O mighty Caesar!dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests,glories,triumphs,spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?
(Shakespeare,"Julius Caesar," III.i.148)
"Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?/ When that the poor have cried,Caesar hath wept:/ Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:/ Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; / And Brutus is an honourable man./ You all did see that on the Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/ Which he did thrice refuse:was this ambition?" William Shakespeare Julius Caesar,Act 3,scene 2.
"How can people have hope when we tell them that they have no recourse,if they run afoul of the state justice system?" Edward Kennedy Senate debate on the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 1968
•"Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands,organs,dimensions,senses,affections,passions?
If you prick us,do we not bleed,if you tickle us,do we not laugh?
If you poison us,do we not die?
(Shylock in William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice)
•"Can I ask a rhetorical question?Well,can "
(Ambrose Bierce)
•"Marriage is a wonderful institution,but who would want to live in an institution?"
(H.L.Mencken)
•"Aren't you glad you use Dial?
Don't you wish everybody did?"
(1960s television advertisement for Dial soap)
•"Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands,organs,dimensions,senses,affections,passions?
If you prick us,do we not bleed,if you tickle us,do we not laugh?
If you poison us,do we not die?
(Shylock in William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice)
•"Can I ask a rhetorical question?Well,can "
(Ambrose Bierce)
•"Marriage is a wonderful institution,but who would want to live in an institution?"
(H.L.Mencken)
•"Aren't you glad you use Dial?
Don't you wish everybody did?"
(1960s television advertisement for Dial soap)
•"To actually see inside your ear canal--it would be fascinating,wouldn't it?"
(Letter from Sonus,a hearing-aid company,quoted in "Rhetorical Questions We'd Rather Not Answer," The New Yorker,March 24,2003)
•"Something [rhetorical] questions all have in common ...is that they are not asked,and are not understood,as ordinary information-seeking questions,but as making some kind of claim,or assertion,an assertion of the opposite polarity to that of the question."
(Irene Koshik,Beyond Rhetorical Questions.John Benjamins,2005)
•Grandma Simpson and Lisa are singing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" ("How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?").Homer overhears and says,"Eight!"
Lisa:"That was a rhetorical question!"
Homer:"Oh.Then,seven!"
Lisa:"Do you even know what 'rhetorical' means?"
Homer:"Do I know what 'rhetorical' means?"
(The Simpsons,"When Grandma Simpson Returns")
•"If practice makes perfect,and no one's perfect,then why practice?"
(Billy Corgan)
•"Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do 'practice'?"
(George Carlin)
•"To actually see inside your ear canal--it would be fascinating,wouldn't it?"
(Letter from Sonus,a hearing-aid company,quoted in "Rhetorical Questions We'd Rather Not Answer," The New Yorker,March 24•"Something [rhetorical] questions all have in common ...is that they are not asked,and are not understood,as ordinary information-seeking questions,but as making some kind of claim,or assertion,an assertion of the opposite polarity to that of the question."
(Irene Koshik,Beyond Rhetorical Questions.John Benjamins,2005)
•Grandma Simpson and Lisa are singing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" ("How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?").Homer overhears and says,"Eight!"
Lisa:"That was a rhetorical question!"
Homer:"Oh.Then,seven!"
Lisa:"Do you even know what 'rhetorical' means?"
Homer:"Do I know what 'rhetorical' means?"
(The Simpsons,"When Grandma Simpson Returns")
•"If practice makes perfect,and no one's perfect,then why practice?"
(Billy Corgan)
•"Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do 'practice'?"
(George Carlin)