Frogs

The frog is a small hopping amphibian in the order Anura (meaning "tail-less"). Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal.

• A frog he would a-wooing go.
  • "Frog Went a-Courting"

• The voice of the frog is the glory of the marsh waters.
  • Sumerian proverb from Susa, Text online at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, 3rd millennium BCE.

• FROG, n. A reptile with edible legs. The first mention of frogs in profane literature is in Homer's narrative of the war between them and the mice. Skeptical persons have doubted Homer's authorship of the work, but the learned, ingenious and industrious Dr. Schliemann has set the question forever at rest by uncovering the bones of the slain frogs. One of the forms of moral suasion by which Pharaoh was besought to favor the Israelities was a plague of frogs, but Pharaoh, who liked them fricasees, remarked, with truly oriental stoicism, that he could stand it as long as the frogs and the Jews could; so the programme was changed. The frog is a diligent songster, having a good voice but no ear. The libretto of his favorite opera, as written by Aristophanes, is brief, simple and effective -- "brekekex-koax"; the music is apparently by that eminent composer, Richard Wagner. Horses have a frog in each hoof -- a thoughtful provision of nature, enabling them to shine in a hurdle race.
  • Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Word Book (1906); republished as The Devil's Dictionary (1911). (The quote given here is from the 1911 book; the entry in the 1906 book is slightly different.)

• Quand on veut dessécher un marais, on ne fait pas en voter les grenouilles!
  • When you want to drain the marsh, you don't consult the frogs.
  • Delphine de Girardin (pen name: Vicomte Charles de Launay): La croix de Berny. "La Presse", 11 juillet 1847, p. 2, 2nd column, 3rd parapraph from bottom; later in Lettres parisiennes, p. 267
  • See also: Australia. Parliamentary Debates. Vol. 52 (1909), p. 4845 (Senate, 21 October 1909): "[...] the old adage that, if you intend to drain a swamp you should not consult the frogs, [...]"

• Right down the dam gross bellied frogs were cocked
  On sods; their loose necks pulsed like sails. Some hopped:
  The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat
  Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting.
  I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings
  Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew
  That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.
  • Seamus Heaney, "Death of a Naturalist" (1966)

• And the bull-frog, the Dahinda,
  Thrust his head into the moonlight,
  Fixed his yellow eyes upon him,
  Sobbed and sank beneath the surface.
  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha (1855), IX

• "It doesn't matter," WisestFrog answered. "You knew that the thoughts were beneath you and you felt small. And here in the Land of the Gods, everything is so creative that your thoughts may give results you don't expect at all. But you really have no problem. Just think big yourself bigger. Go ahead, think a big thought."
  • Jane Roberts in Emir's Education In The Proper Use of Magical Powers, p. 44-45.

• Eye of newt and toe of frog,
  • William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, scene 1.

• Too hard for any frog's digestion,
  To have his froghood call'd in question!
  • Christopher Smart, The Duellist (1754).

• I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog.
  • Mark Twain, The Celebrated Jumping Frog (1867).

• Toad, that under cold stone
  Days and nights has thirty-one
  Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
  Boil thou first i’the charmèd pot.
  • William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, scene 1.

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Frog

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