Kicking an old lady down the stairs
If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up as an old lady, then kick him down the stairs. If you want to make a comedian laugh, it has to be an actual old lady.
A variant on this was attributed to Fields by John Cleese in a 2014 interview with Adam Savage. Another attribution appeared in the NY Times 24 Jan 2012
History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes
History doesn't repeat itself, but It often rhymes
Attributed to, but no citation is known
He was the bravest boy I ever met
He was the bravest boy I ever met!
Moby Dick (1851)
The mighty whale is mine! Have you seen him
The mighty whale is mine! Have you seen him?
Moby Dick (1851)
So very like a woman – so very unlike a whale
So very like a woman – so very unlike a whale.
Moby Dick !1851)
With fishbone ropes and bracelets they mock me; wearing my guard as an adversary
With fishbone ropes and bracelets they mock me; wearing my guard as an adversary.
Moby Dick (1851)
That root is to hit the hardest, you'd think it somewhat
That root is to hit the hardest, you'd think it somewhat.
Moby Dick (1851)
Yes, this was the life
Yes, this was the life; saving up pennies on the damp pavement, and then I'll ruin them with dry flour and grease.
Moby Dick (1851)
But a conservative man
Oh, ye foolish! Throw all these thunderheads into the ocean – you are but a conservative man.
Moby Dick (1851)
Unbidden curses blasted him
Unbidden curses blasted him, and how, O Jane, Joan, you might have snatched back the eternity of general fancy. Now it was too late!
Moby Dick (1851)