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Game Quote by T.H. White

“The best example I know, of this astonishingly stupid attitude towards sport, is that of Franz Ferdinand. His, however, was an achievement with the gun. He used to shoot at Konopist with no less than seven weapons and four loaders, and he once killed more than 4,000 birds, himself, in one day. [ A…” quote by T.H. White
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““The best example I know, of this astonishingly stupid attitude towards sport, is that of Franz Ferdinand. His, however, was an achievement with the gun. He used to shoot at Konopist with no less than seven weapons and four loaders, and he once killed more than 4,000 birds, himself, in one day. [ A propos of statistics and quite beside the point: a Yorkshireman once drank 52½ pints of beer in one hour.] Now why did Franz Ferdinand do this? Even if he shot for twelve hours at a stretch, without pause for luncheon, it means that he killed six birds in each minute of the day. The mere manual labour, a pheasant every ten seconds for twelve successive hours, is enough to make a road-mender stagger; and there is little wonder that, by the time the unhappy archduke had accumulated his collection of 300,000 head of game, he was shooting with rubber pads on his coat and a bandage round his ears. The unfortunate man had practically stunned himself with gunpowder, long before they bagged him also at Sarajevo.””

T.H. White

About This Quote

Source Book: “The Once and Future King” (1958) by T.H. White

A satirical exaggeration of Franz Ferdinand’s hunting prowess to mock absurd statistics and human excess.

In simple terms: He humorously critiques overblown achievements.

Key Takeaway

Question the significance of inflated feats.

Themes

satire excess statistics

Mood

ironic critical

Type

literary historical

When to use this quote

  • sports commentary
  • political discourse
  • media analysis

Key Concepts

hyperbole historical parody

Questions to Reflect On

  • What does this exaggeration reveal about societal values?
  • How can satire mislead audiences?
A Different Perspective

Humor may obscure the seriousness of historical events.

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