Quotation Q & A

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

I. Allen Chirls asks if there is an earlier source for the avowal that Paul Child makes to his wife in the movie Julie and Julia: “You are the butter to my bread, you are the breath to my life.”

 

“Wisdom…comes late.” (July-August). After reading the comment by Justice Felix Frankfurter, Eliot Kieval wrote to share words along similar lines from Robert F. Kennedy’s address to a crowd in Indianapolis on April 4, 1968, informing them of the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Kennedy said, “My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: ‘In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.’” The Kennedy Presidential Library states that the quotation, as recited by Kennedy, “is derived from Edith Hamilton’s classic study, The Greek Way.”

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via e-mail to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Most popular

As Union Protests Continue, Stephen Colbert and Yo-Yo Ma Event at Harvard Cut Short

A conversation between the comedian and the celebrated cellist was interrupted by a fire alarm in Sanders Theatre.

To Promote Healthy Habits in Patients, Start with the Doctors

Why Harvard Medical School is training physicians to think more like coaches

Cancellations, Disruptions as Harvard Graduate Student Strike Enters Second Week

Some faculty complain about the protests’ effect on students.

Explore More From Current Issue

A smiling man in a brown plaid suit stands outdoors with greenery in the background.

The professor and former Harvard College dean is the next president of Harvard Magazine’s Board of Directors

Bronze statue of a seated figure holding a book, with a campus setting in the background.

As humanities shrink across higher education, one department is flourishing. Is its success a fluke, or a roadmap?

Collage of book covers featuring various titles on a vibrant orange background.

These newly released novels, histories, and memoirs grapple with identity in all its forms.