Quotable Quotes

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting".

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937).

"For seventeen years he did nothing at all but kill animals and stick in stamps".

Harold Nicolson (1886-1968), writing about King George V.

"But, remember, I wish to have the best collection, not just one of the best collections in England".

King George V to J.A. Tilleard on appointing him as Philatelist to the King.

"Stamp collecting dispels boredom, enlarges our vision, broadens our knowledge, makes us better citizens and in innumerable ways, enriches our lives".

President F.D. Roosevelt.

"Everyone who collects stamps is mildly insane".

Hugh Pentecost, Cancelled in Red, a novel published in 1939.

"Most governments are now alive to the advertising and propaganda value of postage stamps".

Sir Dudley Stamp, economic geographer, writing in 1966.

"Postage stamps have started wars, propagated vicious political ideologies, publicized tourist resorts and industries, idolized tyrants, and immortalized generally unknown persons".

Edward A. Kehr, author of The History of Israel's Postage Stamps.

"Consider the postage stamp, its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there".

American humourist John Billings.

"We cannot put the face of a person on a stamp unless said person is deceased. My suggestion, therefore, is that you drop dead".

J. Edward Day, American postmaster and lawyer, born 1914.

"Designs in connection with postage stamps and coinage may be described, I think, as the silent ambassadors on national taste".

W.B. Yeats, Irish poet.

"What should I do? I think the best thing is to order a stamp with my face on it".

Charles, Emperor of Austria 1882-1922 on learning of his accession to the throne.