Examples:

“You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit.”

(Star Trek: The Next Generation)

“He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.”

(Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried)  ..

“But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was

shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional

burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and

helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all

the rest, plus an unweighed fear.”

(Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried)

“The theme of the Egg Hunt is ‘learning is delightful and delicious’–as, by the way, am I.”

(Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg in The West Wing)

“You held your breath and the door for me.”

(Alanis Morissette, “Head over Feet”)

Nice to see you, to see you, nice!”

(catchphrase of British TV entertainer Bruce Forsyth)

“You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.”

(Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 2006)

“In the end, the true test is not the speeches a president delivers; it’s whether the president delivers on the speeches.”

(Hillary Clinton, March 2008)

“I had a teacher I liked who used to say good fiction’s job was to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

(David Foster Wallace)

“I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me.”

(Ovid)

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”

(William Shakespeare, Macbeth I.i)

Which . introduced me to the word syllepsis which I learned is  a kind of ellipsis in which one word (usually a verb) is understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs. Adjective: sylleptic. See also zeugma.

“I live in shame and the suburbs.”

(Uncle Fester in Addams Family Values, 1993)

“When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes.”

(E.B. White, “Dog Training”)

“We consumers like names that reflect what the economy does. We

know, for example, that International Business Machines makes business

machines; and Ford Motors makes Fords; and Sara Lee makes us fat.”

(Dave Barry, “Dave’s World,” April 8, 2001)

“Piano, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It

is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of

the audience.”

(Ambrose Bierce, A Devil’s Dictionary)

“I finally told Ross, late in the summer, that I was losing weight, my grip, and possibly my mind.”

(James Thurber, The Years with Ross, 1959)

“She tracks sand in as well as ideas, and I have to sweep up after her two or three times a day.”

(E.B. White, “On a Florida Key”)

“The ice trays show deep claw marks, where people have tried to pry

them free, using can openers and knives and screwdrivers and petulance.”

(E.B. White, “On a Florida Key”)

Bryant Gumbel’s well-publicized memo ticked off the Today Show’s troubles–and other personalities on the top-rated show.
“You took my hand and breath away.”

(Tyler Hilton, “You, My Love”)

“You held your breath and the door for me.”

(Alanis Morrissette, “Head Over Feet”)

“PEACE. Live in it or rest in it.”

(bumper sticker)

And to Anadiplosis which is a term for the

repetition of the last word of one line or clause to begin the next.Anadiplosis often leads to climax (see also gradatio). Note that a chiasmus includes anadiplosis, but not every anadiplosis reverses itself in the manner of a chiasmus. Like 

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger

leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.”

(Frank Oz as Yoda in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menance)

“At six o’clock we were waiting for coffee,

waiting for coffee and the charitable crumb . . .”

(Elizabeth Bishop, “A Miracle for Breakfast”)

“When I give I give myself.”

(Walt Whitman)

“Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task.”

(Henry James)

“All service ranks the same with God,

With God, whose puppets, best and worst,

Are we.”

(Robert Browning, Pippa Passes)

“The years to come seemed waste of breath,

waste of breath the years behind.”

(William Butler Yeats, “An Irish Airman Foresees his Death,”)

“Aboard my ship, excellent performance is standard. Standard

performance is sub-standard. Sub-standard performance is not permitted

to exist.”

(Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk)

“The laughter had to be gross or it would turn to sobs, and to sob would be to realize, and to realize would be to despair.”

(Howard Griffin, Black Like Me)

“The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.”

(Dylan Thomas on Wales)

“I am Sam, Sam I am.”

(Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham)

“Only the brave deserve the fair and the fair deserve Jaeger.”

(advertising slogan for Jaeger Sportswear)

“The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story!”

(Commodus in the movie Gladiator, 2000)

That  lead me to gradatio which is a sentence construction in which the last word of one clause becomes

the first of the next, through three or more clauses (an extended form

of anadiplosis). See also:

“We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation

worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and

hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our

hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

(Paul, Romans 5:3)

“If you sow a thought, you reap an act. If you sow an act, you reap

a habit. If you sow a habit, you reap a character. And if you sow a

character, you reap a destiny.”

(anonymous, quoted by Samuel Smiles in Life and Labor, 1887)

“She abandoned religion for mesmerism, mesmerism for politics, and politics for the melodramatic excitements of philanthropy.”

(Vivian in Oscar Wilde’s “The Decay of Lying”)

“All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,

All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,

But nearness to death no nearer to God.”

(T. S. Eliot, Choruses from “The Rock”)

“It takes an egg to make a hen

It takes a hen to make an egg

There is no end to what I’m saying

It takes a thought to make a word

And it takes a word to make an action.”

(Jason Mraz, “Life is Wonderful”)

“Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hatred; hatred leads to conflict; conflict leads to suffering.”

(Yoda, Star Wars: Episode I)

“Opium is my business. The bridge mean more traffic. More traffic mean more money. More money mean more power.”

(Chung Mee in the film Volunteers, 1985)

“They call for you: The general who became a slave; the slave who

became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor. Striking

story.”

(Joaquin Phoenix in the film Gladiator)

It’s amazing what you can learn by hanging out wiht english majors in the rain !

nite all, nite Sam

-me