The famous soprano Francesca Cuzzoni, who came to England in 1722, treated Handel to a display of prima-donna temperament by refusing to sing the song that he had written for her London debut. Handel picked her up bodily and threatened to drop her out of the nearby window unless she did as she was told.

She sang the song.

An old lady of Massachusetts was famed in her native township for health and thrift. To an acquaintance who was once congratulating her upon the former she said:
“We be pretty well for old folks, Josiah and me. Josiah hasn't had an ailin' time for fifty years, 'cept last winter. And I ain't never suffered but one day in my life, and that was when I took some of the medicine Josiah had left over, so's how it shouldn't be wasted."

Andrew Lang wrote to inquire of his friend Israel Zangwill whether he planned to attend a certain event. The reply came back: "If you, Lang, will, I. Zangwill.

Early in his career, Jan Masaryk served as Czech ambassador to the United States. At a party he was prevailed upon by the hostess to play the violin. He graciously accepted the invitation and played a Czech nursery song, to rapturous applause from all present. He left the party with a Czech friend, who wanted to know why on earth he had been asked to play the violin. Masaryk explained: "Oh, it's all very simple—don't you see? They have mixed me up with my father; they mixed him up with Paderewski. And they mixed the piano up with the violin."

Hasty Order

One day following the end of World War I, General Louis Lyautey asked his gardener to plant a particular type of tree on his estate. The gardener objected that the tree, being unusually slow to grow, would take nearly a century to reach maturity. "In that case," the marshal replied, "there is no time to lose. Plant it this afternoon!"