Will the real Cyrano de Bergerac please stand up?
It's Friday and time to mix it up a little so I thought I'd try something a little different today.
That's why today's focus is on a different kind of birthday boy. This time it's Cyrano de Bergerac. Here's the twist: The birthdate is for Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac a successful writer and poet who, according to Wikipedia "was a French dramatist and duelist who is now best remembered for the many works of fiction which have been woven around his life story."
The fictional character was created by Edmond Rostand in 1897.
Here's a little background on the Cyrano character from Wikipedia:
In 1897, the French poet Edmond Rostand published a play, Cyrano de Bergerac, on the subject of Cyrano's life. This play, by far Rostand's most successful work, concentrates on Cyrano's love for the beautiful Roxane, whom he is obliged to woo on behalf of a more conventionally handsome but less articulate friend, Christian de Neuvillette.
The play has been adapted for cinema several times, most recently in 1990 with Gerard Depardieu in the title role. That 1990 version's dialogue is in French with subtitles written by Anthony Burgess in rhymed couplets, mirroring the form of the dialogue in the original play. The most famous film version in English is the 1950 film, with José Ferrer in the title role, a performance for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1959, Hiroshi Inagaki wrote and directed a Japanese version, Aru kengo no shugai starring Toshiro Mifune. Ferrer reprised the role in the 1960 French film Cyrano et d'Artagnan, directed by Abel Gance, opposite Jean-Pierre Cassel as D'Artagnan. Much later, Cassel made a cameo appearance as Cyrano de Bergerac in The Return of the Musketeers: the character was depicted as fifty-something and attempting to travel to the Moon with the aid of a balloon.
So, since most of you have either seen the play or one of the films, you are familiar with the snappy banter and comic repartee attributed to Cyrano. Sadly, because I haven't seen it in quite some time, I'm not sure if today's quotes are from the fictional work or from the the original, Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac. What I am sure of is that the quotes are pulled from ThinkExist.com. Check it out to find more quotes like these from your favorite author, politician, actor, or other public figure.
" A kiss is a rosy dot over the 'i' of loving."
“I may climb perhaps to no great heights, but I will climb alone.”
“A large nose is the mark of a witty, courteous, affable, generous and liberal man.”
“The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages.”
“Perish the Universe, provided I have my revenge.”
“I-I am going to be a storm-a flame-
I need to fight whole armies alone;
I have ten hearts; I have a hundred arms;
I feel too strong to war with mortals-
BRING ME GIANTS!”
BONUS: To be fair, since I'm hoping the quotes above are from the original Cyrano, I did find a another source for quotes from the fictional character. You can check them out at About.Com: Classic Literature.
Cheers! - Jason
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