy blonde to play with the Marx Brothers. Would you like to see me. I’m blonde and I’m sexy. – Marilyn Monroe
It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea. – Dylan Thomas
The good deed you do today, for a brother or sister in need will come back to you some day, for humanity’s a circle in deed. – Robert Alan Aurthur
Yeah, but I forgot to take my George Orwell-shaped multivitamins along with my breakfast bowl of Big Brother Os this morning. – Jim Butcher
The NBA is a big family, and I think of all these rookies as my brothers. I still believe I am blue collar among the All-Stars. – Yao Ming
I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three. – Unknown
Who can protect themselves from betrayal? The day your brother wakes up and plans to do you dirty, there’s no defense against that. – Ice T
Dad made it to Gold Shield Detective, so he always busted Robin, my oldest brother, and me. Always got caught, whatever we were doing. – Kevin Eubanks
We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
My father’s family came from Virginia and Philadelphia. He wasn’t a brother who talked a lot. He was a working man, a quiet, blue-collar dude. – Ice T
Usually writers are behind the scenes. Like a lot of people don’t know that the cat who created Final Destination is a brother, Jeffrey Reddick. – Kevin Grevioux
I never had little brothers, so I was totally not used to hearing a lot of cussing at a young age! I learned what ‘pull my finger’ meant the hard way. – Danica McKellar
Being a kid, by the time I was three years old, my mom was married, divorced and had three kids; she was 19 – so, my brother’s just older than my mom. – Diamond Dallas Page
I have lost someone I loved as a brother, as a closest friend, and a remarkable human being. We have also lost one of the best damn actors we’ll ever see. – Jack Lemmon
Brothers don’t necessarily have to say anything to each other – they can sit in a room and be together and just be completely comfortable with each other. – Leonardo DiCaprio
I’m incredibly close to my family. I have two younger brothers; they’re both artists and actors, and their work and the way they see the world inspires me. – Tatiana Maslany
I have six brothers and sisters. We all look totally different: blonde hair, curly hair, green eyes, dark eyes, dark skin, light skin. It’s just how it is. – Rashida Jones
My sister was drowning in the ocean once, and my brother and I dove in and saved her. True story. She owes us her life. Its great leverage; we abuse it all the time! – Matt Barr
I’m afraid that what most people don’t know about me is that I’m very close to my brother and sister, who are 16 and 13, and I think I’m a pretty good big sister to them. – Naomie Harris
You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. – Ernest Hemingway
And I come here as a daughter, raised on the South Side of Chicago – by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. – Michelle Obama
Big Brother is on the march. A plan to subject all children to mental health screening is underway, and the pharmaceuticals are gearing up for bigger sales of psychotropic drugs. – Phyllis Schlafly
Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply. – Jane Austen
My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was. – Larry Bird
I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. – Maya Angelou
My father owned pit bulls when I was young. He sometimes fought them. My brother and a lot of the men in my community owned pit bulls as well: sometimes they fought them for honor, never for money. – Jesmyn Ward
There isn’t a person at the Koch brothers events who would not get a good return on their investment by investing in [Santorum] as president, because of what they believe about the free enterprise system. – Foster Friess
I always wanted to make strangers and friends and family laugh. I was over ten years younger than my brothers. It was hard to get attention without some kind of gimmick, like athletic stardom or being funny. – Gary Gulman
The kind of issues that we face as detectives are similar to what the other married couples out there are facing, or the brother and sister, or the brother and brother are facing. Relationships are universal. – Michael Ealy
Fundamentalist Christians are my sisters and brothers, my family and friends, my oldest colleagues and coworkers. But I fear their love for the nation has become an obsession to reshape it in their own image. – Mel White
My favorite memories growing up in North Carolina were hunting and fishing with my father and brothers. There, I developed a deep appreciation for protecting land and waterways. There, I learned outdoorsmanship. – Louis Bacon
My mom and dad passed away from cancer. Within nine months, I lost both of my folks. Immediately after that, I had a horrible betrayal where my brother, who worked for me, stole a lot of my money. He’s in jail now. – Dane Cook
“The older I get the more I can see
How much he loved my mother and my brother and me
And he did the best that he could
And I only hope when I have my own family
That everyday I see a little more of my father in me.” – Keith Urban
I have, in my partner George Roberts, a person who is the most wonderful man in the world to me. He’s like a brother to me. Creating with him, being side by side with him, in whatever we try to do, is a real pleasure to me. – Henry Kravis
No one told these American soldiers they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with US patents. – Smedley Butler
I pray to be a good servant to God, a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a brother, an uncle, a good neighbor, a good leader to those who look up to me, a good follower to those who are serving God and doing the right thing. – Mark Wahlberg
Isabelle,” she said, lightening her tone with an obvious effort, “your loyalty to your friend is understandable –” “He’s not my friend.” Isabelle looked over at Jace, who was staring at her in a sort of daze. “He’s my brother. – Cassandra Clare
Joining a band of brothers together, a group with one common interest or mission, whether as a company, a team, or a motorcycle club, requires not only a commitment to loyalty but an understanding of self-preservati on as well. – Sonny Barger
The first music I ever got into was the ’80s alternative bands that my brother listened to, like The Cure and The Smiths and R.E.M. and Fugazi. I can remember specifically saying The Cure was my favorite band back in second grade. – Conor Oberst
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. – Carl Sagan
In Serbia’s case, the unresolved accountability for the Bytyqi brothers massacre needs to be resolved. And we would urge you to give this matter prompt and immediate attention to bring those responsible to justice for this tragedy. – Ben Cardin
Thank you to my family, my fans and fans of other teams for their support. The NFL is a fraternity of brothers and I am thankful for the tweets, phone calls and text messages from my fellow players. God Bless everyone and thank u so much. – Adrian Peterson
There is nothing like lying flat on your back on the deck, alone except for the helmsman aft at the wheel, silence except for the lapping of the sea against the side of the ship. At that time you can be equal to Ulysses and brother to him. – Errol Flynn
I was in Philadelphia – a very angry town, Philadelphia. I’ve never seen a town like this. It’s supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love – like when my brother was 12 and I was nine, and he would lean on my shoulder and dangle spit in my face. – Andy Kindler
And Big Night, I think by the end, the brothers find that balance, when they touch each other on the shoulder over breakfast and it’s understood that what should never have driven them apart almost drove them apart. I think that’s a true moment. – Tony Shalhoub
If you are in a band like my brother, Rudolf, who is in the Scorpions, then you have a kind of umbrella and you cover each other. You have five people to discuss things with and you are all in the same boat, and therefore make much wiser choices. – Michael Schenker
What we’re doing with Band of Brothers is trying to put it into human terms, so it is not just a flickering, black and white myth on a screen, it is a resonant story. I want the audience to recognize themselves in these men. They’re not just mythic heroes. – Tom Hanks
His (Lloyd Kaufman) string of low-budget, lowbrow horror comedies stretching back to the ’80s has been cited as influence by Peter Jackson, the Farrelly Brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Takashi Miike, and Guillermo Del Toro, just to cite a few prominent examples. – Lou Lumenick
I take your hand, brother, so that you may go in peace. Will had opened his blue eyes that never lost their colour over all the passing years, and looked at Jem and then Tessa, and smiled, and died, with Tessa’s head on his shoulder and and his hand in Jem’s. – Cassandra Clare
I believe that women and girls today have to partner in a powerful way with men – with their fathers, with their sons, with their brothers, with the plumbers, the road builders, the caregivers, the doctors, the lawyers, with our president and with all beings. – Joan Halifax
So, let us, you and I, for the sake of our brother man, individually strive by example and influence to lift the standard of thought and conduct from the low level of selfishness and self-indulgence up to the lofty realms of aspirational thought and self-denial. – Ossian Everett Mills
I just simply believe in having purposeful relations, period. That’s what its about at the end of the day. However, I do appreciate people that are individualistic, mainly because I’m an impressionable soul and my friends become my big sisters and brothers in a way. – Aeriel Miranda
I used to watch ‘Coming to America’ every day after school. I have full-on long-running inside jokes with friends and family about different scenes in that movie alone. Also, my brother and I loved ‘The Golden Child,’ so, yeah: I was a huge fan of Eddie Murphy growing up. – Gabourey Sidibe
As I sat in the hot, salty water, I thought, ‘No wonder Mr. Bubble always gives me a urinary tract infection and hives.’ Mr. Bubble was for common people. Mr. Bubble was for my so-called brother, their true child. I was a Vanderbilt. I should bathe in condiments and seasonings. – Augusten Burroughs
Well that’s what Andy wore to bed. You know, the oxford button-down Brooks Brothers shirt that he’s been wearing all day and his big long socks. He’d just take off his jeans and his boots and go to bed. Then he’d change into a fresh ensemble after he had breakfast the next morning. – Bob Colacello
When I look at each of my brothers, I see two things. First, I see the next place I want to leave a rosy welt. Second, I see a good man who will always be there, no matter how hard life gets for me or him. Then, I get out of the way because I realize he’s coming at me with a wet dish towel. – Daniel Pearce
The truth is that killing innocent people is always wrong – and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right. No religion on earth condones the killing of innocent people; no faith tradition tolerates the random killing of our brothers and sisters on this earth. – Feisal Abdul Rauf
Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and an be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face. – Francis of Assisi
So, Im thinking of a name for a villain that has a sense of humor. I thought of The Joker as a name, and as soon as I thought that, I associate it with the playing card, as my family had a tradition of champion playing; my brother was a contract champion bridge player. There were always cards around the house. – Jerry Robinson
Normally, I would do research. For The Constant Gardener, I played an activist, so I went to meet activists. You can find them dotted around. But with The Brothers Bloom, I couldn’t meet a nutty heiress who lived in a bubble in a mansion. There was no one to meet. So this was just an active imagining, a daydream. – Rachel Weisz
My brother and I met several times during that weekend trying to figure out what we were each going to do, and we met for breakfast the morning of the sit-in and I had decided that I was going to go get arrested, and he decided that he was going to have the harder job and go tell our parents that I’d been arrested. – Bill Ayers
Oh brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper – and sleep too – than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber. – Andrew Bonar
Indeed.” Will let his cutlery clatter onto his plate. “The Consul? Breaking up our breakfast time? Whatever next? The Inquisitor over for tea? Picnics with the Silent Brothers?” “Duck pies in the park,” said Jem under his breath, and he and Will smiled at each other, just a flash, before the door opened and the Consul swept it. – Cassandra Clare
Let brothers and sisters from one end of the world, speak in all brotherly love, all affection, and one sweetness, to their brothers and sisters in the other extremity of the world. Then we shall succeed in rearing up one vast cathedral in this world, where men of all nations and races shall glorify the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. – Keshub Chandra Sen
My mother was born in the city, my dad was an immigrant. Probably from Germany. Could have been Austria, could have been Poland. The borders were changing. My dad brought over a large family of Shatners when he was very young. Scraped together the money, got 11 brothers and sisters a passage on the boat. There’s a lot of Shatners in Montreal. – William Shatner
The real secrets of Masonry are never told, not even from mouth to ear. For the real secret of Masonry is spoken to your heart and from it to the heart of your brother. Never the language made for tongue may speak it, it is uttered only in the eye in those manifestations of that love which a man has for his friend, which passeth all other loves. – William Howard Taft
With the influences of evil that surround our children, can we even imagine sending them out in the morning without kneeling and humbly asking together for the Lord’s protection? Or closing the day without kneeling together and acknowledging our accountability before Him and our thankfulness for His blessings? Brothers and sisters, we need to have family prayer. – Neil L. Andersen
People, and not only Americans, are losing their sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers for no other reason than the profits of US armaments corporations, and the gullible American people seem proud of it. Those ribbon decals on their cars, SUVs and monster trucks proclaim their naive loyalty to the armaments industries and to the whores in Washington who promote wars. – Paul Craig Roberts
Susan was very fun to be around. She liked movies, and her brother Frank made her tapes of this great music that she shared with us. But over the summer she had her braces taken off, and she got a little taller and prettier and grew breasts. Now, she acts a lot dumber in the hallways, especially when boys are around. And I think it’s sad because Susan doesn’t look as happy. – Stephen Chbosky
The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them. – Charles Spurgeon
I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right. – Arthur Conan Doyle
A man of God has many brothers. He is a wounded soldier – he is familiar with the pain one feels in his heart, as a close and loving brother, when a brother falls victim of evil men or turns to evil desires (the latter sometimes even betrayal). Because of this, too, he is and must be well-acquainted with and trained in the strengths of hope and the gentleness of forgiveness and mercy. – Criss Jami
He didn’t say anything. Didn’t try any of the hugging bullshit, either, which was just as well. Instead, he placed a wooden case next to Tohr on the bed, exhaled some Turkish smoke, and went back for the exit like he couldn’t wait to get out of the room. Except he stopped before he left, “I gotchu, my brother,” he said to the door. “I know, V. You always have. ~Vishous and Tohrment Lover Reborn – J.R. Ward
Every year my mom takes her 5th grade class on an outdoor education trip, and ever since I was born, I came with her. One thing I remember the most was this long, old rickety bridge held by two redwood trees. In order to get to the camp fire, you had to cross it. Each time I went across I made my brother carry me on his shoulders. It freaked me out sooooo much, even a little now when I think about it. – Zendaya
He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother – George Orwell
I met some brothers out from Canada recently who are real cool people. They make Spanish-language music called Cold Blue and I met then at a Lat-Rap conference and they seem like real good peoples from Central America… and that’s what it is. It’s just based on mutual respect. So when I meet people like that I’m like, “if y’all going to be real with me, I’m going to be real with y’all” and that’s all it takes. – Immortal Technique
Oh, you’re going to die all right. All of you. And for what you’ve done to my brother you will suffer unimaginably! (Kessar) Yada, yada, yada. Am I the only one who gets sick of the bad-guy monologue? ‘Ooo, I’m the big evil. I’m going to kill you all. Just wait while I bore you to tears with my egomaniacal bullshit. I’m just a demon windbag who likes to hear himself speak and I’m trying to intimidate you.’ (Kat) – Sherrilyn Kenyon
I met many Russians over the years who were convinced my brothers and I were a cabal, pulling strings behind the scenes to shape American policy. The Soviets had no conception of how a pluralistic democracy works and believed elected officials, up to and including the president of the United States, were only figureheads acting out the roles dictated to them by the real “powers that be” – in this case, my family. – David Rockefeller
And then I wonder, does my brother think of me this way? We entered this world together, one after the other, beats in a pulse. But I will be first to leave it. That’s what I’ve been promised. When we were children, did he dare to imagine an empty space beside him where I then stood giggling, blowing soap bubbles through my fingers? When I die, will he be sorry that he loved me? Sorry that we were twins? Maybe he already is. – Lauren DeStefano
He Looked and smelt like Autumn’s very brother, his face being sunburnt to wheat-colour, his eyes blue as corn-flowers, his sleeves and leggings dyed with fruit-stains, his hands clammy with the sweet juice of apples, his hat sprinkled with pips, and everywhere about him the sweet atmosphere of cider which at its first return each season has such an indescribable fascination for those who have been born and bred among the orchards. – Thomas Hardy
Our mania for rational explanations obviously has its roots in our fear of metaphysics, for the two were always hostile brothers. Hence, anything unexpected that approaches us from the dark realm is regarded either as coming from outside and, therefore, as real, or else as a hallucination and, therefore, not true. The idea that anything could be real or true which does not come from outside has hardly begun to dawn on contemporary man. – Carl Jung
I gazed around the room and my eyes stopped dead on a little boy standing in the corner. This was a particularly eerie doll. Life-sized and blond-haired and blue-eyed. I saw a little Nazi boy, pockets probably stuffed with scissors and retractable blades. My grandfather on my mother’s side was rumored to be half Jewish, which practically makes me Jerry Seinfeld’s brother, and thus wary of blond German boys with their hands out of sight. – Augusten Burroughs
Hagrid, look what I’ve got for relatives!” Harry said furiously. “Look at the Dursleys!” “An excellent point,” said Professor Dumbledore. “My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I’m not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery. . . . – J. K. Rowling
The boat dipped and swayed and sometimes took on water, but it did not sink; the two brothers had waterproofed it well. I do not know where it finally fetched up, if it ever did; perhaps it reached the sea and sails there forever, like a magic boat in a fairytale. All I know is that it was still afloat and still running on the breast of the flood when it passed the incorporated town limits of Derry, Maine, and there it passes out of this tale forever. – Stephen King
The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury… Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree-a matter profoundly important to him. – Charles Alexander Eastman
Because I have nothing else to live for. You told me of your brother’s betrayal. Imagine your own father calling out his hounds to kill your infant daughter and husband. Imagine what it was like to watch them die and then be taken and punished for something you didn’t do. To be stripped of your dignity and emotions because your father was embarrassed by a stupid, insignificant dream he’d had and he blamed everyone who walks in the dreams for it. You feel your pain, Aiden. I feel mine. (Leta) – Sherrilyn Kenyon
Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion–several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven….The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste. – Mark Twain
The resurrection of Jesus was simply God’s unwillingness to take our ‘no’ for an answer. He raised Jesus, not as an invitation to us to come to heaven when we die, but as a declaration that he himself has now established permanent, eternal residence here on earth. He is standing beside us, strengthening us in this life. The good news of the resurrection of Jesus is not that we shall die and go home to be with him, but that he has risen and comes home with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick prisoner brothers with him. – Clarence Jordan
Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers’ enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in ourselves and in others. – Simone Weil
Such is professional jealousy; a scientist will never show any kindness for a theory which he did not start himself. There is no feeling of brotherhood among these people. Indeed, they always resent it when I call them brother. To show how far their ungenerosity can carry them, I will state that I offered to let Prof. H–y publish my great theory as his own discovery; I even begged him to do it; I even proposed to print it myself as his theory. Instead of thanking me, he said that if I tried to fasten that theory on him he would sue me for slander. – Mark Twain
How can the physique be braced if no fresh breath from the outer world is suffered to permeate the languid, enervating air of thedrawing-room? How can the grasp of the mind be vigorous, without action? Daughters of inherited wealth, or accumulated labor! the wide door of philanthropy is open peculiarly to you! Your life-work lies beyond your threshold: your wealth has placed you above the sorrowful struggle for daily bread which takes up the whole time of so many of your brothers and sisters. You are the almoners of God. A double accountability is yours. – Harriot Kezia Hunt
“I think something must happen to you when you get into eight grade. Like the Doug Swieteck’s Brother Gene switches on and you become a jerk.
Which may have been Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’s problem, who, besides having a name that makes him sound like a breakfast special at Sunnyside Morning Restaurant–something between a ham slice and a three-egg omelet–didn’t have the smarts to figure out that when someone takes the trouble to come back from beyond the grave to tell you that he’s been murdered, it’s probably behooveful to pay attention–which is the adjectival form.” – Gary D. Schmidt
Far away, where the swallows take refuge in winter, lived a king who had eleven sons and one daughter, Elise. The eleven brothers–they were all princes–used to go to school with stars on their breasts and swords at their sides. They wrote upon golden slates with diamond pencils, and could read just as well without a book as with one, so there was no mistake about their being princes. Their sister Elise sat upon a little footstool of looking-glass, and she has a picture-book which had cost the half of a kingdom. Oh, these children were very happy; but it was not to last thus forever. – Hans Christian Andersen
