Woody Allen Quotes
On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down .
Allen, Woody. Without Feathers. Random House, 1975.
He was one of the 3 regents who governed Egypt for the young pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Rome was in the midst of a civil war with Julius Caesar pitted against Pompey. Rome expected the independent states of the Roman Empire to render aid and assistance to Roman officials who needed same. Pompey with a small fleet and army was being chased by Caesar and arrived at the Egyptian shore demanding assistance. As one of the Roman triumverate, he could take over the Egyptian Kingdom if they let him. And Egypt would be at war with Egypt with Pompey. If they refused him supplies and assistance, Pompey would have later taken it out on Egypt for not honoring their obligation if he defeated Caesar. Theodotus’ famous quotation was accepted by the other two regents. After telling Pompey they would help him, when he landed, the killed and beheaded him. Caesar arrived two days later and Theodotus made the mistake of delivering to Caesar the head and signet ring of Pompey. Caesar was furious. And his dislike of Theodotus and the other two regents, was one of the reasons that he installed Cleopatra, the older sister of Ptolemy XIII as the co-ruler, thus putting Theodotus and the other regents out of a job as Cleopatra was just old enough to rule in her own right and for her brother. The three Regents took the young king and organized an Egyptian attack on Caesar and Cleopatra. Caesar was badly out numbered with only a single Legion. However, with Cleopatra, the two with some loyal Egyptians held out in the Palace until Caesar’s other legions arrived, killed the other two regents and Theodotus just managed to escape and he lived in exile until he was tracked down and murdered in 42 BC. Cleopatra became the most powerful, richest, and best Pharaoh that Egypt had ever had, and her history with Caesar and later Marc Antony are legend.
Woody Allen is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career as a comedy writer on Sid Caesar's comedy variety program, Your Show of Shows, working alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon. He also began writing material for television, published several books featuring short stories, and writing humor pieces for The New Yorker. In the early 1960s, he performed as a stand-up comedian in Greenwich Village alongside Lenny Bruce, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and Joan Rivers. There he developed a monologue style (rather than traditional jokes), and the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish. He released three comedy albums during the mid to late 1960s, earning a Grammy Award nomination for his 1964 comedy album entitled simply, Woody Allen. In 2004 Comedy Central ranked Allen fourth on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians, while a UK survey ranked Allen the third-greatest comedian.
