“I would rather…” 

The April 26 issue of Letters of Note presented a list of memorable quotations that began with, “I would rather…”

These are my favorites:

“I would rather fight a guy who had a knife and no talent with same than a guy with a good left hook.” (Ernest Hemingway, letter to Waldo Peirce, Oct. 1, 1928)

“I would rather tickle the cock of the English public than lick its arse, which is what even this small and comparatively unimportant piece of unjust censorship would have me do.” (Dylan Thomas, letter to John Davenport, Aug. 31, 1938, re a list of “objectionable” words that he was told had to be removed from the English edition of his short stories)

“I would rather be your captive than another woman’s king.” (Paul Laurence Dunbar, letter to Alice Ruth Moore, March 7, 1897)

“I would rather be a playwright than anything, mainly because playwrights are allowed to smoke backstage.” (Kurt Vonnegut, letter to José and Maria Pilar Donoso, Aug. 5, 1985)

“I would rather fail than sit idle.” (Vincent van Gogh, letter to his brother Theo, July 14, 1885)