To play at Shuttle-cock, methinks, is the game now. – “The Two Maids of Mortlake,” c.1609
Lawn-tennis and badminton, to speak of more elaborate games, deserve also the highest praise on the score of health, and it is to be hoped that they will enjoy a long-lived popularity. – George Black, Household Medicine: A Guide to Good Health, Long Life, and the Pro
May the birdies always land at your feet. – Badminton saying
Birdies of a feather play badminton together. – Author unknown
Get smashed. – Badminton joke
Have you got the birds to play badminton? – Sporting joke
His Highness playing at shuttle-cock with one far taller than himself, and hitting him by chance with the shuttle-cock upon the forehead — “this is,” quoth he, “the encounter of David with Goliath.” – Prince Henry, of his father, James the First
Badminton is for the birds. – Author unknown
Abuse is often of service. There is nothing so dangerous to an author as silence. His name, like the shuttlecock, must be beat backward and forward, or it falls to the ground. – Johnson
Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck only at one end of a room, it will soon fall to the floor. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends. – Johnson
