ENThe Concise Oxford Dictionary of QuotationsOxford University PressOxford University Press

Concise Dictionary of Quotations

© Oxford University Press, 2003
Published by Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organisation. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department Oxford University Press.

Keyword Index
Look up by author

Quote of the day

[Note: this feature requires version 4.4 of the Reader]

A

Abbott, Diane 1953–

1 Being an MP is the sort of job all working-class parents want for their children—clean, indoors and no heavy lifting.
in Independent 18 January 1994

Back  -   New Search

Abelard, Peter 1079–1142

1
O quanta qualia sunt illa sabbata,
Quae semper celebrat superna curia.

O what their joy and glory must be,
Those endless sabbaths the blessèd ones see!

Hymnarius Paraclitensis bk. 1 (tr J. M. Neale, 1854)

Back  -   New Search

Abse, Dannie 1923–

1
I know the colour rose, and it is lovely,
But not when it ripens in a tumour;
And healing greens, leaves and grass, so springlike,
In limbs that fester are not springlike.

"Pathology of Colours" (1968)

Back  -   New Search

Accius 170 bc

1 Oderint, dum metuant.Let them hate, so long as they fear.
from Atreus, in Seneca Dialogues bks. 3–5

Back  -   New Search

Ace, Goodman 1899–1982

1 TV—a clever contraction derived from the words Terrible Vaudeville…we call it a medium because nothing's well done.
letter to Groucho Marx, in The Groucho Letters (1967)

Back  -   New Search

Acheson, Dean 1893–1971

1 Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.
speech at the Military Academy, West Point, 5 December 1962

2 A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer.
in Wall Street Journal 8 September 1977

[Acheson]

Back  -   New Search

Acton, Lord 1834–1902

1 Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887.

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Abigail 1744–1818

1 In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would remember the ladies…Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.
letter to John Adams, 31 March 1776.

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Charles Francis 1807–86

1 It would be superfluous in me to point out to your lordship that this is war.
of the situation in the United States during the American Civil War
dispatch to Earl Russell, 5 September 1863

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Douglas 1952–2001

1 The Answer to the Great Question Of…Life, the Universe and Everything…[is] Forty-two.
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) ch. 27

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Frank and Hough, Will M.

1 I wonder who's kissing her now.
title of song (1909)

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Franklin P. 1881–1960

1 Years ago we discovered the exact point, the dead centre of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net.
Nods and Becks (1944)

2 Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.
Nods and Becks (1944).

[Adams]

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Henry Brooks 1838–1918

1 A friend in power is a friend lost.
The Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 7

2 Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.
The Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 22

[Adams]

3 Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.
The Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 25

[Adams]

Back  -   New Search

Adams, John 1735–1826

1 The law, in all vicissitudes of government…will preserve a steady undeviating course…On the one hand it is inexorable to the cries of the prisoners; on the other it is deaf, deaf as an adder to the clamours of the populace.
argument in defence of the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials, 4 December 1770.

2 A government of laws, and not of men.
in Boston Gazette (1774) no. 7; later incorporated in the Massachusetts Constitution (1780).

[Adams]

3 In politics the middle way is none at all.
letter to Horatio Gates, 23 March 1776

[Adams]

4 The jaws of power are always opened to devour.
A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law (1765)

[Adams]

Back  -   New Search

Adams, John Quincy 1767–1848

1 Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!
Oration at Plymouth 22 December 1802

2 Fiat justitia, pereat coelum [Let justice be done, though heaven fall]. My toast would be, may our country be always successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.
letter to John Adams, 1 August 1816. ,

[Adams]

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Samuel 1722–1803

1 What a glorious morning is this.
on hearing gunfire at Lexington, 19 April 1775; traditionally quoted as, "What a glorious morning for America"
J. K. Hosmer Samuel Adams (1886) ch. 19

2 A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested.
Oration in Philadelphia 1 August 1776 (the authenticity of this publication is doubtful)

[Adams]

Back  -   New Search

Adams, Sarah Flower 1805–48

1
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

"Nearer My God to Thee" in W. G. Fox Hymns and Anthems (1841)

Back  -   New Search

Adamson, Harold 1906–80

1 Comin' in on a wing and a pray'r.
words derived from the contemporary comment of a war pilot, speaking from a disabled plane to ground control
title of song (1943)

Back  -   New Search

Addison, Joseph 1672–1719

1
And, pleased th' Almighty's orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

The Campaign (1705) l. 291

2
'Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.

Cato (1713) act 1, sc. 2, l. 43

[Addison]

3 The woman that deliberates is lost.
Cato (1713) act 4, sc. 1, l. 31

[Addison]

4
What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!

Cato (1713) act 4, sc. 1, l. 258

[Addison]

5
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honour is a private station.

Cato (1713) act 4, sc. 1, l. 320

[Addison]

6
From hence, let fierce contending nations know
What dire effects from civil discord flow.

Cato (1713) act 5, sc. 1, closing lines

[Addison]

7 Sir Roger told them, with the air of a man who would not give his judgement rashly, that much might be said on both sides.
The Spectator no. 122 (20 July 1711)

[Addison]

8 I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in the Middle of Winter.
The Spectator no. 269 (8 January 1712)

[Addison]

9 If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.
The Spectator no. 494 (26 September 1712)

[Addison]

10 "We are always doing", says he, "something for Posterity, but I would fain see Posterity do something for us."
The Spectator no. 583 (20 August 1714)

[Addison]

11 See in what peace a Christian can die.
dying words to his stepson Lord Warwick
Edward Young Conjectures on Original Composition (1759)

[Addison]

Back  -   New Search

Ade, George 1866–1944

1 After being turned down by numerous publishers, he had decided to write for posterity.
Fables in Slang (1900)

2
It is no time for mirth and laughter,
The cold, grey dawn of the morning after.

The Sultan of Sulu (1903) act 2

[Ade]

Back  -   New Search

Adi Granth

seeSikh Scriptures

Back  -   New Search

Adler, Alfred 1870–1937

1 The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, for the truth.
The Problems of Neurosis (1929) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Adler, Polly 1900–62

1 A house is not a home.
title of book (1954)

Back  -   New Search

Adorno, Theodor 1903–69

1 It is barbarous to write a poem after Auschwitz.
I. Buruma Wages of Guilt (1994)

Back  -   New Search

Æ (George William Russell) 1867–1935

1
In ancient shadows and twilights
Where childhood had strayed,
The world's great sorrows were born
And its heroes were made.
In the lost boyhood of Judas
Christ was betrayed.

"Germinal" (1931)

Back  -   New Search

Aeschylus c.525 bc

1 Hell to ships, hell to men, hell to cities.
of Helen (literally "Ship-destroyer, man-destroyer, city-destroyer")
Agamemnon

2
Everyone's quick to blame the alien.

The Suppliant Maidens

[Aeschylus]

Back  -   New Search

Agar, Herbert 1897–1980

1 The truth which makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
A Time for Greatness (1942) ch. 7.

Back  -   New Search

Agate, James 1877–1947

1 My mind is not a bed to be made and re-made.
diary, 9 June 1943

2 A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn't feel like it. An amateur is a man who can't do his job when he does feel like it.
diary, 19 July 1945

[Agate]

Back  -   New Search

Agathon b. c.445 bc

1
Even a god cannot change the past.

literally, "The one thing which even God cannot do is to make undone what has been done"
Aristotle Nicomachaean Ethics bk. 6

Back  -   New Search

Ahern, Bertie 1951–

1 It is a day we should treasure. Today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line will be drawn under the bloody past.
in Guardian 11 April 1998

Back  -   New Search

Ainger, Alfred 1837–1904

1 No flowers, by request.
summarizing the principle of conciseness for contributors to the Dictionary of National Biography
Supplement to the Dictionary of National Biography 1901–1911 (1912)

Back  -   New Search

Ainger, Arthur Campbell 1841–1919

1
God is working his purpose out as year succeeds to year;
God is working his purpose out and the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

"God is working his purpose out" (1894 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Aitken, Max

see Lord Beaverbrook

Back  -   New Search

Akins, Zoë 1886–1958

1 The Greeks had a word for it.
title of play (1930)

Back  -   New Search

Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier) 1868–1951

1 Rien n'est plus dangereux qu'une idée, quand on n'a qu'une idée.Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
Propos sur la religion (1938) no. 74

Back  -   New Search

Albee, Edward 1928–

1 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
title of play (1962)

Back  -   New Search

Alcuin c.735–804

1 Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness.
letter 164 in Works (1863) vol. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Aldington, Richard 1892–1962

1 Patriotism is a lively sense of collective responsibility. Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill.
The Colonel's Daughter (1931) pt. 1, ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Aldrin, "Buzz" 1930–

1 Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation.
of the lunar landscape
on the first moon walk, 20 July 1969

Back  -   New Search

Alexander the Great 356 bc

1 If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
Plutarch Parallel Lives "Alexander" ch. 14, sect. 3

2 Is it not worthy of tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one?
when asked why he wept on hearing from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds
Plutarch Moralia "On Tranquillity of the Mind"

[Alexander]

Back  -   New Search

Alexander II ("the Liberator")1818–81

1 Better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait till it begins to abolish itself from below.
speech in Moscow, 30 March 1856

Back  -   New Search

Alexander, Cecil Frances 1818–95

1
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

"All Things Bright and Beautiful" (1848)

2
Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle-shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.

"Once in royal David's city" (1848)

[Alexander]

3
There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall.

"There is a green hill far away" (1848)

[Alexander]

Back  -   New Search

Alexander, William, Lord Stirling c.1567–1640

1 The weaker sex, to piety more prone.
"Doomsday" 5th Hour (1637)

Back  -   New Search

Alfonso "the Wise" 1221–84

1 Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.
on studying the Ptolemaic system
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Algren, Nelson 1909–

1 A walk on the wild side.
title of novel (1956)

2 Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.
in Newsweek 2 July 1956

[Algren]

Back  -   New Search

Ali ibn-Abi-Talib c. 602–661

1
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.

A Hundred Sayings

Back  -   New Search

Ali, Muhammad (Cassius Clay) 1942–

1 I'm the greatest.
adopted as his catchphrase from 1962, in Louisville Times 16 November 1962

2 Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
summary of his boxing strategy (probably originated by his aide Drew "Bundini" Brown)
G. Sullivan Cassius Clay Story (1964) ch. 8

[Ali]

Back  -   New Search

Allainval, Abbé d' 1700–53

1 L'embarras des richesses.The embarrassment of riches.
title of comedy (1726)

Back  -   New Search

Allen, Fred (John Florence Sullivan) 1894–1956

1 Committee—a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Allen, Woody 1935–

1 It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens.
Death (1975)

2 On bisexuality: It immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.
in New York Times 1 December 1975

[Allen]

3 I don't want to achieve immortality through my work…I want to achieve it through not dying.
Eric Lax Woody Allen and his Comedy (1975) ch. 12

[Allen]

4 I recently turned sixty. Practically a third of my life is over.
in Observer 10 March 1996 "Sayings of the Week"

[Allen]

Back  -   New Search

Allingham, William 1824–89

1
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting,
For fear of little men.

"The Fairies" (1850)

Back  -   New Search

Ambrose, St c.339–97

1 Ubi Petrus, ibi ergo ecclesia.Where Peter is, there must be the Church.
"Explanatio psalmi 40" in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (1919) vol. 64

2 When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but here [Milan] I do not. Do you also follow the custom of whatever church you attend, if you do not want to give or receive scandal.
St Augustine: Letters vol. 1 (tr Sister W. Parsons, 1951) "Letter 54 to Januarius" (ad c.400)

[Ambrose]

Back  -   New Search

Amery, Leo 1873–1955

1 Speak for England.
to Arthur Greenwood in the House of Commons, 2 September 1939; see

2 I will quote certain other words. I do it with great reluctance, because I am speaking of those who are old friends and associates of mine, but they are words which, I think, are applicable to the present situation. This is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."
speech, House of Commons, 7 May 1940.

[Amery]

Back  -   New Search

Ames, Fisher 1758–1808

1 A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; whilst a republic is a raft which would never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.
attributed to Ames, speaking in the House of Representatives, 1795, but not traced in Ames's speeches

Back  -   New Search

Amies, Hardy 1909–

1 It is totally impossible to be well dressed in cheap shoes.
The Englishman's Suit (1994)

Back  -   New Search

Amis, Kingsley 1922–95

1 His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum.
Lucky Jim (1953) ch. 6

2 Outside every fat man there was an even fatter man trying to close in.
One Fat Englishman (1963) ch. 3

[Amis]

3
Should poets bicycle-pump the human heart
Or squash it flat?
Man's love is of man's life a thing apart;
Girls aren't like that.

"A Bookshop Idyll" (1956).

[Amis]

4
We men have got love well weighed up; our stuff
Can get by without it.
Women don't seem to think that's good enough;
They write about it.

"A Bookshop Idyll" (1956)

[Amis]

5 No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home in Weston-super-Mare.
in The Times 21 June 1994; attributed

[Amis]

Back  -   New Search

Amis, Martin 1949–

1 To be more interested in the writer than the writing is just eternal human vulgarity.
on BBC2 Bookmark, 9 March 1996

Back  -   New Search

Anacharsis

1 Written laws are like spiders' webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
Plutarch Parallel Lives "Solon" bk. 5, sect. 2.

Back  -   New Search

Anatolius

1
Fierce was the wild billow,
Dark was the night;
Oars laboured heavily,
Foam glimmered white;
Trembled the mariners,
Peril was nigh:
Then said the God of God,
"Peace! it is I."

"Fierce was the wild billow" (tr John Mason Neale, 1862)

Back  -   New Search

Andersen, Hans Christian 1805–75

1 The Emperor's new clothes.
title of story in Danish Fairy Legends and Tales (1846)

2 "But the Emperor has nothing on at all!" cried a little child.
Danish Fairy Legends and Tales (1846) "The Emperor's New Clothes"

[Andersen]

Back  -   New Search

Anderson, Maxwell 1888–1959

1
But it's a long, long while
From May to December;
And the days grow short
When you reach September.

"September Song" (1938 song)

Back  -   New Search

Anderson, Maxwell 1888–1959 and Stallings, Lawrence 1894–1968

1 What price glory?
title of play (1924)

Back  -   New Search

Anderson, Robert 1917–

1 Tea and sympathy.
title of play (1957)

Back  -   New Search

Andrewes, Lancelot 1555–1626

1 It was no summer progress. A cold coming they had of it, at this time of the year; just, the worst time of the year, to take a journey, and specially a long journey, in. The ways deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off in solstitio brumali, the very dead of Winter.
Of the Nativity (1622) Sermon 15.

Back  -   New Search

Angell, Norman 1872–1967

1 The great illusion.
on the futility of war
title of book (1910), first published as "Europe's optical illusion" (1909)

Back  -   New Search

Anonymous

English1 An abomination unto the Lord, but a very present help in time of trouble.
definition of a lie
an amalgamation of Proverbs 12.22 and Psalms 46.1, often attributed to Adlai Stevenson; Bill Adler The Stevenson Wit (1966)

2 Action this day.
annotation as used by Winston Churchill at the Admiralty in 1940

[Anonymous]

3
Adam
Had 'em.

on the antiquity of microbes
noted as an example of a short poem

[Anonymous]

4 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) article 1

[Anonymous]

5 All present and correct.
King's Regulations (Army) Report of the Orderly Sergeant to the Officer of the Day

[Anonymous]

6
Along the electric wire the message came:
He is not better—he is much the same.

parodic poem on the illness of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII
F. H. Gribble Romance of the Cambridge Colleges (1913); sometimes attributed to Alfred Austin (1835–1913), Poet Laureate

[Anonymous]

7 And they lived happily ever after.
traditional ending to a fairy story
recorded (with slight variations) from the 1850s

[Anonymous]

8 Any officer who shall behave in a scandalous manner, unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman shall…be cashiered.
Articles of War (1872) "Disgraceful Conduct" Article 79; the Naval Discipline Act, 10 August 1860, Article 24, uses the words "conduct unbecoming the character of an Officer"

[Anonymous]

9 Appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober.
paraphrase of the words of an unidentified woman in Valerius Maximus Facta ac Dicta Memorabilia (ad c.32) bk. 6, ch. 2

[Anonymous]

10 Are we downhearted? No!
expression much taken up by British soldiers during the First World War

[Anonymous]

11 A beast, but a just beast.
a schoolboy's description of Dr Temple, Headmaster of Rugby School
F.E. Kitchener Rugby Memoir of Archbishop Temple 1857–1869 (1907) ch. 3

[Anonymous]

12
Be happy while y'er leevin,
For y'er a lang time deid.

Scottish motto for a house
in Notes and Queries 9th series, vol. 8, 7 December 1901

[Anonymous]

13
Betwixt the stirrup and the ground
Mercy I asked, mercy I found.

epitaph for "A gentleman falling off his horse [who] brake his neck"
William Camden Remains Concerning Britain (1605) "Epitaphs"

[Anonymous]

14 Bigamy is having one husband too many. Monogamy is the same.
Erica Jong Fear of Flying (1973) ch. 1 (epigraph)

[Anonymous]

15 The cloud of unknowing.
title of mystical prose work (14th century)

[Anonymous]

16 Collapse of Stout Party.
supposed standard dénouement in Victorian humour
R. Pearsall Collapse of Stout Party (1975) introduction

[Anonymous]

17 A committee is a group of the unwilling, chosen from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.
various attributions (origin unknown)

[Anonymous]

18 A community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe…in which the enterprise of the market and the rigour of competition are joined with the forces of partnership and cooperation.
new Clause Four of the Labour Party constitution, passed at a special conference 29 April 1995.

[Anonymous]

19 A Company for carrying on an undertaking of Great Advantage, but no one to know what it is.
The South Sea Company Prospectus (1711), in Virginia Cowles The Great Swindle (1963) ch. 5

[Anonymous]

20 Conduct…to the prejudice of good order and military discipline.
Army Discipline and Regulation Act (1879) Section 40

[Anonymous]

21 [Death is] nature's way of telling you to slow down.
American life insurance proverb, in Newsweek 25 April 1960

[Anonymous]

22 The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.
US Armed Forces' slogan

[Anonymous]

23 Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.
instruction on punched cards (found in this form in the 1950s, and in differing forms from the 1930s)

[Anonymous]

24
Do not stand at my grave and weep:
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.

quoted in letter left by British soldier Stephen Cummins when killed by the IRA, March 1989
origin uncertain; attributed to various authors

[Anonymous]

25
Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing in the valley below:
"Oh, don't deceive me; Oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

"Early One Morning" (traditional song)

[Anonymous]

26 The eternal triangle.
book review title, in Daily Chronicle 5 December 1907

[Anonymous]

27 Every country has its own constitution; ours is absolutism moderated by assassination.
Count Münster, quoting "an intelligent Russian", in Political Sketches of the State of Europe, 1814–1867 (1868)

[Anonymous]

28
Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide,
In thy most need to go by thy side.

spoken by Knowledge
Everyman (c.1509–19) l. 522

[Anonymous]

29 Expletive deleted.
in Submission of Recorded Presidential Conversations to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives by President Richard M. Nixon 30 April 1974, appendix 1

[Anonymous]

30 Exterminate…the treacherous English, walk over General French's contemptible little army.
allegedly a copy of Orders issued by the Kaiser Wilhelm II but most probably fabricated by the British
annexe to BEF [British Expeditionary Force] Routine Orders of 24 September 1914, in Arthur Ponsonby Falsehood in Wartime (1928) ch. 10.

[Anonymous]

31 Faster than a speeding bullet!…Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! Yes, it's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet…Who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who—disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper—fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!
Superman (US radio show, 1940 onwards) preamble

[Anonymous]

32 Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong.
saying popular with American servicemen during the First World War; later associated with Mae West and Texas Guinan (1884–1933), it was also the title of a 1927 song by Billy Rose and Willie Raskin

[Anonymous]

33
From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

"The Cornish or West Country Litany", in Francis T. Nettleinghame Polperro Proverbs and Others (1926) "Pokerwork Panels"

[Anonymous]

34 From Moses to Moses there was none like unto Moses.
later inscription on the tomb of the Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides (1135–1204)

[Anonymous]

35
From the halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli.

"The Marines' Hymn" (1847)

[Anonymous]

36
God be in my head,
And in my understanding…

God be in my mouth,
And in my speaking…

God be at my end,
And at my departing.

Sarum Missal (11th century)

[Anonymous]

37
God save our gracious king!
Long live our noble king!
God save the king!
Send him victorious,
Happy, and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the king!

"God save the King", attributed to various authors of the mid eighteenth century, including Henry Carey; Jacobite variants, such as James Hogg "The King's Anthem" also exist

[Anonymous]

38 Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect £200.
instructions on "Community Chest" card in the game "Monopoly"; invented by Charles Brace Darrow (1889–1967) in 1931

[Anonymous]

39
Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but Lady Greensleeves?

"A new Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Greensleeves, to the new tune of "Greensleeves” ", in A Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584)

[Anonymous]

40 Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman, Captain L. E. G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons. In March 1912, returning from the Pole, he walked willingly to his death in a blizzard to try and save his comrades, beset by hardships.
epitaph on cairn erected in the Antarctic, 15 November 1912, by E. L. Atkinson (1882–1929) and Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1882–1959)
Apsley Cherry-Garrard The Worst Journey in the World (1922)

[Anonymous]

41
Here lies Fred,
Who was alive and is dead:
Had it been his father,
I had much rather;
Had it been his brother,
Still better than another…
But since 'tis only Fred,
Who was alive and is dead,—
There's no more to be said.

of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707–1751), son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach
Horace Walpole Memoirs of George II (1847) vol. 1

[Anonymous]

42
Here's tae us; wha's like us?
Gey few, and they're a' deid.

Scottish toast, probably of 19th-century origin; the first line appears in T. W. H. Crosland The Unspeakable Scot (1902), and various versions of the second line are current

[Anonymous]

43
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

"Frankie and Albert", in John Huston Frankie and Johnny (1930) (St Louis ballad later better known as "Frankie and Johnny")

[Anonymous]

44 How different, how very different from the home life of our own dear Queen!
comment overheard at a performance of Cleopatra by Sarah Bernhardt
Irvin S. Cobb A Laugh a Day (1924) (probably apocryphal)

[Anonymous]

45
Icham of Irlaunde
Ant of the holy londe of irlonde
Gode sir pray ich ye
for of saynte charite,
come ant daunce wyt me,
in irlaunde.

fourteenth century

[Anonymous]

46 If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't move, pick it up; and if you can't pick it up, paint it.
1940s saying, in Paul Dickson The Official Rules (1978)

[Anonymous]

47 If you really want to make a million…the quickest way is to start your own religion.
previously attributed to L. Ron Hubbard (1911–86) in B. Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr. L. Ron Hubbard (1987), but attribution subsequently rejected by L. Ron Hubbard Jr., who also dissociated himself from this book

[Anonymous]

48
I'll go no more a-roving
With you fair maid.

"A-roving" (traditional song)

[Anonymous]

49
I'll sing you twelve O.
Green grow the rushes O.
What is your twelve O?
Twelve for the twelve apostles,
Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven,
Ten for the ten commandments,
Nine for the nine bright shiners,
Eight for the eight bold rangers,
Seven for the seven stars in the sky,
Six for the six proud walkers,
Five for the symbol at your door,
Four for the Gospel makers,
Three for the rivals,
Two, two, the lily-white boys,
Clothed all in green O,
One is one and all alone
And ever more shall be so.

"The Dilly Song".

[Anonymous]

50 I'm armed with more than complete steel—The justice of my quarrel.
Lust's Dominion (1657) act 4, sc. 3 (attributed to Marlowe, though of doubtful authorship)

[Anonymous]

51
I met wid Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor ould Ireland, and how does she stand?"
She's the most disthressful country that iver yet was seen,
For they're hangin' men an' women for the wearin' o' the Green.

"The Wearin' o' the Green" (c.1795 ballad)

[Anonymous]

52 It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.
statement by unidentified US Army Major, referring to Ben Tre in Vietnam
in Associated Press Report, New York Times 8 February 1968

[Anonymous]

53 Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris.
title of musical entertainment (1968–72) which triggered numerous imitations

[Anonymous]

54
John Brown's body lies a mould'ring in the grave,
His soul is marching on.

inspired by the execution of the abolitionist John Brown, after the raid on Harper's Ferry, on 2 December 1859
song (1861), variously attributed to Charles Sprague Hall, Henry Howard Brownell, and Thomas Brigham Bishop

[Anonymous]

55 The King over the Water.
Jacobite toast (18th-century)

[Anonymous]

56 Liberty is always unfinished business.
title of 36th Annual Report of the American Civil Liberties Union, 1 July 1955–30 June 1956

[Anonymous]

57 Licensed to kill.
popular description of the status of Secret Service agent James Bond, 007, in the novels of Ian Fleming

[Anonymous]

58 Lions led by donkeys.
associated with British soldiers during the First World War
attributed to Max Hoffman (1869–1927) in Alan Clark The Donkeys (1961); this attribution has not been traced elsewhere, and the phrase is of much earlier origin

[Anonymous]

59 Little Englanders.
term applied to anti-imperialists
in Westminster Gazette 1 August 1895; in Pall Mall Gazette 16 September 1884 the phrase "believe in a little England" occurs

[Anonymous]

60
Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one!

after the acquittal of Lizzie Borden, in June 1893, from the charge of murdering her father and stepmother at Fall River, Massachusetts on 4 August 1892
popular rhyme

[Anonymous]

61
Lloyd George knew my father,
My father knew Lloyd George.

two-line comic song, sung to the tune of "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and possibly by Tommy Rhys Roberts (1910–75)

[Anonymous]

62
London, thou art the flower of cities all!
Gemme of all joy, jasper of jocunditie.

"London" l. 16

[Anonymous]

63
Love me little, love me long,
Is the burden of my song.

"Love me little, love me long" (1569–70)

[Anonymous]

64
Mademoiselle from Armenteers,
Hasn't been kissed for forty years,
Hinky, dinky, parley-voo.

song of the First World War, variously attributed to Edward Rowland and to Harry Carlton

[Anonymous]

65 child: Mamma, are Tories born wicked, or do they grow wicked afterwards?
mother: They are born wicked, and grow worse.

G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 10

[Anonymous]

66 The ministry of all the talents.
name given ironically to William Grenville's coalition of 1806, and also applied to later coalitions
G. W. Cooke The History of Party (1837) vol. 3

[Anonymous]

67
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
The bed be blest that I lie on.
Four angels to my bed,
Four angels round my head,
One to watch, and one to pray,
And two to bear my soul away.

traditional (the first two lines in Thomas Ady A Candle in the Dark, 1656)

[Anonymous]

68 Members [of civil service orders] rise from CMG (known sometimes in Whitehall as "Call Me God") to the KCMG ("Kindly Call Me God") to—for a select few governors and super-ambassadors—the GCMG ("God Calls Me God").
Anthony Sampson Anatomy of Britain (1962) ch. 18

[Anonymous]

69
Miss Buss and Miss Beale
Cupid's darts do not feel.
How different from us,
Miss Beale and Miss Buss.

of the Headmistress of the North London Collegiate School and the Principal of the Ladies' College, Cheltenham
rhyme, c.1884

[Anonymous]

70
My name is George Nathaniel Curzon,
I am a most superior person.

of Lord Curzon
The Masque of Balliol (c.1870), in W. G. Hiscock The Balliol Rhymes (1939).

[Anonymous]

71 The nature of God is a circle of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.
said to have been traced to a lost treatise of Empedocles; quoted in the Roman de la Rose, and by St Bonaventura in Itinerarius Mentis in Deum ch. 5, closing line

[Anonymous]

72 The noise, my dear! And the people!
of the retreat from Dunkirk, May 1940; the saying has also been attributed to Ernest Thesiger of the First World War
Anthony Rhodes Sword of Bone (1942) ch. 22

[Anonymous]

73
No more Latin, no more French,
No more sitting on a hard board bench.

children's rhyme for the end of term
Iona and Peter Opie Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959) ch. 13

[Anonymous]

74 Not so much a programme, more a way of life!
title of BBC television series, 1964

[Anonymous]

75
Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

first printed in a late edition of the New England Primer (1781)

[Anonymous]

76
O Death, where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling,
O grave, thy victory?
The bells of Hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling
For you but not for me.

"For You But Not For Me", in S. Louis Guiraud (ed.) Songs That Won the War (1930).

[Anonymous]

77 O God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul!
prayer of a common soldier before the battle of Blenheim, 1704
in Notes and Queries vol. 173, no. 15 (9 October 1937); quoted in John Henry Newman Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864)

[Anonymous]

78 Once upon a time…
traditional opening to a story, especially a fairy story
Anonymous, recorded from 1595

[Anonymous]

79 One Cartwright brought a Slave from Russia, and would scourge him, for which he was questioned: and it was resolved, That England was too pure an Air for Slaves to breathe in.
"In the 11th of Elizabeth" (17 November 1568–16 November 1569), in John Rushworth Historical Collections (1680–1722) vol. 2.

[Anonymous]

80 O rare Ben Jonson.
inscription on the tomb of Ben Jonson in Westminster Abbey

[Anonymous]

81
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.

"The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomon'" (traditional song)

[Anonymous]

82 A place within the meaning of the Act.
usually taken to be a reference to the Betting Act 1853, sect. 2, which banned off-course betting on horse-races

[Anonymous]

83 Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.
printed notice in a dancing saloon
Oscar Wilde Impressions of America "Leadville" (c.1882–3)

[Anonymous]

84
Please to remember the Fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
We know no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

traditional rhyme on the Gunpowder Plot (1605)

[Anonymous]

85 The [or A] quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
used by keyboarders to ensure that all letters of the alphabet are functioning
R. Hunter Middleton's introduction to The Quick Brown Fox (1945) by Richard H. Templeton Jr.

[Anonymous]

86
The rabbit has a charming face:
Its private life is a disgrace.
I really dare not name to you
The awful things that rabbits do.

"The Rabbit", in The Week-End Book (1925)

[Anonymous]

87 Raise the stone, and there thou shalt find me, cleave the wood and there am I.
Oxyrhynchus Papyri, in B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (eds.) Sayings of Our Lord (1897) Logion 5, l. 23

[Anonymous]

88 Rest in peace. The mistake shall not be repeated.
inscription on the cenotaph at Hiroshima, Japan

[Anonymous]

89 Say it ain't so, Joe.
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson and seven other Chicago players were charged with being bribed to lose the 1919 World Baseball Series
plea said to have been made by a boy as Jackson emerged from the hearing, September 1920

[Anonymous]

90
See the happy moron,
He doesn't give a damn,
I wish I were a moron,
My God! perhaps I am!

in Eugenics Review July 1929

[Anonymous]

91
Seven wealthy towns contend for homer dead
Through which the living homer begged his bread.

epilogue to Aesop at Tunbridge; or, a Few Selected Fables in Verse By No Person of Quality (1698).

[Anonymous]

92
She was poor but she was honest
Victim of a rich man's game.
First he loved her, then he left her,
And she lost her maiden name…

It's the same the whole world over,
It's the poor wot gets the blame,
It's the rich wot gets the gravy.
Ain't it all a bleedin' shame?

"She was Poor but she was Honest" (sung by British soldiers in the First World War)

[Anonymous]

93 A soldier of the Great War known unto God.
standard epitaph for the unidentified dead of World War One
adopted by the War Graves Commission

[Anonymous]

94
Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules;
Of Hector and Lysander, and such great names as these;
But of all the world's brave heroes, there's none that can compare
With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, for the British Grenadier.

"The British Grenadiers" (traditional song)

[Anonymous]

95 So much chewing gum for the eyes.
small boy's definition of certain television programmes
James Beasley Simpson Best Quotes of '50, '55, '56 (1957)

[Anonymous]

96
So on the Twelfth I proudly wear the sash my father wore.

"The Sash My Father Wore", traditional Orange song

[Anonymous]

97
Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springth the wude nu.

"Cuckoo Song" (c.1250), sung annually at Reading Abbey gateway and first recorded by John Fornset, a monk of Reading Abbey.

[Anonymous]

98
Swing low, sweet chariot—
Comin' for to carry me home.

Negro spiritual (c.1850)

[Anonymous]

99 Their name liveth for evermore.
standard inscription on the Stone of Sacrifice in each military cemetery of World War One, proposed by Rudyard Kipling as a member of the War Graves Commission
Charles Carrington Rudyard Kipling (rev. ed. 1978)

[Anonymous]

100
There is a lady sweet and kind,
Was never face so pleased my mind;
I did but see her passing by,
And yet I love her till I die.

found on the reverse of leaf 53 of "Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist", in Latin verse by Thomas Naogeorgus, and Englished by Barnabe Googe; printed in 1570; sometimes attributed to Thomas Forde

[Anonymous]

101 There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world; and that is an idea whose time has come.
in Nation 15 April 1943.

[Anonymous]

102
There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly becomes any of us
To talk about the rest of us.

attributed, among others, to Edward Wallis Hoch (1849–1945) on the grounds of it having appeared in his Kansas publication, the Marion Record, though in fact disclaimed by him ("behooves" sometimes substituted for "becomes")

[Anonymous]

103 They haif said: Quhat say they? Lat thame say.
motto of the Earls Marischal of Scotland, inscribed at Marischal College, Aberdeen, 1593; a similarly defiant motto in Greek has been found engraved in remains from classical antiquity

[Anonymous]

104
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

Stevins MS (c.1555)

[Anonymous]

105 Though I yield to no one in my admiration for Mr Coolidge, I do wish he did not look as if he had been weaned on a pickle.
anonymous remark, in Alice Roosevelt Longworth Crowded Hours (1933) ch. 21

[Anonymous]

106
'Tis bad enough in man or woman
To steal a goose from off a common;
But surely he's without excuse
Who steals the common from the goose.

"On Inclosures"; in The Oxford Book of Light Verse (1938)

[Anonymous]

107 To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.
Clause Four of the Labour Party's Constitution of 1918 (revised 1929); the commitment to common ownership of services was largely removed in 1995.

[Anonymous]

108 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The American Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776.

[Anonymous]

109
We're here
Because
We're here.

sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne", in John Brophy and Eric Partridge Songs and Slang of the British Soldier 1914–18 (1930)

[Anonymous]

110 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
title of Negro spiritual (1865)

[Anonymous]

111 We want eight, and we won't wait.
on the construction of Dreadnoughts
George Wyndham, speech in The Times 29 March 1909

[Anonymous]

112
Western wind, when will thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!

"Western Wind" (published 1790) in New Oxford Book of Sixteenth-Century Verse (1991)

[Anonymous]

113
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worth while,
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.

"Pack up your Troubles" (1915 song), written by George Asaf (1880–1951)

[Anonymous]

114
When Israel was in Egypt land,
Let my people go,
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
Go down, Moses,
Way-down in Egypt land,
Tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go.

"Go Down, Moses" (Negro spiritual).

[Anonymous]

115 Who dares wins.
motto of the British Special Air Service regiment, from 1942

[Anonymous]

116 When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty.
attributed to Hiram Johnson, speaking in the US Senate, 1918, but not recorded in his speech; the first recorded use is as epigraph to Arthur Ponsonby's Falsehood in Wartime (1928); see

[Anonymous]

117 A willing foe and sea room.
naval toast in the time of Nelson
W. N. T. Beckett A Few Naval Customs, Expressions, Traditions, and Superstitions (1931) "Customs"

[Anonymous]

118
With a heart of furious fancies,
Whereof I am commander;
With a burning spear,
And a horse of air,
To the wilderness I wander.

"Tom o' Bedlam"

[Anonymous]

119
Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tigerskin?
Or would you prefer
To err
With her
On some other fur?

1907 rhyme, in A. Glyn Elinor Glyn (1955) bk. 2, sect. 30

[Anonymous]

120
Yankee Doodle came to town
Riding on a pony;
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it Macaroni.

"Yankee Doodle" (song, 1755 or earlier); Nicholas Smith Stories of Great National Songs (1899) ch. 2.

[Anonymous]

121 Your King and Country need you.
recruitment slogan for First World War, coined by Eric Field, July 1914; Advertising (1959).

[Anonymous]

122 You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk-dancing.
Arnold Bax (1883–1953), quoting "a sympathetic Scot" in Farewell My Youth (1943)

[Anonymous]

French 123 Ça ira.Things will work out.
refrain of "Carillon national", popular song of the French Revolution (c. July 1790), tr William Doyle; the phrase is believed to originate with Benjamin Franklin, who may have uttered it in 1776 when asked for news of the American Revolution

124
Cet animal est très méchant,
Quand on l'attaque il se défend.
This animal is very bad; when attacked it defends itself.
"La Ménagerie" (1868 song) by "Théodore P. K."

[Anonymous]

125 Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.Fearless, blameless knight.
description in contemporary chronicles of Pierre Bayard (1476–1524)

[Anonymous]

126 Honi soit qui mal y pense.Evil be to him who evil thinks.
motto of the Order of the Garter, originated by Edward III, probably on 23 April of 1348 or 1349.

[Anonymous]

127 Il ne faut pas être plus royaliste que le roi.You mustn't be more of a royalist than the king.
saying from the time of Louis XVI; François René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand De la monarchie selon la charte (1816) ch. 81

[Anonymous]

128 Ils ne passeront pas.They shall not pass.
slogan used by the French army at the defence of Verdun in 1916; variously attributed to Marshal Pétain and to General Robert Nivelle, and taken up by the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War in the form "No pasarán!".

[Anonymous]

129 Je suis Marxiste—tendance Groucho.I am a Marxist—of the Groucho tendency.
slogan used at Nanterre in Paris, 1968

[Anonymous]

130 Laissez-nous-faire.Allow us to do [it].
remark dating from c.1664, in Journal Oeconomique Paris, April 1751: "Monsieur Colbert assembled several deputies of commerce at his house to ask what could be done for commerce; the most rational and the least flattering among them answered him in one word: "Laissez-nous-faire”".

[Anonymous]

131 L'ordre règne à Varsovie.Order reigns in Warsaw.
after the brutal suppression of an uprising, the newspaper Moniteur reported, 16 September 1831, "L'ordre et la tranquillité sont entièrement rétablis dans la capitale [Order and calm are completely restored in the capital]"; on the same day Count Sebastiani, minister of foreign affairs, declared: "La tranquillité règne à Varsovie [Peace reigns in Warsaw]"

[Anonymous]

132
Nous n'irons plus aux bois, les lauriers sont coupés.

We'll to the woods no more,
The laurels all are cut.

old nursery rhyme, quoted by Théodore de Banville in Les Cariatides, les stalactites (1842–6); tr A. E. Housman in Last Poems (1922) introductory

[Anonymous]

133 Revenons à ces moutons.Let us get back to these sheep [i.e. "Let us get back to the subject"].
Maistre Pierre Pathelin l. 1191 (often quoted as "Retournons à nos moutons [Let us return to our sheep]")

[Anonymous]

134 Tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse.Everything passes, everything perishes, everything palls.
Charles Cahier Quelques six mille proverbes (1856) no. 1718

[Anonymous]

German135 Arbeit macht frei.Work liberates.
words inscribed on the gates of Dachau concentration camp, 1933, and subsequently on those of Auschwitz

136 Jedem das Seine.To each his own.
often quoted as "Everyone gets what he deserves"
inscription on the gate of Buchenwald concentration camp, c. 1937

[Anonymous]

137
Kommt der Krieg ins Land
Gibt's Lügen wie Sand.

When war enters a country
It produces lies like sand.

epigraph to Arthur Ponsonby Falsehood in Wartime (1928)

[Anonymous]

Greek138 Nothing in excess.
inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi
variously ascribed to the Seven Wise Men

139 Whenever God prepares evil for a man, He first damages his mind, with which he deliberates.
scholiastic annotation to Sophocles's Antigone l. 622

[Anonymous]

140 Let no one enter who does not know geometry [mathematics].
inscription on Plato's door, probably at the Academy at Athens
Elias Philosophus In Aristotelis Categorias Commentaria; in A. Busse (ed.) Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca (1900) vol. 18, pt. 1

[Anonymous]

Latin141
Adeste, fideles.

O come, all ye faithful.

French or German hymn (c.1743) in Murray's Hymnal (1852); translation based on that of F. Oakeley (1841)

142 Ad majorem Dei gloriam.To the greater glory of God.
motto of the Society of Jesus

[Anonymous]

143 Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant.Hail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you.
gladiators saluting the Roman Emperor
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Claudius" ch. 21

[Anonymous]

144 Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum: Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
"Ave Maria" or "Hail Mary", also known as "The Angelic Salutation", dating from the 11th century.

[Anonymous]

145
Ave verum corpus,
natum ex Maria Virgine.

Hail the true body, born of the Virgin Mary.

Eucharistic hymn, probably dating from the 14th century

[Anonymous]

146 Dominus illuminatio mea.
The Lord is my light.

motto of the University of Oxford

[Anonymous]

147 Et in Arcadia ego.And I too in Arcadia.
tomb inscription, of disputed meaning, often depicted in classical paintings, notably by Poussin in 1655; E. Panofsky "Et in Arcadia ego" in R. K. Klibansky and H. J. Paton (eds.) Philosophy and History: Essays Presented to E. Cassirer (1936)

[Anonymous]

148
Gaudeamus igitur,
Juvenes dum sumus.

Let us then rejoice,
While we are young.

medieval students' song, traced to 1267, but revised in the 18th century

[Anonymous]

149 Nemo me impune lacessit.No one provokes me with impunity.
motto of the Crown of Scotland and of all Scottish regiments

[Anonymous]

150
Nisi Dominus frustra.

In vain without the Lord.

motto of the city of Edinburgh; see

[Anonymous]

151 Nullius in verba.In the word of none.
emphasizing reliance on experiment rather than authority
motto of the Royal Society

[Anonymous]

152 Per ardua ad astra.Through struggle to the stars.
motto of the Mulvany family, quoted and translated by Rider Haggard in The People of the Mist (1894) ch. 1; still in use as motto of the R.A.F., having been proposed by J. S. Yule in 1912 and approved by King George V in 1913

[Anonymous]

153 Post coitum omne animal triste.After coition every animal is sad.
post-classical saying

[Anonymous]

154 Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem.Whatever you do, do cautiously, and look to the end.
Gesta Romanorum no. 103

[Anonymous]

155 Semper eadem.Ever the same.
motto of Elizabeth I

[Anonymous]

156 Sic semper tyrannis.Thus always to tyrants.
motto of the State of Virginia.

[Anonymous]

157 Sic transit gloria mundi.Thus passes the glory of the world.
said during the coronation of a new Pope, while flax is burned to represent the transitoriness of earthly glory
used at the coronation of Alexander V in Pisa, 7 July 1409, but earlier in origin.

[Anonymous]

158 Similia similibus curantur.Like cures like.
motto of homeopathic medicine, although not found in this form in the writings of C. F. S. Hahnemann (1755–1843); the Latin appears as an anonymous side-note in Paracelsus Opera Omnia (c.1490–1541, ed. 1658) vol. 1

[Anonymous]

159 Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.If you seek a monument, gaze around.
inscription in St Paul's Cathedral, London, attributed to the son of Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723), its architect

[Anonymous]

160 Vox et praeterea nihil.A voice and nothing more.
describing a nightingale
Plutarch Moralia sect. 233a, no. 15

[Anonymous]

Italian 161 Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato.If it is not true, it is a happy invention.
common saying from the 16th century

Old English162
Listen!
The fame of Danish kings
in days gone by, the daring feats
worked by those heroes are well known to us.

Beowulf, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland

163 Thought shall be the harder, heart the keener, courage the greater, as our might lessens.
The Battle of Maldon (tr R. K. Gordon, 1926)

[Anonymous]

164 Men said openly that Christ slept and His saints.
of England during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1137

[Anonymous]

Back  -   New Search

Anouilh, Jean 1910–87

1 God is on everyone's side…And, in the last analysis, he is on the side of those with plenty of money and large armies.
L'Alouette (1953)

2 There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.
Ardèle (1949)

[Anouilh]

Back  -   New Search

Anthony, Susan Brownell 1820–1906

1 Marriage, to women as to men, must be a luxury, not a necessity; an incident of life, not all of it.
speech, 1875

Back  -   New Search

Apollinaire, Guillaume 1880–1918

1
Les souvenirs sont cors de chasse
Dont meurt le bruit parmi le vent.

Memories are hunting horns
Whose sound dies on the wind.

"Cors de Chasse" (1912)

2
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine.
Et nos amours, faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne?
La joie venait toujours après la peine.

Under Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine.
And our loves, must I remember them?
Joy always came after pain.

"Le Pont Mirabeau" (1912)

[Apollinaire]

3 When man wanted to make a machine that would walk he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg.
Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1918)

[Apollinaire]

Back  -   New Search

Appleton, Thomas Gold 1812–84

1 Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris.
Oliver Wendell Holmes The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858) ch. 6.

2 A Boston man is the east wind made flesh.
attributed

[Appleton]

Back  -   New Search

Arabian Nights Entertainments, or the Thousand and one Nights

1 Who will change old lamps for new ones?…new lamps for old ones?
"The History of Aladdin"

2 Open Sesame!
"The History of Ali Baba"

[Arabian Nights]

Back  -   New Search

Arabin, William 1773–1841

1 Prisoner, God has given you good abilities, instead of which you go about the country stealing ducks.
also attributed to a Revd Mr Alderson, in Frederick Pollock Essays in the Law (1922)

2 They will steal the very teeth out of your mouth as you walk through the streets. I know it from experience.
on the citizens of Uxbridge
Sir W. Ballantine Some Experiences of a Barrister's Life (1882) vol. 1, ch. 6

[Arabin]

Back  -   New Search

Aragon, Louis 1897–1982

1
Ô mois des floraisons mois des métamorphoses
Mai qui fut sans nuage et Juin poignardé
Je n'oublierai jamais les lilas ni les roses
Ni ceux que le printemps dans ses plis a gardé.

O month of flowerings, month of metamorphoses,
May without cloud and June that was stabbed,
I shall never forget the lilac and the roses
Nor those whom spring has kept in its folds.

"Les lilas et les roses" (1940)

Back  -   New Search

Arbus, Diane 1923–71

1 A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.
Patricia Bosworth Diane Arbus: a Biography (1985)

Back  -   New Search

Arbuthnot, John 1667–1735

1 Law is a bottomless pit.
The History of John Bull (1712) title of first pamphlet

Back  -   New Search

Archilochus

1 The fox knows many things—the hedgehog one big one.
E. Diehl (ed.) Anthologia Lyrica Graeca (3rd ed., 1949–52) vol. 1, no. 103.

Back  -   New Search

Archimedes c.287 bc

1 Eureka! [I've got it!]
Vitruvius Pollio De Architectura bk. 9, preface, sect. 10

2 Give me but one firm spot on which to stand, and I will move the earth.
on the action of a lever
Pappus Synagoge bk. 8, proposition 10, sect. 11

[Archimedes]

Back  -   New Search

Ardrey, Robert 1908–80

1 Not in innocence, and not in Asia, was mankind born.
African Genesis (1961)

Back  -   New Search

Arendt, Hannah 1906–75

1 It was as though in those last minutes he was summing up the lessons that this long course in human wickedness had taught us—the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil.
of Adolf Eichmann, responsible for the administration of the Nazi concentration camps
Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963) ch. 15

Back  -   New Search

Argenson, Marquis d' (René Louis de Voyer d'Argenson) 1694–1757

1 Laisser-faire.No interference.
Mémoires et Journal Inédit du Marquis d'Argenson (1858 ed.) vol. 5.

Back  -   New Search

Argenson, Comte d' 1696–1764

1 desfontaines: I must live.
d'argenson: I do not see the necessity.

on Desfontaines having produced a pamphlet satirizing D'Argenson, his benefactor
Voltaire Alzire (1736) "Discours Préliminaire" footnote, in Oeuvres Complètes Théâtre (1877) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Ariosto, Ludovico 1474–1533

1 Natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa.Nature made him, and then broke the mould.
Orlando Furioso (1532) canto 10, st. 84

Back  -   New Search

Aristophanes c.450 bc

1 How about "Cloudcuckooland"?
naming the capital city of the Birds
The Birds (414 bc) l. 819

2
This Second Logic then, I mean the Worse one,
They teach to talk unjustly, and—prevail.

The Clouds (423 bc) l. 113.

[Aristophanes]

3 The old are in a second childhood.
The Clouds (423 bc) l. 1417

[Aristophanes]

4 Brekekekex koax koax.
cry of the Frogs
The Frogs (405 bc) l. 209 and passim

[Aristophanes]

5 Under every stone lurks a politician.
Thesmophoriazusae l. 530

[Aristophanes]

Back  -   New Search

Aristotle 384 bc

1 We make war that we may live in peace.
Nicomachean Ethics bk. 10, 1177b 5–6 (tr M. Ostwald).

2 Tragedy is thus a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself and of some amplitude…by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions.
Poetics ch. 6, 1449b 24–8

[Aristotle]

3 A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Poetics ch. 7

[Aristotle]

4 Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
Poetics ch. 24, 1460a 26–7

[Aristotle]

5 Man is by nature a political animal.
Politics bk. 1, 1253a 2–3

[Aristotle]

6 He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.
Politics bk. 1, 1253a 27–9

[Aristotle]

7 Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.
Politics bk. 1, 1256b 20–21

[Aristotle]

8 Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas.Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
Latin translation of a Greek original ascribed to Aristotle

[Aristotle]

9 When he was asked "What is a friend?" he said "One soul inhabiting two bodies."
Diogenes Laertius Lives of Philosophers bk. 5, sect. 20

[Aristotle]

Back  -   New Search

Armistead, Lewis Addison 1817–63

1 Give them the cold steel, boys!
during the American Civil War, 1863
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Armstrong, Harry 1879–1951

1
There's an old mill by the stream, Nellie Dean,
Where we used to sit and dream.

"Nellie Dean" (1905 song)

Back  -   New Search

Armstrong, John 1709–79

1 'Tis not for mortals always to be blest.
The Art of Preserving Health (1744) bk. 4, l. 260

2 'Tis not too late tomorrow to be brave.
The Art of Preserving Health (1744) bk. 4, l. 460

[Armstrong]

Back  -   New Search

Armstrong, Louis 1901–71

1 If you still have to ask…shame on you.
when asked what jazz is; sometimes quoted as, "Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know"
Max Jones et al. Salute to Satchmo (1970)

Back  -   New Search

Armstrong, Neil 1930–

1 That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
as the craft touched down, he had radioed "Houston. Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed"
in New York Times 21 July 1969; interference in the transmission obliterated "a"

Back  -   New Search

Armstrong, Robert 1927–

1 It contains a misleading impression, not a lie. It was being economical with the truth.
during the "Spycatcher" trial in New South Wales
in Daily Telegraph 19 November 1986. ,

Back  -   New Search

Arnold, Edwin 1832–1904

1
Nor ever once ashamed
So we be named
Press-men; Slaves of the Lamp; Servants of Light.

"The Tenth Muse" (1895) st. 18

Back  -   New Search

Arnold, Matthew 1822–88

1
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another!

"Dover Beach" (1867) l. 21

2
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

"Dover Beach" (1867) l. 35

[Arnold]

3
Come, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below!

"The Forsaken Merman" (1849) l. 1

[Arnold]

4
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.

"The Forsaken Merman" (1849) l. 4

[Arnold]

5
Where great whales come sailing by,
Sail and sail, with unshut eye,
Round the world for ever and aye.

"The Forsaken Merman" (1849) l. 43

[Arnold]

6
Say, has some wet bird-haunted English lawn
Lent it the music of its trees at dawn?

"Parting" (1852) l. 19

[Arnold]

7
Eternal Passion!
Eternal Pain!

of the nightingale
"Philomela" (1853) l. 31

[Arnold]

8
Cruel, but composed and bland,
Dumb, inscrutable and grand,
So Tiberius might have sat,
Had Tiberius been a cat.

"Poor Matthias" (1885) l. 40

[Arnold]

9
Not deep the Poet sees, but wide.

"Resignation" (1849) l. 214

[Arnold]

10
Go, for they call you, Shepherd, from the hill.

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 1

[Arnold]

11
All the live murmur of a summer's day.

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 20

[Arnold]

12
Tired of knocking at Preferment's door.

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 35

[Arnold]

13
Crossing the stripling Thames at Bab-lock-hithe.

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 74

[Arnold]

14
The line of festal light in Christ-Church hall.

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 129

[Arnold]

15
Thou waitest for the spark from heaven! and we,
Light half-believers in our casual creeds…
Who hesitate and falter life away,
And lose to-morrow the ground won to-day—
Ah, do not we, Wanderer, await it too?

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 171

[Arnold]

16
Still nursing the unconquerable hope,
Still clutching the inviolable shade.

"The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) l. 211

[Arnold]

17
Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask: Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge.

"Shakespeare" (1849)

[Arnold]

18
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men.

"Sohrab and Rustum" (1853) l. 656

[Arnold]

19
And that sweet City with her dreaming spires.

of Oxford
"Thyrsis" (1866) l. 19

[Arnold]

20
The bloom is gone, and with the bloom go I.

"Thyrsis" (1866) l. 57

[Arnold]

21
Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole:
The mellow glory of the Attic stage;
Singer of sweet Colonus, and its child.

of Sophocles
"To a Friend" (1849)

[Arnold]

22
France, famed in all great arts, in none supreme.

"To a Republican Friend—Continued" (1849)

[Arnold]

23
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumbed, salt, estranging sea.

"To Marguerite—Continued" (1852) l. 24

[Arnold]

24 The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light…He who works for sweetness and light united, works to make reason and the will of God prevail.
Culture and Anarchy (1869) ch. 1

[Arnold]

25 When I want to distinguish clearly the aristocratic class from the Philistines proper, or middle class, [I] name the former, in my own mind the Barbarians.
Culture and Anarchy (1869) ch. 3

[Arnold]

26 Whispering from her towers the last enchantments of the Middle Age…Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!
of Oxford
Essays in Criticism First Series (1865) preface.

[Arnold]

27 In poetry, no less than in life, he is "a beautiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain".
Essays in Criticism Second Series (1888) "Shelley" (quoting from his own essay on Byron in the same work)

[Arnold]

28 Poetry is at bottom a criticism of life.
Essays in Criticism Second Series (1888) "Wordsworth"

[Arnold]

29 I am past thirty, and three parts iced over.
letter, 12 February 1853

[Arnold]

30 The true meaning of religion is thus not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion.
Literature and Dogma (1873) ch. 1

[Arnold]

31 Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 13

[Arnold]

Back  -   New Search

Arnold, Samuel James

1 England, home and beauty.
"The Death of Nelson" (1811 song)

Back  -   New Search

Arnold, Thomas 1795–1842

1 My object will be, if possible, to form Christian men, for Christian boys I can scarcely hope to make.
on appointment to the Headmastership of Rugby School
letter to Revd John Tucker, 2 March 1828

2 As for rioting, the old Roman way of dealing with that is always the right one; flog the rank and file, and fling the ringleaders from the Tarpeian rock.
from an unpublished letter written before 1828

[Arnold]

Back  -   New Search

Artsimovich, L. A. 1909–73

1 The joke definition according to which "Science is the best way of satisfying the curiosity of individuals at government expense" is more or less correct.
in Novy Mir January 1967

Back  -   New Search

Ascham, Roger 1515–68

1 I said…how, and why, young children, were sooner allured by love, than driven by beating, to attain good learning.
The Schoolmaster (1570) preface

2 There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.
The Schoolmaster (1570) bk. 1

[Ascham]

Back  -   New Search

Ashford, Daisy 1881–1972

1 Mr Salteena was an elderly man of 42.
The Young Visiters (1919) ch. 1

2 Bernard always had a few prayers in the hall and some whiskey afterwards as he was rarther pious but Mr Salteena was not very addicted to prayers so he marched up to bed.
The Young Visiters (1919) ch. 3

[Ashford]

3 Oh I see said the Earl but my own idear is that these things are as piffle before the wind.
The Young Visiters (1919) ch. 5

[Ashford]

Back  -   New Search

Asimov, Isaac 1920–92

1 The three fundamental Rules of Robotics…One, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm…Two…a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law…three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
I, Robot (1950) "Runaround"

Back  -   New Search

Askew, Anne 1521–46

1
Like as the armèd knight
Appointed to the field,
With this world will I fight,
And faith shall be my shield…

I am not she that list
My anchor to let fall,
For every drizzling mist
My ship substantial.

"The Ballad which Anne Askew made and sang when she was in Newgate" (1546)

Back  -   New Search

Asquith, Cynthia 1887–1960

1 I am beginning to rub my eyes at the prospect of peace…One will at last fully recognize that the dead are not only dead for the duration of the war.
diary, 7 October 1918

Back  -   New Search

Asquith, Herbert 1852–1928

1 We had better wait and see.
phrase used repeatedly in speeches in 1910, referring to the rumour that the House of Lords was to be flooded with new Liberal peers to ensure the passage of the Finance Bill
Roy Jenkins Asquith (1964)

2 It is fitting that we should have buried the Unknown Prime Minister by the side of the Unknown Soldier.
of Andrew Bonar Law
Robert Blake The Unknown Prime Minister (1955)

[Asquith]

3 [The War Office kept three sets of figures:] one to mislead the public, another to mislead the Cabinet, and the third to mislead itself.
Alistair Horne Price of Glory (1962) ch. 2

[Asquith]

Back  -   New Search

Asquith, Margot 1864–1945

1 Kitchener is a great poster.
More Memories (1933) ch. 6

2 The t is silent, as in Harlow.
to Jean Harlow, who had been mispronouncing "Margot"
T. S. Matthews Great Tom (1973) ch. 7

[Asquith]

3 He can't see a belt without hitting below it.
of Lloyd George
in Listener 11 June 1953 "Margot Oxford" by Lady Violet Bonham Carter

[Asquith]

Back  -   New Search

Asquith, Violet 1887–1969

1 how dare you become prime minister when i'm away great love constant thought violet.
telegram to her father, H. H. Asquith, 7 April 1908
Mark Bonham Carter and Mark Pottle (eds.) Lantern Slides (1996)

Back  -   New Search

Astell, Mary 1668–1731

1 Fetters of gold are still fetters, and the softest lining can never make them so easy as liberty.
An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex (1696)

Back  -   New Search

Astley, Jacob 1579–1652

1 O Lord! thou knowest how busy I must be this day: if I forget thee, do not thou forget me.
prayer before the Battle of Edgehill, 1642
Philip Warwick Memoires (1701)

Back  -   New Search

Astor, Nancy 1879–1964

1 I married beneath me, all women do.
in Dictionary of National Biography 1961–1970 (1981)

Back  -   New Search

Atkinson, Brooks 1894–1984

1 After each war there is a little less democracy to save.
Once Around the Sun (1951) 7 January

Back  -   New Search

Attenborough, David 1926–

1 I'm not over-fond of animals. I am merely astounded by them.
in Independent 14 January 1995

Back  -   New Search

Attlee, Clement 1883–1967

1 The voice we heard was that of Mr Churchill but the mind was that of Lord Beaverbrook.
speech on radio, 5 June 1945

2
Few thought he was even a starter
There were many who thought themselves smarter
But he ended PM
CH and OM
An earl and a knight of the garter.

describing himself in a letter to Tom Attlee, 8 April 1956
Kenneth Harris Attlee (1982)

[Attlee]

3 [Russian Communism is] the illegitimate child of Karl Marx and Catherine the Great.
speech at Aarhus University, 11 April 1956

[Attlee]

4 Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.
speech at Oxford, 14 June 1957

[Attlee]

Back  -   New Search

Aubrey, John 1626–97

1 And when he saw the cheese-cakes:—"What have we here, crinkum crankum?"
Brief Lives "Ralph Kettel"

2 Oval face. His eye a dark grey. He had auburn hair. His complexion exceeding fair—he was so fair that they called him the lady of Christ's College.
Brief Lives "John Milton"

[Aubrey]

3 He pronounced the letter R (littera canina) very hard—a certain sign of a satirical wit.
Brief Lives "John Milton"

[Aubrey]

4 Sciatica: he cured it, by boiling his buttock.
Brief Lives "Sir Jonas Moore"

[Aubrey]

5 Anno 1670, not far from Cirencester, was an apparition; being demanded whether a good spirit or a bad? returned no answer, but disappeared with a curious perfume and most melodious twang. Mr W. Lilly believes it was a fairy.
Miscellanies (1696) "Apparitions"

[Aubrey]

Back  -   New Search

Auctoritates Aristotelis

1 Habit is second nature.

2 You cannot argue with someone who denies the first principles.
[Auctoritates Aristotelis]

3 God and nature do nothing in vain.
[Auctoritates Aristotelis]

4 All men naturally desire to know.
[Auctoritates Aristotelis]

5 Parents love their children more than children love their parents.
[Auctoritates Aristotelis]

6 Time is the measure of movement.
[Auctoritates Aristotelis]

Back  -   New Search

Auden, W. H. 1907–73

1
I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

"As I Walked Out One Evening" (1940)

2
The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the teacup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

"As I Walked Out One Evening" (1940)

[Auden]

3
Make intercession
For the treason of all clerks.

"At the Grave of Henry James" (1945).

[Auden]

4
August for the people and their favourite islands.

title of poem (1936)

[Auden]

5
The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews
Not to be born is the best for man.

"Death's Echo" (1937).

[Auden]

6
To save your world you asked this man to die:
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

"Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier" (1955)

[Auden]

7
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

"Epitaph on a Tyrant" (1940).

[Auden]

8
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

"Funeral Blues" (1936)

[Auden]

9
You were silly like us; your gift survived it all:
The parish of rich women, physical decay,
Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.

"In Memory of W. B. Yeats" (1940) pt. 2

[Auden]

10
Earth, receive an honoured guest:
William Yeats is laid to rest.
Let the Irish vessel lie
Emptied of its poetry.

In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate.

"In Memory of W. B. Yeats" (1940) pt. 3

[Auden]

11
Time that with this strange excuse
Pardoned Kipling and his views,
And will pardon Paul Claudel,
Pardons him for writing well.

"In Memory of W. B. Yeats" (1940) pt. 3

[Auden]

12
Look, stranger, at this island now.

title of poem (1936)

[Auden]

13
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm.

"Lullaby" (1940)

[Auden]

14
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters.

"Musée des Beaux Arts" (1940)

[Auden]

15
Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

"Musée des Beaux Arts" (1940)

[Auden]

16
To the man-in-the-street, who, I'm sorry to say,
Is a keen observer of life,
The word "Intellectual" suggests straight away
A man who's untrue to his wife.

New Year Letter (1941) l. 1277 n.

[Auden]

17
This is the Night Mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.

"Night Mail" (1936) pt. 1

[Auden]

18
Private faces in public places
Are wiser and nicer
Than public faces in private places.

Orators (1932) dedication

[Auden]

19
Out on the lawn I lie in bed,
Vega conspicuous overhead.

"Out on the lawn I lie in bed" (1936)

[Auden]

20
O what is that sound which so thrills the ear
Down in the valley drumming, drumming?
Only the scarlet soldiers, dear,
The soldiers coming.

"O what is that sound" (1936)

[Auden]

21
Some thirty inches from my nose
The frontier of my Person goes,
And all the untilled air between
Is private pagus or demesne.
Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes
I beckon you to fraternize,
Beware of rudely crossing it:
I have no gun, but I can spit.

"Prologue: the Birth of Architecture" (1966) postscript

[Auden]

22
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

"September 1, 1939" (1940)

[Auden]

23
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

"September 1, 1939" (1940)

[Auden]

24
A shilling life will give you all the facts.

title of poem (1936)

[Auden]

25
At Twenty I tried to
vex my elders, past Sixty it's the young whom
I hope to bother.

"Shorts I" (1969)

[Auden]

26
A poet's hope: to be,
like some valley cheese,
local, but prized elsewhere.

"Shorts II" (1976)

[Auden]

27
History to the defeated
May say Alas but cannot help or pardon.

"Spain 1937" (1937) st. 23

[Auden]

28 Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) "Reading"

[Auden]

29 Art is born of humiliation.
Stephen Spender World Within World (1951) ch. 2

[Auden]

30 Nothing I wrote in the thirties saved one Jew from Auschwitz.
attributed

[Auden]

Back  -   New Search

Augier, Émile 1820–89

1 La nostalgie de la boue!Longing to be back in the mud!
Le Mariage d'Olympe (1855) act 1, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Augustine, St of Hippo ad 354–430

1 Give me chastity and continency—but not yet!
Confessions (ad 397–8) bk. 8, ch. 7

2 When he was reading, he drew his eyes along over the leaves, and his heart searched into the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent.
of St Ambrose
Confessions (ad 397–8) bk. 6, ch. 3

[Augustine]

3 Tolle lege, tolle lege.Take up and read, take up and read.
Confessions (ad 397–8) bk. 8, ch. 12

[Augustine]

4 Sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi! et ecce intus eras et ego foris, et ibi te quaerebam.Too late came I to love thee, O thou Beauty both so ancient and so fresh, yea too late came I to love thee. And behold, thou wert within me, and I out of myself, where I made search for thee.
Confessions (ad 397–8) bk. 10, ch. 27

[Augustine]

5 There is no salvation outside the church.
De Baptismo contra Donatistas bk. 4, ch. 17, sect. 24.

[Augustine]

6 Dilige et quod vis fac.Love and do what you will.
often quoted as "Ama et fac quod vis"
In Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos (ad 413) tractatus 7, sect. 8

[Augustine]

7 Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum.With love for mankind and hatred of sins.
often quoted as "Love the sinner but hate the sin"
letter 211 in J.-P. Migne (ed.) Patrologiae Latinae (1845) vol. 33

[Augustine]

8 Roma locuta est; causa finita est.Rome has spoken; the case is concluded.
traditional summary of words found in Sermons (Antwerp, 1702) no. 131, sect. 10

[Augustine]

Back  -   New Search

Augustus 63–14

1 Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions.
on Varus' loss of three legions in battle with Germanic tribes, ad 9
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Divus Augustus" sect. 23

2 Festina lente.Make haste slowly.
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Divus Augustus" sect. 25

[Augustus]

3 He could boast that he inherited it brick and left it marble.
referring to the city of Rome
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Divus Augustus" sect. 28

[Augustus]

Back  -   New Search

Aung San Suu Kyi 1945–

1 It's very different from living in academia in Oxford. We called someone vicious in the Times Literary Supplement. We didn't know what vicious was.
on returning to Burma (Myanmar)
in Observer 25 September 1988 "Sayings of the Week"

2 In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued.
videotape speech at NGO Forum on Women, China, early September 1995

[Aung San]

Back  -   New Search

Aurelius, Marcus ad 121–80

1 Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly: but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sinks to rest.
Meditations bk. 4, sect. 49

2 Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.
Meditations bk. 5, sect. 18

[Aurelius]

3 Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct them, therefore, or endure them.
Meditations bk. 8, sect. 59

[Aurelius]

Back  -   New Search

Ausonius, Decius Magnus c.309 ad

1 Nemo bonus Britto est.No good man is a Briton.
Epigrams 119

Back  -   New Search

Austen, Jane 1775–1817

1 An egg boiled very soft is not unwholesome.
Emma (1816) ch. 3

2 One has no great hopes from Birmingham. I always say there is something direful in the sound.
Emma (1816) ch. 36

[Austen]

3 Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can.
Mansfield Park (1814) ch. 48

[Austen]

4 "Oh! it is only a novel!…only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda:" or, in short, only some work in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.
Northanger Abbey (1818) ch. 5

[Austen]

5 From politics, it was an easy step to silence.
Northanger Abbey (1818) ch. 14

[Austen]

6 Every man is surrounded by a neighbourhood of voluntary spies, and where roads and newspapers lay every thing open.
Northanger Abbey (1818) ch. 34

[Austen]

7 "My idea of good company, Mr Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company." "You are mistaken," said he gently, "that is not good company, that is the best."
Persuasion (1818) ch. 16

[Austen]

8 Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands.
Persuasion (1818) ch. 23

[Austen]

9 It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Pride and Prejudice (1813) ch. 1

[Austen]

10 In his library he had been always sure of leisure and tranquillity; and though prepared…to meet with folly and conceit in every other room in the house, he was used to be free of them there.
Pride and Prejudice (1813) ch. 15

[Austen]

11 For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?
Pride and Prejudice (1813) ch. 57

[Austen]

12 3 or 4 families in a country village is the very thing to work on.
letter to Anna Austen, 9 September 1814

[Austen]

13 The little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as produces little effect after much labour?
letter to J. Edward Austen, 16 December 1816

[Austen]

14 Pictures of perfection as you know make me sick and wicked.
letter to Fanny Knight, 23 March 1817

[Austen]

15 I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.
on starting Emma
J. E. Austen-Leigh A Memoir of Jane Austen (1926 ed.)

[Austen]

Back  -   New Search

Austin, J. L. 1911–60

1 In such cases we should not know what to say. This is when we say "words fail us" and mean this literally. We should need new words. The old ones just would not fit. They aren't meant to cover this kind of case.
on being asked how one might describe the predicament of the character in Kafka's Metamorphosis who wakes to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach
Isaiah Berlin "Austin and the Early Beginnings of Oxford Philosophy" in Essays on J. L. Austin (1973)

Back  -   New Search

Avon, Earl of

see Anthony Eden

Back  -   New Search

Awdry, Revd 1911–97

1 You've a lot to learn about trucks, little Thomas. They are silly things and must be kept in their place. After pushing them about here for a few weeks you'll know almost as much about them as Edward. Then you'll be a Really Useful Engine.
Thomas the Tank Engine (1946)

2 I should like my epitaph to say, "He helped people see God in the ordinary things of life, and he made children laugh."
in Independent 22 March 1997, obituary

[Awdry]

Back  -   New Search

Ayckbourn, Alan 1939–

1 This place, you tell them you're interested in the arts, you get messages of sympathy.
Chorus of Disapproval (1986) act 2

Back  -   New Search

Ayer, A. J. 1910–89

1 The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability. We say that a sentence is factually significant to any given person, if, and only if, he knows how to verify the proposition which it purports to express—that is, if he knows what observations would lead him, under certain conditions, to accept the proposition as being true, or reject it as being false.
Language, Truth, and Logic (1936) ch. 1

2 Why should you mind being wrong if someone can show you that you are?
attributed

[Ayer]

Back  -   New Search

Ayres, Pam 1947–

1
Medicinal discovery,
It moves in mighty leaps,
It leapt straight past the common cold
And gave it us for keeps.

"Oh no, I got a cold" (1976)

Back  -   New Search

Aytoun, W. E. 1813–65

1
"He is coming! he is coming!"
Like a bridegroom from his room,
Came the hero from his prison
To the scaffold and the doom.

"The Execution of Montrose" (1849) st. 14

2
The earth is all the home I have,
The heavens my wide roof-tree.

"The Wandering Jew" (1867) l. 49

[Aytoun]

Back  -   New Search

B

Babbage, Charles 1792–1871

1
Every moment dies a man,
Every moment 1
1/16
is born.

parody of Tennyson's "Vision of Sin", in an unpublished letter to the poet, in New Scientist 4 Dec 1958.

Back  -   New Search

Babel, Isaac 1894–1940

1 No iron can stab the heart with such force as a full stop put just at the right place.
Guy de Maupassant (1932)

Back  -   New Search

Bach, Johann Sebastian 1685–1750

1 There is nothing to it. You only have to hit the right notes at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
when complimented on his organ playing
K. Geiringer The Bach Family (1954)

Back  -   New Search

Bacon, Francis 1561–1626

1 If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
The Advancement of Learning (1605) bk. 1, ch. 5, sect. 8

2 Words are the tokens current and accepted for conceits, as moneys are for values.
The Advancement of Learning (1605) bk. 2, ch. 16, sect. 3

[Bacon]

3 A dance is a measured pace, as a verse is a measured speech.
The Advancement of Learning (1605) bk. 2, ch. 16, sect. 5

[Bacon]

4 Ancient times were the youth of the world.
De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum (1623) bk. 1 (tr. Gilbert Watts, 1640)

[Bacon]

5 He is the fountain of honour.
An Essay of a King (1642); attribution doubtful.

[Bacon]

6 A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
Essays (1625) "Of Atheism"

[Bacon]

7 Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.
Essays (1625) "Of Beauty"

[Bacon]

8 There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
Essays (1625) "Of Beauty"

[Bacon]

9 He said it that knew it best.
referring to Demosthenes
Essays (1625) "Of Boldness"

[Bacon]

10 In civil business; what first? boldness; what second and third? boldness: and yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness.
Essays (1625) "Of Boldness"

[Bacon]

11 Books will speak plain when counsellors blanch.
Essays (1625) "Of Counsel"

[Bacon]

12 I knew one that when he wrote a letter he would put that which was most material in the postscript, as if it had been a bymatter.
Essays (1625) "Of Cunning".

[Bacon]

13 Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.
Essays (1625) "Of Death"

[Bacon]

14 Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honour aspireth to it; grief flieth to it.
Essays (1625) "Of Death"

[Bacon]

15 Cure the disease and kill the patient.
Essays (1625) "Of Friendship"

[Bacon]

16 God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
Essays (1625) "Of Gardens"

[Bacon]

17 Nothing is more pleasant to the eye than green grass kept finely shorn.
Essays (1625) "Of Gardens"

[Bacon]

18 If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.
Essays (1625) "Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature"

[Bacon]

19 All rising to great place is by a winding stair.
Essays (1625) "Of Great Place"

[Bacon]

20 He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.
Essays (1625) "Of Innovations"

[Bacon]

21 He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
Essays (1625) "Of Marriage and the Single Life".

[Bacon]

22 He was reputed one of the wise men that made answer to the question when a man should marry? "A young man not yet, an elder man not at all."
Essays (1625) "Of Marriage and the Single Life".

[Bacon]

23 It is generally better to deal by speech than by letter.
Essays (1625) "Of Negotiating"

[Bacon]

24 Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.
Essays (1625) "Of Parents and Children"

[Bacon]

25 Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
Essays (1625) "Of Praise"

[Bacon]

26 Age will not be defied.
Essays (1625) "Of Regimen of Health"

[Bacon]

27 Revenge is a kind of wild justice.
Essays (1625) "Of Revenge"

[Bacon]

28 Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
Essays (1625) "Of Seditions and Troubles"

[Bacon]

29 The remedy is worse than the disease.
Essays (1625) "Of Seditions and Troubles"

[Bacon]

30 Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Essays (1625) "Of Studies"

[Bacon]

31 Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Essays (1625) "Of Studies"

[Bacon]

32 Neither is money the sinews of war (as it is trivially said).
Essays (1625) "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms".

[Bacon]

33 Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.
Essays (1625) "Of Travel"

[Bacon]

34 What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer.
Essays (1625) "Of Truth".

[Bacon]

35 All colours will agree in the dark.
Essays (1625) "Of Unity in Religion"

[Bacon]

36 It was prettily devised of Aesop, "The fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot-wheel and said, what a dust do I raise."
Essays (1625) "Of Vain-Glory"

[Bacon]

37 Be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others.
Essays (1625) "Of Wisdom for a Man's Self".

[Bacon]

38 It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set a house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs.
Essays (1625) "Of Wisdom for a Man's Self"

[Bacon]

39 It is the wisdom of the crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour.
Essays (1625) "Of Wisdom for a Man's Self"

[Bacon]

40 I have taken all knowledge to be my province.
"To My Lord Treasurer Burghley" (1592) in J. Spedding (ed.) The Letters and Life of Francis Bacon vol. 1 (1861)

[Bacon]

41 Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.For also knowledge itself is power.
Meditationes Sacrae (1597) "Of Heresies"

[Bacon]

42 God's first Creature, which was Light.
New Atlantis (1627)

[Bacon]

43 Magna ista scientiarum mater.That great mother of sciences.
of natural philosophy
Novum Organum (1620) bk. 1, Aphorism 80 (tr. J. Spedding)

[Bacon]

44 Printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's needle [compass]…these three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world.
Novum Organum (1620) bk. 1, Aphorism 129 (tr. J. Spedding).

[Bacon]

45 Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.
often attributed to Queen Elizabeth I from a misreading of the text
J. Spedding (ed.) The Works of Francis Bacon vol. 7 (1859) "Baconiana"

[Bacon]

46
The world's a bubble; and the life of man
Less than a span.

The World (1629)

[Bacon]

47
What then remains, but that we still should cry,
Not to be born, or being born, to die?

The World (1629)

[Bacon]

Back  -   New Search

Baden-Powell, Lord 1857–1941

1 The scouts' motto is founded on my initials, it is: be prepared.
Scouting for Boys (1908)

Back  -   New Search

Bagehot, Walter 1826–77

1 In such constitutions [as England's] there are two parts…first, those which excite and preserve the reverence of the population—the dignified parts…and next, the efficient parts—those by which it, in fact, works and rules.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Cabinet"

2 The Crown is, according to the saying, the "fountain of honour"; but the Treasury is the spring of business.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Cabinet".

[Bagehot]

3 It has been said that England invented the phrase, "Her Majesty's Opposition"; that it was the first government which made a criticism of administration as much a part of the polity as administration itself. This critical opposition is the consequence of cabinet government.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Cabinet".

[Bagehot]

4 The Times has made many ministries.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Cabinet"

[Bagehot]

5 It has been said, not truly, but with a possible approximation to truth, that in 1802 every hereditary monarch was insane.
The English Constitution (1867) "Checks and Balances"

[Bagehot]

6 Like Count Moltke, "silent in seven languages".
The English Constitution (1867) "Checks and Balances"

[Bagehot]

7 It is nice to trace how the actions of a retired widow and an unemployed youth become of such importance.
of Queen Victoria and the future Edward VII
The English Constitution (1867) "The Monarchy"

[Bagehot]

8 Throughout the greater part of his life George III was a kind of "consecrated obstruction".
The English Constitution (1867) "The Monarchy"

[Bagehot]

9 There are arguments for not having a Court, and there are arguments for having a splendid Court; but there are no arguments for having a mean Court.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Monarchy"

[Bagehot]

10 The Queen…must sign her own death-warrant if the two Houses unanimously send it up to her.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Monarchy"

[Bagehot]

11 Our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it…We must not let in daylight upon magic.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Monarchy (continued)"

[Bagehot]

12 The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights—the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn.
The English Constitution (1867) "The Monarchy (continued)"

[Bagehot]

13 Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders.
Estimates of some Englishmen and Scotchmen (1858) "The First Edinburgh Reviewers"

[Bagehot]

Back  -   New Search

Baha, Abdul 1844–1921

1 In this century, which is the century of light and the revelation of mysteries…it is well established that mankind and womankind as parts of composite humanity are coequal and that no difference in estimate is allowable, for all are human.
at a woman's suffrage meeting in New York, 1912

Back  -   New Search

Bahya ibn Paquda fl. 1080

1 You should know, O man, that the greatest enemy you have in the world is your inclination.
The Duties of the Heart Gate 5, ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Bailey, David 1938–

1 It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary.
interview in The Face December 1984

Back  -   New Search

Bailey, Philip James 1816–1902

1
America, thou half-brother of the world;
With something good and bad of every land.

Festus (1839) sc. 10

Back  -   New Search

Bainbridge, Beryl 1933–

1 Women are programmed to love completely, and men are programmed to spread it around.
interview in Daily Telegraph 10 September 1996

Back  -   New Search

Bairnsfather, Bruce 1888–1959

1 Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it.
Fragments from France (1915)

Back  -   New Search

Baker, Henry Williams 1821–77

1
The King of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine for ever…

"The King of love my shepherd is" (1868 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Bakunin, Michael 1814–76

1 The urge for destruction is also a creative urge!
Jahrbuch für Wissenschaft und Kunst (1842) "Die Reaktion in Deutschland" (under the pseudonym "Jules Elysard")

Back  -   New Search

Baldwin, James 1924–87

1 Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did.
in Esquire May 1961 "Black Boy looks at the White Boy"

2 If they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.
in New York Review of Books 7 January 1971 "Open Letter to my Sister, Angela Davis"

[Baldwin]

Back  -   New Search

Baldwin, Stanley 1867–1947

1 They [parliament] are a lot of hard-faced men who look as if they had done very well out of the war.
J. M. Keynes Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919) ch. 5

2 There are three classes which need sanctuary more than others—birds, wild flowers, and Prime Ministers.
in Observer 24 May 1925

[Baldwin]

3 The bomber will always get through. The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves.
speech in the House of Commons, 10 November 1932

[Baldwin]

4 I shall be but a short time tonight. I have seldom spoken with greater regret, for my lips are not yet unsealed. Were these troubles over I would make a case, and I guarantee that not a man would go into the lobby against us.
on the Abyssinian crisis; popularly quoted as, "My lips are sealed"
speech in the House of Commons, 10 December 1935

[Baldwin]

5 This House today is a theatre which is being watched by the whole world. Let us conduct ourselves with that dignity which His Majesty is showing in this hour of his trial.
speech, House of Commons, 10 December 1936

[Baldwin]

6 Do not run up your nose dead against the Pope or the NUM!
R. A. Butler The Art of Memory (1982) "Iain Macleod".

[Baldwin]

Back  -   New Search

Balfour, Arthur James 1848–1930

1 His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
known as the "Balfour Declaration"
letter to Lord Rothschild 2 November 1917

2 I thought he was a young man of promise, but it appears he is a young man of promises.
of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill My Early Life (1930) ch. 17

[Balfour]

Back  -   New Search

Ballads

1
All in the merry month of May,
When green buds they were swellin',
Young Jemmy Grove on his death-bed lay,
For love of Barbara Allen.

"Barbara Allen's Cruelty"

2
Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands,
O where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl of Murray,
And hae laid him on the green.

"The Bonny Earl of Murray"

[Ballads]

3
I am a man upon the land,
I am a selkie in the sea;
When I am far and far from land,
My home it is the Sule Skerry.

"The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry"

[Ballads]

4
Och, Johnny, I hardly knew ye!

"Johnny, I hardly knew Ye"

[Ballads]

5
"What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randal, my Son?
What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young man?"
"I gat eels boil'd in broo"; mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

"Lord Randal"

[Ballads]

6
This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
—Every nighte and alle,
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
And Christe receive thy saule.

"fleet" = corruption of "flet", meaning house-room
"Lyke-Wake Dirge"

[Ballads]

7
When captains courageous whom death could not daunt,
Did march to the siege of the city of Gaunt,
They mustered their soldiers by two and by three,
And the foremost in battle was Mary Ambree.

"Mary Ambree"

[Ballads]

8
For in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone.

"The Nut Brown Maid"

[Ballads]

9
For I must to the greenwood go
Alone, a banished man.

"The Nut Brown Maid"

[Ballads]

10
Yestreen the Queen had four Maries,
The night she'll hae but three;
There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaton,
And Marie Carmichael, and me.

"The Queen's Maries"

[Ballads]

11
Ile lay mee downe and bleed a while
And then Ile rise and fight againe.

"Sir Andrew Bartton"

[Ballads]

12
The king sits in Dunfermline town
Drinking the blude-red wine.

"Sir Patrick Spens"

[Ballads]

13
To Noroway, to Noroway,
To Noroway o'er the faem;
The king's daughter o' Noroway,
'Tis thou must bring her hame.

"Sir Patrick Spens"

[Ballads]

14
I saw the new moon late yestreen
Wi' the auld moon in her arm.

"Sir Patrick Spens"

[Ballads]

15
Half-owre, half-owre to Aberdour,
'Tis fifty fathoms deep;
And there lies good Sir Patrick Spens,
Wi' the Scots lords at his feet!

"Sir Patrick Spens"

[Ballads]

16
She's mounted on her milk-white steed,
She's ta'en true Thomas up behind.

"Thomas the Rhymer"

[Ballads]

17
They waded thro' red blude to the knee;
For a' the blude that's shed on the earth
Rins through the springs o' that countrie.

"Thomas the Rhymer"

[Ballads]

18
As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane:
The tane unto the tither did say,
"Where sall we gang and dine the day?"

"—In behint yon auld fail dyke
I wot there lies a new-slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.

"The Twa Corbies" (corbies ravens; fail turf)

[Ballads]

19
The wind doth blow to-day, my love,
And a few small drops of rain;
I never had but one true love;
In cold grave she was lain.

I'll do as much for my true-love
As any young man may;
I'll sit and mourn all at her grave
For a twelvemonth and a day.

"The Unquiet Grave"

[Ballads]

20
O waly, waly, gin love be bonnie
A little time while it is new!
But when 'tis auld it waxeth cauld,
And fades awa' like morning dew.

"Waly, Waly"

[Ballads]

21
Tom Pearse, Tom Pearse, lend me your grey mare,
All along, down along, out along, lee.
For I want for to go to Widdicombe Fair,
Wi' Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davey, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawk,
Old Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all.
Old Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all.

"Widdicombe Fair"

[Ballads]

Back  -   New Search

Ballard, J. G. 1930–

1 Some refer to it as a cultural Chernobyl. I think of it as a cultural Stalingrad.
of Euro Disney
in Daily Telegraph 2 July 1994.

Back  -   New Search

Balliett, Whitney 1926–

1 A critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by a sense of taste.
Dinosaurs in the Morning (1962) introductory note

2 The sound of surprise.
title of book on jazz (1959)

[Balliett]

Back  -   New Search

Balmain, Pierre 1914–82

1 The trick of wearing mink is to look as though you were wearing a cloth coat. The trick of wearing a cloth coat is to look as though you are wearing mink.
in Observer 25 December 1955

Back  -   New Search

Balzac, Honoré de 1799–1850

1 Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts and abilities.
La Comédie Humaine (1842) vol. 1, foreword

2 Hatred is a tonic, it makes one live, it inspires vengeance; but pity kills, it makes our weakness weaker.
La Peau de Chagrin (1831) ch. 1

[Balzac]

Back  -   New Search

Bankhead, Tallulah 1903–68

1 Cocaine habit-forming? Of course not. I ought to know. I've been using it for years.
Tallulah (1952)

2 I'm as pure as the driven slush.
in Saturday Evening Post 12 April 1947

[Bankhead]

Back  -   New Search

Barbour, John c.1320–95

1
Storys to rede ar delitabill,
Suppos that thai be nocht bot fabill.

The Bruce (1375) bk. 1, l. 1

2
A! fredome is a noble thing!
Fredome mayse man to haiff liking.

The Bruce (1375) bk. 1, l. 225

[Barbour]

Back  -   New Search

Barclay, Alexander c.1475–1552

1
The lords will alway that people note and see
Between them and servants some diversity,
Though it to them turn to no profit at all;
If they have pleasure, the servant shall have small.

Eclogues (1514) no. 2, l. 790

Back  -   New Search

Barham, R. H. 1788–1845

1
The Jackdaw sat on the Cardinal's chair!
Bishop, and abbot, and prior were there.

The Ingoldsby Legends (First Series, 1840) "The Jackdaw of Rheims"

2
Heedless of grammar, they all cried, "That's him!"

The Ingoldsby Legends (First Series, 1840) "The Jackdaw of Rheims"

[Barham]

3
Here's a corpse in the case with a sad swelled face,
And a "Crowner's Quest" is a queer sort of thing!

in later editions: "a Medical Crowner's a queer sort of thing!"
The Ingoldsby Legends (First Series, 1840) "A Lay of St Gengulphus"

[Barham]

Back  -   New Search

Baring-Gould, Sabine 1834–1924

1
Onward, Christian soldiers,
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

"Onward, Christian Soldiers" (1864 hymn)

2
Through the night of doubt and sorrow
Onward goes the pilgrim band.

"Through the night of doubt and sorrow" (1867 hymn); translated from the Danish of B. S. Ingemann (1789–1862)

[Baring-Gould]

Back  -   New Search

Barnard, Frederick R.

1 One picture is worth ten thousand words.
in Printers' Ink 10 March 1927

Back  -   New Search

Barnes, Julian 1946–

1 Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't.
Flaubert's Parrot (1984) ch. 13

2 Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.
A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (1989) "Parenthesis".

[Barnes]

3 Love is just a system for getting someone to call you darling after sex.
Talking It Over (1991) ch. 16

[Barnes]

Back  -   New Search

Barnfield, Richard 1574–1627

1
The waters were his winding sheet, the sea was made his tomb;
Yet for his fame the ocean sea, was not sufficient room.

on the death of Sir John Hawkins
The Encomion of Lady Pecunia (1598) "To the Gentlemen Readers"

Back  -   New Search

Barnum, Phineas T. 1810–91

1 There's a sucker born every minute.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Barrie, J. M. 1860–1937

1 His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs, but there will never be equality in the servants' hall.
The Admirable Crichton (performed 1902, published 1914) act 1

2 Every time a child says "I don't believe in fairies" there is a little fairy somewhere that falls down dead.
Peter Pan (1928) act 1

[Barrie]

3 To die will be an awfully big adventure.
Peter Pan (1928) act 3.

[Barrie]

4 Do you believe in fairies? Say quick that you believe! If you believe, clap your hands!
Peter Pan (1928) act 4

[Barrie]

5 There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.
What Every Woman Knows (performed 1908, published 1918) act 2

[Barrie]

Back  -   New Search

Barry, Sebastian 1955–

1 Do you not feel that this island is moored only lightly to the sea-bed, and might be off for the Americas at any moment?
Prayers of Sherkin (1991)

Back  -   New Search

Barthes, Roland 1915–80

1 I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.
Mythologies (1957) "La nouvelle Citroën"

Back  -   New Search

Baruch, Bernard 1870–1965

1 We are today in the midst of a cold war.
"cold war" was suggested to him by H. B. Swope, former editor of the New York World
speech to South Carolina Legislature, 16 April 1947

2 To me old age is always fifteen years older than I am.
in Newsweek 29 August 1955

[Baruch]

Back  -   New Search

Barzun, Jacques 1907–

1 If it were possible to talk to the unborn, one could never explain to them how it feels to be alive, for life is washed in the speechless real.
The House of Intellect (1959) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Basho, Matsuo 1644–94

1
How pleasant—
just once not to see
Fuji through mist.

tr. Lucien Stryk

2
Old pond,
leap-splash—
a frog.

tr. Lucien Stryk

[Basho]

3
You, the butterfly—
I, Chuang Tzu's
dreaming heart.

tr. Lucien Stryk.

[Basho]

Back  -   New Search

Bateman, Edgar and Le Brunn, George

1
Wiv a ladder and some glasses,
You could see to 'Ackney Marshes,
If it wasn't for the 'ouses in between.

"If it wasn't for the 'Ouses in between" (1894 song)

Back  -   New Search

Bates, Katherine Lee 1859–1929

1
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

"America the Beautiful" (1893)

Back  -   New Search

Baudelaire, Charles 1821–67

1
Hypocrite lecteur,—mon semblable,—mon frère.

Hypocrite reader—my likeness—my brother.

Les fleurs du mal (1857) "Au Lecteur"

2
Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.
Everything there is simply order and beauty, luxury, peace and sensual indulgence.
Les fleurs du mal (1857) "L'Invitation au voyage"—"Spleen et idéal" no. 56

[Baudelaire]

3
Quelle est cette île triste et noire? C'est Cythère,
Nous dit-on, un pays fameux dans les chansons,
Eldorado banal de tous les vieux garçons.
Regardez, après tout, c'est un pauvre terre.
What sad, black isle is that? It's Cythera, so they say, a land celebrated in song, the banal Eldorado of all the old fools. Look, after all, it's a land of poverty.
Les fleurs du mal (1857) "Un voyage à Cythère"—"Les fleurs du mal" no. 121

[Baudelaire]

4 Il faut épater le bourgeois.One must astonish the bourgeois.
attributed; also attributed to Privat d'Anglemont (c.1820–59) in the form "Je les ai épatés, les bourgeois [I flabbergasted them, the bourgeois]"

[Baudelaire]

Back  -   New Search

Baum, L. Frank 1856–1919

1 The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) ch. 2.

Back  -   New Search

Beachcomber

see J. B. Morton

Back  -   New Search

Beatty, David 1871–1936

1 There's something wrong with our bloody ships today.
at the Battle of Jutland, 1916
Winston Churchill The World Crisis 1916–1918 (1927) pt. 1

Back  -   New Search

Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de 1732–99

1 Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love all year round, madam; that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals.
Le Mariage de Figaro (1785) act 2, sc. 21

2 Because you are a great lord, you believe yourself to be a great genius!…You took the trouble to be born, but no more.
Le Mariage de Figaro (1785) act 5, sc. 3

[Beaumarchais]

Back  -   New Search

Beaumont, Francis 1584–1616 and Fletcher, John 1579–1625

1 Those have most power to hurt us that we love.
The Maid's Tragedy (written 1610–11) act 5

2 There is no other purgatory but a woman.
The Scornful Lady (1616) act 3

[Beaumont]

Back  -   New Search

Beaverbrook, Lord (Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook) 1879–1964

1 Now who is responsible for this work of development on which so much depends? To whom must the praise be given? To the boys in the back rooms. They do not sit in the limelight. But they are the men who do the work.
in Listener 27 March 1941

2 With the publication of his Private Papers in 1952, he committed suicide 25 years after his death.
of Earl Haig
Men and Power (1956)

[Beaverbrook]

3 Our cock won't fight.
to Winston Churchill of Edward VIII, during the abdication crisis of 1936
Frances Donaldson Edward VIII (1974) ch. 22

[Beaverbrook]

Back  -   New Search

Beckett, Samuel 1906–89

1 One of the thieves was saved. (Pause) It's a reasonable percentage.
Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1

2 estragon: Charming spot. Inspiring prospects. Let's go.
vladimir: We can't.
estragon: Why not?
vladimir: We're waiting for Godot.

Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1

[Beckett]

3 Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!
Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1

[Beckett]

4 They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.
Waiting for Godot (1955) act 2

[Beckett]

5 Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Worstward Ho (1983)

[Beckett]

6 I am what her savage loving has made me.
of his mother
James Knowlson Damned to Fame (1996)

[Beckett]

Back  -   New Search

Beddoes, Thomas Lovell 1803–49

1
If there were dreams to sell,
What would you buy?

"Dream-Pedlary" (written 1830, published 1851)

Back  -   New Search

Bede, The Venerable ad 673–735

1 "Such," he said, "O King, seems to me the present life of men on earth, in comparison with that time which to us is uncertain, as if when on a winter's night you sit feasting with your ealdormen and thegns,—a single sparrow should fly swiftly into the hall, and coming in at one door, instantly fly out through another. In that time in which it is indoors it is indeed not touched by the fury of the winter, but yet, this smallest space of calmness being passed almost in a flash, from winter going into winter again, it is lost to your eyes. Somewhat like this appears the life of man; but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant."
Ecclesiastical History of the English People (tr. B. Colgrave, 1969) bk. 2, ch. 13

Back  -   New Search

Bedford, Harry and Sullivan, Terry

1 I'm a bit of a ruin that Cromwell knocked about a bit.
"It's a Bit of a Ruin that Cromwell Knocked about a Bit" (1920 song; written for Marie Lloyd)

Back  -   New Search

Bee, Barnard Elliott 1823–61

1 There is Jackson with his Virginians, standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer.
referring to General T. J. ("Stonewall") Jackson at the battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861 (in which Bee himself was killed)
B. Perley Poore Perley's Reminiscences (1886) vol. 2, ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Beecham, Thomas 1879–1961

1 There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
Harold Atkins and Archie Newman Beecham Stories (1978)

2 Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.
of J. S. Bach
in Guardian 8 March 1971

[Beecham]

Back  -   New Search

Beeching, H. C. 1859–1919

1
First come I; my name is Jowett.
There's no knowledge but I know it.
I am Master of this college:
What I don't know isn't knowledge.

The Masque of Balliol (composed by and current among members of Balliol College in the late 1870s) in W. G. Hiscock (ed.) The Balliol Rhymes (1939).

Back  -   New Search

Beerbohm, Max 1872–1956

1 Enter Michael Angelo. Andrea del Sarto appears for a moment at a window. Pippa passes.
Seven Men (1919) "Savonarola Brown" act 3

2 The fading signals and grey eternal walls of that antique station, which, familiar to them and insignificant, does yet whisper to the tourist the last enchantments of the Middle Age.
Zuleika Dobson (1911) ch. 1.

[Beerbohm]

3 Fate wrote her a most tremendous tragedy, and she played it in tights.
of Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George IV
The Yellow Book (1894) vol. 3

[Beerbohm]

Back  -   New Search

Beers, Ethel Lynn 1827–79

1
All quiet along the Potomac to-night,
No sound save the rush of the river,
While soft falls the dew on the face of the dead—
The picket's off duty forever.

"The Picket Guard" (1861) st. 6.

Back  -   New Search

Beethoven, Ludwig van 1770–1827

1 Muss es sein? Es muss sein.Must it be? It must be.
String Quartet in F Major, Opus 135, epigraph

Back  -   New Search

Behan, Brendan 1923–64

1 pat: He was an Anglo-Irishman.
meg: In the blessed name of God what's that?
pat: A Protestant with a horse.

Hostage (1958) act 1

2 When I came back to Dublin, I was courtmartialled in my absence and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.
Hostage (1958) act 1

[Behan]

3 There's no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.
Dominic Behan My Brother Brendan (1965)

[Behan]

Back  -   New Search

Behn, Aphra 1640–89

1 Oh, what a dear ravishing thing is the beginning of an Amour!
The Emperor of the Moon (1687) act 1, sc. 1

2 Variety is the soul of pleasure.
The Rover pt. 2 (1681) act 1.

[Behn]

3 Come away; poverty's catching.
The Rover pt. 2 (1681) act 1

[Behn]

4 The soft, unhappy sex.
The Wandering Beauty (1698) para. 1

[Behn]

Back  -   New Search

Beith, John Hay

see Ian Hay

Back  -   New Search

Bell, Alexander Graham 1847–1922

1 Mr Watson, come here, I want you!
to his assistant, Thomas Watson, in the next room; the first words spoken on the telephone, 10 March 1876
Thomas A. Watson Exploring Life (1926)

Back  -   New Search

Bell, George 1883–1958

1 The policy is obliteration, openly acknowledged. This is not a justifiable act of war.
speech, House of Lords, 9 February 1944

Back  -   New Search

Bellamy, Francis 1856–1931

1 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag (1892)

Back  -   New Search

Bellarmine, St Robert 1542–1621

1 Nobody can remember more than seven of anything.
reason for omitting the eight beatitudes from his catechism
John Bossy Christianity in the West 1400–1700 (1985)

Back  -   New Search

Belloc, Hilaire 1870–1953

1
Child! do not throw this book about;
Refrain from the unholy pleasure
Of cutting all the pictures out!
Preserve it as your chiefest treasure.

A Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896) dedication

2
I shoot the Hippopotamus
With bullets made of platinum,
Because if I use leaden ones
His hide is sure to flatten 'em.

A Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896) "The Hippopotamus"

[Belloc]

3
And mothers of large families (who claim to common sense)
Will find a Tiger well repay the trouble and expense.

A Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896) "The Tiger"

[Belloc]

4 Believing Truth is staring at the sun.
title of poem (1938)

[Belloc]

5
Physicians of the Utmost Fame
Were called at once; but when they came
They answered, as they took their Fees,
"There is no Cure for this Disease."

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Henry King"

[Belloc]

6
And always keep a-hold of Nurse
For fear of finding something worse.

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Jim"

[Belloc]

7
Sir! you have disappointed us!
We had intended you to be
The next Prime Minister but three:
The stocks were sold; the Press was squared;
The Middle Class was quite prepared.
But as it is!…My language fails!
Go out and govern New South Wales!

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Lord Lundy"

[Belloc]

8
For every time She shouted "Fire!"
They only answered "Little Liar!"

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Matilda"

[Belloc]

9
Here richly, with ridiculous display,
The Politician's corpse was laid away.
While all of his acquaintance sneered and slanged
I wept: for I had longed to see him hanged.

"Epitaph on the Politician Himself" (1923)

[Belloc]

10
I said to Heart, "How goes it ?" Heart replied:
"Right as a Ribstone Pippin!" But it lied.

"The False Heart" (1910)

[Belloc]

11
I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.
But Money gives me pleasure all the time.

"Fatigued" (1923)

[Belloc]

12
Remote and ineffectual Don
That dared attack my Chesterton.

"Lines to a Don" (1910)

[Belloc]

13
Whatever happens we have got
The Maxim Gun, and they have not.

The Modern Traveller (1898) pt. 6

[Belloc]

14
The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat,
With an indolent expression and an undulating throat
Like an unsuccessful literary man.

More Beasts for Worse Children (1897) "The Llama"

[Belloc]

15
Oh! let us never, never doubt
What nobody is sure about!

More Beasts for Worse Children (1897) "The Microbe"

[Belloc]

16
Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light
Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right!
It is the business of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan.

More Peers (1911) "Lord Finchley"

[Belloc]

17
Like many of the Upper Class
He liked the Sound of Broken Glass.

New Cautionary Tales (1930) "About John".

[Belloc]

18
I am a sundial, and I make a botch
Of what is done much better by a watch.

"On a Sundial" (1938)

[Belloc]

19
When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."

"On His Books" (1923)

[Belloc]

20
Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

"The Pacifist" (1938)

[Belloc]

21
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?

"Tarantella" (1923)

[Belloc]

22
There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.

Verses (1910) "Dedicatory Ode"

[Belloc]

Back  -   New Search

Bellow, Saul 1915–

1 If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.
Herzog (1961)

2 It is sometimes necessary to repeat what we all know. All mapmakers should place the Mississippi in the same location, and avoid originality.
Mr Sammler's Planet (1969)

[Bellow]

3 Nobody likes being written about in their lifetime, it's as though the FBI and the CIA were suddenly to splash your files in the paper.
in Guardian 10 September 1997

[Bellow]

Back  -   New Search

Belloy, Du 1725–75

1
The more foreigners I saw, the more I loved my homeland.

Le Siège de Calais (1765) act 2, sc. 3

Back  -   New Search

Benchley, Robert 1889–1945

1 The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon.
Chips off the old Benchley (1949) "Learn to Write"

2 In America there are two classes of travel—first class, and with children.
Pluck and Luck (1925)

[Benchley]

3 streets flooded. please advise.
message sent on arriving in Venice
R. E. Drennan (ed.) Wits End (1973) "Robert Benchley"

[Benchley]

Back  -   New Search

Benda, Julien 1867–1956

1 La trahison des clercs.The treachery of the intellectuals.
title of book (1927)

Back  -   New Search

Benét, Stephen Vincent 1898–1943

1
I have fallen in love with American names,
The sharp, gaunt names that never get fat.

"American Names" (1927)

2
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.

"American Names" (1927)

[Benét]

3
And kept his heart a secret to the end
From all the picklocks of biographers.

of Robert E. Lee
John Brown's Body (1928)

[Benét]

Back  -   New Search

Benét, William Rose 1886–1950

1
Blake saw a treefull of angels at Peckham Rye,
And his hands could lay hold on the tiger's terrible heart.
Blake knew how deep is Hell, and Heaven how high,
And could build the universe from one tiny part.

"Mad Blake" (1918)

Back  -   New Search

Benn, Tony 1925–

1 Not a reluctant peer but a persistent commoner.
at a Press Conference, 23 November 1960

2 Some of the jam we thought was for tomorrow, we've already eaten.
attributed, 1969.

[Benn]

3 If you file your waste-paper basket for 50 years, you have a public library.
in Daily Telegraph 5 March 1994

[Benn]

4 A quotation is what a speaker wants to say—unlike a soundbite which is all that an interviewer allows you to say.
letter to Antony Jay, August 1996

[Benn]

5 When I think of Cool Britannia, I think of old people dying of hypothermia.
at the Labour Party Conference, in Daily Star 30 September 1998

[Benn]

Back  -   New Search

Bennard, George 1873–1958

1
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

"The Old Rugged Cross" (1913 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Bennett, Alan 1934–

1 Standards are always out of date. That is what makes them standards.
Forty Years On (1969) act 2

2 Sapper, Buchan, Dornford Yates, practitioners in that school of Snobbery with Violence that runs like a thread of good-class tweed through twentieth-century literature.
Forty Years On (1969) act 2

[Bennett]

3 To be Prince of Wales is not a position. It is a predicament.
The Madness of King George (1995 film); in the 1992 play The Madness of George III the line was "To be heir to the throne…"

[Bennett]

Back  -   New Search

Bennett, Arnold 1867–1931

1 "What great cause is he identified with?" "He's identified…with the great cause of cheering us all up."
The Card (1911) ch. 12

2 A cause may be inconvenient, but it's magnificent. It's like champagne or high heels, and one must be prepared to suffer for it.
The Title (1918) act 1

[Bennett]

3 Literature's always a good card to play for Honours.
The Title (1918) act 3

[Bennett]

Back  -   New Search

Bennett, Jill 1931–90

1 Never marry a man who hates his mother, because he'll end up hating you.
in Observer 12 September 1982 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Benson, A. C. 1862–1925

1
Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;
God who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

"Land of Hope and Glory" written to be sung as the Finale to Elgar's Coronation Ode (1902)

Back  -   New Search

Benson, Stella 1892–1933

1
Call no man foe, but never love a stranger.

This is the End (1917)

Back  -   New Search

Bentham, Jeremy 1748–1832

1 Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
Anarchical Fallacies in J. Bowring (ed.) Works vol. 2 (1843)

2 The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.
Bentham claimed to have acquired the "sacred truth" either from Joseph Priestley or Cesare Beccaria (1738–94)
The Commonplace Book in J. Bowring (ed.) Works vol. 10 (1843).

[Bentham]

3 All punishment is mischief: all punishment in itself is evil.
Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) ch. 13, para. 2

[Bentham]

4 Every law is contrary to liberty.
Principles of the Civil Code (1843)

[Bentham]

5 Prose is when all the lines except the last go on to the end. Poetry is when some of them fall short of it.
M. St. J. Packe The Life of John Stuart Mill (1954) bk. 1, ch. 2

[Bentham]

Back  -   New Search

Bentley, Edmund Clerihew 1875–1956

1
The Art of Biography
Is different from Geography.
Geography is about Maps,
But Biography is about Chaps.

Biography for Beginners (1905) introduction

2
George the Third
Ought never to have occurred.
One can only wonder
At so grotesque a blunder.

More Biography (1929) "George the Third"

[Bentley]

Back  -   New Search

Bentley, Richard 1662–1742

1 It would be port if it could.
on claret
R. C. Jebb Bentley (1902) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Bentsen, Lloyd 1921–

1 responding to Dan Quayle's claim to have "as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy had when he sought the presidency":Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.
in the vice-presidential debate, 5 October 1988

Back  -   New Search

Béranger, Pierre-Jean de 1780–1857

1 Nos amis, les ennemis.Our friends, the enemy.
"L'Opinion de ces demoiselles" (written 1815) in Chansons de De Béranger (1832)

Back  -   New Search

Bergson, Henri 1859–1941

1 L'élan vital.The vital spirit.
L'Évolution créatrice (1907) ch. 2 (section title)

Back  -   New Search

Berkeley, George 1685–1753

1 They are neither finite quantities, or quantities infinitely small, nor yet nothing. May we not call them the ghosts of departed quantities?
on Newton's infinitesimals
The Analyst (1734) sect. 35

2 [Tar water] is of a nature so mild and benign and proportioned to the human constitution, as to warm without heating, to cheer but not inebriate.
Siris (1744) para. 217.

[Berkeley]

3
Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

"On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America" (1752) st. 6.

[Berkeley]

Back  -   New Search

Berlin, Irving 1888–1989

1
I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek-to-cheek.

"Cheek-to-Cheek" (1935 song) in Top Hat

2
God bless America,
Land that I love.

"God Bless America" (1939 song)

[Berlin]

3
There may be trouble ahead,
But while there's moonlight and music and love and romance,
Let's face the music and dance.

"Let's Face the Music and Dance" (1936 song) in Follow the Fleet

[Berlin]

4
A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day.

"A Pretty Girl is like a Melody" (1919 song)

[Berlin]

5 There's no business like show business.
title of song in Annie Get Your Gun (1946)

[Berlin]

6
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know.

"White Christmas" (1942 song) in Holiday Inn

[Berlin]

7 Listen, kid, take my advice, never hate a song that has sold half a million copies.
to Cole Porter, of the song "Rosalie"
Philip Furia Poets of Tin Pan Alley (1990)

[Berlin]

Back  -   New Search

Berlin, Isaiah 1909–97

1 There exists a great chasm between those, on one side, who relate everything to a single central vision…and, on the other side, those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory…The first kind of intellectual and artistic personality belongs to the hedgehogs, the second to the foxes.
The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953) sect. 1.

2 Liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or justice or human happiness or a quiet conscience.
Two Concepts of Liberty (1958)

[Berlin]

Back  -   New Search

Bernanos, Georges 1888–1948

1 The wish for prayer is a prayer in itself.
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1936) ch. 2

2 Hell, madam, is to love no more.
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1936) ch. 2

[Bernanos]

Back  -   New Search

Bernard of Chartres d. c.1130

1 We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.
John of Salisbury The Metalogicon (1159) bk. 3, ch. 4, quoted in R. K. Merton On the Shoulders of Giants (1965) ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Bernard, St of Clairvaux 1090–1153

1 You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.
Epistles no. 106.

2 I am a kind of chimaera of my age, neither cleric nor layman.
Epistles no. 250

[Bernard]

Back  -   New Search

Berne, Eric 1910–70

1 Games people play: the psychology of human relationships.
title of book (1964)

Back  -   New Search

Berra, Yogi 1925–

1 The future ain't what it used to be.
attributed

2 It ain't over till it's over.
comment on National League pennant race, 1973, quoted in many versions

[Berra]

3 It was déjà vu all over again.
attributed

[Berra]

Back  -   New Search

Berryman, John 1914–72

1
People will take balls,
Balls will be lost always, little boy,
And no one buys a ball back.

"The Ball Poem" (1948)

2 We must travel in the direction of our fear.
"A Point of Age" (1942)

[Berryman]

3
I seldom go to films. They are too exciting,
said the Honourable Possum.

77 Dream Songs (1964) no. 53

[Berryman]

Back  -   New Search

Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von 1856–1921

1 Just for a word "neutrality"—a word which in wartime has so often been disregarded—just for a scrap of paper, Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred nation who desires nothing better than to be friends with her.
summary of a report by Sir Edward Goschen to Sir Edward Grey
British Documents on Origins of the War 1898–1914 (1926) vol. 11; The Diary of Edward Goschen 1900–1914 (1980) Appendix B discusses the contentious origins of this statement

Back  -   New Search

Betjeman, John 1906–84

1
He sipped at a weak hock and seltzer
As he gazed at the London skies
Through the Nottingham lace of the curtains
Or was it his bees-winged eyes?

"The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel" (1937)

2
And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad,
And Christmas-morning bells say "Come!"

"Christmas" (1954)

[Betjeman]

3
And is it true? And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?

"Christmas" (1954)

[Betjeman]

4
Oh! Chintzy, Chintzy cheeriness,
Half dead and half alive!

"Death in Leamington" (1931)

[Betjeman]

5
Spirits of well-shot woodcock, partridge, snipe
Flutter and bear him up the Norfolk sky.

"Death of King George V" (1937)

[Betjeman]

6
Old men who never cheated, never doubted,
Communicated monthly, sit and stare
At the new suburb stretched beyond the run-way
Where a young man lands hatless from the air.

"Death of King George V" (1937)

[Betjeman]

7
Phone for the fish-knives, Norman
As Cook is a little unnerved;
You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes
And I must have things daintily served.

"How to get on in Society" (1954)

[Betjeman]

8
Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots' and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
Democracy and proper drains.
Lord, put beneath Thy special care
One-eighty-nine Cadogan Square.

"In Westminster Abbey" (1940)

[Betjeman]

9
Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's
Daintily alights Elaine.

"Middlesex" (1954)

[Betjeman]

10
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now.

"Slough" (1937)

[Betjeman]

11
Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn,
Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun.

"A Subaltern's Love-Song" (1945)

[Betjeman]

12
Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy,
The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy,
With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won,
I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn.

"A Subaltern's Love-Song" (1945)

[Betjeman]

13 Ghastly good taste, or a depressing story of the rise and fall of English architecture.
title of book (1933)

[Betjeman]

Back  -   New Search

Bettelheim, Bruno 1903–90

1 The most extreme agony is to feel that one has been utterly forsaken.
Surviving and other essays (1979)

Back  -   New Search

Bevan, Aneurin 1897–1960

1 This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organizing genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time.
speech at Blackpool, 24 May 1945

2 The Tory Party…So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
speech at Manchester, 4 July 1948

[Bevan]

3 If you carry this resolution you will send Britain's Foreign Secretary naked into the conference chamber.
speaking against a motion proposing unilateral nuclear disarmament by the UK at Labour Party Conference in Brighton, 3 October 1957
in Daily Herald 4 October 1957

[Bevan]

4 I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
in The Times 29 March 1960

[Bevan]

5 I stuffed their mouths with gold.
of his handling of the consultants during the establishment of the National Health Service
Brian Abel-Smith The Hospitals 1800–1948 (1964) ch. 29

[Bevan]

Back  -   New Search

Beveridge, William Henry 1879–1963

1 Want is one only of five giants on the road of reconstruction…the others are Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.
Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942) pt. 7

Back  -   New Search

Bevin, Ernest 1881–1951

1 My [foreign] policy is to be able to take a ticket at Victoria Station and go anywhere I damn well please.
in Spectator 20 April 1951

2 If you open that Pandora's Box, you never know what Trojan 'orses will jump out.
on the Council of Europe
Roderick Barclay Ernest Bevin and the Foreign Office (1975) ch. 3

[Bevin]

3 on the observation that Aneurin Bevan was sometimes his own worst enemy:Not while I'm alive 'e ain't!
also attributed to Bevin of Herbert Morrison
Roderick Barclay Ernest Bevin and Foreign Office (1975)

[Bevin]

Back  -   New Search

Bhagavadgita

textual translations are those of J. Mascaro, 1978 1
If any man thinks he slays, and if another thinks he is slain, neither knows the ways of truth. The Eternal in man cannot kill: the Eternal in man cannot die.
He is never born, and he never dies. He is in Eternity, he is for evermore. Never-born and eternal, beyond times gone or to come, he does not die when the body dies.

ch. 2, v. 19

2
I [Krishna] am all-powerful Time which destroys all things, and I have come here to slay these men. Even if thou does not fight, all the warriors facing thee shall die.

ch. 11, v. 32.

[Bhagavadgita]

3
Only by love can men see me, and know me, and come unto me.

ch. 11, v. 54

[Bhagavadgita]

Back  -   New Search

Bhutto, Benazir 1953–

1 Every dictator uses religion as a prop to keep himself in power.
interview on 60 Minutes, CBS-TV, 8 August 1986

Back  -   New Search

The Bible (Authorized Version, 1611)

1 Upon the setting of that bright Occidental Star, Queen Elizabeth of most happy memory.

The Epistle Dedicatory

Old Testament
Genesis 2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Genesis ch. 1, v. 1

3
And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis ch. 1, v. 5

Top

4
And God saw that it was good.

Genesis ch. 1, v. 10

Top

5
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 8

Top

6
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 9

Top

7
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 17

Top

8
It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 18

Top

9
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 22

Top

10
Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 23.

Top

11
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 24

Top

12
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 1

Top

13
And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

"and made themselves breeches" in the Geneva Bible, 1560, known for that reason as the "Breeches Bible"
Genesis ch. 3, v. 7

Top

14
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 12

Top

15
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 13

Top

16
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 15

Top

17
In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 16

Top

18
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 19

Top

19
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 19.

Top

20
Am I my brother's keeper?

Genesis ch. 4, v. 9

Top

21
And the Lord set a mark upon Cain.

Genesis ch. 4, v. 15

Top

22
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Genesis ch. 4, v. 16

Top

23
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis ch. 5, v. 24

Top

24
There were giants in the earth in those days.

Genesis ch. 6, v. 4

Top

25
There went in two and two unto Noah into the Ark, the male and the female.

Genesis ch. 7, v. 9

Top

26
But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.

Genesis ch. 8, v. 9

Top

27
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.

Genesis ch. 9, v. 6

Top

28
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis ch. 9, v. 13

Top

29
Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.

Genesis ch. 10, v. 9

Top

30
His [Ishmael's] hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.

Genesis ch. 16, v. 12

Top

31
But his [Lot's] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis ch. 19, v. 26

Top

32
A ram caught in a thicket.

Genesis ch. 22, v. 13

Top

33
Esau selleth his birthright for a mess of pottage.

chapter heading in Geneva Bible, 1560
Genesis ch. 25

Top

34
Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

Genesis ch. 27, v. 11

Top

35
The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

Genesis ch. 27, v. 22

Top

36
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Genesis ch. 28, v. 12

Top

37
And Jacob served seven years for Rachel.

Genesis ch. 29, v. 20

Top

38
The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.

Genesis ch. 31, v. 49

Top

39
He made him a coat of many colours.

Genesis ch. 37, v. 3

Top

40
Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt.

Genesis ch. 42, v. 1

Top

41
Then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Genesis ch. 42, v. 38

Top

42
Ye shall eat the fat of the land.

Genesis ch. 45, v. 18

Top

43
Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.

Genesis ch. 49, v. 4

Top

Exodus 44
I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Exodus ch. 2, v. 22

45
Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 2

Top

46
Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 5

Top

47
A land flowing with milk and honey.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 8

Top

48
I am that I am.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 14

Top

49
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

Exodus ch. 7, v. 3

Top

50
Let my people go.

Exodus ch. 7, v. 16

Top

51
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 8

Top

52
Ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 11

Top

53
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 12

Top

54
And they spoiled the Egyptians.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 36

Top

55
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light.

Exodus ch. 13, v. 21

Top

56
Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full.

Exodus ch. 16, v. 3

Top

57
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 3

Top

58
I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 5.

Top

59
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 7

Top

60
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 8

Top

61
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 12.

Top

62
Life for life,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Exodus ch. 21, v. 23

Top

63
These be thy gods, O Israel.

Exodus ch. 32, v. 4

Top

64
Thou art a stiffnecked people.

Exodus ch. 33, v. 3

Top

Leviticus 65
Let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Leviticus ch. 16, v. 10

66
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.

Leviticus ch. 18, v. 5.

Top

67
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Leviticus ch. 19, v. 18.

Top

Numbers 68
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Numbers ch. 6, v. 24

69
These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land.

Numbers ch. 13, v. 16

Top

70
What hath God wrought!

quoted by Samuel Morse in the first electric telegraph message, 24 May 1844
Numbers ch. 23, v. 23

Top

71
Be sure your sin will find you out.

Numbers ch. 32, v. 23

Top

Deuteronomy 72
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.

Deuteronomy ch. 6, v. 4.

73
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams…Thou shalt not hearken.

Deuteronomy ch. 13, v. 1

Top

74
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Deuteronomy ch. 32, v. 10

Top

75
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy ch. 33, v. 27

Top

Joshua 76
When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.

Joshua ch. 6, v. 20

77
Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation.

Joshua ch. 9, v. 21

Top

78
I am going the way of all the earth.

Joshua ch. 23, v. 14

Top

Judges 79
I arose a mother in Israel.

Judges ch. 5, v. 7

80
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

Judges ch. 5, v. 20

Top

81
She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

Judges ch. 5, v. 25

Top

82
Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

Judges ch. 5, v. 28

Top

83
Faint, yet pursuing.

Judges ch. 8, v. 4

Top

84
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him.

Judges ch. 12, v. 6

Top

85
Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.

Judges ch. 14, v. 14

Top

86
He smote them hip and thigh.

Judges ch. 15, v. 8

Top

87
With the jawbone of an ass…have I slain a thousand men.

Judges ch. 15, v. 16

Top

88
The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.

Judges ch. 16, v. 9

Top

89
From Dan even to Beer-sheba.

Judges ch. 20, v. 1

Top

90
The people arose as one man.

Judges ch. 20, v. 8

Top

Ruth 91
Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Ruth ch. 1, v. 16

I Samuel 92
Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.

I Samuel ch. 3, v. 9

93
And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel.

I Samuel ch. 4, v. 21

Top

94
And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

I Samuel ch. 9, v. 3.

Top

95
Is Saul also among the prophets?

I Samuel ch. 10, v. 11

Top

96
God save the king.

I Samuel ch. 10, v. 24

Top

97
A man after his own heart.

I Samuel ch. 13, v. 14

Top

98
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

I Samuel ch. 16, v. 7

Top

99
Go, and the Lord be with thee.

I Samuel ch. 17, v. 37

Top

100
And he…chose him five smooth stones out of the brook.

I Samuel ch. 17, v. 40

Top

101
Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

I Samuel ch. 18, v. 7.

Top

102
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.

I Samuel ch. 22, v. 1.

Top

103
And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand.

I Samuel ch. 23, v. 7

Top

II Samuel 104
The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 19

105
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 20

Top

106
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided.

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 23

Top

107
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen.

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 26

Top

108
The poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb.

II Samuel ch. 12, v. 3

Top

109
Thou art the man.

II Samuel ch. 12, v. 7

Top

110
For we needs must die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person.

II Samuel ch. 14, v. 14

Top

111
And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

II Samuel ch. 18, v. 33

Top

112
By my God have I leaped over a wall.

II Samuel ch. 22, v. 30

Top

113
David…the sweet psalmist of Israel.

II Samuel ch. 23, v. 1

Top

I Kings 114
And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

I Kings ch. 1, v. 39

115
Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.

I Kings ch. 9, v. 7

Top

116
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom…there was no more spirit in her.

I Kings ch. 10, v. 4

Top

117
Behold, the half was not told me.

I Kings ch. 10, v. 7

Top

118
Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

I Kings ch. 10, v. 22.

Top

119
But king Solomon loved many strange women.

I Kings ch. 11, v. 1

Top

120
My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.

I Kings ch. 12, v. 10

Top

121
My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

I Kings ch. 12, v. 11

Top

122
To your tents, O Israel.

I Kings ch. 12, v. 16

Top

123
An handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse.

I Kings ch. 17, v. 12

Top

124
How long halt ye between two opinions?

I Kings ch. 18, v. 21

Top

125
There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.

I Kings ch. 18, v. 44

Top

126
He girded up his loins.

I Kings ch. 18, v. 46

Top

127
But the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
And after the earthquake a fire: but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

I Kings ch. 19, v. 11

Top

128
Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

I Kings ch. 19, v. 19

Top

129
Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?

I Kings ch. 21, v. 20

Top

130
I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd.

I Kings ch. 22, v. 17

Top

131
Feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

I Kings ch. 22, v. 27

Top

132
And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.

I Kings ch. 22, v. 34

Top

II Kings 133
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

II Kings ch. 2, v. 11

134
The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.

II Kings ch. 2, v. 15

Top

135
Go up, thou bald head.

II Kings ch. 2, v. 23

Top

136
Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

II Kings ch. 4, v. 26

Top

137
There is death in the pot.

II Kings ch. 4, v. 40

Top

138
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?

II Kings ch. 5, v. 12

Top

139
I bow myself in the house of Rimmon.

II Kings ch. 5, v. 18

Top

140
Whence comest thou, Gehazi?

II Kings ch. 5, v. 25

Top

141
Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?

II Kings ch. 8, v. 13

Top

142
The driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.

II Kings ch. 9, v. 20

Top

143
She painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

II Kings ch. 9, v. 30

Top

144
Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

II Kings ch. 9, v. 31

Top

145
Who is on my side? who?

II Kings ch. 9, v. 32

Top

146
They found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.

II Kings ch. 9, v. 35

Top

147
Thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it.

II Kings ch. 18, v. 21

Top

I Chronicles 148
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

I Chronicles ch. 29, v. 15

Esther 149
And if I perish, I perish.

Esther ch. 4, v. 16

Job 150
And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Job ch. 1, v. 7

151
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job ch. 1, v. 21

Top

152
All that a man hath will he give for his life.

Job ch. 2, v. 4

Top

153
Curse God, and die.

Job ch. 2, v. 9

Top

154
Let the day perish wherein I was born.

Job ch. 3, v. 3

Top

155
There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest.

Job ch. 3, v. 17

Top

156
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

Job ch. 4, v. 15

Top

157
Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Job ch. 5, v. 7

Top

158
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Job ch. 14, v. 1

Top

159
Miserable comforters are ye all.

Job ch. 16, v. 2

Top

160
I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Job ch. 19, v. 20

Top

161
I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Job ch. 19, v. 25

Top

162
The root of the matter is found in me.

Job ch. 19, v. 28

Top

163
The price of wisdom is above rubies.

Job ch. 28, v. 18

Top

164
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

Job ch. 30, v. 29

Top

165
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

Job ch. 38, v. 31

Top

166
He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

Job ch. 39, v. 25

Top

167
Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

Job ch. 40, v. 15

Top

168
Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?

Job ch. 41, v. 1

Top

Proverbs 169
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

Proverbs ch. 1, v. 17

170
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth.

Proverbs ch. 3, v. 12

Top

171
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Proverbs ch. 3, v. 17

Top

172
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Proverbs ch. 4, v. 7

Top

173
Go to the ant thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Proverbs ch. 6, v. 6

Top

174
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.

Proverbs ch. 6, v. 10

Top

175
Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars.

Proverbs ch. 9, v. 1

Top

176
Stolen waters are sweet.

Proverbs ch. 9, v. 17

Top

177
A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Proverbs ch. 10, v. 1

Top

178
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.

Proverbs ch. 12, v. 4

Top

179
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Proverbs ch. 12, v. 10

Top

180
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.

Proverbs ch. 12, v. 22.

Top

181
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.

Proverbs ch. 13, v. 12

Top

182
The way of transgressors is hard.

Proverbs ch. 13, v. 15

Top

183
He that spareth his rod hateth his son.

Proverbs ch. 13, v. 24

Top

184
A soft answer turneth away wrath.

Proverbs ch. 15, v. 1

Top

185
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.

Proverbs ch. 15, v. 13

Top

186
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

"Better is a mess of pottage with love, than a fat ox with evil will" in Matthew's Bible (1535)
Proverbs ch. 15, v. 17

Top

187
A word spoken in due season, how good is it!

Proverbs ch. 15, v. 23

Top

188
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs ch. 16, v. 18

Top

189
There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Proverbs ch. 18, v. 24

Top

190
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.

Proverbs ch. 20, v. 1

Top

191
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs ch. 22, v. 6

Top

192
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red.

Proverbs ch. 23, v. 31

Top

193
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 11

Top

194
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 17

Top

195
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 21

Top

196
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 25

Top

197
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Proverbs ch. 26, v. 4

Top

198
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Proverbs ch. 26, v. 11

Top

199
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs ch. 28, v. 1

Top

200
He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

Proverbs ch. 28, v. 20

Top

201
Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Proverbs ch. 29, v. 18

Top

202
There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

Proverbs ch. 30, v. 18

Top

203
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs ch. 31, v. 10

Top

Ecclesiastes 204
Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 2.

205
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 7

Top

206
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 9

Top

207
He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 18

Top

208
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

Ecclesiastes ch. 3, v. 1

Top

209
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes ch. 3, v. 1

Top

210
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes ch. 3, v. 1

Top

211
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes ch. 4, v. 12.

Top

212
The sleep of a labouring man is sweet.

Ecclesiastes ch. 5, v. 12

Top

213
As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool.

Ecclesiastes ch. 7, v. 6

Top

214
God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Ecclesiastes ch. 7, v. 29

Top

215
There is no discharge in that war.

Ecclesiastes ch. 8, v. 8

Top

217
A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.

Ecclesiastes ch. 8, v. 15

Top

217
A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Ecclesiastes ch. 9, v. 4

Top

218
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Ecclesiastes ch. 9, v. 10

Top

219
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.

Ecclesiastes ch. 9, v. 11.

Top

220
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it.

Ecclesiastes ch. 10, v. 8

Top

221
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.

Ecclesiastes ch. 10, v. 16.

Top

222
Wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

Ecclesiastes ch. 10, v. 19

Top

223
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes ch. 11, v. 1

Top

224
In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

Ecclesiastes ch. 11, v. 3

Top

225
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 1

Top

226
And desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 5

Top

227
Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 12

Top

228
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 13

Top

Song of Solomon 229
I am black, but comely.

Song of Solomon ch. 1, v. 5

230
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

Song of Solomon ch. 2, v. 1

Top

231
The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon ch. 2, v. 10

Top

232
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.

Song of Solomon ch. 2, v. 16

Top

233
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair.

Song of Solomon ch. 4, v. 1

Top

234
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Song of Solomon ch. 4, v. 12

Top

235
Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave.

Song of Solomon ch. 8, v. 6

Top

236
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

Song of Solomon ch. 8, v. 7

Top

Isaiah 237
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Isaiah ch. 1, v. 18

238
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Micah ch. 4, v. 3, Joel ch. 3, v. 10 have same image
Isaiah ch. 2, v. 4.

Top

239
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?

Isaiah ch. 3, v. 15

Top

240
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place.

Isaiah ch. 5, v. 8

Top

241
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Isaiah ch. 6, v. 1

Top

242
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah ch. 6, v. 8

Top

243
Then said I, Lord, how long?

Isaiah ch. 6, v. 11

Top

244
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

Isaiah ch. 7, v. 14

Top

245
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Isaiah ch. 9, v. 2

Top

246
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.

Isaiah ch. 9, v. 6

Top

247
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah ch. 9, v. 7

Top

248
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Isaiah ch. 11, v. 1

Top

249
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah ch. 11, v. 6

Top

250
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah ch. 11, v. 8

Top

251
Dragons in their pleasant palaces.

Isaiah ch. 13, v. 22

Top

252
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

Isaiah ch. 14, v. 12

Top

253
Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.

Isaiah ch. 21, v. 11

Top

254
Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

Isaiah ch. 22, v. 13

Top

255
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.

Isaiah ch. 25, v. 8

Top

256
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

Isaiah ch. 28, v. 10

Top

257
We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement.

Isaiah ch. 28, v. 15.

Top

258
The bread of adversity, and the waters of affliction.

Isaiah ch. 30, v. 20

Top

259
This is the way, walk ye in it.

Isaiah ch. 30, v. 21

Top

260
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

Isaiah ch. 34, v. 13

Top

261
The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Isaiah ch. 35, v. 1

Top

262
Set thine house in order.

Isaiah ch. 38, v. 1

Top

263
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 1

Top

264
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 3.

Top

265
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 6

Top

266
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 11

Top

267
Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning?

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 21

Top

268
They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 31

Top

269
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.

Isaiah ch. 42, v. 3

Top

270
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

Isaiah ch. 48, v. 22

Top

271
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation.

Isaiah ch. 52, v. 7

Top

272
For they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

Isaiah ch. 52, v. 8

Top

273
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

Isaiah ch. 53, v. 3

Top

274
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah ch. 53, v. 5

Top

275
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Isaiah ch. 53, v. 7

Top

276
Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Isaiah ch. 56, v. 7

Top

277
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Isaiah ch. 60, v. 1

Top

278
Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.

Isaiah ch. 65, v. 5

Top

279
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.

Isaiah ch. 65, v. 17

Top

Jeremiah 280
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Jeremiah ch. 8, v. 20

281
Is there no balm in Gilead?

Jeremiah ch. 8, v. 22

Top

282
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?

Jeremiah ch. 13, v. 23

Top

283
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Jeremiah ch. 17, v. 9

Top

Lamentations 284
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

Lamentations ch. 1, v. 12

285
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

Lamentations ch. 3, v. 19

Top

286
O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.

Lamentations ch. 4, v. 59

Top

Ezekiel 287
As is the mother, so is her daughter.

Ezekiel ch. 16, v. 44

288
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

Ezekiel ch. 18, v. 2

Top

289
When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

Ezekiel ch. 18, v. 27

Top

290
The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the ways.

Ezekiel ch. 21, v. 21

Top

291
The valley which was full of bones.

Ezekiel ch. 37, v. 1

Top

292
Can these bones live?

Ezekiel ch. 37, v. 3

Top

293
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Ezekiel ch. 37, v. 4

Top

Daniel 294
Cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Daniel ch. 3, v. 4

295
And this is the writing that was written, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.
This is the interpretation of the thing: mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.
peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Daniel ch. 5, v. 25

Top

296
Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

Daniel ch. 6, v. 8

Top

297
The Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from behind him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgement was set, and the books were opened.

Daniel ch. 7, v. 9

Top

298
O Daniel, a man greatly beloved.

Daniel ch. 10, v. 11

Top

Hosea 299
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

Hosea ch. 8, v. 7

Joel 300
I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.

Joel ch. 2, v. 25

301
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Joel ch. 2, v. 28

Top

Amos 302
Ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.

Amos ch. 4, v. 11

Micah 303
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.

Micah ch. 5, v. 2

304
What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah ch. 6, v. 8

Top

Habakkuk 305
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

Habakkuk ch. 2, v. 2

Malachi 306
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.

Malachi ch. 4, v. 2

Apocrypha 308
Great is Truth, and mighty above all things.

I Esdras ch. 4, v. 41

308
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.

Wisdom of Solomon ch. 3, v. 1

Top

309
And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.

Wisdom of Solomon ch. 3, v. 7

Top

310
We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men: for as his majesty is, so is his mercy.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 2, v. 18

Top

311
Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 7, v. 11

Top

312
Judge none blessed before his death.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 11, v. 28.

Top

313
He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 13, v. 1

Top

314
A merchant shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 26, v. 29

Top

315
Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for the Lord hath created him.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 38, v. 1

Top

316
Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 44, v. 1

Top

317
And some there be, which have no memorial…and are become as though they had never been born…
But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten…
Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 44, v. 9

Top

318
When he was at the last gasp.

II Maccabees ch. 7, v. 9

Top

New Testament
St Matthew 319
There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

St Matthew ch. 2, v. 1

320
They presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

St Matthew ch. 2, v. 11

Top

321
In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

referring to Jeremiah ch. 31, v. 15
St Matthew ch. 2, v. 18

Top

322
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 2

Top

323
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 3

Top

324
John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 4

Top

325
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 7

Top

326
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 17

Top

327
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

echoing Deuteronomy ch. 8, v. 3
St Matthew ch. 4, v. 4

Top

328
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

echoing Deuteronomy ch. 6, v. 16
St Matthew ch. 4, v. 7

Top

329
The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.

St Matthew ch. 4, v. 8

Top

330
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

St Matthew ch. 4, v. 19

Top

331
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 3

Top

332
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 13

Top

333
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 14

Top

334
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 16

Top

335
Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 39

Top

336
Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 41

Top

337
He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 45.

Top

338
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 48

Top

339
When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward you openly.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 3

Top

340
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 9

Top

341
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 19

Top

342
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 21

Top

343
No man can serve two masters…Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 24

Top

344
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 28

Top

345
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 34

Top

346
Judge not, that ye be not judged.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 1

Top

347
Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 3

Top

348
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 6

Top

349
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 7

Top

350
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 9

Top

351
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 12

Top

352
Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 13

Top

353
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 14

Top

354
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 15

Top

355
By their fruits ye shall know them.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 20

Top

356
The winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 25

Top

357
Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 8.

Top

358
I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 9

Top

359
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 12

Top

360
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 20

Top

361
Let the dead bury their dead.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 22

Top

362
Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 11

Top

363
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 12

Top

364
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 13

Top

365
Neither do men put new wine into old bottles.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 17

Top

366
Thy faith hath made thee whole.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 22

Top

367
The maid is not dead, but sleepeth.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 24

Top

368
When ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 14

Top

369
Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 16

Top

370
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
The very hairs of your head are all numbered.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 29

Top

371
I came not to send peace, but a sword.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 34

Top

372
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 39

Top

373
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 3

Top

374
What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 7

Top

375
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 28

Top

376
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 28

Top

377
He that is not with me is against me.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 30 and St Luke ch. 11, v. 23

Top

378
The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 31

Top

379
Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 42

Top

380
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 44

Top

381
Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 3

Top

382
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 31

Top

383
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 45

Top

384
A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 57

Top

385
Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

St Matthew ch. 14, v. 27

Top

386
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

St Matthew ch. 14, v. 31

Top

387
If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

St Matthew ch. 15, v. 14

Top

388
The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

St Matthew ch. 15, v. 27

Top

389
Can ye not discern the signs of the times?

St Matthew ch. 16, v. 3

Top

390
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

St Matthew ch. 16, v. 18

Top

391
Get thee behind me, Satan.

St Matthew ch. 16, v. 23

Top

392
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove.

St Matthew ch. 17, v. 20

Top

393
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 3

Top

394
Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 5

Top

395
If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 9

Top

396
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 20

Top

397
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but Until seventy times seven.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 21

Top

398
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 6

Top

399
If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 21

Top

400
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 24. See also St Luke ch. 18, v. 24

Top

401
With God all things are possible.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 26

Top

402
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 30

Top

403
The burden and heat of the day.

St Matthew ch. 20, v. 12

Top

404
I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

St Matthew ch. 20, v. 14

Top

406
It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

St Matthew ch. 21, v. 13

Top

406
For many are called, but few are chosen.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 14

Top

407
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 21

Top

408
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 30

Top

409
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 38

Top

410
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 23

Top

411
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 24

Top

412
Ye are like unto whited sepulchres.

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 27

Top

413
Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 6

Top

414
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 7

Top

415
The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet

referring to Daniel ch. 12, v. 11
St Matthew ch. 24, v. 15

Top

416
Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 28

Top

417
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 35

Top

418
One shall be taken, and the other left.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 40

Top

419
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 42

Top

420
Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 21

Top

421
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 24

Top

422
Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 29

Top

423
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 33

Top

424
I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 35

Top

425
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 40

Top

426
And they covenanted with him [Judas Iscariot] for thirty pieces of silver.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 15

Top

427
It had been good for that man if he had not been born.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 24

Top

428
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 26

Top

429
This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

to St Peter
St Matthew ch. 26, v. 34

Top

430
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 39

Top

431
What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 40

Top

432
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 41

Top

433
All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 52

Top

434
He [Pilate] took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

St Matthew ch. 27, v. 24

Top

435
He saved others; himself he cannot save.

St Matthew ch. 27, v. 42

Top

436
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

St Matthew ch. 27, v. 46

Top

437
And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

St Matthew ch. 28, v. 20

Top

St Mark 438
The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

St Mark ch. 2, v. 27

439
How can Satan cast out Satan?

St Mark ch. 3, v. 23

Top

440
If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

St Mark ch. 3, v. 25.

Top

441
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

St Mark ch. 4, v. 9

Top

442
My name is Legion: for we are many.

St Mark ch. 5, v. 9

Top

443
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

St Mark ch. 8, v. 36.

Top

444
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

St Mark ch. 9, v. 24

Top

445
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

St Mark ch. 10, v. 14

Top

446
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

St Mark ch. 16, v. 15

Top

St Luke 447
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

the angel to the Virgin Mary
St Luke ch. 1, v. 28

448
And Mary said,
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

known as the Magnificat; beginning "Tell out my soul, the greatness of the Lord" in New English Bible
St Luke ch. 1, v. 46

Top

449
He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

the Magnificat
St Luke ch. 1, v. 51

Top

450
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

St Luke ch. 1, v. 79

Top

451
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 1

Top

452
She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 7

Top

453
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.

the angel to the shepherds
St Luke ch. 2, v. 10

Top

454
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

the angels to the shepherds
St Luke ch. 2, v. 14.

Top

455
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 19

Top

456
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.

said by Simeon
St Luke ch. 2, v. 29

Top

457
Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

St Luke ch. 2, v. 49

Top

458
Physician, heal thyself.

St Luke ch. 4, v. 23

Top

459
Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.

St Luke ch. 6, v. 27

Top

460
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.

St Luke ch. 6, v. 38

Top

461
Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.

St Luke ch. 7, v. 47

Top

462
No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

St Luke ch. 9, v. 62

Top

463
For the labourer is worthy of his hire.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 7

Top

464
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 30

Top

465
He passed by on the other side.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 31

Top

466
Go, and do thou likewise.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 37

Top

467
But Martha was cumbered about much serving.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 40

Top

468
Mary hath chosen that good part.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 42

Top

469
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

St Luke ch. 11, v. 33

Top

470
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

St Luke ch. 12, v. 6

Top

471
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

St Luke ch. 12, v. 19

Top

472
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

St Luke ch. 12, v. 20

Top

473
Friend, go up higher.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 10

Top

474
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 12 is similar
St Luke ch. 14, v. 11

Top

475
I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 20

Top

476
Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 21

Top

477
Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 23

Top

478
Leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 4

Top

479
Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 6

Top

480
Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 7

Top

481
There wasted his substance with riotous living.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 13

Top

482
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 18

Top

483
Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 23

Top

484
This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 24

Top

485
The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 8

Top

486
Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 9

Top

487
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 10

Top

488
The crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 21

Top

489
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 26

Top

490
The kingdom of God is within you.

St Luke ch. 17, v. 21

Top

491
Remember Lot's wife.

St Luke ch. 17, v. 32

Top

492
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are.

St Luke ch. 18, v. 11

Top

493
God be merciful to me a sinner.

St Luke ch. 18, v. 13

Top

494
He shall show you a large upper room furnished.

St Luke ch. 22, v. 12

Top

495
Not my will, but thine, be done.

St Luke ch. 22, v. 42

Top

496
Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do.

St Luke ch. 23, v. 34

Top

497
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

said by the Penitent Thief
St Luke ch. 23, v. 42

Top

498
To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

to the Penitent Thief
St Luke ch. 23, v. 43

Top

499
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

St Luke ch. 23, v. 46

Top

St John 500
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

St John ch. 1, v. 1

501
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

St John ch. 1, v. 3

Top

502
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

St John ch. 1, v. 5

Top

503
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

St John ch. 1, v. 6

Top

504
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

St John ch. 1, v. 8

Top

505
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

St John ch. 1, v. 10

Top

506
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

St John ch. 1, v. 14

Top

507
He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

said by St John the Baptist
St John ch. 1, v. 27

Top

508
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

St John ch. 1, v. 29

Top

509
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?

St John ch. 1, v. 46

Top

510
Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

St John ch. 1, v. 47

Top

511
Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

St John ch. 2, v. 4

Top

512
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.

St John ch. 3, v. 8

Top

513
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

St John ch. 3, v. 16

Top

514
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

St John ch. 4, v. 48

Top

515
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

St John ch. 5, v. 8

Top

516
I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

St John ch. 6, v. 35

Top

517
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

St John ch. 6, v. 47

Top

518
And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.

St John ch. 8, v. 3

Top

519
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

St John ch. 8, v. 7

Top

520
Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

St John ch. 8, v. 11

Top

521
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

St John ch. 8, v. 32

Top

522
I am the door.

St John ch. 10, v. 9

Top

523
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

St John ch. 10, v. 11

Top

524
I am the resurrection, and the life.

St John ch. 11, v. 25

Top

525
Jesus wept.

St John ch. 11, v. 35

Top

526
It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people.

said by Caiaphas
St John ch. 11, v. 50

Top

527
The poor always ye have with you.

St John ch. 12, v. 8

Top

528
Let not your heart be troubled.

St John ch. 14, v. 1

Top

529
In my Father's house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you.

St John ch. 14, v. 2

Top

530
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

St John ch. 14, v. 6

Top

531
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

St John ch. 14, v. 27

Top

532
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

St John ch. 15, v. 13.

Top

533
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?

St John ch. 18, v. 38.

Top

534
Now Barabbas was a robber.

St John ch. 18, v. 40.

Top

535
A place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.

St John ch. 19, v. 17

Top

536
What I have written I have written.

said by Pilate
St John ch. 19, v. 22

Top

537
Woman, behold thy son!…
Behold thy mother!

to the Virgin Mary and, traditionally, St John
St John ch. 19, v. 26

Top

538
I thirst.

St John ch. 19, v. 28

Top

539
It is finished.

St John ch. 19, v. 30

Top

540
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

St John ch. 20, v. 1

Top

541
They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

said by St Mary Magdalene
St John ch. 20, v. 13

Top

542
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

St John ch. 20, v. 15

Top

543
Touch me not.

to St Mary Magdalene
St John ch. 20, v. 17

Top

544
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

said by St Thomas
St John ch. 20, v. 25

Top

545
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

St John ch. 20, v. 29

Top

546
Feed my sheep.

St John ch. 21, v. 16

Top

Acts of the Apostles 547
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

Acts of the Apostles ch. 1, v. 11

548
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 2, v. 2

Top

549
Thy money perish with thee.

to Simon Magus
Acts of the Apostles ch. 8, v. 20

Top

550
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 4

Top

551
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 5

Top

552
The street which is called Straight.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 11

Top

553
Dorcas: this woman was full of good works.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 36

Top

554
God is no respecter of persons.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 10, v. 34

Top

555
What must I do to be saved?

Acts of the Apostles ch. 16, v. 30

Top

556
Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 5

Top

557
Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 6

Top

558
I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown god.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 22

Top

559
For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 28

Top

560
We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 19, v. 2

Top

561
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 19, v. 34

Top

562
It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 20, v. 35

Top

563
But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 21, v. 39

Top

564
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 22, v. 28

Top

565
I appeal unto Caesar.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 25, v. 11

Top

566
Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 25, v. 12

Top

567
Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 26, v. 24

Top

568
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 26, v. 28

Top

Romans 569
Patient continuance in well doing.

Romans ch. 2, v. 7

570
A law unto themselves.

Romans ch. 2, v. 14

Top

571
Let us do evil, that good may come.

Romans ch. 3, v. 8

Top

572
For where no law is, there is no transgression.

Romans ch. 4, v. 15

Top

573
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations.

of Abraham
Romans ch. 4, v. 18

Top

574
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Romans ch. 6, v. 1

Top

575
We also should walk in newness of life.

Romans ch. 6, v. 4

Top

576
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Romans ch. 6, v. 9.

Top

577
The wages of sin is death.

Romans ch. 6, v. 23

Top

578
I had not known sin, but by the law.

Romans ch. 7, v. 7

Top

579
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Romans ch. 7, v. 19.

Top

580
All things work together for good to them that love God.

Romans ch. 8, v. 28

Top

581
If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans ch. 8, v. 31

Top

582
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans ch. 8, v. 38

Top

583
Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.

Romans ch. 12, v. 1

Top

584
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Romans ch. 12, v. 19

Top

585
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Romans ch. 13, v. 12

Top

I Corinthians 586
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

I Corinthians ch. 1, v. 22

587
We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.

I Corinthians ch. 1, v. 23

Top

588
Absent in body, but present in spirit.

I Corinthians ch. 5, v. 3

Top

589
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

I Corinthians ch. 5, v. 6

Top

590
It is better to marry than to burn.

I Corinthians ch. 7, v. 9

Top

591
I am made all things to all men.

I Corinthians ch. 9, v. 22

Top

592
For the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.

I Corinthians ch. 10, v. 26

Top

593
Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her.

I Corinthians ch. 11, v. 14

Top

594
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith; so that I could remove mountains; and have not charity, I am nothing.

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 1

Top

595
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up…
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 4

Top

596
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 9

Top

597
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 11

Top

598
Let all things be done decently and in order.

I Corinthians ch. 14, v. 40

Top

599
Last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 8

Top

600
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 20

Top

601
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 26

Top

602
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 32

Top

603
Evil communications corrupt good manners.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 33

Top

604
The first man is of the earth, earthy.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 47

Top

605
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 51

Top

606
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 55

Top

II Corinthians 607
The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

II Corinthians ch. 3, v. 5

608
We have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

II Corinthians ch. 5, v. 1.

Top

609
God loveth a cheerful giver.

II Corinthians ch. 9, v. 7

Top

610
For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

II Corinthians ch. 11, v. 19

Top

611
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.

II Corinthians ch. 12, v. 7

Top

Galatians 612
Ye are fallen from grace.

Galatians ch. 5, v. 4

613
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians ch. 6, v. 7

Top

614
Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

"Be not weary in well doing" in II Thessalonians ch. 3, v. 13
Galatians ch. 6, v. 9

Top

Ephesians 615
The unsearchable riches of Christ.

Ephesians ch. 3, v. 8

616
We are members one of another.

Ephesians ch. 4, v. 25

Top

617
Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Ephesians ch. 4, v. 26

Top

618
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians ch. 5, v. 15

Top

619
Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.

Ephesians ch. 6, v. 4

Top

620
Put on the whole armour of God.

Ephesians ch. 6, v. 11

Top

621
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.

Ephesians ch. 6, v. 12

Top

Philippians 622
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

Philippians ch. 2, v. 10.

623
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Philippians ch. 2, v. 12

Top

624
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 4

Top

625
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 7.

Top

626
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 8

Top

627
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 13

Top

Colossians 628
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.

Colossians ch. 1, v. 16

629
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Colossians ch. 3, v. 19

Top

630
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.

Colossians ch. 4, v. 6

Top

I Thessalonians 631
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love.

I Thessalonians ch. 1, v. 3

632
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1 Thessalonians ch. 5, v. 21

Top

II Thessalonians 633
If any would not work, neither should he eat.

II Thessalonians ch. 3, v. 10

I Timothy 634
Sinners; of whom I am chief.

I Timothy ch. 1, v. 15

635
Refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

I Timothy ch. 4, v. 7

Top

636
Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake.

I Timothy ch. 5, v. 23

Top

637
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

I Timothy ch. 6, v. 7

Top

638
The love of money is the root of all evil.

I Timothy ch. 6, v. 10

Top

639
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.

I Timothy ch. 6, v. 12.

Top

II Timothy 640
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

II Timothy ch. 4, v. 7

Titus 641
Unto the pure all things are pure.

Titus ch. 1, v. 15.

Hebrews 642
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews ch. 10, v. 31

643
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Hebrews ch. 12, v. 1

Top

644
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.

Hebrews ch. 12, v. 6

Top

645
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews ch. 13, v. 2

Top

646
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Hebrews ch. 13, v. 8

Top

647
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

Hebrews ch. 13, v. 14

Top

James 648
Faith without works is dead.

James ch. 2, v. 20

649
The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil.

James ch. 3, v. 8

Top

650
Ye have heard of the patience of Job.

James ch. 5, v. 11

Top

651
Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

James ch. 5, v. 12

Top

I Peter 653
All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

I Peter ch. 1, v. 24

653
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.

I Peter ch. 2, v. 9

Top

654
Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

I Peter ch. 2, v. 17

Top

655
Giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.

I Peter ch. 3, v. 7

Top

656
Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

I Peter ch. 4, v. 8

Top

657
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

I Peter ch. 5, v. 8

Top

II Peter 658
The dog is turned to his own vomit again.

II Peter ch. 2, v. 22

I John 659
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

I John ch. 1, v. 8

660
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

I John ch. 4, v. 8

Top

661
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.

I John ch. 4, v. 18

Top

662
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

I John ch. 4, v. 20

Top

III John 663
He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

III John v. 11

Revelation 664
The seven churches which are in Asia.

Revelation ch. 1, v. 4

665
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord.

Revelation ch. 1, v. 8

Top

666
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Revelation ch. 2, v. 4

Top

667
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Revelation ch. 2, v. 10

Top

668
Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

Revelation ch. 3, v. 16

Top

669
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.

Revelation ch. 3, v. 20

Top

670
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Revelation ch. 4, v. 8 ,

Top

671
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death.

Revelation ch. 6, v. 8

Top

672
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation ch. 7, v. 14.

Top

673
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Revelation ch. 7, v. 17

Top

674
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Revelation ch. 8, v. 1

Top

675
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

Revelation ch. 12, v. 1

Top

676
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.

Revelation ch. 12, v. 7

Top

677
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation ch. 13, v. 17

Top

678
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Revelation ch. 13, v. 18

Top

679
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city.

Revelation ch. 14, v. 8

Top

680
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image.

Revelation ch. 14, v. 11

Top

681
Behold, I come as a thief.

Revelation ch. 16, v. 15

Top

682
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Revelation ch. 16, v. 16

Top

683
And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

Revelation ch. 17, v. 5

Top

684
And I saw a great white throne.

Revelation ch. 20, v. 11

Top

685
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.

Revelation ch. 20, v. 13

Top

686
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation ch. 21, v. 1

Top

687
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

Revelation ch. 21, v. 4.

Top

688
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Revelation ch. 21, v. 6

Top

689
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Revelation ch. 22, v. 2

Top

690
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Revelation ch. 22, v. 20

Top

Vulgate 691 Dominus illuminatio mea, et salus mea, quem timebo?
The Lord is the source of my light and my safety, so whom shall I fear?

Psalm 26, v. 1.

692 Cantate Domino canticum novum, quia mirabilia fecit.
Sing to the Lord a new song, because he has done marvellous things.

Psalm 97, v. 1 (Psalm 98, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

693 Jubilate Deo, omnis terra; servite Domino in laetitia.
Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness.

Psalm 99, v. 2 (Psalm 100, v. 2 in the Authorized Version)

Top

694 Beatus vir qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus volet nimis!
Happy is the man who fears the Lord, who is only too willing to follow his orders.

Psalm 111, v. 1 (Psalm 112, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

695 Non nobis, Domine, non nobis; sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
Not unto us, Lord, not unto us; but to thy name give glory.

Psalm 113 (second part), v. 1 (Psalm 115, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

696
Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam.
Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.

Unless the Lord has built the house, its builders have laboured in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman watches in vain.

Psalm 126, v. 1 (Psalm 127, v. 1 in the Authorized Version ,

Top

697 De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine; Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Up from the depths I have cried to thee, Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Psalm 129, v. 1 (Psalm 130, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

698 Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes; vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.
Vanity of vanities, said the preacher; vanity of vanities, and everything is vanity.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 2

Top

699 Rorate, coeli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum; aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem.
Drop down dew, heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth be opened, and a saviour spring to life.

Isaiah ch. 45, v. 8

Top

700 Benedicite, omnia opera Domini, Domino; laudate et superexaltate eum in secula.
Bless the Lord, all the works of the Lord; praise him and exalt him above all things for ever.

Daniel ch. 3, v. 57

Top

701 Magnificat anima mea Dominum; Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

St Luke ch. 1, v. 46.

Top

702 Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 29

Top

703 Pax Vobis.
Peace be unto you.

St Luke ch. 24, v. 36

Top

704 Quo vadis?
Where are you going?

St John ch. 16, v. 5

Top

705 Ecce homo.
Behold the man.

St John ch. 19, v. 5

Top

706 Consummatum est.
It is achieved.

St John ch. 19, v. 30

Top

706 Noli me tangere.
Do not touch me.

St John ch. 20, v. 17

Top

707 Magna est veritas, et praevalet.
Great is truth, and it prevails.

III Esdras ch. 4, v. 41 ,

Top

Back  -   New Search

Old Testament
Genesis 2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Genesis ch. 1, v. 1

3
And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis ch. 1, v. 5

Top

4
And God saw that it was good.

Genesis ch. 1, v. 10

Top

5
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 8

Top

6
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 9

Top

7
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 17

Top

8
It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 18

Top

9
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 22

Top

10
Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 23.

Top

11
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis ch. 2, v. 24

Top

12
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 1

Top

13
And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

"and made themselves breeches" in the Geneva Bible, 1560, known for that reason as the "Breeches Bible"
Genesis ch. 3, v. 7

Top

14
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 12

Top

15
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 13

Top

16
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 15

Top

17
In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 16

Top

18
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 19

Top

19
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis ch. 3, v. 19.

Top

20
Am I my brother's keeper?

Genesis ch. 4, v. 9

Top

21
And the Lord set a mark upon Cain.

Genesis ch. 4, v. 15

Top

22
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Genesis ch. 4, v. 16

Top

23
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis ch. 5, v. 24

Top

24
There were giants in the earth in those days.

Genesis ch. 6, v. 4

Top

25
There went in two and two unto Noah into the Ark, the male and the female.

Genesis ch. 7, v. 9

Top

26
But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.

Genesis ch. 8, v. 9

Top

27
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.

Genesis ch. 9, v. 6

Top

28
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis ch. 9, v. 13

Top

29
Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.

Genesis ch. 10, v. 9

Top

30
His [Ishmael's] hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.

Genesis ch. 16, v. 12

Top

31
But his [Lot's] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis ch. 19, v. 26

Top

32
A ram caught in a thicket.

Genesis ch. 22, v. 13

Top

33
Esau selleth his birthright for a mess of pottage.

chapter heading in Geneva Bible, 1560
Genesis ch. 25

Top

34
Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

Genesis ch. 27, v. 11

Top

35
The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

Genesis ch. 27, v. 22

Top

36
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Genesis ch. 28, v. 12

Top

37
And Jacob served seven years for Rachel.

Genesis ch. 29, v. 20

Top

38
The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.

Genesis ch. 31, v. 49

Top

39
He made him a coat of many colours.

Genesis ch. 37, v. 3

Top

40
Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt.

Genesis ch. 42, v. 1

Top

41
Then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Genesis ch. 42, v. 38

Top

42
Ye shall eat the fat of the land.

Genesis ch. 45, v. 18

Top

43
Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.

Genesis ch. 49, v. 4

Top

Exodus 44
I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Exodus ch. 2, v. 22

45
Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 2

Top

46
Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 5

Top

47
A land flowing with milk and honey.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 8

Top

48
I am that I am.

Exodus ch. 3, v. 14

Top

49
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

Exodus ch. 7, v. 3

Top

50
Let my people go.

Exodus ch. 7, v. 16

Top

51
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 8

Top

52
Ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 11

Top

53
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 12

Top

54
And they spoiled the Egyptians.

Exodus ch. 12, v. 36

Top

55
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light.

Exodus ch. 13, v. 21

Top

56
Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full.

Exodus ch. 16, v. 3

Top

57
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 3

Top

58
I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 5.

Top

59
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 7

Top

60
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 8

Top

61
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Exodus ch. 20, v. 12.

Top

62
Life for life,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Exodus ch. 21, v. 23

Top

63
These be thy gods, O Israel.

Exodus ch. 32, v. 4

Top

64
Thou art a stiffnecked people.

Exodus ch. 33, v. 3

Top

Leviticus 65
Let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Leviticus ch. 16, v. 10

66
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.

Leviticus ch. 18, v. 5.

Top

67
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Leviticus ch. 19, v. 18.

Top

Numbers 68
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Numbers ch. 6, v. 24

69
These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land.

Numbers ch. 13, v. 16

Top

70
What hath God wrought!

quoted by Samuel Morse in the first electric telegraph message, 24 May 1844
Numbers ch. 23, v. 23

Top

71
Be sure your sin will find you out.

Numbers ch. 32, v. 23

Top

Deuteronomy 72
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.

Deuteronomy ch. 6, v. 4.

73
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams…Thou shalt not hearken.

Deuteronomy ch. 13, v. 1

Top

74
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Deuteronomy ch. 32, v. 10

Top

75
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy ch. 33, v. 27

Top

Joshua 76
When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.

Joshua ch. 6, v. 20

77
Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation.

Joshua ch. 9, v. 21

Top

78
I am going the way of all the earth.

Joshua ch. 23, v. 14

Top

Judges 79
I arose a mother in Israel.

Judges ch. 5, v. 7

80
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

Judges ch. 5, v. 20

Top

81
She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

Judges ch. 5, v. 25

Top

82
Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

Judges ch. 5, v. 28

Top

83
Faint, yet pursuing.

Judges ch. 8, v. 4

Top

84
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him.

Judges ch. 12, v. 6

Top

85
Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.

Judges ch. 14, v. 14

Top

86
He smote them hip and thigh.

Judges ch. 15, v. 8

Top

87
With the jawbone of an ass…have I slain a thousand men.

Judges ch. 15, v. 16

Top

88
The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.

Judges ch. 16, v. 9

Top

89
From Dan even to Beer-sheba.

Judges ch. 20, v. 1

Top

90
The people arose as one man.

Judges ch. 20, v. 8

Top

Ruth 91
Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Ruth ch. 1, v. 16

I Samuel 92
Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.

I Samuel ch. 3, v. 9

93
And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel.

I Samuel ch. 4, v. 21

Top

94
And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

I Samuel ch. 9, v. 3.

Top

95
Is Saul also among the prophets?

I Samuel ch. 10, v. 11

Top

96
God save the king.

I Samuel ch. 10, v. 24

Top

97
A man after his own heart.

I Samuel ch. 13, v. 14

Top

98
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

I Samuel ch. 16, v. 7

Top

99
Go, and the Lord be with thee.

I Samuel ch. 17, v. 37

Top

100
And he…chose him five smooth stones out of the brook.

I Samuel ch. 17, v. 40

Top

101
Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

I Samuel ch. 18, v. 7.

Top

102
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.

I Samuel ch. 22, v. 1.

Top

103
And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand.

I Samuel ch. 23, v. 7

Top

II Samuel 104
The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 19

105
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 20

Top

106
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided.

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 23

Top

107
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen.

II Samuel ch. 1, v. 26

Top

108
The poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb.

II Samuel ch. 12, v. 3

Top

109
Thou art the man.

II Samuel ch. 12, v. 7

Top

110
For we needs must die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person.

II Samuel ch. 14, v. 14

Top

111
And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

II Samuel ch. 18, v. 33

Top

112
By my God have I leaped over a wall.

II Samuel ch. 22, v. 30

Top

113
David…the sweet psalmist of Israel.

II Samuel ch. 23, v. 1

Top

I Kings 114
And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

I Kings ch. 1, v. 39

115
Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.

I Kings ch. 9, v. 7

Top

116
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom…there was no more spirit in her.

I Kings ch. 10, v. 4

Top

117
Behold, the half was not told me.

I Kings ch. 10, v. 7

Top

118
Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

I Kings ch. 10, v. 22.

Top

119
But king Solomon loved many strange women.

I Kings ch. 11, v. 1

Top

120
My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.

I Kings ch. 12, v. 10

Top

121
My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

I Kings ch. 12, v. 11

Top

122
To your tents, O Israel.

I Kings ch. 12, v. 16

Top

123
An handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse.

I Kings ch. 17, v. 12

Top

124
How long halt ye between two opinions?

I Kings ch. 18, v. 21

Top

125
There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.

I Kings ch. 18, v. 44

Top

126
He girded up his loins.

I Kings ch. 18, v. 46

Top

127
But the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
And after the earthquake a fire: but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

I Kings ch. 19, v. 11

Top

128
Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

I Kings ch. 19, v. 19

Top

129
Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?

I Kings ch. 21, v. 20

Top

130
I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd.

I Kings ch. 22, v. 17

Top

131
Feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

I Kings ch. 22, v. 27

Top

132
And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.

I Kings ch. 22, v. 34

Top

II Kings 133
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

II Kings ch. 2, v. 11

134
The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.

II Kings ch. 2, v. 15

Top

135
Go up, thou bald head.

II Kings ch. 2, v. 23

Top

136
Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

II Kings ch. 4, v. 26

Top

137
There is death in the pot.

II Kings ch. 4, v. 40

Top

138
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?

II Kings ch. 5, v. 12

Top

139
I bow myself in the house of Rimmon.

II Kings ch. 5, v. 18

Top

140
Whence comest thou, Gehazi?

II Kings ch. 5, v. 25

Top

141
Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?

II Kings ch. 8, v. 13

Top

142
The driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.

II Kings ch. 9, v. 20

Top

143
She painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

II Kings ch. 9, v. 30

Top

144
Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

II Kings ch. 9, v. 31

Top

145
Who is on my side? who?

II Kings ch. 9, v. 32

Top

146
They found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.

II Kings ch. 9, v. 35

Top

147
Thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it.

II Kings ch. 18, v. 21

Top

I Chronicles 148
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

I Chronicles ch. 29, v. 15

Esther 149
And if I perish, I perish.

Esther ch. 4, v. 16

Job 150
And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Job ch. 1, v. 7

151
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job ch. 1, v. 21

Top

152
All that a man hath will he give for his life.

Job ch. 2, v. 4

Top

153
Curse God, and die.

Job ch. 2, v. 9

Top

154
Let the day perish wherein I was born.

Job ch. 3, v. 3

Top

155
There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest.

Job ch. 3, v. 17

Top

156
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.

Job ch. 4, v. 15

Top

157
Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Job ch. 5, v. 7

Top

158
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Job ch. 14, v. 1

Top

159
Miserable comforters are ye all.

Job ch. 16, v. 2

Top

160
I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Job ch. 19, v. 20

Top

161
I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Job ch. 19, v. 25

Top

162
The root of the matter is found in me.

Job ch. 19, v. 28

Top

163
The price of wisdom is above rubies.

Job ch. 28, v. 18

Top

164
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

Job ch. 30, v. 29

Top

165
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

Job ch. 38, v. 31

Top

166
He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

Job ch. 39, v. 25

Top

167
Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

Job ch. 40, v. 15

Top

168
Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?

Job ch. 41, v. 1

Top

Proverbs 169
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

Proverbs ch. 1, v. 17

170
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth.

Proverbs ch. 3, v. 12

Top

171
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Proverbs ch. 3, v. 17

Top

172
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Proverbs ch. 4, v. 7

Top

173
Go to the ant thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Proverbs ch. 6, v. 6

Top

174
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.

Proverbs ch. 6, v. 10

Top

175
Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars.

Proverbs ch. 9, v. 1

Top

176
Stolen waters are sweet.

Proverbs ch. 9, v. 17

Top

177
A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Proverbs ch. 10, v. 1

Top

178
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.

Proverbs ch. 12, v. 4

Top

179
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Proverbs ch. 12, v. 10

Top

180
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.

Proverbs ch. 12, v. 22.

Top

181
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.

Proverbs ch. 13, v. 12

Top

182
The way of transgressors is hard.

Proverbs ch. 13, v. 15

Top

183
He that spareth his rod hateth his son.

Proverbs ch. 13, v. 24

Top

184
A soft answer turneth away wrath.

Proverbs ch. 15, v. 1

Top

185
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.

Proverbs ch. 15, v. 13

Top

186
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

"Better is a mess of pottage with love, than a fat ox with evil will" in Matthew's Bible (1535)
Proverbs ch. 15, v. 17

Top

187
A word spoken in due season, how good is it!

Proverbs ch. 15, v. 23

Top

188
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs ch. 16, v. 18

Top

189
There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Proverbs ch. 18, v. 24

Top

190
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.

Proverbs ch. 20, v. 1

Top

191
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs ch. 22, v. 6

Top

192
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red.

Proverbs ch. 23, v. 31

Top

193
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 11

Top

194
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 17

Top

195
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 21

Top

196
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

Proverbs ch. 25, v. 25

Top

197
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Proverbs ch. 26, v. 4

Top

198
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Proverbs ch. 26, v. 11

Top

199
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs ch. 28, v. 1

Top

200
He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

Proverbs ch. 28, v. 20

Top

201
Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Proverbs ch. 29, v. 18

Top

202
There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

Proverbs ch. 30, v. 18

Top

203
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs ch. 31, v. 10

Top

Ecclesiastes 204
Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 2.

205
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 7

Top

206
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 9

Top

207
He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 18

Top

208
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

Ecclesiastes ch. 3, v. 1

Top

209
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes ch. 3, v. 1

Top

210
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes ch. 3, v. 1

Top

211
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes ch. 4, v. 12.

Top

212
The sleep of a labouring man is sweet.

Ecclesiastes ch. 5, v. 12

Top

213
As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool.

Ecclesiastes ch. 7, v. 6

Top

214
God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Ecclesiastes ch. 7, v. 29

Top

215
There is no discharge in that war.

Ecclesiastes ch. 8, v. 8

Top

217
A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.

Ecclesiastes ch. 8, v. 15

Top

217
A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Ecclesiastes ch. 9, v. 4

Top

218
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Ecclesiastes ch. 9, v. 10

Top

219
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.

Ecclesiastes ch. 9, v. 11.

Top

220
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it.

Ecclesiastes ch. 10, v. 8

Top

221
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.

Ecclesiastes ch. 10, v. 16.

Top

222
Wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

Ecclesiastes ch. 10, v. 19

Top

223
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes ch. 11, v. 1

Top

224
In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

Ecclesiastes ch. 11, v. 3

Top

225
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 1

Top

226
And desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 5

Top

227
Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 12

Top

228
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes ch. 12, v. 13

Top

Song of Solomon 229
I am black, but comely.

Song of Solomon ch. 1, v. 5

230
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

Song of Solomon ch. 2, v. 1

Top

231
The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon ch. 2, v. 10

Top

232
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.

Song of Solomon ch. 2, v. 16

Top

233
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair.

Song of Solomon ch. 4, v. 1

Top

234
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Song of Solomon ch. 4, v. 12

Top

235
Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave.

Song of Solomon ch. 8, v. 6

Top

236
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

Song of Solomon ch. 8, v. 7

Top

Isaiah 237
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Isaiah ch. 1, v. 18

238
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Micah ch. 4, v. 3, Joel ch. 3, v. 10 have same image
Isaiah ch. 2, v. 4.

Top

239
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?

Isaiah ch. 3, v. 15

Top

240
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place.

Isaiah ch. 5, v. 8

Top

241
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Isaiah ch. 6, v. 1

Top

242
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah ch. 6, v. 8

Top

243
Then said I, Lord, how long?

Isaiah ch. 6, v. 11

Top

244
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

Isaiah ch. 7, v. 14

Top

245
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Isaiah ch. 9, v. 2

Top

246
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.

Isaiah ch. 9, v. 6

Top

247
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah ch. 9, v. 7

Top

248
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Isaiah ch. 11, v. 1

Top

249
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah ch. 11, v. 6

Top

250
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah ch. 11, v. 8

Top

251
Dragons in their pleasant palaces.

Isaiah ch. 13, v. 22

Top

252
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

Isaiah ch. 14, v. 12

Top

253
Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.

Isaiah ch. 21, v. 11

Top

254
Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

Isaiah ch. 22, v. 13

Top

255
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.

Isaiah ch. 25, v. 8

Top

256
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

Isaiah ch. 28, v. 10

Top

257
We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement.

Isaiah ch. 28, v. 15.

Top

258
The bread of adversity, and the waters of affliction.

Isaiah ch. 30, v. 20

Top

259
This is the way, walk ye in it.

Isaiah ch. 30, v. 21

Top

260
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

Isaiah ch. 34, v. 13

Top

261
The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Isaiah ch. 35, v. 1

Top

262
Set thine house in order.

Isaiah ch. 38, v. 1

Top

263
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 1

Top

264
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 3.

Top

265
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 6

Top

266
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 11

Top

267
Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning?

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 21

Top

268
They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah ch. 40, v. 31

Top

269
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.

Isaiah ch. 42, v. 3

Top

270
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

Isaiah ch. 48, v. 22

Top

271
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation.

Isaiah ch. 52, v. 7

Top

272
For they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

Isaiah ch. 52, v. 8

Top

273
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

Isaiah ch. 53, v. 3

Top

274
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah ch. 53, v. 5

Top

275
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Isaiah ch. 53, v. 7

Top

276
Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Isaiah ch. 56, v. 7

Top

277
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Isaiah ch. 60, v. 1

Top

278
Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.

Isaiah ch. 65, v. 5

Top

279
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.

Isaiah ch. 65, v. 17

Top

Jeremiah 280
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Jeremiah ch. 8, v. 20

281
Is there no balm in Gilead?

Jeremiah ch. 8, v. 22

Top

282
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?

Jeremiah ch. 13, v. 23

Top

283
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Jeremiah ch. 17, v. 9

Top

Lamentations 284
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

Lamentations ch. 1, v. 12

285
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

Lamentations ch. 3, v. 19

Top

286
O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.

Lamentations ch. 4, v. 59

Top

Ezekiel 287
As is the mother, so is her daughter.

Ezekiel ch. 16, v. 44

288
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

Ezekiel ch. 18, v. 2

Top

289
When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

Ezekiel ch. 18, v. 27

Top

290
The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the ways.

Ezekiel ch. 21, v. 21

Top

291
The valley which was full of bones.

Ezekiel ch. 37, v. 1

Top

292
Can these bones live?

Ezekiel ch. 37, v. 3

Top

293
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Ezekiel ch. 37, v. 4

Top

Daniel 294
Cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Daniel ch. 3, v. 4

295
And this is the writing that was written, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.
This is the interpretation of the thing: mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.
peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Daniel ch. 5, v. 25

Top

296
Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

Daniel ch. 6, v. 8

Top

297
The Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from behind him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgement was set, and the books were opened.

Daniel ch. 7, v. 9

Top

298
O Daniel, a man greatly beloved.

Daniel ch. 10, v. 11

Top

Hosea 299
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

Hosea ch. 8, v. 7

Joel 300
I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.

Joel ch. 2, v. 25

301
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Joel ch. 2, v. 28

Top

Amos 302
Ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.

Amos ch. 4, v. 11

Micah 303
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.

Micah ch. 5, v. 2

304
What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah ch. 6, v. 8

Top

Habakkuk 305
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

Habakkuk ch. 2, v. 2

Malachi 306
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.

Malachi ch. 4, v. 2

Apocrypha 308
Great is Truth, and mighty above all things.

I Esdras ch. 4, v. 41

308
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.

Wisdom of Solomon ch. 3, v. 1

Top

309
And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.

Wisdom of Solomon ch. 3, v. 7

Top

310
We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men: for as his majesty is, so is his mercy.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 2, v. 18

Top

311
Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 7, v. 11

Top

312
Judge none blessed before his death.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 11, v. 28.

Top

313
He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 13, v. 1

Top

314
A merchant shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 26, v. 29

Top

315
Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him: for the Lord hath created him.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 38, v. 1

Top

316
Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 44, v. 1

Top

317
And some there be, which have no memorial…and are become as though they had never been born…
But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten…
Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.

Ecclesiasticus ch. 44, v. 9

Top

318
When he was at the last gasp.

II Maccabees ch. 7, v. 9

Top

New Testament
St Matthew 319
There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

St Matthew ch. 2, v. 1

320
They presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

St Matthew ch. 2, v. 11

Top

321
In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

referring to Jeremiah ch. 31, v. 15
St Matthew ch. 2, v. 18

Top

322
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 2

Top

323
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 3

Top

324
John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 4

Top

325
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 7

Top

326
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

St Matthew ch. 3, v. 17

Top

327
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

echoing Deuteronomy ch. 8, v. 3
St Matthew ch. 4, v. 4

Top

328
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

echoing Deuteronomy ch. 6, v. 16
St Matthew ch. 4, v. 7

Top

329
The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.

St Matthew ch. 4, v. 8

Top

330
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

St Matthew ch. 4, v. 19

Top

331
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 3

Top

332
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 13

Top

333
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 14

Top

334
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 16

Top

335
Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 39

Top

336
Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 41

Top

337
He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 45.

Top

338
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

St Matthew ch. 5, v. 48

Top

339
When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward you openly.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 3

Top

340
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 9

Top

341
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 19

Top

342
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 21

Top

343
No man can serve two masters…Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 24

Top

344
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 28

Top

345
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

St Matthew ch. 6, v. 34

Top

346
Judge not, that ye be not judged.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 1

Top

347
Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 3

Top

348
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 6

Top

349
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 7

Top

350
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 9

Top

351
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 12

Top

352
Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 13

Top

353
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 14

Top

354
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 15

Top

355
By their fruits ye shall know them.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 20

Top

356
The winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

St Matthew ch. 7, v. 25

Top

357
Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 8.

Top

358
I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 9

Top

359
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 12

Top

360
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 20

Top

361
Let the dead bury their dead.

St Matthew ch. 8, v. 22

Top

362
Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 11

Top

363
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 12

Top

364
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 13

Top

365
Neither do men put new wine into old bottles.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 17

Top

366
Thy faith hath made thee whole.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 22

Top

367
The maid is not dead, but sleepeth.

St Matthew ch. 9, v. 24

Top

368
When ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 14

Top

369
Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 16

Top

370
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
The very hairs of your head are all numbered.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 29

Top

371
I came not to send peace, but a sword.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 34

Top

372
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

St Matthew ch. 10, v. 39

Top

373
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 3

Top

374
What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 7

Top

375
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 28

Top

376
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

St Matthew ch. 11, v. 28

Top

377
He that is not with me is against me.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 30 and St Luke ch. 11, v. 23

Top

378
The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 31

Top

379
Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 42

Top

380
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

St Matthew ch. 12, v. 44

Top

381
Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 3

Top

382
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 31

Top

383
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 45

Top

384
A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

St Matthew ch. 13, v. 57

Top

385
Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

St Matthew ch. 14, v. 27

Top

386
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

St Matthew ch. 14, v. 31

Top

387
If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

St Matthew ch. 15, v. 14

Top

388
The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

St Matthew ch. 15, v. 27

Top

389
Can ye not discern the signs of the times?

St Matthew ch. 16, v. 3

Top

390
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

St Matthew ch. 16, v. 18

Top

391
Get thee behind me, Satan.

St Matthew ch. 16, v. 23

Top

392
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove.

St Matthew ch. 17, v. 20

Top

393
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 3

Top

394
Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 5

Top

395
If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 9

Top

396
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 20

Top

397
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but Until seventy times seven.

St Matthew ch. 18, v. 21

Top

398
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 6

Top

399
If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 21

Top

400
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 24. See also St Luke ch. 18, v. 24

Top

401
With God all things are possible.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 26

Top

402
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

St Matthew ch. 19, v. 30

Top

403
The burden and heat of the day.

St Matthew ch. 20, v. 12

Top

404
I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

St Matthew ch. 20, v. 14

Top

406
It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

St Matthew ch. 21, v. 13

Top

406
For many are called, but few are chosen.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 14

Top

407
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 21

Top

408
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 30

Top

409
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

St Matthew ch. 22, v. 38

Top

410
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 23

Top

411
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 24

Top

412
Ye are like unto whited sepulchres.

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 27

Top

413
Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 6

Top

414
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 7

Top

415
The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet

referring to Daniel ch. 12, v. 11
St Matthew ch. 24, v. 15

Top

416
Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 28

Top

417
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 35

Top

418
One shall be taken, and the other left.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 40

Top

419
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

St Matthew ch. 24, v. 42

Top

420
Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 21

Top

421
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 24

Top

422
Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 29

Top

423
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 33

Top

424
I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 35

Top

425
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

St Matthew ch. 25, v. 40

Top

426
And they covenanted with him [Judas Iscariot] for thirty pieces of silver.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 15

Top

427
It had been good for that man if he had not been born.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 24

Top

428
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 26

Top

429
This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

to St Peter
St Matthew ch. 26, v. 34

Top

430
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 39

Top

431
What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 40

Top

432
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 41

Top

433
All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

St Matthew ch. 26, v. 52

Top

434
He [Pilate] took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

St Matthew ch. 27, v. 24

Top

435
He saved others; himself he cannot save.

St Matthew ch. 27, v. 42

Top

436
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

St Matthew ch. 27, v. 46

Top

437
And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

St Matthew ch. 28, v. 20

Top

St Mark 438
The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

St Mark ch. 2, v. 27

439
How can Satan cast out Satan?

St Mark ch. 3, v. 23

Top

440
If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

St Mark ch. 3, v. 25.

Top

441
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

St Mark ch. 4, v. 9

Top

442
My name is Legion: for we are many.

St Mark ch. 5, v. 9

Top

443
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

St Mark ch. 8, v. 36.

Top

444
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

St Mark ch. 9, v. 24

Top

445
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

St Mark ch. 10, v. 14

Top

446
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

St Mark ch. 16, v. 15

Top

St Luke 447
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

the angel to the Virgin Mary
St Luke ch. 1, v. 28

448
And Mary said,
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

known as the Magnificat; beginning "Tell out my soul, the greatness of the Lord" in New English Bible
St Luke ch. 1, v. 46

Top

449
He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

the Magnificat
St Luke ch. 1, v. 51

Top

450
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

St Luke ch. 1, v. 79

Top

451
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 1

Top

452
She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 7

Top

453
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.

the angel to the shepherds
St Luke ch. 2, v. 10

Top

454
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

the angels to the shepherds
St Luke ch. 2, v. 14.

Top

455
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 19

Top

456
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.

said by Simeon
St Luke ch. 2, v. 29

Top

457
Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

St Luke ch. 2, v. 49

Top

458
Physician, heal thyself.

St Luke ch. 4, v. 23

Top

459
Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.

St Luke ch. 6, v. 27

Top

460
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.

St Luke ch. 6, v. 38

Top

461
Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.

St Luke ch. 7, v. 47

Top

462
No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

St Luke ch. 9, v. 62

Top

463
For the labourer is worthy of his hire.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 7

Top

464
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 30

Top

465
He passed by on the other side.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 31

Top

466
Go, and do thou likewise.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 37

Top

467
But Martha was cumbered about much serving.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 40

Top

468
Mary hath chosen that good part.

St Luke ch. 10, v. 42

Top

469
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

St Luke ch. 11, v. 33

Top

470
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

St Luke ch. 12, v. 6

Top

471
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

St Luke ch. 12, v. 19

Top

472
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

St Luke ch. 12, v. 20

Top

473
Friend, go up higher.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 10

Top

474
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

St Matthew ch. 23, v. 12 is similar
St Luke ch. 14, v. 11

Top

475
I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 20

Top

476
Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 21

Top

477
Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.

St Luke ch. 14, v. 23

Top

478
Leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 4

Top

479
Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 6

Top

480
Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 7

Top

481
There wasted his substance with riotous living.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 13

Top

482
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 18

Top

483
Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 23

Top

484
This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

St Luke ch. 15, v. 24

Top

485
The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 8

Top

486
Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 9

Top

487
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 10

Top

488
The crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 21

Top

489
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.

St Luke ch. 16, v. 26

Top

490
The kingdom of God is within you.

St Luke ch. 17, v. 21

Top

491
Remember Lot's wife.

St Luke ch. 17, v. 32

Top

492
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are.

St Luke ch. 18, v. 11

Top

493
God be merciful to me a sinner.

St Luke ch. 18, v. 13

Top

494
He shall show you a large upper room furnished.

St Luke ch. 22, v. 12

Top

495
Not my will, but thine, be done.

St Luke ch. 22, v. 42

Top

496
Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do.

St Luke ch. 23, v. 34

Top

497
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

said by the Penitent Thief
St Luke ch. 23, v. 42

Top

498
To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

to the Penitent Thief
St Luke ch. 23, v. 43

Top

499
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

St Luke ch. 23, v. 46

Top

St John 500
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

St John ch. 1, v. 1

501
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

St John ch. 1, v. 3

Top

502
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

St John ch. 1, v. 5

Top

503
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

St John ch. 1, v. 6

Top

504
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

St John ch. 1, v. 8

Top

505
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

St John ch. 1, v. 10

Top

506
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

St John ch. 1, v. 14

Top

507
He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

said by St John the Baptist
St John ch. 1, v. 27

Top

508
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

St John ch. 1, v. 29

Top

509
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?

St John ch. 1, v. 46

Top

510
Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

St John ch. 1, v. 47

Top

511
Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

St John ch. 2, v. 4

Top

512
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.

St John ch. 3, v. 8

Top

513
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

St John ch. 3, v. 16

Top

514
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

St John ch. 4, v. 48

Top

515
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

St John ch. 5, v. 8

Top

516
I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

St John ch. 6, v. 35

Top

517
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

St John ch. 6, v. 47

Top

518
And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.

St John ch. 8, v. 3

Top

519
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

St John ch. 8, v. 7

Top

520
Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

St John ch. 8, v. 11

Top

521
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

St John ch. 8, v. 32

Top

522
I am the door.

St John ch. 10, v. 9

Top

523
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

St John ch. 10, v. 11

Top

524
I am the resurrection, and the life.

St John ch. 11, v. 25

Top

525
Jesus wept.

St John ch. 11, v. 35

Top

526
It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people.

said by Caiaphas
St John ch. 11, v. 50

Top

527
The poor always ye have with you.

St John ch. 12, v. 8

Top

528
Let not your heart be troubled.

St John ch. 14, v. 1

Top

529
In my Father's house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you.

St John ch. 14, v. 2

Top

530
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

St John ch. 14, v. 6

Top

531
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

St John ch. 14, v. 27

Top

532
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

St John ch. 15, v. 13.

Top

533
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?

St John ch. 18, v. 38.

Top

534
Now Barabbas was a robber.

St John ch. 18, v. 40.

Top

535
A place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.

St John ch. 19, v. 17

Top

536
What I have written I have written.

said by Pilate
St John ch. 19, v. 22

Top

537
Woman, behold thy son!…
Behold thy mother!

to the Virgin Mary and, traditionally, St John
St John ch. 19, v. 26

Top

538
I thirst.

St John ch. 19, v. 28

Top

539
It is finished.

St John ch. 19, v. 30

Top

540
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

St John ch. 20, v. 1

Top

541
They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

said by St Mary Magdalene
St John ch. 20, v. 13

Top

542
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

St John ch. 20, v. 15

Top

543
Touch me not.

to St Mary Magdalene
St John ch. 20, v. 17

Top

544
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

said by St Thomas
St John ch. 20, v. 25

Top

545
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

St John ch. 20, v. 29

Top

546
Feed my sheep.

St John ch. 21, v. 16

Top

Acts of the Apostles 547
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

Acts of the Apostles ch. 1, v. 11

548
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 2, v. 2

Top

549
Thy money perish with thee.

to Simon Magus
Acts of the Apostles ch. 8, v. 20

Top

550
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 4

Top

551
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 5

Top

552
The street which is called Straight.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 11

Top

553
Dorcas: this woman was full of good works.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 9, v. 36

Top

554
God is no respecter of persons.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 10, v. 34

Top

555
What must I do to be saved?

Acts of the Apostles ch. 16, v. 30

Top

556
Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 5

Top

557
Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 6

Top

558
I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown god.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 22

Top

559
For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 17, v. 28

Top

560
We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 19, v. 2

Top

561
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 19, v. 34

Top

562
It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 20, v. 35

Top

563
But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 21, v. 39

Top

564
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 22, v. 28

Top

565
I appeal unto Caesar.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 25, v. 11

Top

566
Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 25, v. 12

Top

567
Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 26, v. 24

Top

568
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Acts of the Apostles ch. 26, v. 28

Top

Romans 569
Patient continuance in well doing.

Romans ch. 2, v. 7

570
A law unto themselves.

Romans ch. 2, v. 14

Top

571
Let us do evil, that good may come.

Romans ch. 3, v. 8

Top

572
For where no law is, there is no transgression.

Romans ch. 4, v. 15

Top

573
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations.

of Abraham
Romans ch. 4, v. 18

Top

574
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Romans ch. 6, v. 1

Top

575
We also should walk in newness of life.

Romans ch. 6, v. 4

Top

576
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Romans ch. 6, v. 9.

Top

577
The wages of sin is death.

Romans ch. 6, v. 23

Top

578
I had not known sin, but by the law.

Romans ch. 7, v. 7

Top

579
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Romans ch. 7, v. 19.

Top

580
All things work together for good to them that love God.

Romans ch. 8, v. 28

Top

581
If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans ch. 8, v. 31

Top

582
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans ch. 8, v. 38

Top

583
Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.

Romans ch. 12, v. 1

Top

584
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Romans ch. 12, v. 19

Top

585
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Romans ch. 13, v. 12

Top

I Corinthians 586
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

I Corinthians ch. 1, v. 22

587
We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.

I Corinthians ch. 1, v. 23

Top

588
Absent in body, but present in spirit.

I Corinthians ch. 5, v. 3

Top

589
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

I Corinthians ch. 5, v. 6

Top

590
It is better to marry than to burn.

I Corinthians ch. 7, v. 9

Top

591
I am made all things to all men.

I Corinthians ch. 9, v. 22

Top

592
For the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.

I Corinthians ch. 10, v. 26

Top

593
Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her.

I Corinthians ch. 11, v. 14

Top

594
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith; so that I could remove mountains; and have not charity, I am nothing.

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 1

Top

595
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up…
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 4

Top

596
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 9

Top

597
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I Corinthians ch. 13, v. 11

Top

598
Let all things be done decently and in order.

I Corinthians ch. 14, v. 40

Top

599
Last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 8

Top

600
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 20

Top

601
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 26

Top

602
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 32

Top

603
Evil communications corrupt good manners.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 33

Top

604
The first man is of the earth, earthy.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 47

Top

605
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 51

Top

606
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

I Corinthians ch. 15, v. 55

Top

II Corinthians 607
The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

II Corinthians ch. 3, v. 5

608
We have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

II Corinthians ch. 5, v. 1.

Top

609
God loveth a cheerful giver.

II Corinthians ch. 9, v. 7

Top

610
For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

II Corinthians ch. 11, v. 19

Top

611
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.

II Corinthians ch. 12, v. 7

Top

Galatians 612
Ye are fallen from grace.

Galatians ch. 5, v. 4

613
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians ch. 6, v. 7

Top

614
Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

"Be not weary in well doing" in II Thessalonians ch. 3, v. 13
Galatians ch. 6, v. 9

Top

Ephesians 615
The unsearchable riches of Christ.

Ephesians ch. 3, v. 8

616
We are members one of another.

Ephesians ch. 4, v. 25

Top

617
Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Ephesians ch. 4, v. 26

Top

618
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians ch. 5, v. 15

Top

619
Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.

Ephesians ch. 6, v. 4

Top

620
Put on the whole armour of God.

Ephesians ch. 6, v. 11

Top

621
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.

Ephesians ch. 6, v. 12

Top

Philippians 622
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

Philippians ch. 2, v. 10.

623
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Philippians ch. 2, v. 12

Top

624
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 4

Top

625
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 7.

Top

626
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 8

Top

627
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians ch. 4, v. 13

Top

Colossians 628
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.

Colossians ch. 1, v. 16

629
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Colossians ch. 3, v. 19

Top

630
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.

Colossians ch. 4, v. 6

Top

I Thessalonians 631
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love.

I Thessalonians ch. 1, v. 3

632
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1 Thessalonians ch. 5, v. 21

Top

II Thessalonians 633
If any would not work, neither should he eat.

II Thessalonians ch. 3, v. 10

I Timothy 634
Sinners; of whom I am chief.

I Timothy ch. 1, v. 15

635
Refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

I Timothy ch. 4, v. 7

Top

636
Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake.

I Timothy ch. 5, v. 23

Top

637
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

I Timothy ch. 6, v. 7

Top

638
The love of money is the root of all evil.

I Timothy ch. 6, v. 10

Top

639
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.

I Timothy ch. 6, v. 12.

Top

II Timothy 640
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

II Timothy ch. 4, v. 7

Titus 641
Unto the pure all things are pure.

Titus ch. 1, v. 15.

Hebrews 642
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews ch. 10, v. 31

643
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Hebrews ch. 12, v. 1

Top

644
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.

Hebrews ch. 12, v. 6

Top

645
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews ch. 13, v. 2

Top

646
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Hebrews ch. 13, v. 8

Top

647
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

Hebrews ch. 13, v. 14

Top

James 648
Faith without works is dead.

James ch. 2, v. 20

649
The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil.

James ch. 3, v. 8

Top

650
Ye have heard of the patience of Job.

James ch. 5, v. 11

Top

651
Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

James ch. 5, v. 12

Top

I Peter 653
All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

I Peter ch. 1, v. 24

653
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.

I Peter ch. 2, v. 9

Top

654
Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

I Peter ch. 2, v. 17

Top

655
Giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.

I Peter ch. 3, v. 7

Top

656
Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

I Peter ch. 4, v. 8

Top

657
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

I Peter ch. 5, v. 8

Top

II Peter 658
The dog is turned to his own vomit again.

II Peter ch. 2, v. 22

I John 659
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

I John ch. 1, v. 8

660
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

I John ch. 4, v. 8

Top

661
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.

I John ch. 4, v. 18

Top

662
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

I John ch. 4, v. 20

Top

III John 663
He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

III John v. 11

Revelation 664
The seven churches which are in Asia.

Revelation ch. 1, v. 4

665
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord.

Revelation ch. 1, v. 8

Top

666
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Revelation ch. 2, v. 4

Top

667
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Revelation ch. 2, v. 10

Top

668
Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

Revelation ch. 3, v. 16

Top

669
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.

Revelation ch. 3, v. 20

Top

670
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Revelation ch. 4, v. 8 ,

Top

671
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death.

Revelation ch. 6, v. 8

Top

672
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation ch. 7, v. 14.

Top

673
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Revelation ch. 7, v. 17

Top

674
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Revelation ch. 8, v. 1

Top

675
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

Revelation ch. 12, v. 1

Top

676
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.

Revelation ch. 12, v. 7

Top

677
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation ch. 13, v. 17

Top

678
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Revelation ch. 13, v. 18

Top

679
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city.

Revelation ch. 14, v. 8

Top

680
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image.

Revelation ch. 14, v. 11

Top

681
Behold, I come as a thief.

Revelation ch. 16, v. 15

Top

682
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Revelation ch. 16, v. 16

Top

683
And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

Revelation ch. 17, v. 5

Top

684
And I saw a great white throne.

Revelation ch. 20, v. 11

Top

685
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.

Revelation ch. 20, v. 13

Top

686
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation ch. 21, v. 1

Top

687
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

Revelation ch. 21, v. 4.

Top

688
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Revelation ch. 21, v. 6

Top

689
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Revelation ch. 22, v. 2

Top

690
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Revelation ch. 22, v. 20

Top

Vulgate 691 Dominus illuminatio mea, et salus mea, quem timebo?
The Lord is the source of my light and my safety, so whom shall I fear?

Psalm 26, v. 1.

692 Cantate Domino canticum novum, quia mirabilia fecit.
Sing to the Lord a new song, because he has done marvellous things.

Psalm 97, v. 1 (Psalm 98, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

693 Jubilate Deo, omnis terra; servite Domino in laetitia.
Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness.

Psalm 99, v. 2 (Psalm 100, v. 2 in the Authorized Version)

Top

694 Beatus vir qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus volet nimis!
Happy is the man who fears the Lord, who is only too willing to follow his orders.

Psalm 111, v. 1 (Psalm 112, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

695 Non nobis, Domine, non nobis; sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
Not unto us, Lord, not unto us; but to thy name give glory.

Psalm 113 (second part), v. 1 (Psalm 115, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

696
Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam.
Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.

Unless the Lord has built the house, its builders have laboured in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman watches in vain.

Psalm 126, v. 1 (Psalm 127, v. 1 in the Authorized Version ,

Top

697 De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine; Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Up from the depths I have cried to thee, Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Psalm 129, v. 1 (Psalm 130, v. 1 in the Authorized Version)

Top

698 Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes; vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.
Vanity of vanities, said the preacher; vanity of vanities, and everything is vanity.

Ecclesiastes ch. 1, v. 2

Top

699 Rorate, coeli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum; aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem.
Drop down dew, heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth be opened, and a saviour spring to life.

Isaiah ch. 45, v. 8

Top

700 Benedicite, omnia opera Domini, Domino; laudate et superexaltate eum in secula.
Bless the Lord, all the works of the Lord; praise him and exalt him above all things for ever.

Daniel ch. 3, v. 57

Top

701 Magnificat anima mea Dominum; Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

St Luke ch. 1, v. 46.

Top

702 Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word.

St Luke ch. 2, v. 29

Top

703 Pax Vobis.
Peace be unto you.

St Luke ch. 24, v. 36

Top

704 Quo vadis?
Where are you going?

St John ch. 16, v. 5

Top

705 Ecce homo.
Behold the man.

St John ch. 19, v. 5

Top

706 Consummatum est.
It is achieved.

St John ch. 19, v. 30

Top

706 Noli me tangere.
Do not touch me.

St John ch. 20, v. 17

Top

707 Magna est veritas, et praevalet.
Great is truth, and it prevails.

III Esdras ch. 4, v. 41 ,

Top

Back  -   New Search

Bickerstaffe, Isaac 1733–1808

1
Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love,
But—why did you kick me downstairs?

"An Expostulation" (1789)

2
I care for nobody, not I,
If no one cares for me.

Love in a Village (a comic opera with music by Thomas Arne, 1762) act 1, sc. 2

[Bickerstaffe]

Back  -   New Search

Bickersteth, E. H. 1825–1906

1
Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The Blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Songs in the House of Pilgrimage (1875) "Peace, perfect peace"

Back  -   New Search

Bierce, Ambrose 1842–1914

1 alliance, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third.
The Cynic's Word Book (1906)

2 battle, n. A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.
The Cynic's Word Book (1906)

[Bierce]

3 history, n. An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
The Cynic's Word Book (1906)

[Bierce]

4 peace, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.
The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

[Bierce]

Back  -   New Search

Biko, Steve 1946–77

1 The liberal must understand that the days of the Noble Savage are gone; that the blacks do not need a go-between in this struggle for their own emancipation. No true liberal should feel any resentment at the growth of black consciousness.
"Black Souls in White Skins?" (written 1970), in Steve Biko—I Write What I Like (1978).

Back  -   New Search

Billings, Josh 1818–85

1 Love iz like the meazles; we kant have it bad but onst, and the latter in life we hav it the tuffer it goes with us.
Josh Billings' Wit and Humour (1874)

Back  -   New Search

Binchy, Maeve 1940–

1 Those lighting devils that go by the wrong name of innocent children.
The Copper Beech (1992)

2 It's not perfect, but to me on balance Right Now is a lot better than the Good Old Days.
in Irish Times 15 November 1997

[Binchy]

Back  -   New Search

Binyon, Laurence 1869–1943

1
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

regularly recited as part of the ritual for Remembrance Day parades
"For the Fallen" (1914)

2 Now is the time for the burning of the leaves.
"The Ruins" (1942)

[Binyon]

Back  -   New Search

Bion c.325 bc

1 Boys throw stones at frogs for fun, but the frogs don't die for "fun", but in sober earnest.
Plutarch Moralia

Back  -   New Search

Birch, Nigel 1906–81

1 My God! They've shot our fox!
on hearing of the resignation of Hugh Dalton, Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, after the leak of Budget secrets
comment, 13 November 1947

Back  -   New Search

Birkenhead, Lord

see F. E. Smith

Back  -   New Search

Birrell, Augustine 1850–1933

1 That great dust-heap called "history".
Obiter Dicta (1884) "Carlyle".

Back  -   New Search

Birtwistle, Harrison 1934–

1 You can't stop. Composing's not voluntary, you know. There's no choice, you're not free. You're landed with an idea and you have responsibility to that idea.
in Observer 14 April 1996 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Bishop, Elizabeth 1911–79

1
The armoured cars of dreams, contrived to let us do
so many a dangerous thing.

"Sleeping Standing Up" (1946)

2 I am sorry for people who can't write letters. But I suspect also that you and I…love to write them because it's kind of like working without really doing it.
letter to Kit and Ilse Barker, 5 September 1953

[Bishop]

Back  -   New Search

Bismarck, Otto von 1815–98

1 If the Princess can leave the Englishwoman at home and become a Prussian, then she may be a blessing to the country.
on the marriage of Victoria, Princess Royal, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia
letter, c.1857

2 Politics is the art of the possible.
in conversation with Meyer von Waldeck, 11 August 1867. ,

[Bismarck]

3 We will not go to Canossa.
during his quarrel with Pope Pius IX regarding papal authority over German subjects, in allusion to the Emperor Henry IV's submission to Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in Modena in 1077
speech to the Reichstag, 14 May 1872

[Bismarck]

4 Not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.
of possible German involvement in the Balkans
speech to the Reichstag, 5 December 1876

[Bismarck]

5 Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong, [it is] a geographical concept.
marginal note on a letter from the Russian Chancellor Gorchakov, November 1876.

[Bismarck]

6 I do not regard the procuring of peace as a matter in which we should play the role of arbiter between different opinions…more that of an honest broker who really wants to press the business forward.
speech to the Reichstag, 19 February 1878

[Bismarck]

7 This policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron.
speech in the Prussian House of Deputies, 28 January 1886

[Bismarck]

8 If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.
attributed by Herr Ballen and quoted by Winston S. Churchill in the House of Commons, 16 August 1945

[Bismarck]

Back  -   New Search

Björk 1965–

1 Icelandic peoples were the ones who memorized sagas…We were the first rappers of Europe.
attributed, January 1996

Back  -   New Search

Black, James 1924–

1 In the culture I grew up in you did your work and you did not put your arm around it to stop other people from looking—you took the earliest possible opportunity to make knowledge available.
on modern scientific research
in Daily Telegraph 11 December 1995

Back  -   New Search

Blacker, Valentine 1728–1823

1 Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.
often attributed to Oliver Cromwell himself
"Oliver's Advice" in E. Hayes Ballads of Ireland (1856) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Blackstone, William 1723–80

1 The king never dies.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) bk. 1, ch. 7

2 The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament; it is its ancient and natural strength; the floating bulwark of the island.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) bk. 1, ch. 13.

[Blackstone]

3 That the king can do no wrong, is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) bk. 3, ch. 17

[Blackstone]

4 It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.
Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) bk. 4, ch. 27

[Blackstone]

Back  -   New Search

Blair, Tony 1953–

1 Labour is the party of law and order in Britain today. Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.
as Shadow Home Secretary
speech at the Labour Party Conference, 30 September 1993

2 Ask me my three main priorities for Government, and I tell you: education, education and education.
speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1996

[Blair]

3 We are not the masters. The people are the masters. We are the servants of the people…What the electorate gives, the electorate can take away.
addressing Labour MPs on the first day of the new Parliament, 7 May 1997
in Guardian 8 May 1997

[Blair]

4 She was the People's Princess, and that is how she will stay…in our hearts and in our memories forever.
on hearing of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, 31 August 1997
in The Times 1 September 1997

[Blair]

Back  -   New Search

Blake, Eubie 1883–1983

1 If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.
on reaching the age of 100
in Observer 13 February 1983 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Blake, William 1757–1827

1
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

"Auguries of Innocence" (c.1803) l. 1

2
A robin red breast in a cage
Puts all Heaven in a rage.

"Auguries of Innocence" (c.1803) l. 5

[Blake]

3
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.

"Auguries of Innocence" (c.1803) l. 53

[Blake]

4
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.

"Auguries of Innocence" (c.1803) l. 97

[Blake]

5
The whore and gambler, by the State
Licensed, build that nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding sheet.

"Auguries of Innocence" (c.1803) l. 113

[Blake]

6
Can wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or love in a golden bowl?

The Book of Thel (1789) plate i "Thel's Motto"

[Blake]

7
I am sure this Jesus will not do
Either for Englishman or Jew.

The Everlasting Gospel (c.1818) (f) l. 1

[Blake]

8
Near mournful
Ever weeping Paddington.

Jerusalem (1815) "Chapter 1" (plate 12, l. 27)

[Blake]

9
I give you the end of a golden string;
Only wind it into a ball:
It will lead you in at Heaven's gate,
Built in Jerusalem's wall.

Jerusalem (1815) "To the Christians" (plate 77) "I give you the end of a golden string”

[Blake]

10 Energy is Eternal Delight.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "The voice of the Devil"

[Blake]

11 The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "The voice of the Devil" (note)

[Blake]

12 The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "Proverbs of Hell"

[Blake]

13 If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "Proverbs of Hell"

[Blake]

14 Prisons are built with stones of Law, brothels with bricks of Religion.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "Proverbs of Hell"

[Blake]

15 The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "Proverbs of Hell"

[Blake]

16 If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–3) "A Memorable Fancy" plate 14

[Blake]

17
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green and pleasant land.

Milton (1804–10) preface "And did those feet in ancient time"

[Blake]

18
The atoms of Democritus
And Newton's particles of light
Are sands upon the Red sea shore,
Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.

MS Note-Book

[Blake]

19
He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise.

MS Note-Book "Several Questions Answered"—"He who binds to himself a joy”

[Blake]

20
What is it men in women do require?
The lineaments of gratified desire.
What is it women do in men require?
The lineaments of gratified desire.

MS Note-Book "Several Questions Answered"—"What is it men in women do require”

[Blake]

21
Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child

Songs of Innocence (1789) introduction

[Blake]

22
Your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

Songs of Innocence (1789) "The Chimney Sweeper"

[Blake]

23
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Songs of Innocence (1789) "The Divine Image"

[Blake]

24
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

Songs of Innocence (1789) "Holy Thursday"

[Blake]

25
Little Lamb who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Songs of Innocence (1789) "The Lamb"

[Blake]

26
My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child:
But I am black as if bereaved of light.

Songs of Innocence (1789) "The Little Black Boy"

[Blake]

27
My mother groaned! my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt:
Helpless, naked, piping loud;
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Songs of Experience (1794) "Infant Sorrow"

[Blake]

28
I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

Songs of Experience (1794) "A Poison Tree"

[Blake]

29
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree

Songs of Experience (1794) "A Poison Tree"

[Blake]

30
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

Songs of Experience (1794) "The Sick Rose"

[Blake]

31
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Songs of Experience (1794) "The Tiger"

[Blake]

32
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Songs of Experience (1794) "The Tiger"

[Blake]

33
Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secrecy the human dress.

"A Divine Image"; etched but not included in Songs of Experience (1794).

[Blake]

Back  -   New Search

Blamire, Susanna 1747–94

1
I've gotten a rock, I've gotten a reel,
I've gotten a wee bit spinning-wheel;
An' by the whirling rim I've found
How the weary, weary warl goes round.

"I've Gotten a Rock, I've Gotten a Reel" (c.1790) l. 1

Back  -   New Search

Blanc, Jean Joseph Louis 1811–82

1 In the Saint-Simonian doctrine, the problem of the distribution of benefits is resolved by this famous saying: To each according to his ability; to each ability according to its fruits.
Blanc cites Saint-Simon in order to disagree with his ideas
Organisation du travail (1841 ed.).

Back  -   New Search

Blanch, Lesley 1907–

1 She was an Amazon. Her whole life was spent riding at breakneck speed towards the wilder shores of love.
of Jane Digby El Mezrab (1807–81)
The Wilder Shores of Love (1954) pt. 2, ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Blixen, Karen

see Isak Dinesen

Back  -   New Search

Bliss, Philip Paul 1838–76

1 Hold the fort, for I am coming.
suggested by a flag message from General Sherman; see
Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (1875) no. 14

Back  -   New Search

Blücher, Gebhard Lebrecht 1742–1819

1 Was für Plunder!What rubbish!
of London, as seen from the Monument in June 1814; often misquoted as, "Was für plündern! [What a place to plunder!]"
Evelyn Princess Blücher Memoirs of Prince Blücher (1932)

Back  -   New Search

Blunden, Edmund 1896–1974

1
All things they have in common being so poor,
And their one fear, Death's shadow at the door.

"Almswomen" (1920)

2
I am for the woods against the world,
But are the woods for me?

"The Kiss" (1931)

[Blunden]

Back  -   New Search

Bode, John Ernest 1816–74

1
O Jesus, I have promised
To serve thee to the end;
Be thou for ever near me,
My Master and my Friend.

"O Jesus, I have promised" (1869 hymn); written for the confirmation of Bode's three children

Back  -   New Search

Boesky, Ivan F. 1937–

1 Greed is all right…Greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.
commencement address, Berkeley, California, 18 May 1986

Back  -   New Search

Boethius ad c.476–524

1 For in every ill-turn of fortune the most unhappy sort of unfortunate man is the one who has been happy.
De Consolatione Philosophiae bk. 2, prose 4

Back  -   New Search

Bogan, Louise 1897–1970

1
Women have no wilderness in them,
They are provident instead,
Content in the tight hot cell of their hearts
To eat dusty bread.

"Women" (1923)

Back  -   New Search

Bogart, John B. 1848–1921

1 When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.
often attributed to Charles A. Dana
F. M. O'Brien The Story of the [New York] Sun (1918) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Bohr, Niels 1885–1962

1 Anybody who is not shocked by this subject has failed to understand it.
of quantum mechanics
attributed; in Nature 23 August 1990

2 Never express yourself more clearly than you think.
Abraham Pais Einstein Lived Here (1994)

[Bohr]

Back  -   New Search

Bold, Alan 1943–

1
This happened near the core
Of a world's culture.

"June 1967 at Buchenwald" (1969)

2
Scotland, land of the omnipotent No.

"A Memory of Death" (1969)

[Bold]

Back  -   New Search

Bolingbroke, Henry St John, Lord 1678–1751

1 They make truth serve as a stalking-horse to error.
Letters on the Study and Use of History (1752) No. 4, pt. 1

2 Truth lies within a little and certain compass, but error is immense.
Reflections upon Exile (1716)

[Bolingbroke]

3 The greatest art of a politician is to render vice serviceable to the cause of virtue.
comment (c.1728)

[Bolingbroke]

Back  -   New Search

Bolt, Robert 1924–95

1 This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast—Man's laws, not God's—and if you cut them down—and you're just the man to do it—d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?
A Man for All Seasons (1960) act 1

2 It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world…But for Wales—!
A Man for All Seasons (1960) act 2.

[Bolt]

Back  -   New Search

Bonaparte, Elizabeth Patterson 1785–1879

1 Even quarrels with one's husband are preferable to the ennui of a solitary existence.
Eugene L. Didier The Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte (1879)

Back  -   New Search

Bonar Law, Andrew 1858–1923

1 I can imagine no length of resistance to which Ulster will not go, in which I shall not be ready to support them.
at a Unionist meeting at Blenheim in 1912
Robert Blake The Unknown Prime Minister (1955)

2 If I am a great man, then all great men are frauds.
Lord Beaverbrook Politicians and the War (1932)

[Bonar Law]

Back  -   New Search

Bonaventura, St 1221–74

1 Reason is the natural image of the Creator.
Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Back  -   New Search

Bond, Carrie Jacobs 1862–1946

1
When you come to the end of a perfect day.

"A Perfect Day" (1910 song)

Back  -   New Search

Bone, David 1874–1959

1 It's "Damn you, Jack — I'm all right!" with you chaps.
Brassbounder (1910) ch. 3

Back  -   New Search

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 1906–45

1
In me there is darkness, but with you there is light.

prayer written for fellow-prisoners in a Nazi prison, 1943
Letters and Papers from Prison (1971)

2 It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.
Widerstand und Ergebung (Resistance and Submission, 1951) "Ein paar Gedanken über Verschiedenes"

[Bonhoeffer]

Back  -   New Search

Book of Common Prayer, The 1662

1 Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart.
Morning Prayer Sentences of the Scriptures

2 We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
Morning Prayer General Confession

[Book of Common Prayer]

3 We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us.
Morning Prayer General Confession

[Book of Common Prayer]

4 And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life.
Morning Prayer General Confession

[Book of Common Prayer]

5 And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us.
Morning Prayer The Lord's Prayer

[Book of Common Prayer]

6 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Morning Prayer Gloria

[Book of Common Prayer]

7
We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.

Morning Prayer Te Deum

[Book of Common Prayer]

8
The glorious company of the Apostles: praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee.

Morning Prayer Te Deum

[Book of Common Prayer]

9 When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death: thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Morning Prayer Te Deum

[Book of Common Prayer]

10
Day by day: we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name: ever world without end.

Morning Prayer Te Deum

[Book of Common Prayer]

11
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Morning Prayer Te Deum

[Book of Common Prayer]

12 O all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord.
Morning Prayer Benedicite

[Book of Common Prayer]

13
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried, He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the life everlasting. Amen.

Morning Prayer The Apostles' Creed

[Book of Common Prayer]

14 Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Morning Prayer Versicle

[Book of Common Prayer]

15 O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies.
Morning Prayer The Second Collect, for Peace

[Book of Common Prayer]

16 Grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger.
Morning Prayer The Third Collect, for Grace

[Book of Common Prayer]

17 In Quires and Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem.
Morning Prayer rubric following Third Collect

[Book of Common Prayer]

18 Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness.
Morning Prayer Prayer for the Royal Family

[Book of Common Prayer]

19 Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them.
Morning Prayer Prayer of St Chrysostom

[Book of Common Prayer]

20 O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give.
Evening Prayer Second Collect

[Book of Common Prayer]

21 Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night.
Evening Prayer Third Collect

[Book of Common Prayer]

22 Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
At Morning Prayer Athanasian Creed "Quicunque vult"

[Book of Common Prayer]

23 Have mercy upon us miserable sinners.
The Litany

[Book of Common Prayer]

24
From envy, hatred, and malice, and from all uncharitableness,
Good Lord, deliver us.

The Litany

[Book of Common Prayer]

25
From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil,
Good Lord, deliver us.

The Litany

[Book of Common Prayer]

26
From battle and murder, and from sudden death,
Good Lord, deliver us.

The Litany

[Book of Common Prayer]

27
In the hour of death, and in the day of judgement,
Good Lord, deliver us.

The Litany

[Book of Common Prayer]

28
That it may please thee to preserve all that travel by land or by water, all women labouring of child, all sick persons, and young children; and to shew thy pity upon all prisoners and captives;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

The Litany

[Book of Common Prayer]

29 O God, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men.
Prayers…upon Several Occasions "Collect or Prayer for all Conditions of Men"

[Book of Common Prayer]

30 We commend to thy fatherly goodness all those, who are any ways afflicted, or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them, according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions.
Prayers…upon Several Occasions "Collect or Prayer for all Conditions of Men"

[Book of Common Prayer]

31 O God our heavenly Father, who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth.
Thanksgivings For Rain

[Book of Common Prayer]

32 Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light.
Collects The first Sunday in Advent

[Book of Common Prayer]

33 Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word.
Collects The second Sunday in Advent

[Book of Common Prayer]

34 O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts.
Collects The nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

[Book of Common Prayer]

35 Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people.
Collects The five and twentieth Sunday after Trinity

[Book of Common Prayer]

36 An open and notorious evil liver.
Holy Communion introductory rubric

[Book of Common Prayer]

37 The Table, at the Communion-time having a fair white linen cloth upon it.
Holy Communion introductory rubric

[Book of Common Prayer]

38 Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.
Holy Communion The Collect

[Book of Common Prayer]

39 I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
the phrase "sins of the fathers" is also used in the Douay/Rheims Bible (1609) in Numbers ch. 14, v. 18
Holy Communion The Ten Commandments.

[Book of Common Prayer]

40 Incline our hearts to keep this law.
Holy Communion The Ten Commandments (response)

[Book of Common Prayer]

41 Thou shalt do no murder.
Holy Communion The Ten Commandments.

[Book of Common Prayer]

42
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made.

Holy Communion Nicene Creed

[Book of Common Prayer]

43 And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church.
Holy Communion Nicene Creed

[Book of Common Prayer]

44 Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here in earth.
Holy Communion Prayer for the Church Militant

[Book of Common Prayer]

45 We humbly beseech thee most mercifully to accept our alms and oblations.
Holy Communion Prayer for the Church Militant

[Book of Common Prayer]

46 To inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord.
Holy Communion Prayer for the Church Militant

[Book of Common Prayer]

47 We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable.
Holy Communion General Confession

[Book of Common Prayer]

48 Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him.
Holy Communion Comfortable Words (preamble)

[Book of Common Prayer]

49 Lift up your hearts.
Holy Communion versicles and responses

[Book of Common Prayer]

50 It is meet and right so to do.
Holy Communion versicles and responses

[Book of Common Prayer]

51
It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee.

Holy Communion Hymn of Praise

[Book of Common Prayer]

52 Who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.
Holy Communion Prayer of Consecration

[Book of Common Prayer]

53 Who, in the same night that he was betrayed, took Bread; and, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of me.
Holy Communion Prayer of Consecration

[Book of Common Prayer]

54 Among all the changes and chances of this mortal life.
Holy Communion Collects after the Offertory

[Book of Common Prayer]

55 O merciful God, grant that the old Adam in this Child may be so buried, that the new man may be raised up in him.
Public Baptism of Infants Invocation of blessing on the child

[Book of Common Prayer]

56 question: Who gave you this Name?
answer: My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism.

Catechism

[Book of Common Prayer]

57 I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.
Catechism

[Book of Common Prayer]

58 To keep my hands from picking and stealing.
Catechism

[Book of Common Prayer]

59
question: What meanest thou by this word Sacrament?
answer: I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

Catechism

[Book of Common Prayer]

60
Lord, hear our prayers.
And let our cry come unto thee.

Order of Confirmation

[Book of Common Prayer]

61 If any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together in holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is the first [second, or third] time of asking.
Solemnization of Matrimony The Banns

[Book of Common Prayer]

62 Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony.
Solemnization of Matrimony Exhortation

[Book of Common Prayer]

63 Not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy men's carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding.
Solemnization of Matrimony Exhortation

[Book of Common Prayer]

64 If any man can shew any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.
Solemnization of Matrimony Exhortation

[Book of Common Prayer]

65 Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?
Solemnization of Matrimony Betrothal

[Book of Common Prayer]

66 To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.
the man having used the words "I plight thee my troth" and not having promised "to obey"; the woman may also omit the promise "to obey"
Solemnization of Matrimony Betrothal

[Book of Common Prayer]

67 With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.
Solemnization of Matrimony Wedding

[Book of Common Prayer]

68 Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.
Solemnization of Matrimony Wedding.

[Book of Common Prayer]

69 Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit thee.
The Visitation of the Sick

[Book of Common Prayer]

70 The Office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves.
The Burial of the Dead introductory rubric

[Book of Common Prayer]

71 Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
The Burial of the Dead First Anthem.

[Book of Common Prayer]

72 In the midst of life we are in death.
The Burial of the Dead First Anthem

[Book of Common Prayer]

73 Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.
The Burial of the Dead Interment

[Book of Common Prayer]

74
Why do the heathen so furiously rage together: and why do the people imagine a vain thing?

Psalm 2, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

75
Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies.

Psalm 8, v. 2

[Book of Common Prayer]

76
Up, Lord, and let not man have the upper hand.

Psalm 9, v. 19

[Book of Common Prayer]

77
The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God.

Psalm 14, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

78
The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly heritage.

Psalm 16, v. 7; "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places" as Psalm 16, v. 6 in Authorized Version of the Bible

[Book of Common Prayer]

79
The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.

Psalm 19, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

80
The judgements of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb.

Psalm 19, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

81
They part my garments among them: and cast lots upon my vesture.

Psalm 22, v. 18

[Book of Common Prayer]

82
The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall feed me in a green pasture: and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.

Psalm 23, v. 1. , ; see also Psalm 23, v. 1, Authorized Version of the Bible, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters"

[Book of Common Prayer]

83
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me: thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full.
But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Psalm 23, v. 4.

[Book of Common Prayer]

84
The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein.

Psalm 24, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

85
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in.

Psalm 24, v. 7

[Book of Common Prayer]

86
I should utterly have fainted: but that I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 27, v. 15

[Book of Common Prayer]

87
Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalm 30, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

88
Into thy hands I commend my spirit.

Psalm 31, v. 6.

[Book of Common Prayer]

89
Great plagues remain for the ungodly: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord, mercy embraceth him on every side.

Psalm 32, v. 11

[Book of Common Prayer]

90
Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing praises lustily unto him with a good courage.

Psalm 33, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

91
O deliver my soul from the calamities which they bring on me, and my darling from the lions.

Psalm 35, v. 17

[Book of Common Prayer]

92
I have been young, and now am old: and yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.

Psalm 37, v. 25

[Book of Common Prayer]

93
I myself have seen the ungodly in great power: and flourishing like a green bay-tree.

Psalm 37, v. 36

[Book of Common Prayer]

94
I held my tongue, and spake nothing: I kept silence, yea, even from good words; but it was pain and grief to me.

Psalm 39, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

95
Lord, let me know mine end, and the number of my days: that I may be certified how long I have to live.

Psalm 39, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

96
Yea, even mine own familiar friend, whom I trusted.

Psalm 41, v. 9

[Book of Common Prayer]

97
Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul is a thirst for God, yea, even for the living God.

Psalm 42, v. 1.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, the living God.

Psalm 42, v. 1 in the Authorized Version of the Bible

[Book of Common Prayer]

98
My heart is inditing of a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made unto the King.
My tongue is the pen: of a ready writer.

Psalm 45, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

99
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: wherefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Psalm 45, v. 8

[Book of Common Prayer]

100
The King's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.

Psalm 45, v. 14

[Book of Common Prayer]

101
God is our hope and strength: a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46, v. 1.

[Book of Common Prayer]

102
Be still then, and know that I am God.

Psalm 46, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

103
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.

Psalm 51, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

104
Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

105
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God.

Psalm 51, v. 14

[Book of Common Prayer]

106
O that I had wings like a dove: for then would I flee away, and be at rest.

Psalm 55, v. 6

[Book of Common Prayer]

107
It was even thou, my companion: my guide, and mine own familiar friend.
We took sweet counsel together: and walked in the house of God as friends.

Psalm 55, v. 14

[Book of Common Prayer]

108
They have digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the midst of it themselves.

Psalm 57, v. 7

[Book of Common Prayer]

109
They are as venomous as the poison of a serpent: even like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears;
Which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer: charm he never so wisely.

Psalm 58, v. 4

[Book of Common Prayer]

110
Moab is my wash-pot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe.

Psalm 60, v. 8

[Book of Common Prayer]

111
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

Psalm 68, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

112
The mountains also shall bring peace: and the little hills righteousness unto the people.

Psalm 72, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

113
For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west: nor yet from the south.

Psalm 75, v. 7

[Book of Common Prayer]

114
As one out of sleep: and like a giant refreshed with wine.

Psalm 78, v. 66

[Book of Common Prayer]

115
Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young: even thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Psalm 84, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

116
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee: in whose heart are thy ways.
Who going through the vale of misery use it for a well: and the pools are filled with water.
They will go from strength to strength.

Psalm 84, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

117
For one day in thy courts: is better than a thousand.
I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God: than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.

Psalm 84, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

118
Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Psalm 85, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

119
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: seeing that is past as a watch in the night.

Psalm 90, v. 4

[Book of Common Prayer]

120
The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years: yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.

Psalm 90, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

121
For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter.

Psalm 91, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

122
Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night: nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day.

Psalm 91, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

123
O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving: and shew ourselves glad in him with psalms.

Psalm 95, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

124
To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.

Psalm 95, v. 8

[Book of Common Prayer]

125
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him.

Psalm 96, v. 9

[Book of Common Prayer]

126
O sing unto the Lord a new song: for he hath done marvellous things.
With his own right hand, and with his holy arm: hath he gotten himself the victory.

Psalm 98, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

127
O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song.
Be ye sure that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

128
The days of man are but as grass: for he flourisheth as a flower of a field.
For as soon as the wind goeth over it, it is gone: and the place thereof shall know it no more.

Psalm 103, v. 15

[Book of Common Prayer]

129
Thou makest darkness that it may be night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do move.
The lions roaring after their prey: do seek their meat from God.

Psalm 104, v. 20

[Book of Common Prayer]

130
There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan: whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein.

Psalm 104, v. 26

[Book of Common Prayer]

131
The iron entered into his soul.

Psalm 105, v. 18

[Book of Common Prayer]

132
Thus were they stained with their own works: and went a whoring with their own inventions.

Psalm 106, v. 38

[Book of Common Prayer]

133
Such as sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

Psalm 107, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

134
They that go down to the sea in ships: and occupy their business in great waters;
These men see the works of the Lord: and his wonders in the deep.

Psalm 107, v. 23

[Book of Common Prayer]

135
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man: and are at their wit's end.

Psalm 107, v. 27

[Book of Common Prayer]

136
Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech.

Psalm 110, v. 4

[Book of Common Prayer]

137
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Psalm 111, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

138
The mountains skipped like rams: and the little hills like young sheep.

Psalm 114, v. 4

[Book of Common Prayer]

139
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give the praise.

Psalm 115, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

140
They have mouths, and speak not: eyes have they, and see not.
They have ears, and hear not: noses have they, and smell not.
They have hands, and handle not: feet have they, and walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

Psalm 115, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

141
The snares of death compassed me round about: and the pains of hell gat hold upon me.

Psalm 116, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

142
I said in my haste, All men are liars.

Psalm 116, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

143
The same stone which the builders refused: is become the head-stone in the corner.
This is the Lord's doing: and it is marvellous in our eyes.

Psalm 118, v. 22

[Book of Common Prayer]

144
Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

Psalm 118, v. 26

[Book of Common Prayer]

145
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: from whence cometh my help.

Psalm 121, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

146
So that the sun shall not burn thee by day: neither the moon by night.

Psalm 121, v. 6

[Book of Common Prayer]

147
The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this time forth for evermore.

Psalm 121, v. 8

[Book of Common Prayer]

148
O pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

Psalm 122, v. 6

[Book of Common Prayer]

149
Our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken, and we are delivered.

Psalm 124, v. 6

[Book of Common Prayer]

150
They that sow in tears: shall reap in joy.
He that now goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth good seed: shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his sheaves with him.

Psalm 126, v. 6

[Book of Common Prayer]

151
Except the Lord build the house: their labour is but lost that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city: the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

152
Like as the arrows in the hand of the giant: even so are the young children.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.

Psalm 127, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

153
Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine: upon the walls of thine house.
Thy children like the olive-branches: round about thy table.

Psalm 128, v. 3

[Book of Common Prayer]

154
Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.

Psalm 130, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

155
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious: and his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 136, v. 1.

[Book of Common Prayer]

156
By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept: when we remembered thee, O Sion.

Psalm 137, v. 1

[Book of Common Prayer]

157
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem: let my right hand forget her cunning.

Psalm 137, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

158
If I take the wings of the morning: and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me.

Psalm 139, v. 8

[Book of Common Prayer]

159
I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139, v. 13

[Book of Common Prayer]

160
O put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man.

Psalm 146, v. 2

[Book of Common Prayer]

161
He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse: neither delighteth he in any man's legs.

Psalm 147, v. 10

[Book of Common Prayer]

162
To bind their kings in chains: and their nobles with links of iron.

Psalm 149, v. 8

[Book of Common Prayer]

163
Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals: praise him upon the loud cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath: praise the Lord.

Psalm 150, v. 5

[Book of Common Prayer]

164 Be pleased to receive into thy Almighty and most gracious protection the persons of us thy servants, and the Fleet in which we serve.
Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea First Prayer

[Book of Common Prayer]

165 That we may be…a security for such as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions.
Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea First Prayer

[Book of Common Prayer]

166 We therefore commit his body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body (when the Sea shall give up her dead).
Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea At the Burial of their Dead at Sea

[Book of Common Prayer]

167 Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation.
Articles of Religion (1562) no. 6

[Book of Common Prayer]

168 Man is very far gone from original righteousness.
Articles of Religion (1562) no. 9

[Book of Common Prayer]

169 It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people.
Articles of Religion (1562) no. 24

[Book of Common Prayer]

170 The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England.
Articles of Religion (1562) no. 37

[Book of Common Prayer]

171 It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars.
Articles of Religion (1562) no. 37

[Book of Common Prayer]

172 A Man may not marry his Mother.
A Table of Kindred and Affinity

[Book of Common Prayer]

Back  -   New Search

Booth, John Wilkes 1838–65

1 Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.
having shot President Lincoln, 14 April 1865
in New York Times 15 April 1865; the second part of the statement does not appear in any contemporary source, and is possibly apocryphal.

Back  -   New Search

Booth, William 1829–1912

1 The submerged tenth.
defined by Booth as "three million men, women, and children, a vast despairing multitude in a condition nominally free, but really enslaved"
In Darkest England (1890) pt. 1, title of ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Boothby, Robert 1900–86

1 You speak for Britain!
to Arthur Greenwood, acting Leader of the Labour Party, after Neville Chamberlain had failed to announce an ultimatum to Germany; perhaps taking up an appeal already voiced by Leo Amery
Harold Nicolson, diary, 2 September 1939.

Back  -   New Search

Boothroyd, Betty 1929–

1 My desire to get here [Parliament] was like miners' coal dust, it was under my fingers and I couldn't scrub it out.
of Parliament
Glenys Kinnock and Fiona Millar (eds.) By Faith and Daring (1993)

Back  -   New Search

Boren, James H. 1925–

1 Guidelines for bureaucrats: (1) When in charge, ponder. (2) When in trouble, delegate. (3) When in doubt, mumble.
in New York Times 8 November 1970

Back  -   New Search

Borges, Jorge Luis 1899–1986

1 The original is unfaithful to the translation.
of Henley's translation of Beckford's Vathek
Sobre el "Vathek" de William Beckford (1943)

2 The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb.
application of a proverbial phrase
in Time 14 February 1983

[Borges]

Back  -   New Search

Borgia, Cesare 1476–1507

1 Aut Caesar, aut nihil.Caesar or nothing.
motto inscribed on the sword of Cesare Borgia (1476–1507)

Back  -   New Search

Borrow, George 1803–81

1 Sun, moon, and stars, brother, all sweet things: there's likewise a wind on the heath. Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?
Lavengro (1851) ch. 25

Back  -   New Search

Bosquet, Pierre 1810–61

1 C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.It is magnificent, but it is not war.
on the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, 25 October 1854
Cecil Woodham-Smith The Reason Why (1953) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Bossidy, John Collins 1860–1928

1
And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots
And the Cabots talk only to God.

verse spoken at Holy Cross College alumni dinner in Boston, Massachusetts, 1910, in Springfield Sunday Republican 14 December 1924

Back  -   New Search

Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne 1627–1704

1 L'Angleterre, ah, la perfide Angleterre, que le rempart de ses mers rendait inaccessible aux Romains, la foi du Sauveur y est abordée.England, ah, faithless England, which the protection afforded by its seas rendered inaccessible to the Romans, the faith of the Saviour spread even there.
first sermon on the feast of the Circumcision, in Oeuvres de Bossuet (1816) vol. 11.

Back  -   New Search

Boswell, James 1740–95

1 I am, I flatter myself, completely a citizen of the world. In my travels through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, France, I never felt myself from home.
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (ed. F. A. Pottle, 1936) 14 August 1773

2 A page of my Journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (ed. F. A. Pottle, 1936) 13 September 1773

[Boswell]

3 johnson: Well, we had a good talk.
boswell: Yes, Sir; you tossed and gored several persons.

The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) Summer 1768

[Boswell]

Back  -   New Search

Bottomley, Horatio 1860–1933

1 reply to a prison visitor who asked if he were sewing:No, reaping.
S. T. Felstead Horatio Bottomley (1936) ch. 16

2 What poor education I have received has been gained in the University of Life.
speech at the Oxford Union, 2 December 1920

[Bottomley]

Back  -   New Search

Boucicault, Dion 1820–90

1 Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.
London Assurance (1841) act 2, sc. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Boulay, Antoine de la Meurthe 1761–1840

1 It is worse than a crime, it is a blunder.
on hearing of the execution of the Duc d'Enghien, captured in Baden by Napoleon's forces, in 1804
C.-A. Sainte-Beuve Nouveaux Lundis (1870) vol. 12

Back  -   New Search

Boulton, Harold Edwin 1859–1935

1
Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
"Onward," the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be king,
Over the sea to Skye.

"Skye Boat Song" (1908)

Back  -   New Search

Boulton, Matthew 1728–1809

1 I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have—power.
speaking to Boswell of his engineering works
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 22 March 1776

Back  -   New Search

Bourdillon, F. W. 1852–1921

1
The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one.

Among the Flowers (1878) "Light".

Back  -   New Search

Bowen, E. E. 1836–1901

1
Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are singing to-day.

"Forty Years On" (Harrow School Song, published 1886)

Back  -   New Search

Bowen, Elizabeth 1899–1973

1 There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone.
The House in Paris (1935) pt. 1, ch. 2

2 Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.
The House in Paris (1935) pt. 2, ch. 2

[Bowen]

3 Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.
The House in Paris (1935) pt. 2, ch. 8

[Bowen]

Back  -   New Search

Bowen, Lord 1835–94

1 The man on the Clapham omnibus.
the average man
in Law Reports (1903); attributed

2 When I hear of an "equity" in a case like this, I am reminded of a blind man in a dark room—looking for a black hat—which isn't there.
John Alderson Foote Pie-Powder (1911)

[Bowen]

3
The rain, it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella:
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust steals the just's umbrella.

Walter Sichel Sands of Time (1923) ch. 4: cf.

[Bowen]

Back  -   New Search

Bowie, David (David Jones) 1947–

1
Ground control to Major Tom.

"Space Oddity" (1969 song)

Back  -   New Search

Boy George 1961–

1 She's a gay man trapped in a woman's body.
of Madonna
Take It Like a Man (1995)

2 Sex has never been an obsession with me. It's just like eating a bag of crisps. Quite nice, but nothing marvellous.
in Sun 21 October 1982

[Boy George]

Back  -   New Search

Bradford, John c.1510–55

1 But for the grace of God there goes John Bradford.
on seeing a group of criminals being led to their execution; usually quoted as, "There but for the grace of God go I"
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

Back  -   New Search

Bradley, F. H. 1846–1924

1 Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.
Appearance and Reality (1893) preface

2 The world is the best of all possible worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil.
Appearance and Reality (1893) preface

[Bradley]

Back  -   New Search

Bradley, Omar 1893–1981

1 The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
speech on Armistice Day, 1948

2 We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.
speech on Armistice Day, 1948
Collected Writings (1967) vol. 1

[Bradley]

Back  -   New Search

Bradshaw, John 1602–59

1 Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
suppositious epitaph

Back  -   New Search

Bradstreet, Anne c.1612–72

1
I am obnoxious to each carping tongue,
Who says my hand a needle better fits.

"The Prologue" (1650)

Back  -   New Search

Bramston, James c.1694–1744

1
What's not destroyed by Time's devouring hand?
Where's Troy, and where's the Maypole in the Strand?

The Art of Politics (1729) l. 71

Back  -   New Search

Brandeis, Louis D. 1856–1941

1 Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.
in Whitney v. California (1927)

Back  -   New Search

Branson, Richard 1950–

1 We spend most of our lives working. So why do so few people have a good time doing it?
interview in New York Times 28 February 1993

Back  -   New Search

Braque, Georges 1882–1963

1 Art is meant to disturb, science reassures.
Le Jour et la nuit: Cahiers 1917–52

2 Truth exists; only lies are invented.
Le Jour et la nuit: Cahiers 1917–52

[Braque]

Back  -   New Search

Bratton, John W. and Kennedy, James B.

1
If you go down in the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today
You'd better go in disguise
For every Bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because,
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their Picnic.

"The Teddy Bear's Picnic" (1932 song)

Back  -   New Search

Braun, Werner von 1912–77

1 Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.
R. L. Weber A Random Walk in Science (1973)

Back  -   New Search

Brecht, Bertolt 1898–1956

1 The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.
The Life of Galileo (1939) sc. 9

2 Don't tell me peace has broken out, when I've just bought some new supplies.
Mother Courage (1939) sc. 8

[Brecht]

3 The resistible rise of Arturo Ui.
title of play (1941)

[Brecht]

4
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear,
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight.

The Threepenny Opera (1928) prologue

[Brecht]

5 What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?
The Threepenny Opera (1928) act 3, sc. 3

[Brecht]

Back  -   New Search

Brenan, Gerald 1894–1987

1 Those who have some means think that the most important thing in the world is love. The poor know that it is money.
Thoughts in a Dry Season (1978)

Back  -   New Search

Brenner, Sydney 1927–

1 A modern computer hovers between the obsolescent and the nonexistent.
attributed in Science 5 January 1990

Back  -   New Search

Breton, Nicholas c.1545–1626

1
I wish my deadly foe, no worse
Than want of friends, and empty purse.

"A Farewell to Town" (1577)

Back  -   New Search

Briand, Aristide 1862–1932

1 The high contracting powers solemnly declare…that they condemn recourse to war and renounce it…as an instrument of their national policy towards each other…The settlement or the solution of all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be which may arise…shall never be sought by either side except by pacific means.
draft, 20 June 1927, later incorporated into the Kellogg Pact, 1928

Back  -   New Search

Bridges, Edward 1892–1969

1 I confidently expect that we shall continue to be grouped with mothers-in-law and Wigan Pier as one of the recognized objects of ridicule.
of civil servants
Portrait of a Profession (1950)

Back  -   New Search

Bridges, Robert 1844–1930

1
All my hope on God is founded.

"All my hope on God is founded" (1899 hymn)

2
When men were all asleep the snow came flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town.

"London Snow" (1890)

[Bridges]

Back  -   New Search

Bright, John 1811–89

1 The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings.
on the effects of the war in the Crimea
speech in the House of Commons, 23 February 1855

2 A gigantic system of outdoor relief for the aristocracy of Great Britain.
of British foreign policy
speech at Birmingham, 29 October 1858

[Bright]

3 I am for "Peace, retrenchment, and reform", the watchword of the great Liberal party 30 years ago.
speech at Birmingham, 28 April 1859

[Bright]

4 England is the mother of Parliaments.
speech at Birmingham, 18 January 1865

[Bright]

5 The right hon Gentleman…has retired into what may be called his political Cave of Adullam—and he has called about him every one that was in distress and every one that was discontented.
referring to Robert Lowe, leader of the dissident Whigs opposed to the Reform Bill of 1866
speech in the House of Commons, 13 March 1866.

[Bright]

Back  -   New Search

Brillat-Savarin, Anthelme 1755–1826

1 Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.
Physiologie du Goût (1825) aphorism no. 4.

2 The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star.
Physiologie du Goût (1825) aphorism no. 9

[Brillat-Savarin]

Back  -   New Search

Brockbank, Russell 1913–

1 Fog in Channel—Continent isolated.
newspaper placard in cartoon, Round the Bend with Brockbank (1948); the phrase "Continent isolated" was quoted as already current by John Gunther Inside Europe (1938)

Back  -   New Search

Bronowski, Jacob 1908–74

1 The essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.
The Ascent of Man (1973) ch. 4

2 The wish to hurt, the momentary intoxication with pain, is the loophole through which the pervert climbs into the minds of ordinary men.
The Face of Violence (1954) ch. 5

[Bronowski]

Back  -   New Search

Brontë, Charlotte 1816–55

1 There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.
Jane Eyre (1847), opening words

2 Reader, I married him.
Jane Eyre (1847) ch. 38

[Brontë]

3 Be a governess! Better be a slave at once!
Shirley (1849) ch. 13

[Brontë]

4 I shall soon be 30—and I have done nothing yet…I feel as if we were all buried here.
letter to Ellen Nussey, 24 March 1845

[Brontë]

Back  -   New Search

Brontë, Emily 1818–48

1
No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

"No coward soul is mine" (1846)

2
Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring.

"Remembrance" (1846)

[Brontë]

3 My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath:—a source of little visible delight, but necessary.
Wuthering Heights (1847) ch. 9

[Brontë]

4 I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
Wuthering Heights (1847), closing words

[Brontë]

Back  -   New Search

Brontë, Patrick 1777–1861

1 Charlotte has been writing a book, and it is much better than likely.
to his younger daughters, on first reading Jane Eyre
Elizabeth Gaskell The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857)

2 No quailing, Mrs Gaskell! no drawing back!
apropos her undertaking to write the life of Charlotte Brontë
letter from Mrs Gaskell to Ellen Nussey, 24 July 1855

[Brontë]

Back  -   New Search

Brooke, Henry 1703–83

1
For righteous monarchs,
Justly to judge, with their own eyes should see;
To rule o'er freemen, should themselves be free.

Earl of Essex (performed 1750, published 1761) act 1.

Back  -   New Search

Brooke, Rupert 1887–1915

1
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.
These laid the world away; poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth.

"The Dead" (1914)

2
Unkempt about those hedges blows
An English unofficial rose.

"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1915)

[Brooke]

3
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1915)

[Brooke]

4
Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour.

"Peace" (1914)

[Brooke]

5
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England.

"The Soldier" (1914)

[Brooke]

Back  -   New Search

Brookner, Anita 1928–

1 Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything.
Hotel du Lac (1984) ch. 7

2 They were reasonable people, and no one was to be hurt, not even with words.
Hotel du Lac (1984) ch. 9

[Brookner]

3 Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.
A Start in Life (1981) ch. 1

[Brookner]

Back  -   New Search

Brooks, J.

1
A four-legged friend, a four-legged friend,
He'll never let you down.

sung by Roy Rogers about his horse Trigger
"A Four Legged Friend" (1952)

Back  -   New Search

Brooks, Phillips 1835–93

1
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" (1868 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Brooks, Thomas 1608–80

1 For (magna est veritas et praevalebit) great is truth, and shall prevail.
The Crown and Glory of Christianity (1662).

Back  -   New Search

Brough, Robert Barnabas 1828–60

1
My Lord Tomnoddy is thirty-four;
The Earl can last but a few years more.
My Lord in the Peers will take his place:
Her Majesty's councils his words will grace.
Office he'll hold and patronage sway;
Fortunes and lives he will vote away;
And what are his qualifications?—one!
He's the Earl of Fitzdotterel's eldest son.

Songs of the Governing Classes (1855) "My Lord Tomnoddy"

Back  -   New Search

Brougham, Lord 1778–1868

1 All we see about us, King, Lords, and Commons, the whole machinery of the State…end in simply bringing twelve good men into a box.
in the House of Commons, 7 February 1828

2 The schoolmaster is abroad! and I trust more to the schoolmaster, armed with his primer, than I do to the soldier in full military array, for upholding and extending the liberties of his country.
sometimes quoted as "Look out, gentlemen, the schoolmaster is abroad!"
in the House of Commons, 29 January 1828

[Brougham]

Back  -   New Search

Broun, Heywood 1888–1939

1 Everybody favours free speech in the slack moments when no axes are being ground.
in New York World 23 October 1926

2 A fanatic is a great leader who is just entering the room.
in New York World 6 February 1928

[Broun]

Back  -   New Search

Brown, Christy 1932–81

1 Painting became everything to me…Through it I made articulate all that I saw and felt, all that went on inside the mind that was housed within my useless body like a prisoner in a cell.
My Left Foot (1954)

Back  -   New Search

Brown, H. Rap 1943–

1 I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
speech at Washington, 27 July 1967

Back  -   New Search

Brown, John 1800–59

1 I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.
written on the day of his execution, 2 December 1859

Back  -   New Search

Brown, Lew 1893–1958

1 Life is just a bowl of cherries.
title of song (1931)

Back  -   New Search

Brown, T. E. 1830–97

1
A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!

"My Garden" (1893)

Back  -   New Search

Brown, Thomas 1663–1704

1 A little before you made a leap into the dark.
Letters from the Dead to the Living (1702) "Answer to Mr Joseph Haines"

2
I do not love thee, Dr Fell.
The reason why I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not love thee, Dr Fell.

written while an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, of which Dr Fell was Dean
A. L. Hayward (ed.) Amusements Serious and Comical by Tom Brown (1927).

[Brown]

Back  -   New Search

Browne, Cecil 1932–

1
But not so odd
As those who choose
A Jewish God,
But spurn the Jews.

reply to verse by William Norman Ewer.

Back  -   New Search

Browne, Sir Thomas 1605–82

1 Old mortality, the ruins of forgotten times.
Hydriotaphia (Urn Burial, 1658) Epistle Dedicatory

2 What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions, are not beyond all conjecture.
Hydriotaphia (Urn Burial, 1658) ch. 5

[Browne]

3 Generations pass while some trees stand, and old families last not three oaks.
Hydriotaphia (Urn Burial, 1658) ch. 5

[Browne]

4 Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave.
Hydriotaphia (Urn Burial, 1658) ch. 5

[Browne]

5 I have often admired the mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret magic of numbers.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 12

[Browne]

6 We carry within us the wonders we seek without us: there is all Africa and her prodigies in us.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 15

[Browne]

7 All things are artificial, for nature is the art of God.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 16

[Browne]

8 Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant religion.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 25

[Browne]

9 This trivial and vulgar way of coition; it is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his life, nor is there any thing that will more deject his cooled imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of folly he hath committed.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 2, sect. 9

[Browne]

10 We all labour against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 2, sect. 9

[Browne]

11 For the world, I count it not an inn, but an hospital, and a place, not to live, but to die in.
Religio Medici (1643) pt. 2, sect. 11

[Browne]

12 That children dream not in the first half year, that men dream not in some countries, are to me sick men's dreams, dreams out of the ivory gate, and visions before midnight.
"On Dreams"

[Browne]

Back  -   New Search

Browne, William 1692–1774

1
The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse,
For Tories own no argument but force:
With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent,
For Whigs admit no force but argument.

reply to Trapp's epigram on George I, in J. Nichols Literary Anecdotes vol. 3 (1812).

Back  -   New Search

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett 1806–61

1
And lips say, "God be pitiful,"
Who ne'er said, "God be praised."

"The Cry of the Human" (1844) st. 1

2
What was he doing, the great god Pan,
Down in the reeds by the river?

"A Musical Instrument" (1862)

[Browning]

3
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach.

Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) no. 43

[Browning]

4
I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) no. 43

[Browning]

Back  -   New Search

Browning, Frederick "Boy" 1896–1965

1 I think we might be going a bridge too far.
expressing reservations about the Arnhem "Market Garden" operation to Field Marshal Montgomery
on 10 September 1944; R. E. Urquhart Arnhem (1958)

Back  -   New Search

Browning, Robert 1812–89

1
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?

"Andrea del Sarto" (1855) l. 97

2
But all the play, the insight and the stretch—
Out of me, out of me!

"Andrea del Sarto" (1855) l. 115

[Browning]

3
We fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake.

Asolando (1889) "Epilogue"

[Browning]

4
The grand Perhaps!

"Bishop Blougram's Apology" (1855) l. 190

[Browning]

5
You, for example, clever to a fault.

"Bishop Blougram's Apology" (1855) l. 420

[Browning]

6
He said true things, but called them by wrong names.

"Bishop Blougram's Apology" (1855) l. 996

[Browning]

7
Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!

"Boot and Saddle" (1842)

[Browning]

8
When earth breaks up and heaven expands,
How will the change strike me and you
In the house not made with hands?

"By the Fireside" (1855) st. 27.

[Browning]

9
Oh, the little more, and how much it is!
And the little less, and what worlds away!

"By the Fireside" (1855) st. 39

[Browning]

10
Setebos, Setebos, and Setebos!
'Thinketh, He dwelleth i' the cold o' the moon.

"Caliban upon Setebos" (1864) l. 24

[Browning]

11
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew. "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came."

"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (1855) st. 34.

[Browning]

12
How sad and bad and mad it was—
But then, how it was sweet!

"Confessions" (1864) st. 9

[Browning]

13
Stung by the splendour of a sudden thought.

"A Death in the Desert" (1864) l. 59

[Browning]

14
…Progress, man's distinctive mark alone,
Not God's, and not the beasts': God is, they are,
Man partly is and wholly hopes to be.

"A Death in the Desert" (1864) l. 586

[Browning]

15
Open my heart and you will see
Graved inside of it, "Italy".

"De Gustibus" (1855) pt. 2, l. 43

[Browning]

16
'Tis well averred,
A scientific faith's absurd.

"Easter-Day" (1850) l. 123

[Browning]

17
Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead!

"Evelyn Hope" (1855)

[Browning]

18
If you get simple beauty and naught else,
You get about the best thing God invents.

"Fra Lippo Lippi" (1855) l. 217

[Browning]

19
This is our master, famous calm and dead,
Borne on our shoulders.

"A Grammarian's Funeral" (1855) l. 27

[Browning]

20
That low man seeks a little thing to do,
Sees it and does it:
This high man, with a great thing to pursue,
Dies ere he knows it.
That low man goes on adding one to one,
His hundred's soon hit:
This high man, aiming at a million,
Misses an unit.

"A Grammarian's Funeral" (1855) l. 113

[Browning]

21
Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there.

"Home-Thoughts, from Abroad" (1845)

[Browning]

22
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!

"Home-Thoughts, from Abroad" (1845)

[Browning]

23
Nobly, nobly Cape Saint Vincent to the North-west died away;
Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay.

"Home-Thoughts, from the Sea" (1845)

[Browning]

24
"Here and here did England help me: how can I help England?"—say,

"Home-Thoughts, from the Sea" (1845)

[Browning]

25
"With this same key
Shakespeare unlocked his heart," once more!
Did Shakespeare? If so, the less Shakespeare he!

"House" (1876).

[Browning]

26 How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix.
title of poem (1845)

[Browning]

27
I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three.

"How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" (1845) l. 1

[Browning]

28
"You're wounded!" "Nay," the soldier's pride
Touched to the quick, he said:
"I'm killed, Sire!" And his chief beside,
Smiling the boy fell dead.

"Incident of the French Camp" (1842) st. 5

[Browning]

29
Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat.

of Wordsworth
"The Lost Leader" (1845)

[Browning]

30
We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
Made him our pattern to live and to die!
Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,
Burns, Shelley, were with us—they watch from their graves!

"The Lost Leader" (1845)

[Browning]

31
Never glad confident morning again!

"The Lost Leader" (1845)

[Browning]

32
God for King Charles! Pym and such carles
To the Devil that prompts 'em their treasonous parles!

"Marching Along" (1842)

[Browning]

33
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

"Meeting at Night" (1845)

[Browning]

34
Ah, did you once see Shelley plain.

"Memorabilia" (1855)

[Browning]

35
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive.

"My Last Duchess" (1842) l. 1

[Browning]

36
She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

"My Last Duchess" (1842) l. 21

[Browning]

37
Never the time and the place
And the loved one all together!

"Never the Time and the Place" (1883)

[Browning]

38
It was roses, roses, all the way.

"The Patriot" (1855)

[Browning]

39
Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles.

"The Pied Piper of Hamelin" (1842) st. 2

[Browning]

40
The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in his heaven—
All's right with the world!

Pippa Passes (1841) pt. 1, l. 221

[Browning]

41
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good.

"Porphyria's Lover" (1842) l. 36

[Browning]

42
All her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.

"Porphyria's Lover" (1842) l. 38

[Browning]

43
I was ever a fighter, so—one fight more,
The best and the last!
I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forbore,
And bade me creep past.
No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers
The heroes of old,
Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears
Of pain, darkness and cold.

"Prospice" (1864)

[Browning]

44
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.

"Rabbi Ben Ezra" (1864) st. 1

[Browning]

45
O lyric Love, half-angel and half-bird.

The Ring and the Book (1868–9) bk. 1, l. 1391

[Browning]

46
Gr-r-r—there go, my heart's abhorrence!
Water your damned flowerpots, do!
If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence,
God's blood, would not mine kill you!

"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" (1842) st. 1

[Browning]

47
There's a great text in Galatians,
Once you trip on it, entails
Twenty-nine distinct damnations,
One sure, if another fails.

"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" (1842) st. 7

[Browning]

48
Any nose
May ravage with impunity a rose.

Sordello (1840) bk. 6, l. 881

[Browning]

49
And the sin I impute to each frustrate ghost
Is—the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin,
Though the end in sight was a vice, I say.

"The Statue and the Bust" (1863 revision) l. 246

[Browning]

50
Hark, the dominant's persistence till it must be answered to!

"A Toccata of Galuppi's" (1855) st. 8

[Browning]

51
What of soul was left, I wonder, when the kissing had to stop?

"A Toccata of Galuppi's" (1855) st. 14

[Browning]

52
Dear dead women, with such hair, too—what's become of all the gold
Used to hang and brush their bosoms? I feel chilly and grown old.

"A Toccata of Galuppi's" (1855) st. 15

[Browning]

53
I would that you were all to me,
You that are just so much, no more.

"Two in the Campagna" (1855) st. 8

[Browning]

54 When it was written, God and Robert Browning knew what it meant; now only God knows.
on Sordello
attributed.

[Browning]

Back  -   New Search

Bruce, Lenny 1925–66

1 I'll die young, but it's like kissing God.
on his drug addiction
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Bruce, Robert 1554–1631

1 Now, God be with you, my children: I have breakfasted with you and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night.
Robert Fleming The Fulfilling of the Scripture (3rd ed., 1693)

Back  -   New Search

Brugha, Cathal 1874–1922

1 Don't you realize that, if you sign this thing, you will split Ireland from top to bottom?
to de Valera, December 1921, on the Treaty
Jim Ring Erskine Childers (1996)

Back  -   New Search

Brummell, Beau 1778–1840

1 Who's your fat friend?
referring to the Prince of Wales, later George IV
Capt. Jesse Life of George Brummell (1844) vol. 1

2 No perfumes, but very fine linen, plenty of it, and country washing.
Memoirs of Harriette Wilson (1825) vol. 1

[Brummell]

Back  -   New Search

Brundtland, Gro Harlem 1939–

1 I do not know of any environmental group in any country that does not view its government as an adversary.
in Time 25 September 1989

Back  -   New Search

Bruno, Frank 1961–

1 Boxing's just show business with blood.
in Guardian 20 November 1991

2 Know what I mean, Harry?
supposed to have been said in interview with sports commentator Harry Carpenter, possibly apocryphal

[Bruno]

Back  -   New Search

Bryan, William Jennings 1860–1925

1 You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
opposing the gold standard
speech at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, 1896

Back  -   New Search

Brzezinski, Zbigniew 1928–

1 Russia can be an empire or a democracy, but it cannot be both.
in Foreign Affairs March/April 1994 "The Premature Partnership"

Back  -   New Search

Buchan, John 1875–1940

1 It's a great life if you don't weaken.
Mr Standfast (1919) ch. 5

2 An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.
H. E. Fosdick On Being a Real Person (1943) ch. 10

[Buchan]

Back  -   New Search

Buchman, Frank 1878–1961

1 There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.
Remaking the World (1947)

Back  -   New Search

Buck, Gene 1885–1957 and Ruby, Herman 1891–1959

1
That Shakespearian rag,—
Most intelligent, very elegant.

"That Shakespearian Rag" (1912 song).

Back  -   New Search

Buckingham, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of 1628–87

1 Ay, now the plot thickens very much upon us.
The Rehearsal (1672) act 3, sc. 2

Back  -   New Search

Buckoll, H. J. 1803–71

1
Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing,
Thanks for mercies past receive.
Pardon all, their faults confessing;
Time that's lost may all retrieve.

Psalms and Hymns for the Use of Rugby School Chapel (1850) "Lord, Dismiss us with Thy Blessing"

Back  -   New Search

Buckstone, J. B. 1802–79

1
And we won't go home till morning.

Billy Taylor (performed 1829) act 1, sc. 2

Back  -   New Search

Budgell, Eustace 1686–1737

1
What Cato did, and Addison approved,
Cannot be wrong.

lines found on the desk of Eustace Budgell (1686–1737), after he, too, had taken his own life
Colley Cibber Lives of the Poets (1753) vol. 5 "Life of Eustace Budgell"

Back  -   New Search

Buffon, Comte de 1707–88

1 Style is the man himself.
Discours sur le style (address given to the Académie Française, 25 August 1753)

2 Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience.
Hérault de Séchelles Voyage à Montbar (1803);

[Buffon]

Back  -   New Search

Buller, Arthur 1874–1944

1
There was a young lady named Bright,
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned on the previous night.

"Relativity" in Punch 19 December 1923

Back  -   New Search

Bullett, Gerald 1894–1958

1
My Lord Archbishop, what a scold you are!
And when your man is down how bold you are!
Of charity how oddly scant you are!
How Lang, O Lord, how full of Cantuar!

on the role of Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the abdication of Edward VIII
composed c.1936

Back  -   New Search

Bülow, Bernhard von 1849–1929

1 We desire to throw no one into the shade [in East Asia], but we also demand our own place in the sun.
in the Reichstag, 6 December 1897.

Back  -   New Search

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George 1803–73

1 It was a dark and stormy night.
Paul Clifford (1830), opening words

2
Here Stanley meets,—how Stanley scorns, the glance!
The brilliant chief, irregularly great,
Frank, haughty, rash,—the Rupert of Debate!

on Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
The New Timon (1846) pt. 1, sect. 3, l. 202.

[Bulwer-Lytton]

3
Out-babying Wordsworth and out-glittering Keats.

on Tennyson
The New Timon (1846) pt. 2, sect. 1, l. 62

[Bulwer-Lytton]

4
Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword.

Richelieu (1839) act 2, sc. 2, l. 307.

[Bulwer-Lytton]

5 In science, read, by preference, the newest works; in literature, the oldest.
Caxtoniana (1863) "Hints on Mental Culture"

[Bulwer-Lytton]

Back  -   New Search

Bulwer, Edward Robert, Earl of Lytton

see Owen Meredith

Back  -   New Search

Bunn, Alfred "Poet" c.1796–1860

1
I dreamed that I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs at my side.

The Bohemian Girl (1843) act 2 "The Gipsy Girl's Dream"

Back  -   New Search

Bunting, Basil 1900–85

1
Praise the green earth. Chance has appointed her
home, workshop, larder, middenpit.
Her lousy skin scabbed here and there by
cities provides us with name and nation.

"Attis: or, Something Missing" (1931) pt. 1

2
Dance tiptoe, bull,
black against may.

"Briggflatts" (1965) pt. 1

[Bunting]

Back  -   New Search

Buñuel, Luis 1900–83

1 Thanks to God, I am still an atheist.
in Le Monde 16 December 1959

Back  -   New Search

Bunyan, John 1628–88

1 As I walked through the wilderness of this world.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1, opening words

2 The name of the slough was Despond.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

3 Down into the valley of Humiliation.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

4 A foul Fiend coming over the field to meet him; his name is Apollyon.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

5 It beareth the name of Vanity-Fair, because the town where 'tis kept, is lighter than vanity.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

6 Hanging is too good for him, said Mr Cruelty.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

7 Yet my great-grandfather was but a water-man, looking one way, and rowing another.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1.

[Bunyan]

8 Then I saw that there was a way to Hell, even from the gates of heaven.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

9 So I awoke, and behold it was a dream.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) pt. 1

[Bunyan]

10 A man that could look no way but downwards, with a muckrake in his hand.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) pt. 2.

[Bunyan]

11
He that is down needs fear no fall,
He that is low no pride.
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.

The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) pt. 2 "Shepherd Boy's Song"

[Bunyan]

12
Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather.
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Who so beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound—
His strength the more is.

The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) pt. 2

[Bunyan]

13 The last words of Mr Despondency were, Farewell night, welcome day. His daughter went through the river singing, but none could understand what she said.
The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) pt. 2

[Bunyan]

14 I am going to my Fathers, and tho' with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword, I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me, that I have fought his battles, who will now be my rewarder.
Mr Valiant-for-Truth
The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) pt. 2

[Bunyan]

15 So he passed over, and the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.
Mr Valiant-for-Truth
The Pilgrim's Progress (1684) pt. 2

[Bunyan]

Back  -   New Search

Burchard, Samuel Dickinson 1812–91

1 We are Republicans and don't propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents are rum, Romanism, and rebellion.
speech at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, 29 October 1884

Back  -   New Search

Burchill, Julie 1960–

1 Now, at last, this sad, glittering century has an image worthy of it: a wandering, wondering girl, a silly Sloane turned secular saint, coming home in her coffin to RAF Northolt like the good soldier she was.
in Guardian 2 September 1997

Back  -   New Search

Burgess, Anthony 1917–93

1 A clockwork orange.
title of novel (1962)

2 The US presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
George Plimpton (ed.) Writers at Work (4th Series, 1977)

[Burgess]

Back  -   New Search

Burgess, Gelett 1866–1951

1
I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one!

The Burgess Nonsense Book (1914) "The Purple Cow"

Back  -   New Search

Burgon, John William 1813–88

1
A rose-red city—half as old as Time!

Petra (1845) l. 132

Back  -   New Search

Burgoyne, John 1722–92

1 You have only, when before your glass, to keep pronouncing to yourself nimini-pimini—the lips cannot fail of taking their plie.
The Heiress (1786) act 3, sc. 2

Back  -   New Search

Burke, Edmund 1729–97

1 The king, and his faithful subjects, the lords and commons of this realm,—the triple cord, which no man can break.
A Letter to a Noble Lord (1796).

2 Many have been taught to think that moderation, in a case like this, is a sort of treason.
Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (1777)

[Burke]

3 It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact; and great trade will always be attended with considerable abuses.
On American Taxation (1775)

[Burke]

4 Falsehood has a perennial spring.
On American Taxation (1775)

[Burke]

5 To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.
On American Taxation (1775)

[Burke]

6 I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people.
On Conciliation with America (1775)

[Burke]

7 Instead of a standing revenue, you will have therefore a perpetual quarrel.
On Conciliation with America (1775)

[Burke]

8 Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that grows in every soil.
On Conciliation with America (1775)

[Burke]

9 Custom reconciles us to everything.
On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) pt. 4, sect. 18

[Burke]

10 Whenever our neighbour's house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for the engines to play a little on our own.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

[Burke]

11 I thought ten thousand swords must have leapt from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult.
of Marie-Antoinette
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

[Burke]

12 The age of chivalry is gone.— That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

[Burke]

13 In the groves of their academy, at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

[Burke]

14 Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

[Burke]

15 We begin our public affections in our families. No cold relation is a zealous citizen.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

[Burke]

16 Ambition can creep as well as soar.
Third Letter…on the Proposals for Peace… (1797)

[Burke]

17 When…[people] imagine that their food is only a cover for poison, and when they neither love nor trust the hand that serves it, it is not the name of the roast beef of old England that will persuade them to sit down to the table that is spread for them.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)

[Burke]

18 When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770).

[Burke]

19 Of this stamp is the cant of Not men, but measures; a sort of charm by which many people get loose from every honourable engagement.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)

[Burke]

20 Laws, like houses, lean on one another.
A Tract on the Popery Laws (planned c.1765) ch. 3

[Burke]

21 Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth.
Two Letters on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory (1796) pt. 1.

[Burke]

22 Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
speech, 3 November 1774, in Speeches at his Arrival at Bristol (1774)

[Burke]

23 The people are the masters.
speech, House of Commons, 11 February 1780.

[Burke]

24 Not merely a chip of the old "block", but the old block itself.
on the younger Pitt's maiden speech, February 1781
N. W. Wraxall Historical Memoirs of My Own Time (1904 ed.) pt. 2

[Burke]

25 Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out.
speech on the Petition of the Unitarians, 11 May 1792.

[Burke]

26 Dangers by being despised grow great.
speech on the Petition of the Unitarians, 11 May 1792

[Burke]

27 It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.
attributed (in a number of forms) to Burke, but not found in his writings.

[Burke]

Back  -   New Search

Burke, Johnny 1908–64

1
Every time it rains, it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven?

"Pennies from Heaven" (1936 song)

2 Like Webster's Dictionary, we're Morocco bound.
The Road to Morocco (1942 film) title song

[Burke]

Back  -   New Search

Burney, Fanny 1752–1840

1 A little alarm now and then keeps life from stagnation.
Camilla (1796) bk. 3, ch. 11

2 "The whole of this unfortunate business," said Dr Lyster, "has been the result of pride and prejudice."
Cecilia (1782) bk. 10, ch. 10

[Burney]

3 O! how short a time does it take to put an end to a woman's liberty!
of a wedding
diary, 20 July 1768

[Burney]

Back  -   New Search

Burns, John 1858–1943

1 The Thames is liquid history.
to an American who had compared the Thames disparagingly with the Mississippi
in Daily Mail 25 January 1943

Back  -   New Search

Burns, Robert 1759–96

1 Address to the unco guid.
title of poem, 1787

2
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then for ever!

"Ae fond Kiss" (1792)

[Burns]

3
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise.

"Afton Water" (1792)

[Burns]

4
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?

"Auld Lang Syne" (1796)

[Burns]

5
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

"Auld Lang Syne" (1796)

[Burns]

6
Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair;
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o' care!

"The Banks o' Doon" (1792)

[Burns]

7
O saw ye bonnie Lesley,
As she gaed o'er the border?
She's gane, like Alexander,
To spread her conquests farther.

To see her is to love her,
And love but her for ever.

"Bonnie Lesley" (1798)

[Burns]

8
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body
Need a body cry?

"Comin thro' the rye" (1796)

[Burns]

9
I wasna fou, but just had plenty.

"Death and Dr Hornbook" (1787) st. 3

[Burns]

10
A man's a man for a' that.

"For a' that and a' that" (1790)

[Burns]

11
Green grow the rashes, O,
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent among the lasses, O.

"Green Grow the Rashes" (1787)

[Burns]

12
There's death in the cup—so beware!

"Inscription on a Goblet" (published 1834)

[Burns]

13
Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,
An' corn rigs are bonnie.

"It was upon a Lammas Night" (1796)

[Burns]

14
John Anderson my jo, John,
When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonny brow was brent.

"John Anderson my Jo" (1790)

[Burns]

15
Some have meat and cannot eat,
Some cannot eat that want it:
But we have meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

"The Kirkudbright Grace" (1790), also known as "The Selkirk Grace"

[Burns]

16
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

"Man was made to Mourn" (1786) st. 7

[Burns]

17
Go fetch to me a pint o' wine,
An' fill it in a silver tassie.

"My Bonnie Mary" (1790)

[Burns]

18
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

"My Heart's in the Highlands" (1790)

[Burns]

19 My love she's but a lassie yet.
title of poem, 1787

[Burns]

20 O whistle, an' I'll come to you, my lad.
title of poem (1788).

[Burns]

21
O, my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

"A Red Red Rose" (1796), derived from various folk-songs

[Burns]

22
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,—
Or to victorie.

"Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn" (1799), also known as "Scots, Wha Hae"

[Burns]

23
Liberty's in every blow!
Let us do—or die!!!

"Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn" (1799)

[Burns]

24
Nae man can tether time or tide.

"Tam o' Shanter" (1791) l. 67

[Burns]

25
Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn,
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil;
Wi' usquebae, we'll face the devil!

"Tam o' Shanter" (1791) l. 105

[Burns]

26
The mirth and fun grew fast and furious.

"Tam o' Shanter" (1791) l. 144

[Burns]

27
Tam tint his reason a' thegither,
And roars out—"Weel done, Cutty-sark!"

"Tam o' Shanter" (1791) l. 185

[Burns]

28
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

"To a Haggis" (1787)

[Burns]

29
O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion.

"To a Louse" (1786)

[Burns]

30
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie,
O what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

"To a Mouse" (1786)

[Burns]

31
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley.

"To a Mouse" (1786)

[Burns]

32 Don't let the awkward squad fire over me.
said shortly before his death
A. Cunningham The Works of Robert Burns; with his Life vol. 1 (1834)

[Burns]

Back  -   New Search

Burnum, Burnum 1936–97

1 We wish no harm to England's native people. We are here to bring you good manners, refinement and an opportunity to make a Koompartoo, a fresh start.
in 1988, the year of Australia's bicentenary, on planting an Aboriginal flag on the white cliffs of Dover and claiming England for the Aboriginal people
on 26 January 1988; in obituary, Independent 20 August 1997

Back  -   New Search

Burr, Aaron 1756–1836

1 Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Burroughs, William S. 1914–97

1 The face of "evil" is always the face of total need.
The Naked Lunch (1959) introduction

Back  -   New Search

Burt, Benjamin Hapgood 1880–1950

1
"You can tell a man who "boozes” by the company he chooses"
And the pig got up and slowly walked away.

"The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" (1933 song)

2 When you're all dressed up and no place to go.
title of song (1913)

[Burt]

Back  -   New Search

Burton, Nat

1
There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.

"The White Cliffs of Dover" (1941 song)

Back  -   New Search

Burton, Richard 1821–90

1 Don't be frightened; I am recalled. Pay, pack, and follow at convenience.
note to his wife, 19 August 1871, on being replaced as British Consul to Damascus
Isabel Burton Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton (1893) vol. 1, ch. 21

Back  -   New Search

Burton, Robert 1577–1640

1
All my joys to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as Melancholy.

The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) "The Author's Abstract of Melancholy"

2 A loose, plain, rude writer…I call a spade a spade.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) "Democritus to the Reader"

[Burton]

3 I had not time to lick it into form, as she [a bear] doth her young ones.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) "Democritus to the Reader"

[Burton]

4 Like watermen, that row one way and look another.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) "Democritus to the Reader".

[Burton]

5 All poets are mad.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) "Democritus to the Reader"

[Burton]

6 From this it is clear how much the pen is worse than the sword.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) pt. 1.

[Burton]

7 See one promontory (said Socrates of old), one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) pt. 1

[Burton]

8 What is a ship but a prison?
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) pt. 2

[Burton]

9 To enlarge or illustrate this power and effect of love is to set a candle in the sun.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51) pt. 3

[Burton]

10 Be not solitary, be not idle.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51), closing words

[Burton]

Back  -   New Search

Busenbaum, Hermann 1600–68

1 Cum finis est licitus, etiam media sunt licita.The end justifies the means.
Medulla Theologiae Moralis (1650); literally "When the end is allowed, the means also are allowed"

Back  -   New Search

Bush, Barbara 1925–

1 Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the President's spouse. I wish him well!
remarks at Wellesley College Commencement, 1 June 1990

Back  -   New Search

Bush, George 1924–

1 Oh, the vision thing.
responding to the suggestion that he turn his attention from short-term campaign objectives and look to the longer term.
in Time 26 January 1987

2 Read my lips: no new taxes.
campaign pledge on taxation
in New York Times 19 August 1988

[Bush]

3 And now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order.
speech, in New York Times 7 March 1991

[Bush]

Back  -   New Search

Bussy-Rabutin, Comte de 1618–93

1
Love comes from blindness,
Friendship from knowledge.

Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules: Maximes d'Amour (1665) pt. 1

2
Absence is to love what wind is to fire;
It extinguishes the small, it kindles the great.

Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules: Maximes d'Amour (1665) pt. 2

[Bussy-Rabutin]

3 As you know, God is usually on the side of the big squadrons against the small.
letter to the Comte de Limoges, 18 October 1677. ,

[Bussy-Rabutin]

Back  -   New Search

Butler, Joseph 1692–1752

1 Sir, the pretending to extraordinary revelations and gifts of the Holy Ghost is a horrid thing—a very horrid thing.
to John Wesley, 16 August 1739

Back  -   New Search

Butler, Nicholas Murray 1862–1947

1 An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.
Commencement address at Columbia University (attributed)

Back  -   New Search

Butler, R. A. ("Rab") 1902–82

1 Politics is the Art of the Possible. That is what these pages show I have tried to achieve—not more—and that is what I have called my book.
The Art of the Possible (1971).

2 In politics you must always keep running with the pack. The moment that you falter and they sense that you are injured, the rest will turn on you like wolves.
Dennis Walters Not Always with the Pack (1989)

[Butler]

Back  -   New Search

Butler, Samuel 1612–80

1
For rhyme the rudder is of verses,
With which like ships they steer their courses.

Hudibras pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 457

2
Love is a boy, by poets styled,
Then spare the rod, and spoil the child.

Hudibras pt. 2 (1664), canto 1, l. 843

[Butler]

3
He that complies against his will,
Is of his own opinion still.

Hudibras pt. 3 (1680), canto 3, l. 547

[Butler]

4
For Justice, though she's painted blind,
Is to the weaker side inclined.

Hudibras pt. 3 (1680), canto 3, l. 709

[Butler]

Back  -   New Search

Butler, Samuel 1835–1902

1 The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.
The Way of All Flesh (1903) ch. 39

2 It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry one another and so make only two people miserable instead of four.
letter, 21 November 1884

[Butler]

3 An apology for the Devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
Notebooks (1912) ch. 14

[Butler]

4 A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.
Notebooks (1912) ch. 14

[Butler]

5 Jesus! with all thy faults I love thee still.
Further Extracts from Notebooks (1934)

[Butler]

6
Dusty, cobweb-covered, maimed, and set at naught,
Beauty crieth in an attic, and no man regardeth.
O God! O Montreal!

"Psalm of Montreal", in Spectator 18 May 1878

[Butler]

Back  -   New Search

Butler, William 1535–1618

1 Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.
of the strawberry
Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler (3rd ed., 1661) pt. 1, ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Byatt, A. S. 1936–

1 What literature can and should do is change the people who teach the people who don't read the books.
interview in Newsweek 5 June 1995

Back  -   New Search

Byrd, William 1543–1623

1 The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature, and good to preserve the health of man. It doth strengthen all parts of the breast, and doth open the pipes.
Psalms, Sonnets and Songs (1588)

Back  -   New Search

Byrom, John 1692–1763

1
Christians, awake! Salute the happy morn,
Whereon the Saviour of the world was born.

Hymn (c.1750)

2
Strange! that such high dispute should be
'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

"On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini" (1727)

[Byrom]

3
God bless the King, I mean the Faith's Defender;
God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender;
But who Pretender is, or who is King,
God bless us all—that's quite another thing.

"To an Officer in the Army, Extempore, Intended to allay the Violence of Party-Spirit" (1773)

[Byrom]

Back  -   New Search

Byron, Lord 1788–1824

1
Year after year they voted cent per cent
Blood, sweat, and tear-wrung millions—why? for rent!

"The Age of Bronze" (1823) st. 14.

2
Did'st ever see a gondola?…
It glides along the water looking blackly,
Just like a coffin clapt in a canoe.

Beppo (1818) st. 19

[Byron]

3
In short, he was a perfect cavaliero,
And to his very valet seemed a hero.

Beppo (1818) st. 33.

[Byron]

4
There was a sound of revelry by night.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 3, st. 21

[Byron]

5
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 3, st. 22

[Byron]

6
Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer.

of Edward Gibbon
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 3, st. 107

[Byron]

7
I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs:
A palace and a prison on each hand.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 1

[Byron]

8
Oh Rome! my country! city of the soul!

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 78

[Byron]

9
Of its own beauty is the mind diseased.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 122

[Byron]

10
Time, the avenger! unto thee I lift
My hands, and eyes, and heart, and crave of thee a gift.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 130

[Byron]

11
There were his young barbarians all at play,
There was their Dacian mother— he, their sire,
Butchered to make a Roman holiday.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 141

[Byron]

12
While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls—the World.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 145

[Byron]

13
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but nature more.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 178

[Byron]

14
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean—roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin—his control
Stops with the shore.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18) canto 4, st. 179

[Byron]

15
The glory and the nothing of a name.

"Churchill's Grave" (1816)

[Byron]

16
There was a laughing devil in his sneer.

The Corsair (1814) canto 1, st. 9

[Byron]

17
And she for him had given
Her all on earth, and more than all in heaven!

The Corsair (1814) canto 3, st. 17

[Byron]

18
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

"The Destruction of Sennacherib" (1815) st. 1

[Byron]

19
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed.

"The Destruction of Sennacherib" (1815) st. 3

[Byron]

20
And Coleridge, too, has lately taken wing,
But, like a hawk encumbered with his hood,
Explaining metaphysics to the nation—
I wish he would explain his explanation.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 1, dedication st. 2

[Byron]

21
What men call gallantry, and gods adultery,
Is much more common where the climate's sultry.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 1, st. 63

[Byron]

22
A little still she strove, and much repented,
And whispering "I will ne'er consent"—consented.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 1, st. 117

[Byron]

23
Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,
'Tis woman's whole existence.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 1, st. 194.

[Byron]

24
There's nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms
As rum and true religion.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 2, st. 34

[Byron]

25
Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
Sermons and soda-water the day after.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 2, st. 178

[Byron]

26
And thus they form a group that's quite antique,
Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 2, st. 194

[Byron]

27
Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife,
He would have written sonnets all his life?

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 3, st. 8

[Byron]

28
The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet,
But all, except their sun, is set!

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 3, st. 86 (1)

[Byron]

29
The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 3, st. 86 (3)

[Byron]

30
We learn from Horace, Homer sometimes sleeps;
We feel without him: Wordsworth sometimes wakes.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 3, st. 98.

[Byron]

31
Now my sere fancy "falls into the yellow
Leaf," and imagination droops her pinion.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 4, st. 3.

[Byron]

32
…That all-softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul—the dinner bell.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 5, st. 49

[Byron]

33
A lady of a "certain age", which means
Certainly aged.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 6, st. 69

[Byron]

34
Read your own hearts and Ireland's present story,
Then feed her famine fat with Wellesley's glory.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 8, st. 125

[Byron]

35
When Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter",
And proved it—'twas no matter what he said.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 11, st. 1

[Byron]

36
Merely innocent flirtation,
Not quite adultery, but adulteration.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 12, st. 63

[Byron]

37
Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure;
Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 13, st. 4

[Byron]

38
The English winter—ending in July,
To recommence in August.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 13, st. 42

[Byron]

39
'Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction.

Don Juan (1819–24) canto 14, st. 101

[Byron]

40
With just enough of learning to misquote.

English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809) l. 66

[Byron]

41
The petrifactions of a plodding brain.

English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809) l. 416

[Byron]

42
Friendship is Love without his wings!

"L'Amitié est l'amour sans ailes" (written 1806, published 1831)

[Byron]

43
So he has cut his throat at last!—He! Who?
The man who cut his country's long ago.

on Castlereagh's suicide, c.1822
"Epigram on Lord Castlereagh"

[Byron]

44
The Cincinnatus of the West.

of George Washington
"Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte" (1814) st. 19

[Byron]

45
My hair is grey, but not with years,
Nor grew it white
In a single night,
As men's have grown from sudden fears.

The Prisoner of Chillon (1816) st. 1

[Byron]

46
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

"She Walks in Beauty" (1815) st. 1

[Byron]

47
Eternal spirit of the chainless mind!
Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art.

"Sonnet on Chillon" (1816)

[Byron]

48
So, we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

"So we'll go no more a-roving" (written 1817)

[Byron]

49
I knew it was love, and I felt it was glory.

"Stanzas Written on the Road between Florence and Pisa, November 1821"

[Byron]

50
Still I can't contradict, what so oft has been said,
"Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil."

"To Eliza" (1806)

[Byron]

51
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?—
With silence and tears.

"When we two parted" (1816)

[Byron]

52 Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of Man, without his vices.
"Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog" (1808)

[Byron]

53 My Princess of Parallelograms.
of his future wife Annabella Milbanke, a keen amateur mathematician; Byron explains: "Her proceedings are quite rectangular, or rather we are two parallel lines prolonged to infinity side by side but never to meet"
letter to Lady Melbourne, 18 October 1812

[Byron]

54 The place is very well and quiet and the children only scream in a low voice.
letter to Lady Melbourne, 21 September 1813

[Byron]

55 Pure invention is but the talent of a liar.
letter to John Murray from Venice, 2 April 1817

[Byron]

56 I awoke one morning and found myself famous.
on the instantaneous success of Childe Harold
Thomas Moore Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (1830) vol. 1

[Byron]

57 You should have a softer pillow than my heart.
to his wife, who had rested her head on his breast
E. C. Mayne (ed.) The Life and Letters of Anne Isabella, Lady Noel Byron (1929) ch. 11

[Byron]

Back  -   New Search

C

Caesar, Augustus

seeAugustus

Back  -   New Search

Caesar, Irving 1895–

1
Picture you upon my knee,
Just tea for two and two for tea.

"Tea for Two" (1925 song)

Back  -   New Search

Caesar, Julius 100 bc

1 Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.Gaul as a whole is divided into three parts.
De Bello Gallico bk. 1, sect. 1

2 Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.
divorcing his wife Pompeia after unfounded allegations were made against her
oral tradition, based on Plutarch Parallel Lives "Julius Caesar" ch. 10, sect. 9

[Caesar]

3 Caesar had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.
Francis Bacon The Advancement of Learning pt. 2, ch. 23, sect. 36; based on Plutarch

[Caesar]

4 Iacta alea est.The die is cast.
at the crossing of the Rubicon, the boundary beyond which he was forbidden to lead his army
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Divus Julius" sect. 32; originally spoken in Greek, Plutarch Parallel Lives "Pompey" ch. 60, sect. 2

[Caesar]

5 Veni, vidi, vici.I came, I saw, I conquered.
inscription displayed in Caesar's Pontic triumph, according to Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Divus Julius" sect. 37; or, according to Plutarch Parallel Lives "Julius Caesar" ch. 50, sect. 2, written in a letter by Caesar, announcing the victory of Zela which concluded the Pontic campaign

[Caesar]

6 Et tu, Brute?You too, Brutus?
traditional rendering of Suetonius

[Caesar]

Back  -   New Search

Cage, John 1912–

1
I have nothing to say
and I am saying it and that is
poetry.

"Lecture on nothing" (1961)

Back  -   New Search

Cain, James M. 1892–1977

1 The postman always rings twice.
title of novel (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus) ad 12–41

1 Would that the Roman people had but one neck!
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Gaius Caligula" sect. 30

2 Strike him so that he can feel that he is dying.
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Gaius Caligula" sect. 30

[Caligula]

Back  -   New Search

Callaghan, James 1912–

1 You never reach the promised land. You can march towards it.
in a television interview, 20 July 1978

2 I had known it was going to be a "winter of discontent".
television interview, 8 February 1979

[Callaghan]

Back  -   New Search

Callimachus c.305 bc

1 A great book is like great evil.
R. Pfeiffer (ed.) Callimachus (1949–53) Fragment 465

Back  -   New Search

Calonne, Charles Alexandre de 1734–1802

1 Madame, si c'est possible, c'est fait; impossible? cela se fera.Madam, if a thing is possible, consider it done; the impossible? that will be done.
in J. Michelet Histoire de la Révolution Française (1847) vol. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Calverley, C. S. (born Blayds) 1831–84

1
The farmer's daughter hath soft brown hair;
(Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese)
And I met with a ballad, I can't say where,
Which wholly consisted of lines like these.

"Ballad" (1872)

2
How Eugene Aram, though a thief, a liar, and a murderer,
Yet, being intellectual, was amongst the noblest of mankind.

"Of Reading" (1861).

[Calverley]

Back  -   New Search

Camara, Helder 1909–99

1 When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Cambronne, Pierre, Baron de 1770–1842

1 La Garde meurt, mais ne se rend pas.The Guards die but do not surrender.
attributed to Cambronne when called upon to surrender at Waterloo, 1815, but later denied by him
H. Houssaye La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas (1907); an alternative version is that he replied, "Merde! [Shit!]", known in French as the "mot de Cambronne"

Back  -   New Search

Cameron, Julia Margaret 1815–79

1 I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me.
Annals of my Glass House 1874

Back  -   New Search

Campbell, Jane Montgomery 1817–78

1
We plough the fields, and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand.

"We plough the fields, and scatter" (1861 hymn); translated from the German of Matthias Claudius (1740–1815)

Back  -   New Search

Campbell, Mrs Patrick 1865–1940

1 The deep, deep peace of the double-bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise-longue.
on her recent marriage
Alexander Woollcott While Rome Burns (1934) "The First Mrs Tanqueray"

2 It doesn't matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses.
Daphne Fielding The Duchess of Jermyn Street (1964) ch. 2

[Campbell]

Back  -   New Search

Campbell, Roy 1901–57

1
You praise the firm restraint with which they write—
I'm with you there, of course:
They use the snaffle and the curb all right,
But where's the bloody horse?

"On Some South African Novelists" (1930)

Back  -   New Search

Campbell, Thomas 1777–1844

1
O leave this barren spot to me!
Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree.

"The Beech-Tree's Petition" (1800).

2
On the green banks of Shannon, when Sheelah was nigh,
No blithe Irish lad was so happy as I;
No harp like my own could so cheerily play,
And wherever I went was my poor dog Tray.

"The Harper" (1799)

[Campbell]

3
'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.

Pleasures of Hope (1799) pt. 1, l. 7

[Campbell]

4
Now Barabbas was a publisher.

also attributed, wrongly, to Byron
attributed, in Samuel Smiles A Publisher and his Friends: Memoir and Correspondence of the late John Murray (1891) vol. 1, ch. 14; see

[Campbell]

Back  -   New Search

Campion, Thomas 1567–1620

1
There is a garden in her face
Where roses and white lilies grow;
A heavenly paradise is that place,
Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow.
There cherries grow, which none may buy
Till "Cherry ripe" themselves do cry.

The Fourth Book of Airs (c.1617) no. 7; music by Richard Alison, who published the song in An Hour's Recreation in Music (1606)

Back  -   New Search

Camus, Albert 1913–60

1 You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.
The Fall (1956)

2 What is a rebel? A man who says no.
The Rebel (1951)

[Camus]

3 All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the State.
The Rebel (1951)

[Camus]

4 What I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport.
often quoted as "…I owe to football"
Herbert R. Lottman Albert Camus (1979)

[Camus]

Back  -   New Search

Canetti, Elias 1905–94

1 All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.
Die Provinz der Menschen (1973)

Back  -   New Search

Canning, George 1770–1827

1
In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch
Is offering too little and asking too much.
The French are with equal advantage content,
So we clap on Dutch bottoms just twenty per cent.

dispatch, in cipher, to the English ambassador at the Hague, 31 January 1826
Sir Harry Poland Mr Canning's Rhyming "Dispatch" to Sir Charles Bagot (1905)

2
A steady patriot of the world alone,
The friend of every country but his own.

on the Jacobin
"New Morality" (1821) l. 113.

[Canning]

3
Give me the avowed, erect and manly foe;
Firm I can meet, perhaps return the blow;
But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,
Save me, oh, save me, from the candid friend.

"New Morality" (1821) l. 207

[Canning]

4
Pitt is to Addington
As London is to Paddington.

"The Oracle" (c.1803)

[Canning]

5 Away with the cant of "Measures not men"!—the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along. If the comparison must be made, if the distinction must be taken, men are everything, measures comparatively nothing.
speech on the Army estimates, 8 December 1802, in Speeches of…Canning (1828) vol. 2; the phrase "measures not men" may be found as early as 1742 (in a letter from Chesterfield to Dr Chevenix, 6 March)

[Canning]

6 I called the New World into existence, to redress the balance of the Old.
speech on the affairs of Portugal, in House of Commons 12 December 1826

[Canning]

7 [The Whip's duty is] to make a House, and keep a House, and cheer the minister.
J. E. Ritchie Modern Statesmen (1861) ch. 7; attributed

[Canning]

Back  -   New Search

Cannon, Hughie 1877–1912

1
Won't you come home Bill Bailey, won't you come home?

"Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home" (1902 song)

Back  -   New Search

Cantona, Eric 1966–

1 When seagulls follow a trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.
to the media at the end of a press conference, 31 March 1995

Back  -   New Search

Capa, Robert 1913–54

1 If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough.
Russell Miller Magnum: Fifty years at the Front Line of History (1997)

Back  -   New Search

Capote, Truman 1924–84

1 Other voices, other rooms.
title of novel (1948)

Back  -   New Search

Capp, Al 1907–79

1 A product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.
of abstract art
in National Observer 1 July 1963.

Back  -   New Search

Caracciolo, Francesco 1752–99

1 In England there are sixty different religions, and only one sauce.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Carbery, Ethna 1866–1902

1
Young Rody MacCorley goes to die
On the Bridge of Toome today.

"Rody MacCorley" (1902)

Back  -   New Search

Cardus, Neville 1889–1975

1 If everything else in this nation of ours were lost but cricket—her Constitution and the laws of England of Lord Halsbury—it would be possible to reconstruct from the theory and practice of cricket all the eternal Englishness which has gone to the establishment of that Constitution and the laws aforesaid.
Cricket (1930)

Back  -   New Search

Carew, Richard 1555–1620

1 Will you have all in all for prose and verse? Take the miracle of our age, Sir Philip Sidney.
William Camden Remains concerning Britain (1614) "The Excellency of the English Tongue"

Back  -   New Search

Carew, Thomas c.1595–1640

1
Here lies a king, that ruled as he thought fit
The universal monarchy of wit.

"An Elegy upon the Death of Dr John Donne" (1640)

2
Ask me no more where Jove bestows,
When June is past, the fading rose;
For in your beauty's orient deep
These flowers, as in their causes, sleep.

"A Song" (1640)

[Carew]

Back  -   New Search

Carey, George 1935–

1 We must recall that the Church is always "one generation away from extinction."
Working Party Report Youth A Part: Young People and the Church (1996) foreword

Back  -   New Search

Carey, Henry c.1687–1743

1
Let the verse the subject fit,
Little subject, little wit.

"Namby-Pamby: or, A Panegyric on the New Versification" (1725)

2
Of all the girls that are so smart
There's none like pretty Sally,
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.

"Sally in our Alley" (1729)

[Carey]

Back  -   New Search

Carlyle, Jane 1801–66

1 I am not at all the sort of person you and I took me for.
letter to Thomas Carlyle, 7 May 1822

Back  -   New Search

Carlyle, Thomas 1795–1881

1 In epochs when cash payment has become the sole nexus of man to man.
Chartism (1839) ch. 6

2 The foul sluggard's comfort: "It will last my time."
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838) "Count Cagliostro. Flight Last"

[Carlyle]

3 A well-written Life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838) "Jean Paul Friedrich Richter"

[Carlyle]

4 To the very last he [Napoleon] had a kind of idea; that, namely, of La carrière ouverte aux talents, The tools to him that can handle them.
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838) "Sir Walter Scott" (La carrière… Career open to the talents)

[Carlyle]

5 The three great elements of modern civilization, Gunpowder, Printing, and the Protestant Religion.
Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1838) "The State of German Literature".

[Carlyle]

6 "Genius" (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all).
History of Frederick the Great (1858–65) bk. 4, ch. 3.

[Carlyle]

7 A whiff of grapeshot.
History of the French Revolution (1837) vol. 1, bk. 5, ch. 3

[Carlyle]

8 The seagreen Incorruptible.
describing Robespierre
History of the French Revolution (1837) vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 4

[Carlyle]

9 France was long a despotism tempered by epigrams.
History of the French Revolution (1837) vol. 3, bk. 7, ch. 7

[Carlyle]

10 Aristocracy of the Moneybag.
History of the French Revolution (1837) vol. 3, bk. 7, ch. 7

[Carlyle]

11 The true University of these days is a collection of books.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic (1841) "The Hero as Man of Letters"

[Carlyle]

12 A Parliament speaking through reporters to Buncombe and the twenty-seven millions mostly fools.
Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850) "Parliaments".

[Carlyle]

13 The Dismal Science.
on political economy
Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850) "The Present Time"

[Carlyle]

14 Transcendental moonshine.
on the influence of a romantic imagination in motivating Sterling to enter the priesthood
The Life of John Sterling (1851) pt. 1, ch. 15

[Carlyle]

15 Captains of industry.
Past and Present (1843) bk. 4, ch. 4 (title)

[Carlyle]

16 Man is a tool-using animal…Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.
Sartor Resartus (1834) bk. 1, ch. 5

[Carlyle]

17 The everlasting No.
Sartor Resartus (1834) bk. 2, ch. 7 (title)

[Carlyle]

18 What a sad want I am in of libraries, of books to gather facts from! Why is there not a Majesty's library in every county town? There is a Majesty's jail and gallows in every one.
diary, 18 May 1832

[Carlyle]

19 Gad! she'd better!
on hearing that Margaret Fuller "accept[ed] the universe"
William James Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) lecture 2

[Carlyle]

20 Macaulay is well for a while, but one wouldn't live under Niagara.
R. M. Milnes Notebook (1838)

[Carlyle]

Back  -   New Search

Carmichael, Stokely 1941–98

1 The only position for women in SNCC is prone.
response to a question about the position of women
at a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee conference, November 1964

Back  -   New Search

Carnegie, Andrew 1835–1919

1 The man who dies…rich dies disgraced.
North American Review June 1889 "Wealth"

Back  -   New Search

Carnegie, Dale 1888–1955

1 How to win friends and influence people.
title of book (1936)

Back  -   New Search

Carney, Julia A. 1823–1908

1
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the beauteous land.

"Little Things" (1845)

Back  -   New Search

Caroline of Ansbach 1683–1737

1 My dear firstborn is the greatest ass, and the greatest liar, and the greatest canaille, and the greatest beast in the whole world, and I heartily wish he was out of it.
of her eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George III
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

Back  -   New Search

Carpenter, Joseph Edwards 1813–85

1
What are the wild waves saying
Sister, the whole day long,

"What are the Wild Waves Saying?" (1850 song)

Back  -   New Search

Carr, J. L. 1912–

1 You have not had thirty years' experience…You have had one year's experience 30 times.
The Harpole Report (1972)

Back  -   New Search

Carroll, Lewis 1832–98

1 "What is the use of a book", thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 1

2 "Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 2

[Carroll]

3
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 2.

[Carroll]

4
"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 5.

[Carroll]

5
He only does it to annoy,
Because he knows it teases.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 6

[Carroll]

6 This time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
the Cheshire Cat
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 6

[Carroll]

7 "Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on. "I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least—at least I mean what I say—that's the same thing, you know." "Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that "I see what I eat” is the same thing as "I eat what I see!” "
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 7

[Carroll]

8
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly!
Like a teatray in the sky.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 7.

[Carroll]

9 Off with her head!
the Queen of Hearts
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 8

[Carroll]

10 Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 9

[Carroll]

11
"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 10

[Carroll]

12
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 10

[Carroll]

13
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 10

[Carroll]

14 Begin at the beginning," the King said, gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 12

[Carroll]

15 "It's the oldest rule in the book," said the King.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 12

[Carroll]

16 No! No! Sentence first—verdict afterwards.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ch. 12

[Carroll]

17
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"

Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 1

[Carroll]

18
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 1

[Carroll]

19 Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 2

[Carroll]

20
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."

Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 4

[Carroll]

21
But answer came there none.

Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 4.

[Carroll]

22 The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam today.
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 5.

[Carroll]

23 Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 5

[Carroll]

24 They gave it me,—for an un-birthday present.
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 6

[Carroll]

25 "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 6.

[Carroll]

26 You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 6

[Carroll]

27 It's as large as life, and twice as natural!
Through the Looking-Glass (1872) ch. 7

[Carroll]

28
What I tell you three times is true.

The Hunting of the Snark (1876) "Fit the First: The Landing"

[Carroll]

29
But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!

The Hunting of the Snark (1876) "Fit the Third: The Baker's Tale"

[Carroll]

30
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.

The Hunting of the Snark (1876) "Fit the Eighth: The Vanishing"

[Carroll]

Back  -   New Search

Carruth, William Herbert 1859–1924

1
Some call it evolution,
And others call it God.

"Each In His Own Tongue" (1908)

Back  -   New Search

Carson, Edward 1854–1935

1 We must be prepared…the morning Home Rule passes, ourselves to become responsible for the government of the Protestant Province of Ulster.
speech at Craigavon, 23 September 1911

2 From the day I first entered parliament up to the present, devotion to the union has been the guiding star of my political life.
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Carson]

Back  -   New Search

Carson, Rachel 1907–64

1 Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song.
The Silent Spring (1962)

Back  -   New Search

Carter, Henry d. 1806

1
True patriots we; for be it understood,
We left our country for our country's good.

prologue, written for, but not recited at, the opening of the Playhouse, Sydney, New South Wales, 16 January 1796, when the actors were principally convicts
previously attributed to George Barrington (b. 1755)

Back  -   New Search

Carter, Howard 1874–1939

1 Yes, wonderful things.
when asked what he could see on first looking into the tomb of Tutankhamun, 26 November 1922; his notebook records the words as "Yes, it is wonderful"
The Tomb of Tut-ankh-amen (1933)

Back  -   New Search

Carter, James Earl "Jimmy" 1924–

1 I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do—and I have done it—and God forgives me for it.
in Playboy November 1976

Back  -   New Search

Carter, Sydney 1915–

1
Dance then wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the dance, said he.

"Lord of the Dance" (1967)

2
One more step along the world I go.

"One More Step"

[Carter]

Back  -   New Search

Cartier, Jacques 1491–1557

1 I am rather inclined to believe that this is the land God gave to Cain.
on discovering the northern shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence (now Labrador and Quebec) in 1534; after the murder of Abel, Cain was exiled to the desolate land of Nod (cf. )
La Première Relation; H. P. Biggar (ed.) The Voyages of Jacques Cartier (1924)

Back  -   New Search

Cartier-Bresson, Henri 1908–

1 To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression.
The Decisive Moment (1952)

Back  -   New Search

Cartland, Barbara 1901–2000

1 After forty a woman has to choose between losing her figure or her face. My advice is to keep your face, and stay sitting down.
Libby Purves "Luncheon à la Cartland"; in The Times 6 October 1993; similar remarks have been attributed since c.1980

Back  -   New Search

Cartwright, John 1740–1824

1 One man shall have one vote.
The People's Barrier Against Undue Influence (1780) ch. 1 "Principles, maxims, and primary rules of politics" no. 68

Back  -   New Search

Casement, Roger 1864–1916

1 Self-government is our right, a thing born in us at birth, a thing no more to be doled out to us, or withheld from us, by another people than the right to life itself—than the right to feel the sun, or smell the flowers, or to love our kind.
statement at the conclusion of his trial, the Old Bailey, London, 29 June 1916

Back  -   New Search

Cassandre, A. M. 1901–68

1 A good poster is a visual telegram.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Castle, Barbara 1910–2002

1 I will fight for what I believe in until I drop dead. And that's what keeps you alive.
in Guardian 14 January 1998

Back  -   New Search

Castle, Ted 1907–79

1 In place of strife.
title of Government White Paper, 17 January 1969, suggested by Castle to his wife, Barbara Castle, then Secretary of State for Employment
Barbara Castle, diary, 15 January 1969

Back  -   New Search

Castro, Fidel 1927–

1 History will absolve me.
title of pamphlet (1953)

Back  -   New Search

Caswall, Edward 1814–78

1
Jesu, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast.

translation of "Jesu dulcis memoria, dans vera cordis gaudia", usually attributed to St Bernard
"Jesu, the very thought of thee" (1849 hymn)

2
See, amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See, the Lamb of God appears,
Promised from eternal years!

Hail, thou ever-blessèd morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!

"See, amid the winter's snow" (1858 hymn)

[Caswall]

Back  -   New Search

Cather, Willa 1873–1947

1 Oh, the Germans classify, but the French arrange!
Death Comes For the Archbishop (1927)

2 I tell you there is such a thing as creative hate!
The Song of the Lark (1915)

[Cather]

Back  -   New Search

Catherine the Great 1729–96

1 I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Cato the Elder (or "the Censor") 234 bc

1 Delenda est Carthago.Carthage must be destroyed.
words concluding every speech Cato made in the Senate
Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia bk. 15, ch. 74

2 Rem tene; verba sequentur.Grasp the subject, the words will follow.
Caius Julius Victor Ars Rhetorica "De inventione"

[Cato]

Back  -   New Search

Catt, Carrie Chapman 1859–1947

1 When a just cause reaches its flood-tide…whatever stands in the way must fall before its overwhelming power.
speech at Stockholm, Is Woman Suffrage Progressing? (1911)

Back  -   New Search

Catullus c.84 bc

1
Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque,
Et quantum est hominum venustiorum.
Passer mortuus est meae puellae,
Passer, deliciae meae puellae.
Mourn, you powers of Charm and Desire, and all you who are endowed with charm. My lady's sparrow is dead, the sparrow which was my lady's darling.
Carmina no. 3

2
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus.
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love.
Carmina no. 5.

[Catullus]

3
Da mi basia mille.
Give me a thousand kisses.
Carmina no. 5

[Catullus]

4
Paene insularum, Sirmio, insularumque
Ocelle.
Sirmio, bright eye of peninsulas and islands.
Carmina no. 31

[Catullus]

5
Nam risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.
For there is nothing sillier than a silly laugh.
Carmina no. 39.

[Catullus]

6
Odi et amo: quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
I hate and I love: why I do so you may well ask. I do not know, but I feel it happen and am in agony.
Carmina no. 85

[Catullus]

7
Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.

And so, my brother, hail, and farewell evermore!

Carmina no. 101 (tr. Sir William Marris)

[Catullus]

Back  -   New Search

Causley, Charles 1917–

1
Timothy Winters comes to school
With eyes as wide as a football-pool,
Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters:
A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.

"Timothy Winters" (1957)

Back  -   New Search

Cavafy, Constantine 1863–1933

1
When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long.

"Ithaka" (1911) (tr. E. Keeley and P. Sherrard)

2
And now, what will become of us without the barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.

"Waiting for the Barbarians" (1904)

[Cavafy]

Back  -   New Search

Cavell, Edith 1865–1915

1 Standing, as I do, in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.
on the eve of her execution
in The Times 23 October 1915

Back  -   New Search

Cavendish, Margaret (Duchess of Newcastle) c.1624–74

1 Marriage is the grave or tomb of wit.
Plays (1662) "Nature's Three Daughters" pt. 2, act 5, sc. 20

Back  -   New Search

Cavour, Count 1810–61

1 We are ready to proclaim throughout Italy this great principle: a free church in a free state.
speech, 27 March 1861

Back  -   New Search

Caxton, William c.1421–91

1 The worshipful father and first founder and embellisher of ornate eloquence in our English, I mean Master Geoffrey Chaucer.
Caxton's edition (c.1478) of Chaucer's translation of Boethius De Consolacione Philosophie epilogue

Back  -   New Search

Celan, Paul 1920–70

1
Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland.

Death is a master from Germany.

"Deathfugue" (written 1944)

Back  -   New Search

Centlivre, Susannah c.1669–1723

1 The real Simon Pure.
A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1718) act 5, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Cervantes 1547–1616

1 The Knight of the Doleful Countenance.
Don Quixote (1605) pt. 1, ch. 19

2 There are only two families in the world…the haves and the have-nots.
Don Quixote (1605) pt. 2, ch. 20

[Cervantes]

3 What I say is, patience, and shuffle the cards.
Don Quixote (1605) pt. 2, ch. 23

[Cervantes]

Back  -   New Search

Cézanne, Paul 1839–1906

1 Treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, all in perspective.
letter to Emile Bernard, 1904; Emile Bernard Paul Cézanne (1925)

Back  -   New Search

Chamberlain, Joseph 1836–1914

1 Provided that the City of London remains, as it is at present, the clearing-house of the world, any other nation may be its workshop.
speech at the Guildhall, 19 January 1904.

2 The day of small nations has long passed away. The day of Empires has come.
speech at Birmingham, 12 May 1904

[Chamberlain]

Back  -   New Search

Chamberlain, Neville 1869–1940

1 How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.
on Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland
radio broadcast, 27 September 1938

2 This is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.
speech from 10 Downing Street, 30 September 1938

[Chamberlain]

3 This morning, the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.
radio broadcast, 3 September 1939

[Chamberlain]

4 [Hitler] missed the bus.
speech at Central Hall, Westminster, 4 April 1940

[Chamberlain]

Back  -   New Search

Chambers, Haddon 1860–1921

1 The long arm of coincidence.
Captain Swift (1888) act 2

Back  -   New Search

Chamfort, Nicolas-Sébastien 1741–94

1 The poor are Europe's blacks.
Maximes et Pensées (1796) ch. 8

2 Sois mon frère, ou je te tue.Be my brother, or I kill you.
his interpretation of "Fraternité ou la mort [Fraternity or death]"
P. R. Anguis (ed.) Oeuvres Complètes (1824) vol. 1 "Notice Historique sur la Vie et les Écrits de Chamfort"

[Chamfort]

Back  -   New Search

Chandler, John 1806–76

1
Conquering kings their titles take
From the foes they captive make.

hymn (1837); translation from a Latin original: "Victis sibi cognomina sumant tyranni gentibus…"

Back  -   New Search

Chandler, Raymond 1888–1959

1 It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.
Farewell, My Lovely (1940) ch. 13

2 Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.
in Atlantic Monthly December 1944 "The Simple Art of Murder"

[Chandler]

3 When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split.
letter to Edward Weeks, 18 January 1947

[Chandler]

4 When in doubt have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
attributed

[Chandler]

Back  -   New Search

Chanel, Coco 1883–1971

1 You ask if they were happy. This is not a characteristic of a European. To be contented—that's for the cows.
A. Madsen Coco Chanel (1990) ch. 35

Back  -   New Search

Channon, Henry ("Chips") 1897–1958

1 What is more dull than a discreet diary? One might just as well have a discreet soul.
diary, 26 July 1935

2 We saw Queen Mary looking like the Jungfrau, white and sparkling in the sun.
diary, 22 June 1937

[Channon]

3 There is nowhere in the world where sleep is so deep as in the libraries of the House of Commons.
diary, 15 January 1939

[Channon]

Back  -   New Search

Chaplin, Charlie 1889–1977

1 All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
My Autobiography (1964) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Chapman, Arthur 1873–1935

1
Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
That's where the West begins.

Out Where the West Begins (1916)

Back  -   New Search

Chapman, George c.1559–1634

1
An Englishman,
Being flattered, is a lamb; threatened, a lion.

Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany (1654) act 1

2
We have watered our houses in Helicon.

occasionally misread as, "We have watered our horses in Helicon", following an 1814 edition
May-Day (1611) act 3, sc. 3

[Chapman]

3
I am ashamed the law is such an ass.

Revenge for Honour (1654) act 3, sc. 2.

[Chapman]

4
Danger, the spur of all great minds.

The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois (1613) act 5, sc. 1

[Chapman]

5
And let a scholar all Earth's volumes carry,
He will be but a walking dictionary.

The Tears of Peace (1609) l. 530

[Chapman]

Back  -   New Search

Charles I 1600–49

1 I see all the birds are flown.
after attempting to arrest five members of the Long Parliament (Pym, Hampden, Haselrig, Holles, and Strode)
in the House of Commons, 4 January 1642

2 You manifestly wrong even the poorest ploughman, if you demand not his free consent.
The King's Reasons for declining the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, 21 January 1649

[Charles I]

3 A subject and a sovereign are clean different things.
speech on the scaffold, 30 January 1649

[Charles I]

Back  -   New Search

Charles II 1630–85

1 I am sure no man in England will take away my life to make you King.
to his brother James
William King Political & Literary Anecdotes (1818)

2 It is upon the navy under the good Providence of God that the safety, honour, and welfare of this realm do chiefly depend.
"Articles of War" preamble (probably a popular paraphrase); Geoffrey Callender The Naval Side of British History (1952) pt. 1, ch. 8

[Charles II]

3 This is very true: for my words are my own, and my actions are my ministers'.
reply to Lord Rochester's epitaph on him
Thomas Hearne: Remarks and Collections (1885–1921) 17 November 1706; see

[Charles II]

4 He had been, he said, an unconscionable time dying; but he hoped that they would excuse it.
Lord Macaulay History of England (1849) vol. 1, ch. 4

[Charles II]

5 Let not poor Nelly starve.
referring to Nell Gwyn, his mistress
Bishop Gilbert Burnet History of My Own Time (1724) vol. 1, bk. 3

[Charles II]

Back  -   New Search

Charles V 1500–58

1 To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, and to my horse—German.
attributed; Lord Chesterfield Letters to his Son

Back  -   New Search

Charles, Prince of Wales 1948–

1 when asked if he was "in love":Yes…whatever that may mean.
after the announcement of his engagement
interview, 24 February 1981.

2 A monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend.
on the proposed extension to the National Gallery
speech to the Royal Institute of British Architects, 30 May 1984.

[Charles]

Back  -   New Search

Charron, Pierre 1541–1603

1 The true science and study of man is man.
De la Sagesse (1601) bk. 1, preface.

Back  -   New Search

Chaucer, Geoffrey c.1343–1400

1
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 1

2
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages),
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 9

[Chaucer]

3
He was a verray, parfit gentil knyght.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 72

[Chaucer]

4
He was as fressh as is the month of May.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 92

[Chaucer]

5
And Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly,
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For Frenssh of Parys was to hire unknowe.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 124

[Chaucer]

6
And theron heng a brooch of gold ful sheene,
On which ther was first write a crowned A,
And after Amor vincit omnia.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 160.

[Chaucer]

7
A Clerk there was of Oxenford also.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 285

[Chaucer]

8
Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde fyve.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 460

[Chaucer]

9
But Cristes loore and his apostels twelve
He taughte; but first he folwed it hymselve.

The Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" l. 527

[Chaucer]

10
Love wol nat been constreyned by maistrye.
When maistrie comth, the God of Love anon
Beteth his wynges, and farewel, he is gon!

The Canterbury Tales "The Franklin's Tale" l. 764

[Chaucer]

11
The bisy larke, messager of day.

The Canterbury Tales "The Knight's Tale" l. 1491

[Chaucer]

12
The smylere with the knyf under the cloke.

The Canterbury Tales "The Knight's Tale" l. 1999

[Chaucer]

13
Mordre wol out; that se we day by day.

The Canterbury Tales "The Nun's Priest's Tale" l. 3052

[Chaucer]

14
"By God," quod he, "for pleynly, at a word,
Thy drasty rymyng is nat worth a toord!"

The Canterbury Tales "Sir Thopas" l. 929

[Chaucer]

15
Yblessed be god that I have wedded fyve!
Welcome the sixte, whan that evere he shal.

The Canterbury Tales "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" l. 44

[Chaucer]

16
A likerous mouth moste han a likerous tayl.

The Canterbury Tales "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" l. 466

[Chaucer]

17
But yet I hadde alwey a coltes tooth.
Gat-tothed I was, and that bicam me weel.

The Canterbury Tales "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" l. 602

[Chaucer]

18
Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love.

The Canterbury Tales "The Wife of Bath's Tale" l. 1038

[Chaucer]

19
Farewel my bok and my devocioun!

The Legend of Good Women "The Prologue" l. 39

[Chaucer]

20
And she was fayr as is the rose in May.

The Legend of Good Women "Cleopatra" l. 613

[Chaucer]

21
That lyf so short,
the craft so long to lerne.

The Parliament of Fowls l. 1.

[Chaucer]

22
For I have seyn of a ful misty morwe
Folowen ful ofte a myrie someris day.

Troilus and Criseyde bk. 3, l. 1060

[Chaucer]

23
For of fortunes sharpe adversitee
The worst kynde of infortune is this,
A man to han ben in prosperitee,
And it remembren, whan it passed is.

Troilus and Criseyde bk. 3, l. 1625.

[Chaucer]

24
Ye, fare wel al the snow of ferne yere!

Troilus and Criseyde bk. 5, l. 1176

[Chaucer]

25
Go, litel bok, go, litel myn tragedye.

Troilus and Criseyde bk. 5, l. 1786.

[Chaucer]

26
O yonge, fresshe folkes, he or she,
In which that love up groweth with youre age.

Troilus and Criseyde bk. 5, l. 1835

[Chaucer]

27
O moral Gower, this book I directe
To the.

Troilus and Criseyde bk. 5, l. 1856

[Chaucer]

Back  -   New Search

Chekhov, Anton 1860–1904

1 If a lot of cures are suggested for a disease, it means that the disease is incurable.
The Cherry Orchard (1904) act 1

2 medvedenko: Why do you wear black all the time?
masha: I'm in mourning for my life, I'm unhappy.

The Seagull (1896) act 1

[Chekhov]

3 Women can't forgive failure.
The Seagull (1896) act 2

[Chekhov]

4 When a woman isn't beautiful, people always say, "You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair."
Uncle Vanya (1897) act 3

[Chekhov]

5 Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other.
letter to A. S. Suvorin, 11 September 1888

[Chekhov]

6 Brevity is the sister of talent.
letter to Alexander Chekhov, 11 April 1889

[Chekhov]

Back  -   New Search

Cher 1946–

1 If grass can grow through cement, love can find you at every time in your life.
in The Times 30 May 1998

Back  -   New Search

Chesnut, Mary 1823–86

1 Atlanta is gone. That agony is over. There is no hope but we will try to have no fear.
after the fall of Atlanta to Sherman's army in 1864
Geoffrey C. Ward The Civil War (1991) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Chesterfield, Lord 1694–1773

1 Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.
Letters…to his Godson and Successor (1890) Letter 142

2 An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
Letters to his Son (1774) 9 October 1746

[Chesterfield]

3 Take the tone of the company that you are in.
Letters to his Son (1774) 16 October 1747

[Chesterfield]

4 I recommend to you to take care of minutes: for hours will take care of themselves.
Letters to his Son (1774) 6 November 1747.

[Chesterfield]

5 Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.
Letters to his Son (1774) 29 January 1748

[Chesterfield]

6 Wear your learning, like your watch in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it, merely to show that you have one.
Letters to his Son (1774) 22 February 1748

[Chesterfield]

7 Women, then, are only children of a larger growth.
Letters to his Son (1774) 5 September 1748.

[Chesterfield]

8 It must be owned, that the Graces do not seem to be natives of Great Britain; and I doubt, the best of us here have more of rough than polished diamond.
Letters to his Son (1774) 18 November 1748

[Chesterfield]

9 It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth.
Letters to his Son (1774) 6 February 1752

[Chesterfield]

10 The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one.
letter to Solomon Dayrolles, 16 February 1753

[Chesterfield]

11 The pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.
of sex
attributed

[Chesterfield]

Back  -   New Search

Chesterton, G. K. 1874–1936

1
Talk about the pews and steeples
And the Cash that goes therewith!
But the souls of Christian peoples…
Chuck it, Smith!

satirizing F. E. Smith's response to the Welsh Disestablishment Bill
"Antichrist" (1915)

2
I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

The Ballad of the White Horse (1911) bk. 1

[Chesterton]

3
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.

The Ballad of the White Horse (1911) bk. 2

[Chesterton]

4
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

"The Donkey" (1900)

[Chesterton]

5
They died to save their country and they only saved the world.

"English Graves" (1922)

[Chesterton]

6
From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord!

"A Hymn" (1915)

[Chesterton]

7
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass.

"Lepanto" (1915)

[Chesterton]

8
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war.

"Lepanto" (1915)

[Chesterton]

9
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.

"The Rolling English Road" (1914)

[Chesterton]

10
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

"The Rolling English Road" (1914)

[Chesterton]

11
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.

"The Rolling English Road" (1914)

[Chesterton]

12
Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget.
For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.

"The Secret People" (1915)

[Chesterton]

13
Tea, although an Oriental,
Is a gentleman at least;
Cocoa is a cad and coward,
Cocoa is a vulgar beast.

"Song of Right and Wrong" (1914)

[Chesterton]

14
And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
"I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."

"Wine and Water" (1914)

[Chesterton]

15 One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.
The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)

[Chesterton]

16 Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.
The Man who was Thursday (1908) ch. 4

[Chesterton]

17 Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.
Orthodoxy (1908) ch. 4

[Chesterton]

18 They say travel broadens the mind; but you must have the mind.
"The Shadow of the Shark" (1921)

[Chesterton]

19 The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
What's Wrong with the World (1910) pt. 1 "The Unfinished Temple"

[Chesterton]

20 Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones Dead" to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.
The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914)

[Chesterton]

21 Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.
in New York Times 1 February 1931, pt. 5

[Chesterton]

22 am in market harborough. where ought i to be?
telegram to his wife in London
Autobiography (1936)

[Chesterton]

23 When men stop believing in God they don't believe in nothing; they believe in anything.
widely attributed, although not traced in his works; first recorded as "The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything" in Emile Cammaerts Chesterton: The Laughing Prophet (1937)

[Chesterton]

Back  -   New Search

Child, Lydia Maria 1802–80

1 Woman stock is rising in the market. I shall not live to see women vote, but I'll come and rap at the ballot box.
letter to Sarah Shaw, 3 August 1856

Back  -   New Search

Childers, Erskine 1870–1922

1 The riddle of the sands.
title of novel (1903)

2 Come closer, boys. It will be easier for you.
to the firing squad at his execution
Burke Wilkinson The Zeal of the Convert (1976) ch. 26

[Childers]

Back  -   New Search

Chilton, Charles

see Joan Littlewood

Back  -   New Search

Choate, Rufus 1799–1859

1 Its constitution the glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.
letter to the Maine Whig State Central Committee, 9 August 1856.

Back  -   New Search

Choiseul, Duc de 1719–85

1 A minister who moves about in society is in a position to read the signs of the times even in a festive gathering, but one who remains shut up in his office learns nothing.
Jack F. Bernard Talleyrand (1973)

Back  -   New Search

Chomsky, Noam 1928–

1 Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.
Syntactic Structures (1957) ch. 2

2 The Internet is an élite organization; most of the population of the world has never even made a phone call.
on the limitations of the World Wide Web
in Observer 18 February 1996

[Chomsky]

Back  -   New Search

Christie, Agatha 1890–1976

1 He [Hercule Poirot] tapped his forehead. "These little grey cells. It is "up to them”."
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Christy, David 1802–68

1 Cotton is King; or, the economical relations of slavery.
title of book, 1855

Back  -   New Search

Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) c.369 bc

1 Once I, Chang Chou, dreamed that I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself but I did not know that I was Chou. Suddenly I awoke and there I was, visibly Chou. I do not know whether it was Chou dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that it was Chou.
Chuang Tzu ch. 2.

Back  -   New Search

Church, Francis Pharcellus 1839–1906

1 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
replying to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon
editorial in New York Sun, 21 September 1897

Back  -   New Search

Churchill, Charles 1731–64

1
Be England what she will,
With all her faults, she is my country still.

The Farewell (1764) l. 27.

2
Just to the windward of the law.

The Ghost (1763) bk. 3, l. 56

[Churchill]

3
Keep up appearances; there lies the test;
The world will give thee credit for the rest.

Night (1761) l. 311

[Churchill]

4
Apt Alliteration's artful aid.

The Prophecy of Famine (1763) l. 86

[Churchill]

Back  -   New Search

Churchill, Lord Randolph 1849–94

1 The forest laments in order that Mr Gladstone may perspire.
on Gladstone's hobby of felling trees
speech on Financial Reform, delivered in Blackpool, 24 January 1884

2 I decided some time ago that if the G. O. M. went for Home Rule, the Orange card would be the one to play. Please God it may turn out the ace of trumps and not the two.
"G. O. M." = Grand Old Man (Gladstone)
letter to Lord Justice FitzGibbon, 16 February 1886.

[Churchill]

3 Ulster will fight; Ulster will be right.
public letter, 7 May 1886

[Churchill]

4 An old man in a hurry.
on Gladstone
address to the electors of South Paddington, 19 June 1886

[Churchill]

5 I never could make out what those damned dots [decimal points] meant.
W. S. Churchill Lord Randolph Churchill (1906) vol. 2

[Churchill]

Back  -   New Search

Churchill, Winston 1874–1965

1 It cannot in the opinion of His Majesty's Government be classified as slavery in the extreme acceptance of the word without some risk of terminological inexactitude.
speech in the House of Commons, 22 February 1906

2 Business carried on as usual during alterations on the map of Europe.
on the self-adopted "motto" of the British people
speech at Guildhall, 9 November 1914

[Churchill]

3 The whole map of Europe has been changed…but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again.
speech in the House of Commons, 16 February 1922

[Churchill]

4 Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat.
on rejoining the Conservatives twenty years after leaving them for the Liberals, c.1924
Kay Halle Irrepressible Churchill (1966)

[Churchill]

5 I have waited 50 years to see the boneless wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.
of Ramsay MacDonald
speech in the House of Commons, 28 January 1931

[Churchill]

6 Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
letter, 11 November 1937

[Churchill]

7 I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
radio broadcast, 1 October 1939

[Churchill]

8 I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
speech in the House of Commons, 13 May 1940.

[Churchill]

9 We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
speech in the House of Commons, 4 June 1940

[Churchill]

10 Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."
speech in the House of Commons, 18 June 1940

[Churchill]

11 Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
on the Battle of Britain
speech in the House of Commons, 20 August 1940

[Churchill]

12 Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
radio broadcast, 9 February 1941

[Churchill]

13 When I warned them [the French Government] that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, "In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." Some chicken! Some neck!
speech to Canadian Parliament, 30 December 1941

[Churchill]

14 Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
on the Battle of Egypt
speech at the Mansion House, London, 10 November 1942

[Churchill]

15 We make this wide encircling movement in the Mediterranean, having for its primary object the recovery of the command of that vital sea, but also having for its object the exposure of the underbelly of the Axis, especially Italy, to heavy attack.
often quoted as, "The soft underbelly of Europe"
speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1942

[Churchill]

16 There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.
radio broadcast, 21 March 1943

[Churchill]

17 From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
"iron curtain" previously had been applied by others to the Soviet Union or her sphere of influence, e.g. Ethel Snowden Through Bolshevik Russia (1920), Dr Goebbels Das Reich (25 February 1945), and by Churchill himself in a cable to President Truman (4 June 1945)
speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 5 March 1946

[Churchill]

18 Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1947

[Churchill]

19 This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.
Ernest Gowers Plain Words (1948) "Troubles with Prepositions"

[Churchill]

20 Naval tradition?. Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers, and the lash.
often quoted as "rum, sodomy, and the lash", as in Peter Gretton Former Naval Person (1968)
Harold Nicolson, diary, 17 August 1950

[Churchill]

21 To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
speech at White House, 26 June 1954

[Churchill]

22 It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion's heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
speech at Westminster Hall, 30 November 1954

[Churchill]

23 I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
Quentin Reynolds By Quentin Reynolds (1964) ch. 11

[Churchill]

24 In defeat unbeatable: in victory unbearable.
of Lord Montgomery
Edward Marsh Ambrosia and Small Beer (1964) ch. 5

[Churchill]

25 Like a powerful graceful cat walking delicately and unsoiled across a rather muddy street.
of Balfour's moving from Asquith's Cabinet to that of Lloyd George
Great Contemporaries (1937)

[Churchill]

26 of the career of Lord Curzon:The morning had been golden; the noontide was bronze; and the evening lead. But all were solid, and each was polished till it shone after its fashion.
Great Contemporaries (1937)

[Churchill]

27 It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
My Early Life (1930) ch. 9

[Churchill]

28 In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
The Second World War vol. 1 (1948) epigraph, which according to Edward Marsh in A Number of People (1939), occurred to Churchill shortly after the conclusion of the First World War

[Churchill]

29 Jellicoe was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon.
The World Crisis (1927) pt. 1, ch. 5

[Churchill]

30 The ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
describing the qualifications desirable in a prospective politician
B. Adler Churchill Wit (1965)

[Churchill]

31 I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
attributed, in M. Gilbert Never Despair (1988)

[Churchill]

32 nancy astor: If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!
churchill: And if I were your husband I would drink it.

Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan Glitter and Gold (1952)

[Churchill]

33 A sheep in sheep's clothing.
of Clement Attlee
Lord Home The Way the Wind Blows (1976) ch. 6

[Churchill]

Back  -   New Search

Ciano, Count Galeazzo 1903–44

1 Victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan.
literally "no-one wants to recognise defeat as his own"
Diary (1946) vol. 2, 9 September 1942

Back  -   New Search

Cibber, Colley 1671–1757

1 Oh! how many torments lie in the small circle of a wedding-ring!
The Double Gallant (1707) act 1, sc. 2

2 Off with his head—so much for Buckingham.
Richard III (1700) act 4 (adapted from Shakespeare).

[Cibber]

3
Perish the thought!

Richard III (1700) act 5 (adapted from Shakespeare)

[Cibber]

4
Conscience avaunt, Richard's himself again.

Richard III (1700) act 5 (adapted from Shakespeare)

[Cibber]

Back  -   New Search

Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) 106 bc

1 Salus populi suprema est lex.The good of the people is the chief law.
De Legibus bk. 3, ch. 8

2 "Ipse dixit." "Ipse" autem erat Pythagoras."He himself said", and this "himself" was Pythagoras.
De Natura Deorum bk. 1, ch. 10

[Cicero]

3 Summum bonum.The highest good.
De Officiis bk. 1, ch. 5

[Cicero]

4 O tempora, O mores!Oh, the times! Oh, the manners!
In Catilinam Speech 1, ch. 1

[Cicero]

5 Civis Romanus sum.I am a Roman citizen.
In Verrem Speech 5, ch. 147;

[Cicero]

6 Quod di omen avertant. May the gods avert this omen.
Third Philippic ch. 35

[Cicero]

7 The sinews of war, unlimited money.
Fifth Philippic ch. 5

[Cicero]

8 Laws are silent in time of war.
Pro Milone ch. 11

[Cicero]

9 Cui bono?To whose profit?
Pro Roscio Amerino ch. 84 and Pro Milone ch. 12, sect. 32, quoting L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla

[Cicero]

10 Cum dignitate otium.Leisure with honour.
Pro Sestio ch. 98

[Cicero]

11 O happy Rome, born when I was consul!
Juvenal Satires poem 10, l. 122

[Cicero]

12 The young man should be praised, decorated, and got rid of.
of Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus
referred to in a letter from Decimus Brutus to Cicero

[Cicero]

Back  -   New Search

Cioran, E. M. 1911–95

1 I do nothing, granted. But I see the hours pass—which is better than trying to fill them.
in Guardian 11 May 1993

Back  -   New Search

Clairmont, Claire 1798–1879

1 I shall ever remember the gentleness of your manners and the wild originality of your countenance.
letter to Lord Byron, 16 April 1816

Back  -   New Search

Clare, John 1793–1864

1
He could not die when the trees were green,
For he loved the time too well.

"The Dying Child"

2
My life hath been one chain of contradictions,
Madhouses, prisons, whore-shops.

"Child Harold" (written 1841) l. 146

[Clare]

3
A quiet, pilfering, unprotected race.

"The Gipsy Camp" (1841)

[Clare]

4
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator God
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below, above, the vaulted sky.

"I Am" (1848)

[Clare]

Back  -   New Search

Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of 1609–74

1 Without question, when he first drew the sword, he threw away the scabbard.
of Hampden
The History of the Rebellion (1703, ed. W. D. Macray, 1888) vol. 3

2 He had a head to contrive, a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief.
of Hampden
The History of the Rebellion (1703, ed. W. D. Macray, 1888) vol. 3.

[Clarendon]

3 So enamoured on peace that he would have been glad the King should have bought it at any price.
of Falkland
The History of the Rebellion (1703, ed. W. D. Macray, 1888) vol. 3

[Clarendon]

4 He will be looked upon by posterity as a brave bad man.
of Cromwell
The History of the Rebellion (1703, ed. W. D. Macray, 1888) vol. 6

[Clarendon]

Back  -   New Search

Clark, Alan 1928–99

1 There are no true friends in politics. We are all sharks circling, and waiting, for traces of blood to appear in the water.
diary, 30 November 1990

2 Our old friend economical…with the actualité.
under cross-examination at the Old Bailey during the Matrix Churchill case
in Independent 10 November 1992.

[Clark]

3 Safe is spelled d-u-l-l. Politics has got to be a fun activity, otherwise people turn their back on it.
on being selected as parliamentary candidate for Kensington and Chelsea
in Daily Telegraph 25 January 1997

[Clark]

Back  -   New Search

Clarke, Arthur C. 1917–

1 When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Profiles of the Future (1962) ch. 2

2 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Profiles of the Future (1962) ch. 2

[Clarke]

Back  -   New Search

Clarke, Austin 1896–1974

1
And O! She was the Sunday
In every week.

"The Planter's Daughter" (1929)

Back  -   New Search

Claudian 370–404

1
Erret, et extremos alter scrutetur Hiberos:
Plus habet hic vitae, plus habet ille viae.
Let who will be a wanderer and explore farthest Spain: such may have more of a journey: he of Verona has more of a life.
of the old man of Verona who never left his home
De Sene Veronensi

Back  -   New Search

Claudius, Appius Caecus fl. 312 bc

1 Faber est suae quisque fortunae.Each man is the smith of his own fortune.
Sallust Ad Caesarem Senem de Re Publica Oratio ch. 1, sect. 2

Back  -   New Search

Clausewitz, Karl von 1780–1831

1 War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
commonly rendered as "War is the continuation of politics by other means"
On War (1832–4) bk. 8, ch. 6, sect. B

Back  -   New Search

Clay, Henry 1777–1852

1 The gentleman [Josiah Quincy] can not have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, "peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must".
speech in Congress, 8 January 1813.

2 I had rather be right than be President.
to Senator Preston of South Carolina, 1839
attributed; S. W. McCall Life of Thomas Brackett Reed (1914) ch. 14

[Clay]

Back  -   New Search

Clayton, Philip "Tubby" 1885–1972

1 chairman: What is service?
candidate: The rent we pay for our room on earth.

admission ceremony of Toc H, a society founded after the First World War to provide Christian fellowship and social service
Tresham Lever Clayton of Toc H (1971)

Back  -   New Search

Cleaver, Eldridge 1935–98

1 What we're saying today is that you're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.
speech in San Francisco, 1968

Back  -   New Search

Cleland, John 1710–89

1 Truth! stark naked truth, is the word.
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure a.k.a. Fanny Hill (1749) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Clemenceau, Georges 1841–1929

1 War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.
attributed to Clemenceau, but also to Briand and Talleyrand

2 My home policy: I wage war; my foreign policy: I wage war. All the time I wage war.
speech to French Chamber of Deputies, 8 March 1918

[Clemenceau]

3 It is easier to make war than to make peace.
speech at Verdun, 20 July 1919

[Clemenceau]

Back  -   New Search

Clement XIII 1693–1769

1 Sint ut sunt aut non sint.Let them be as they are or not be at all.
replying to a request for changes in the constitutions of the Society of Jesus
J. A. M. Crétineau-Joly Clément XIV et les Jésuites (1847)

Back  -   New Search

Cleveland, Grover 1837–1908

1 I have considered the pension list of the republic a roll of honour.
Veto of Dependent Pension Bill, 5 July 1888

Back  -   New Search

Cleveland, Harlan 1918–

1 The revolution of rising expectations.
phrase coined, 1950; Arthur Schlesinger A Thousand Days (1965) ch. 16

Back  -   New Search

Clinton, Hillary Rodham 1947–

1 I am not standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette. I am sitting here because I love him, I respect him, and I honour what he's been through and what we've been through together.
interview on 60 Minutes, CBS-TV, 27 January 1992

2 I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. But what I decided was to fulfil my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life.
in Albany Times-Union 17 March 1992

[Clinton]

Back  -   New Search

Clinton, William Jefferson ("Bill") 1946–

1 I experimented with marijuana a time or two. And I didn't like it, and I didn't inhale.
in Washington Post 30 March 1992

2 The comeback kid!
description of himself after coming second in the New Hampshire primary in the 1992 presidential election (since 1952, no presidential candidate had won the election without first winning in New Hampshire)
Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa The Almanac of American Politics 1994

[Clinton]

3 I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
television interview, in Daily Telegraph 27 January 1998

[Clinton]

4 Peace is no longer a dream. It is a reality.
of the Northern Ireland referendum on the Good Friday agreement
in Sunday Times 24 May 1998

[Clinton]

Back  -   New Search

Clive, Lord 1725–74

1 By God, Mr Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation!
reply during Parliamentary cross-examination, 1773
G. R. Gleig The Life of Robert, First Lord Clive (1848) ch. 29

Back  -   New Search

Clough, Arthur Hugh 1819–61

1
Am I prepared to lay down my life for the British female?
Really, who knows?…
Ah, for a child in the street I could strike; for the full-blown lady—
Somehow, Eustace, alas! I have not felt the vocation.

Amours de Voyage (1858) canto 2, pt. 4

2
Afloat. We move: Delicious! Ah,
What else is like the gondola?

Dipsychus (1865) sc. 5

[Clough]

3
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

Dipsychus (1865) sc. 5

[Clough]

4
Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?

"The Latest Decalogue" (1862).

[Clough]

5
Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive
Officiously to keep alive.

"The Latest Decalogue" (1862)

[Clough]

6
Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it.

"The Latest Decalogue" (1862)

[Clough]

7
Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been, things remain.

"Say not the struggle naught availeth" (1855)

[Clough]

8
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.

"Say not the struggle naught availeth" (1855)

[Clough]

Back  -   New Search

Cobain, Kurt 1967–94

1 I'd rather be dead than cool.
"Stay Away" (1991 song)

Back  -   New Search

Cobbett, William 1762–1835

1 Nouns of number, or multitude, such as Mob, Parliament, Rabble, House of Commons, Regiment, Court of King's Bench, Den of Thieves, and the like.
English Grammar (1817) letter 17 "Syntax as Relating to Pronouns"

2 The great wen of all.
of London
Rural Rides: The Kentish Journal in Cobbett's Weekly Political Register 5 January 1822, vol. 40

[Cobbett]

Back  -   New Search

Cockburn, Alison 1713–94

1
O fickle Fortune, why this cruel sporting?
Why thus torment us poor sons of day?
Nae mair your smiles can cheer me, nae mair your frowns can fear me,
For the flowers of the forest are a' wade away.

wade weeded (often quoted as "For the flowers of the forest are withered away")
"The Flowers of the Forest" (1765)

Back  -   New Search

Cockburn, Claud 1904–81

1 Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead.
winning entry for a dullest headline competition at The Times
In Time of Trouble (1956) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Cocteau, Jean 1889–1963

1 Life is a horizontal fall.
Opium (1930)

2 If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas.
Le Rappel à l'ordre (1926) "Le Coq et l'Arlequin"

[Cocteau]

Back  -   New Search

Cohan, George M. 1878–1942

1
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming.
The drums rum-tumming everywhere.

"Over There" (1917 song)

2
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy,
A Yankee Doodle, do or die;
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam's,
Born on the fourth of July.

"Yankee Doodle Boy" (1904 song).

[Cohan]

Back  -   New Search

Coke, Desmond 1879–1931

1 His blade struck the water a full second before any other: the lad had started well. Nor did he flag as the race wore on…as the boats began to near the winning-post, his oar was dipping into the water nearly twice as often as any other.
often misquoted as, "All rowed fast, but none so fast as stroke"
Sandford of Merton (1903) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Coke, Edward 1552–1634

1 How long soever it hath continued, if it be against reason, it is of no force in law.
The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England (1628) bk. 1, ch. 10, sect. 80

2 For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and each man's home is his safest refuge].
The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England (1628) ch. 73

[Coke]

3 They [corporations] cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicate, for they have no souls.
The Reports of Sir Edward Coke (1658) vol. 5, pt. 10 "The case of Sutton's Hospital".

[Coke]

4 Magna Charta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign.
on the Lords' Amendment to the Petition of Right, 17 May 1628
J. Rushworth Historical Collections (1659) vol. 1

[Coke]

Back  -   New Search

Coleridge, Hartley 1796–1849

1
But what is Freedom? Rightly understood,
A universal licence to be good.

"Liberty" (1833)

Back  -   New Search

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 1772–1834

1
O Lady! we receive but what we give,
And in our life alone does Nature live.

"Dejection: an Ode" (1802) st. 4

2
But oh! each visitation
Suspends what nature gave me at my birth,
My shaping spirit of imagination.

"Dejection: an Ode" (1802) st. 6

[Coleridge]

3
And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin
Is pride that apes humility.

"The Devil's Thoughts" (1799)

[Coleridge]

4
The frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind.

"Frost at Midnight" (1798) l. 1

[Coleridge]

5 At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock.
"Kubla Khan" (1816) preliminary note

[Coleridge]

6
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round.

"Kubla Khan" (1816)

[Coleridge]

7
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced.

"Kubla Khan" (1816)

[Coleridge]

8
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice.

"Kubla Khan" (1816)

[Coleridge]

9
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

"Kubla Khan" (1816)

[Coleridge]

10
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

"Kubla Khan" (1816)

[Coleridge]

11
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 1

[Coleridge]

12
He holds him with his glittering eye—
The Wedding-Guest stood still.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 1

[Coleridge]

13
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 1

[Coleridge]

14
"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends that plague thee thus!—
Why look'st thou so?"—With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 1

[Coleridge]

15
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 2

[Coleridge]

16
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 2

[Coleridge]

17
The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out;
At one stride comes the dark.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 3

[Coleridge]

18
The hornèd Moon, with one bright star
Within the nether tip.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 3.

[Coleridge]

19
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 4

[Coleridge]

20
Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 6

[Coleridge]

21
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 7

[Coleridge]

22
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 7

[Coleridge]

23
Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison!

"This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison" (1800) l. 1

[Coleridge]

24 That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.
Biographia Literaria (1817) ch. 14

[Coleridge]

25 The dwarf sees farther than the giant, when he has the giant's shoulder to mount on.
The Friend (1818) vol. 2 "On the Principles of Political Knowledge"

[Coleridge]

26 To see him act, is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.
of Edmund Kean
Table Talk (1835) 27 April 1823

[Coleridge]

27 Prose = words in their best order;—poetry = the best words in the best order.
Table Talk (1835) 12 July 1827

[Coleridge]

28 In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
Table Talk (1835) 5 October 1830

[Coleridge]

29 Youth and Hope—those twin realities of this phantom world!
Table Talk (1835) 10 July 1834

[Coleridge]

30 Summer has set in with its usual severity.
letter to Vincent Novello, 9 May 1826

[Coleridge]

Back  -   New Search

Colette 1873–1954

1 Her childhood, then her adolescence, had taught her patience, hope, silence and the easy manipulation of the weapons and virtues of all prisoners.
Chéri (1920) pt. 2 (translated by Janet Flanner, 1930)

2 If we want to be sincere, we must admit that there is a well-nourished love and an ill-nourished love. And the rest is literature.
La Fin de Chéri (1926) (translated by Viola Gerard Garvin)

[Colette]

Back  -   New Search

Collingbourne, William d. 1484

1
The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell our dog
Rule all England under a hog.

referring to Sir William Catesby (d. 1485), Sir Richard Ratcliffe (d. 1485), Lord Lovell (1454–c.1487), whose crest was a dog, and King Richard III, whose emblem was a wild boar
Robert Fabyan The Concordance of Chronicles (ed. H. Ellis, 1811)

Back  -   New Search

Collingwood, Lord 1748–1810

1 Now, gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter.
before the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
G. L. Newnham Collingwood (ed.) A Selection from the Correspondence of Lord Collingwood (1828) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Collingwood, R. G. 1889–1943

1 Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.
Speculum Mentis (1924).

Back  -   New Search

Collins, Charles

1
Any old iron, any old iron,
Any any old old iron?
You look neat
Talk about a treat,
You look dapper from your napper to your feet.

"Any Old Iron" (1911 song, with E. A. Sheppard and Fred Terry); the second line often sung "Any any any old iron?"

2
My old man said, "Follow the van,
Don't dilly-dally on the way!"
Off went the cart with the home packed in it,
I walked behind with my old cock linnet.
But I dillied and dallied, dallied and dillied,
Lost the van and don't know where to roam.
You can't trust the "specials" like the old time "coppers"
When you can't find your way home.

"Don't Dilly-Dally on the Way" (1919 song, with Fred Leigh); popularized by Marie Lloyd

[Collins]

Back  -   New Search

Collins, Michael 1890–1922

1 That volley which we have just heard is the only speech which it is proper to make over the grave of a dead Fenian.
at the funeral of Thomas Ashe, who had died in prison while on hunger strike
Glasnevin cemetery, 30th September 1917

2 Think—what I have got for Ireland? Something which she has wanted these past seven hundred years. Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this—early this morning I signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how odd, how ridiculous—a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago.
on signing the treaty establishing the Irish Free State; he was shot from ambush in the following year
letter, 6 December 1921

[Collins]

3 We've been waiting seven hundred years, you can have the seven minutes.
arriving at Dublin Castle for the handover by British forces on 16 January 1922, and being told that he was seven minutes late
Tim Pat Coogan Michael Collins (1990); attributed

[Collins]

4 My own fellow-countymen won't kill me.
before leaving for Cork where he was ambushed and killed, 20 August 1922
James Mackay Michael Collins (1996)

[Collins]

Back  -   New Search

Collins, William 1721–59

1
To fair Fidele's grassy tomb
Soft maids and village hinds shall bring
Each opening sweet of earliest bloom,
And rifle all the breathing spring.

"Dirge" (1744); occasionally included in 18th-century performances of Shakespeare's Cymbeline

2
How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By all their country's wishes blest!

"Ode Written in the Year 1746" (1748)

[Collins]

Back  -   New Search

Colman, George, the Elder 1732–94 and Garrick, David 1717–79

1 Love and a cottage! Eh, Fanny! Ah, give me indifference and a coach and six!
The Clandestine Marriage (1766) act 1.

Back  -   New Search

Colman, George, the Younger 1762–1836

1
Oh, London is a fine town,
A very famous city,
Where all the streets are paved with gold,
And all the maidens pretty.

The Heir at Law (performed 1797, published 1808) act 1, sc. 2

2 Says he, "I am a handsome man, but I'm a gay deceiver."
Love Laughs at Locksmiths (1808) act 2

[Colman]

Back  -   New Search

Colton, Charles Caleb c.1780–1832

1 When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
Lacon (1820) vol. 1, no. 183

2 Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
Lacon (1820) vol. 1, no. 322

[Colton]

Back  -   New Search

Colum Cille, St ?521–597

1 To every cow her calf, to every book its copy.
traditionally attributed

Back  -   New Search

Comden, Betty 1919– and Green, Adolph 1915–

1
New York, New York,—a helluva town.

New York, New York (1945 song)

2
The party's over, it's time to call it a day.

"The Party's Over" (1956)

[Comden]

Back  -   New Search

Compton, Denis 1918–97

1 I couldn't bat for the length of time required to score 500. I'd get bored and fall over.
to Brian Lara, who had recently scored 501 not out, a world record in first-class cricket
in Daily Telegraph 27 June 1994

Back  -   New Search

Compton-Burnett, Ivy 1884–1969

1 Well, of course, people are only human…But it really does not seem much for them to be.
A Family and a Fortune (1939) ch. 2

2 People don't resent having nothing nearly as much as too little.
A Family and a Fortune (1939) ch. 4

[Compton-Burnett]

3 A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.
More Women than Men (1933) ch. 4

[Compton-Burnett]

Back  -   New Search

Condorcet, Marquis de 1743–94

1 As one meditates about the nature of the moral sciences one really cannot avoid the conclusion that since, like the physical sciences, they rest upon observation of the facts, they ought to follow the same methods, acquire a language no less exact and precise, and so attain to the same degree of certainty. If some being alien to our species were to set himself to study us he would find no difference between these two studies, and would examine human society as we do that of bees or beavers.
Discours prononcé dans l'Académie Française 21 February 1782

Back  -   New Search

Confucius (K'ung Fu-tzu) 551 bc

textual translations are those of Wing-Tsit Chan, 1963 1 A ruler who governs his state by virtue is like the north polar star, which remains in its place while all the other stars revolve around it.
Analects ch. 2, v. 1

2 A man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others.
Analects ch. 2, v. 11

[Confucius]

3 The Way of our Master is none other than conscientiousness and altruism.
the "one thread" of Confucius' doctrines
Analects ch. 4, v. 15

[Confucius]

Back  -   New Search

Congreve, William 1670–1729

1 There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh; Jesu, 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!
The Double Dealer (1694) act 1, sc. 4.

2 She lays it on with a trowel.
The Double Dealer (1694) act 3, sc. 10

[Congreve]

3 See how love and murder will out.
The Double Dealer (1694) act 4, sc. 6

[Congreve]

4 Has he not a rogue's face?…a hanging-look to me…has a damned Tyburn-face, without the benefit o' the Clergy.
Love for Love (1695) act 2, sc. 7

[Congreve]

5 Music has charms to sooth a savage breast.
The Mourning Bride (1697) act 1, sc. 1

[Congreve]

6
Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned,
Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorned.

The Mourning Bride (1697) act 3, sc. 8

[Congreve]

7
sharper: Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure:
Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.
setter: Some by experience find those words mis-placed:
At leisure married, they repent in haste.

The Old Bachelor (1693) act 5, sc. 1

[Congreve]

8 They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.
The Way of the World (1700) act 1, sc. 1

[Congreve]

9 Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved.
The Way of the World (1700) act 2, sc. 1.

[Congreve]

10
witwoud: Madam, do you pin up your hair with all your letters?
millamant: Only with those in verse, Mr Witwoud. I never pin up my hair with prose.

The Way of the World (1700) act 2, sc. 4

[Congreve]

11 These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into a wife.
The Way of the World (1700) act 4, sc. 5

[Congreve]

12 I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections.
letter to John Dennis, 10 July 1695

[Congreve]

Back  -   New Search

Conlon, Gerry 1954–

1 The life sentence goes on. It's like a runaway train that you can't just get off.
of life after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal
in Irish Post 13 September 1997

Back  -   New Search

Connell, James M. 1852–1929

1
The people's flag is deepest red;
It shrouded oft our martyred dead.

"The Red Flag" (1889) in H. E. Piggott Songs that made History (1937) ch. 6

2
Then raise the scarlet standard high!
Within its shade we'll live or die.
Tho' cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.

"The Red Flag" (1889) in H. E. Piggott Songs that made History (1937) ch. 6

[Connell]

Back  -   New Search

Connolly, Billy 1942–

1 Marriage is a wonderful invention; but, then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.
Duncan Campbell Billy Connolly (1976)

Back  -   New Search

Connolly, Cyril 1903–74

1 Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.
Enemies of Promise (1938) ch. 13

2 Imprisoned in every fat man a thin one is wildly signalling to be let out.
The Unquiet Grave (1944) pt. 2.

[Connolly]

3 Our memories are card-indexes consulted, and then put back in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.
The Unquiet Grave (1944) pt. 3

[Connolly]

Back  -   New Search

Connolly, James 1868–1916

1 The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.
The Re-conquest of Ireland (1915)

2 The time for Ireland's battle is now, the place for Ireland's battle is here.
in The Workers' Republic 22 January 1916

[Connolly]

Back  -   New Search

Connors, Jimmy 1952–

1 New Yorkers love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up.
at Flushing Meadow
in Guardian 24 December 1984 "Sports Quotes of the Year"

Back  -   New Search

Conrad, Joseph 1857–1924

1 The horror! The horror!
Heart of Darkness (1902) ch. 3

2 Mistah Kurtz—he dead.
Heart of Darkness (1902) ch. 3

[Conrad]

3 The terrorist and the policeman both come from the same basket.
The Secret Agent (1907) ch. 4

[Conrad]

Back  -   New Search

Conran, Shirley 1932–

1 Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.
Superwoman (1975)

Back  -   New Search

Constable, John 1776–1837

1 The sound of water escaping from mill-dams, etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork…those scenes made me a painter and I am grateful.
letter to John Fisher, 23 October 1821

2 A gentleman's park—is my aversion. It is not beauty because it is not nature.
of Fonthill
letter to John Fisher, 7 October 1822

[Constable]

Back  -   New Search

Constant, Benjamin 1767–1834

1 Art for art's sake, with no purpose, for any purpose perverts art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own.
describing a conversation with Crabb Robinson about the latter's work on Kant's aesthetics
Journal intime 11 February 1804.

Back  -   New Search

Constantine the Great ad c.288–337

1 In hoc signo vinces.In this sign shalt thou conquer.
traditional form of Constantine's vision (ad 312)

Back  -   New Search

Constitution of the United States 1787

1 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
First Amendment (1791)

2 A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Second Amendment (1791)

[Constitution of the United States]

3 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
Eighth Amendment (1791)

[Constitution of the United States]

Back  -   New Search

Cook, A. J. 1885–1931

1 Not a penny off the pay, not a second on the day.
often quoted with "minute" substituted for "second"
speech at York, 3 April 1926, in The Times 5 April 1926

Back  -   New Search

Cook, Eliza 1818–89

1
Better build schoolrooms for "the boy",
Than cells and gibbets for "the man".

"A Song for the Ragged Schools" (1853)

Back  -   New Search

Coolidge, Calvin 1872–1933

1 There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.
telegram to Samuel Gompers, 14 September 1919

2 The chief business of the American people is business.
speech in Washington, 17 January 1925

[Coolidge]

3 They hired the money, didn't they?
on war debts incurred by England and others
John H. McKee Coolidge: Wit and Wisdom (1933)

[Coolidge]

Back  -   New Search

Cooper, Duff 1890–1954

1 Your two stout lovers frowning at one another across the hearth rug, while your small, but perfectly formed one kept the party in a roar.
letter to Lady Diana Manners, later his wife, October 1914

Back  -   New Search

Cope, Wendy 1945–

1 Making cocoa for Kingsley Amis.
title of poem (1986)

2
I used to think all poets were Byronic—
Mad, bad and dangerous to know.
And then I met a few. Yes it's ironic—
I used to think all poets were Byronic.
They're mostly wicked as a ginless tonic
And wild as pension plans.

"Triolet" (1986).

[Cope]

Back  -   New Search

Corbet, Richard 1582–1635

1
Farewell, rewards and Fairies,
Good housewives now may say,
For now foul sluts in dairies
Do fare as well as they.

"The Fairies' Farewell"

Back  -   New Search

Corneille, Pierre 1606–84

1 When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph.
Le Cid (1637) act 2, sc. 2

2 Do your duty, and leave the outcome to the Gods.
Horace (1640) act 2, sc. 8

[Corneille]

3 A first impulse was never a crime.
Horace (1640) act 5, sc. 3.

[Corneille]

Back  -   New Search

Cornes, Ralph

1 Computers are anti-Faraday machines. He said he couldn't understand anything until he could count it, while computers count everything and understand nothing.
in Guardian 28 March 1991

Back  -   New Search

Cornfeld, Bernard 1927–

1 Do you sincerely want to be rich?
stock question to salesmen
C. Raw et al. Do You Sincerely Want to be Rich? (1971)

Back  -   New Search

Cornford, Frances 1886–1960

1
How long ago Hector took off his plume,
Not wanting that his little son should cry,
Then kissed his sad Andromache goodbye—
And now we three in Euston waiting-room.

"Parting in Wartime" (1948)

2
O fat white woman whom nobody loves,
Why do you walk through the fields in gloves…
Missing so much and so much?

"To a Fat Lady seen from the Train" (1910)

[Cornford]

Back  -   New Search

Cornford, Francis M. 1874–1943

1 Every public action, which is not customary, either is wrong, or, if it is right, is a dangerous precedent. It follows that nothing should ever be done for the first time.
Microcosmographia Academica (1908) ch. 7

2 That branch of the art of lying which consists in very nearly deceiving your friends without quite deceiving your enemies.
of propaganda
Microcosmographia Academica (1922 ed.)

[Cornford]

Back  -   New Search

Cornuel, Mme 1605–94

1 No man is a hero to his valet.
Lettres de Mlle Assé à Madame C (1787) Letter 13 "De Paris, 1728".

Back  -   New Search

Coronation Service 1689

1 Here is wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God.
The Presenting of the Holy Bible; L. G. Wickham Legge English Coronation Records (1901)

Back  -   New Search

Cory, William (born Johnson) 1823–92

1
Jolly boating weather,
And a hay harvest breeze,
Blade on the feather,
Shade off the trees
Swing, swing together
With your body between your knees.

"Eton Boating Song" in Eton Scrap Book (1865)

2
They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

"Heraclitus" (1858); translation of Callimachus "Epigram 2"

[Cory]

Back  -   New Search

Cotton, John 1584–1652

1 If you pinch the sea of its liberty, though it be walls of stone or brass, it will beat them down.
"Limitations of Government"; Perry Miller The American Puritans (1956)

Back  -   New Search

Coubertin, Baron Pierre de 1863–1937

1 The important thing in life is not the victory but the contest; the essential thing is not to have won but to have fought well.
speech at a government banquet in London, 24 July 1908

Back  -   New Search

Coué, Émile 1857–1926

1 Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.
to be said 15 to 20 times, morning and evening
De la suggestion et de ses applications (1915)

Back  -   New Search

Coupland, Douglas 1961–

1 Generation X: tales for an accelerated culture.
title of book (1991)

Back  -   New Search

Cousin, Victor 1792–1867

1 We must have religion for religion's sake, morality for morality's sake, as with art for art's sake…the beautiful cannot be the way to what is useful, or to what is good, or to what is holy; it leads only to itself.
Du Vrai, du beau, et du bien [Sorbonne lecture, 1818] (1853) pt. 2.

Back  -   New Search

Cousteau, Jacques 1910–97

1 Mankind has probably done more damage to the earth in the 20th century than in all of previous human history.
"Consumer Society is the Enemy" in New Perspectives Quarterly Summer 1996

Back  -   New Search

Coventry, Thomas 1578–1640

1 The dominion of the sea, as it is an ancient and undoubted right of the crown of England, so it is the best security of the land…The wooden walls are the best walls of this kingdom.
wooden walls = ships
speech to the Judges, 17 June 1635

Back  -   New Search

Coward, Noël 1899–1973

1
Dance, dance, dance, little lady!

"Dance, Little Lady" (1928 song)

2
Don't let's be beastly to the Germans
When our Victory is ultimately won.

"Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans" (1943 song)

[Coward]

3
The most I've had is just
A talent to amuse.

"If Love Were All" (1929 song)

[Coward]

4
Mad about the boy.

title of song (1932)

[Coward]

5
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.

"Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (1931 song)

[Coward]

6
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington,
Don't put your daughter on the stage.

"Mrs Worthington" (1935 song)

[Coward]

7
Poor little rich girl.

title of song (1925)

[Coward]

8
The Stately Homes of England,
How beautiful they stand,
To prove the upper classes
Have still the upper hand.

"The Stately Homes of England" (1938 song).

[Coward]

9 Very flat, Norfolk.
Private Lives (1930) act 1

[Coward]

10 Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.
Private Lives (1930) act 1

[Coward]

11 Just say the lines and don't trip over the furniture.
advice on acting
D. Richards The Wit of Noël Coward (1968)

[Coward]

Back  -   New Search

Cowley, Abraham 1618–67

1
God the first garden made, and the first city Cain.

Essays, in Verse and Prose (1668) "The Garden".

2
Life is an incurable disease.

"To Dr Scarborough" (1656) st. 6

[Cowley]

Back  -   New Search

Cowley, Hannah 1743–1809

1 Vanity, like murder, will out.
The Belle's Stratagem (1780) act 1, sc. 4

2 But what is woman?—only one of Nature's agreeable blunders.
Who's the Dupe? (1779) act 2

[Cowley]

Back  -   New Search

Cowper, William 1731–1800

1
We perished, each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he.

"The Castaway" (written 1799) l. 61

2
His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock it never is at home.

"Conversation" (1782) l. 303

[Cowper]

3
Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was.

"Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion" (written c.1774)

[Cowper]

4
John Gilpin was a citizen
Of credit and renown,
A train-band captain eke was he
Of famous London town.

"John Gilpin" (1785) l. 1

[Cowper]

5
My sister and my sister's child,
Myself and children three,
Will fill the chaise; so you must ride
On horseback after we.

"John Gilpin" (1785) l. 13

[Cowper]

6
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Olney Hymns (1779) "Light Shining out of Darkness"

[Cowper]

7
Oh! for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heav'nly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

Olney Hymns (1779) "Walking with God"

[Cowper]

8
Toll for the brave—
The brave! that are no more:
All sunk beneath the wave,
Fast by their native shore.

"On the Loss of the Royal George" (written 1782)

[Cowper]

9
Remorse, the fatal egg by pleasure laid.

"The Progress of Error" (1782) l. 239

[Cowper]

10
Thou god of our idolatry, the press…
Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies.

"The Progress of Error" (1782) l. 461

[Cowper]

11
God made the country, and man made the town.

The Task (1785) bk. 1 "The Sofa" l. 749.

[Cowper]

12
Slaves cannot breathe in England, if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall.

The Task (1785) bk. 2 "The Timepiece" l. 40.

[Cowper]

13
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still—
My country!

The Task (1785) bk. 2 "The Timepiece" l. 206.

[Cowper]

14
Variety's the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.

The Task (1785) bk. 2 "The Timepiece" l. 606.

[Cowper]

15
I was a stricken deer, that left the herd
Long since.

The Task (1785) bk. 3 "The Garden" l. 108.

[Cowper]

16
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

The Task (1785) bk. 4 "The Winter Evening" l. 34.

[Cowper]

17
I crown thee king of intimate delights,
Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness.

The Task (1785) bk. 4 "The Winter Evening" l. 139

[Cowper]

18
A Roman meal…
…a radish and an egg.

The Task (1785) bk. 4 "The Winter Evening" l. 168

[Cowper]

19
The slope of faces, from the floor to th' roof,
(As if one master-spring controlled them all),
Relaxed into a universal grin.

of the theatre
The Task (1785) bk. 4 "The Winter Evening" l. 202

[Cowper]

20
I would not enter on my list of friends
(Tho' graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

The Task (1785) bk. 6 "The Winter Walk at Noon" l. 560

[Cowper]

21
As a priest,
A piece of mere church furniture at best.

"Tirocinium" (1785) l. 425

[Cowper]

22
I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea
I am lord of the foul and the brute.

"Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk" (1782)

[Cowper]

23 Our severest winter, commonly called the spring.
letter to the Revd William Unwin, 8 June 1783

[Cowper]

Back  -   New Search

Crabbe, George 1754–1832

1
Habit with him was all the test of truth,
"It must be right: I've done it from my youth."

The Borough (1810) Letter 3 "The Vicar" l. 138

2
With awe, around these silent walks I tread;
These are the lasting mansions of the dead.

"The Library" (1808) l. 105

[Crabbe]

3
The murmuring poor, who will not fast in peace.

"The Newspaper" (1785) l. 158

[Crabbe]

4
A master passion is the love of news.

"The Newspaper" (1785) l. 279

[Crabbe]

5
"The game," said he, "is never lost till won."

Tales of the Hall (1819) "Gretna Green" l. 334

[Crabbe]

6
The face the index of a feeling mind.

Tales of the Hall (1819) "Lady Barbara" l. 124

[Crabbe]

7
The cold charities of man to man.

The Village (1783) bk. 1, l. 245

[Crabbe]

Back  -   New Search

Craig, Maurice James 1919–

1
O the bricks they will bleed and the rain it will weep
And the damp Lagan fog lull the city to sleep;
It's to hell with the future and live on the past:
May the Lord in His mercy be kind to Belfast.

based on the traditional refrain "May God in His mercy look down on Belfast"
"Ballad to a Traditional Refrain" (1974)

Back  -   New Search

Crane, Hart 1899–1932

1
Stars scribble on our eyes the frosty sagas,
The gleaming cantos of unvanquished space.

"Cape Hatteras" (1930)

2
So the 20th Century—so
whizzed the Limited—roared by and left
three men, still hungry on the tracks, ploddingly
watching the tail lights wizen and converge, slipping
gimleted and neatly out of sight.

"The River" (1930)

[Crane]

3
Being, of all, least sought for: Emily, hear!

"To Emily Dickinson" (1927)

[Crane]

Back  -   New Search

Crane, Stephen 1871–1900

1 The red badge of courage.
title of novel (1895)

Back  -   New Search

Cranmer, Thomas 1489–1556

1 This was the hand that wrote it [his recantation], therefore it shall suffer first punishment.
at the stake, Oxford, 21 March 1556
John Richard Green A Short History of the English People (1874) ch. 7, sect. 2

Back  -   New Search

Crashaw, Richard c.1612–49

1
Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit.

The conscious water saw its God, and blushed.

literally, "the chaste nymph saw…"; the translation above is attributed to Dryden, when a schoolboy
Epigrammata Sacra (1634) "Aquae in vinum versae [Water changed into wine]"; the translation is discussed in Notes and Queries 4th series (1869) vol. 4

2
Love's passives are his activ'st part.
The wounded is the wounding heart.

"The Flaming Heart upon the Book of Saint Teresa" (1652) l. 73

[Crashaw]

3
By all the eagle in thee, all the dove.

"The Flaming Heart upon the Book of Saint Teresa" (1652) l. 95

[Crashaw]

4
Love, thou art absolute sole Lord
Of life and death.

"Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint Teresa" (1652) l. 1

[Crashaw]

5
Poor World (said I) what wilt thou do
To entertain this starry stranger?

"Hymn of the Nativity" (1652)

[Crashaw]

6
Welcome, all wonders in one sight!
Eternity shut in a span.

"Hymn of the Nativity" (1652)

[Crashaw]

7
That not impossible she
That shall command my heart and me.

"Wishes to His (Supposed) Mistress" (1646)

[Crashaw]

Back  -   New Search

Crawford, Julia ?1800–55

1
Kathleen Mavourneen! the grey dawn is breaking,
The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill.

"Kathleen Mavourneen" in Metropolitan Magazine, London (1835)

Back  -   New Search

Crawford, Robert 1959–

1 In Scotland we live between and across languages.
Identifying Poets (1993)

Back  -   New Search

Crazy Horse c.1849–77

1 One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.
Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Creighton, Mandell 1843–1901

1 No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.
in The Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton by his wife (1904) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Crèvecoeur, Michel Guillaume Jean de 1735–1813

1 What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country…Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.
Letters from an American Farmer (1782)

Back  -   New Search

Crewe, Ranulphe 1558–1646

1 And yet time hath his revolution; there must be a period and an end to all temporal things, finis rerum, an end of names and dignities and whatsoever is terrene; and why not of De Vere? Where is Bohun, where's Mowbray, where's Mortimer? Nay, which is more and most of all, where is Plantagenet? They are entombed in the urns and sepulchres of mortality. And yet let the name and dignity of De Vere stand so long as it pleaseth God.
speech in Oxford Peerage Case, 22 March 1626

Back  -   New Search

Crick, Francis 1916– and Watson, James D. 1928–

1 It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.
proposing the double helix as the structure of DNA, and hence the chemical mechanism of heredity
in Nature 25 April 1953

Back  -   New Search

Crisp, Quentin 1908–99

1 There was no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.
The Naked Civil Servant (1968) ch. 15

2 An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last instalment missing.
The Naked Civil Servant (1968) ch. 29

[Crisp]

Back  -   New Search

Critchley, Julian 1930–2000

1 The only safe pleasure for a parliamentarian is a bag of boiled sweets.
in Listener 10 June 1982

Back  -   New Search

Crompton, Richmal 1890–1969

1 I'll thcream and thcream and thcream till I'm thick.
Violet Elizabeth's habitual threat
Still—William (1925) ch. 8

Back  -   New Search

Cromwell, Oliver 1599–1658

1 I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call "a gentleman" and is nothing else.
letter to William Spring, September 1643

2 Cruel necessity.
on the execution of Charles I
Joseph Spence Anecdotes (1820)

[Cromwell]

3 I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.
letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, 3 August 1650

[Cromwell]

4 The dimensions of this mercy are above my thoughts. It is, for aught I know, a crowning mercy.
letter to William Lenthall, Speaker of the Parliament of England, 4 September 1651

[Cromwell]

5 You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!
addressing the Rump Parliament, 20 April 1653; oral tradition.

[Cromwell]

6 Take away that fool's bauble, the mace.
often quoted as, "Take away these baubles"
at the dismissal of the Rump Parliament, 20 April 1653

[Cromwell]

7 Your poor army, those poor contemptible men, came up hither.
speech to Parliament, 21 April 1657.

[Cromwell]

8 Hell or Connaught.
summary of the choice offered to the Catholic population of Ireland, transported to the western counties to make room for settlers
traditionally attributed

[Cromwell]

9 Mr Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me; otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.
often summarized as, "Warts and all"
Horace Walpole Anecdotes of Painting in England vol. 3 (1763) ch. 1

[Cromwell]

10 My design is to make what haste I can to be gone.
last words; John Morley Oliver Cromwell (1900) bk. 5, ch. 10

[Cromwell]

Back  -   New Search

Crosby, Bing 1903–77

1 Where the blue of the night meets the gold of the day.
title of song (1931), with Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert

Back  -   New Search

Cross, Douglas

1
I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill it calls to me.
To be where little cable cars climb half-way to the stars,
The morning fog may chill the air—
I don't care!

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1954 song)

Back  -   New Search

Cross, Richard Assheton, Lord 1823–1914

1 I hear a smile.
when the House of Lords laughed at his speech in favour of Spiritual Peers
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 29

Back  -   New Search

Crossman, Richard 1907–74

1 The Civil Service is profoundly deferential — "Yes, Minister! No, Minister! If you wish it, Minister!"
Diaries of a Cabinet Minister vol. 1 (1975) 22 October 1964

Back  -   New Search

Crossman, Samuel 1624–83

1
My song is love unknown,
My saviour's love for me,
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O, who am I,
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?

"My song is love unknown" (1664); set to music as a hymn from 1868, and by John Ireland in 1919

Back  -   New Search

Crowfoot c.1830–90

1 A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I cannot tell. From nowhere we came, into nowhere we go. What is life? It is a flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
attributed farewell to his people, 25 April 1890.

Back  -   New Search

Crowley, Aleister 1875–1947

1 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Book of the Law (1909) l. 40.

Back  -   New Search

Cudworth, Ralph 1617–88

1 Some who are far from atheists, may make themselves merry with that conceit of thousands of spirits dancing at once upon a needle's point.
The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678)

Back  -   New Search

Cumberland, Richard 1631–1718

1 It is better to wear out than to rust out.
George Horne The Duty of Contending for the Faith (1786)

Back  -   New Search

cummings, e. e. (Edward Estlin Cummings) 1894–1962

1
anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did.

50 Poems (1949) no. 29

2
"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims" and so forth.

is 5 (1926) p. 62

[cummings]

3
a politician is an arse upon
which everyone has sat except a man.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 10

[cummings]

4
plato told

him: he couldn't
believe it (jesus

told him; he
wouldn't believe
it) lao

tsze
certainly told
him, and general
(yes

mam)
sherman.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 13

[cummings]

5
pity this busy monster, manunkind,
not. Progress is a comfortable disease.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 14

[cummings]

6
We doctors know
a hopeless case if—listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 14

[cummings]

Back  -   New Search

Cummings, William Thomas 1903–45

1 There are no atheists in the foxholes.
Carlos P. Romulo I Saw the Fall of the Philippines (1943) ch. 15

Back  -   New Search

Cunningham, Allan 1784–1842

1
A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail
And bends the gallant mast.

"A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea" (1825)

Back  -   New Search

Cuomo, Mario 1932–

1 You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
in New Republic, Washington, DC, 8 April 1985

Back  -   New Search

Cupitt, Don 1934–

1 Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity.
in Independent 19 December 1996

Back  -   New Search

Curie, Marie 1867–1934

1 In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons.
to an American journalist, c.1904, after she and her husband Pierre had shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with A.-H. Becquerel
Eve Curie Madame Curie (1937)

Back  -   New Search

Curran, John Philpot 1750–1817

1 The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.
speech on the right of election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, 10 July 1790

2 Like the silver plate on a coffin.
describing Robert Peel's smile
quoted by Daniel O'Connell, House of Commons, 26 February 1835

[Curran]

Back  -   New Search

Curtiz, Michael 1888–1962

1 Bring on the empty horses!
while directing The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)
David Niven Bring on the Empty Horses (1975) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Curzon, Lord 1859–1925

1 When a group of Cabinet Ministers begins to meet separately and to discuss independent action, the death-tick is audible in the rafters.
in November 1922, shortly before the fall of Lloyd George's Coalition Government
David Gilmour Curzon (1994)

2 Not even a public figure. A man of no experience. And of the utmost insignificance.
of Stanley Baldwin, appointed Prime Minister in 1923 in succession to Bonar Law
Harold Nicolson Curzon: the Last Phase (1934)

[Curzon]

Back  -   New Search

Cyprian, St c. ad 200–258

1 He cannot have God for his father who has not the church for his mother.
De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate sect. 6.

2 Fratres nostros non esse lugendos arcessitione dominica de saeculo liberatos, cum sciamus non amitti sed praemitti.Our brethren who have been freed from the world by the summons of the Lord should not be mourned, since we know that they are not lost but sent before.
De Mortalite ch. 20 (ed. M. L. Hannam, 1933)

[Cyprian]

3 There cannot be salvation for any, except in the Church.
Epistle Ad Pomponium, De Virginibus sect. 4

[Cyprian]

Back  -   New Search

D

Dalton, Hugh 1887–1962

1 He is loyal to his own career but only incidentally to anything or anyone else.
of Richard Crossman
diary, 17 September 1941

Back  -   New Search

Daniel, Samuel 1563–1619

1
Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night,
Brother to Death, in silent darkness born.

Delia (1592) Sonnet 54

2
Princes in this case
Do hate the traitor, though they love the treason.

The Tragedy of Cleopatra (1594) act 4, sc. 1.

[Daniel]

Back  -   New Search

Dante Alighieri 1265–1321

1
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.
Midway along the path of our life.
Divina Commedia "Inferno" canto 1, l. 1

2
lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate!
Abandon all hope, you who enter!
inscription at the entrance to Hell
Divina Commedia "Inferno" canto 3, l. 1

[Dante]

3
Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda, e passa.
Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass on.
Divina Commedia "Inferno" canto 3, l. 51

[Dante]

4
Il gran rifiuto.
The great refusal.
Divina Commedia "Inferno" canto 3, l. 60

[Dante]

5
…Nessun maggior dolore,
Che ricordarsi del tempo felice
Nella miseria.
There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery.
Divina Commedia "Inferno" canto 5, l. 121.

[Dante]

6
Tu proverai sì come sa di sale
Lo pane altrui, e com'è duro calle
Lo scendere e'l salir per l'altrui scale.
You shall find out how salt is the taste of another man's bread, and how hard is the way up and down another man's stairs.
Divina Commedia "Paradiso" canto 17, l. 58

[Dante]

7
L'amor che muove il sole e l'altre stelle.
The love that moves the sun and the other stars.
Divina Commedia "Paradiso" canto 33, l. 145

[Dante]

Back  -   New Search

Danton, Georges Jacques 1759–94

1 De l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace!Boldness, and again boldness, and always boldness!
speech to the Legislative Committee of General Defence, 2 September 1792

2 Thou wilt show my head to the people: it is worth showing.
to his executioner, 5 April 1794
Thomas Carlyle History of the French Revolution (1837) vol. 3, bk. 6, ch. 2

[Danton]

Back  -   New Search

Darion, Joe 1917–2001

1
Dream the impossible dream.

"The Impossible Dream" (1965 song)

Back  -   New Search

Darnell, Bill

1 Make it a green peace.
at a meeting of the Don't Make a Wave Committee, which preceded the formation of Greenpeace
in Vancouver, 1970; Robert Hunter The Greenpeace Chronicle (1979).

Back  -   New Search

Darrow, Clarence 1857–1938

1 I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure—that is all that agnosticism means.
speech at the trial of John Thomas Scopes for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in school, 15 July 1925

Back  -   New Search

Darwin, Charles 1809–82

1 A hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits.
on man's probable ancestors
The Descent of Man (1871) ch. 21

2 I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
On the Origin of Species (1859) ch. 3

[Darwin]

3 We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.
On the Origin of Species (1859) ch. 3

[Darwin]

4 The expression often used by Mr Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate [than "Struggle for Existence"], and is sometimes equally convenient.
On the Origin of Species (1869 ed.) ch. 3.

[Darwin]

Back  -   New Search

Darwin, Francis 1848–1925

1 In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
in Eugenics Review April 1914 "Francis Galton"

Back  -   New Search

D'Avenant, Charles 1656–1714

1
Custom, that unwritten law,
By which the people keep even kings in awe.

Circe (1677) act 2, sc. 3

Back  -   New Search

D'Avenant, William 1606–68

1
The lark now leaves his wat'ry nest
And, climbing, shakes his dewy wings.

"Song: The Lark" (1638)

Back  -   New Search

Davidson, John 1857–1909

1 A runnable stag, a kingly crop.
"A Runnable Stag" (1906)

2
The race is to the swift,
The battle to the strong.

"War Song" (1899) st. 1.

[Davidson]

Back  -   New Search

Davies, John 1569–1626

1
This wondrous miracle did Love devise,
For dancing is love's proper exercise.

"Orchestra, or a Poem of Dancing" (1596) st. 18

Back  -   New Search

Davies, Robertson 1913–95

1 I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.
The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies (1990)

Back  -   New Search

Davies, Scrope c.1783–1852

1 Babylon in all its desolation is a sight not so awful as that of the human mind in ruins.
Addison, in The Spectator no. 421 (3 July 1712), also remarked of "a distracted person" that "Babylon in ruins is not so melancholy a spectacle"
letter to Thomas Raikes, May 1835, in A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes (1856) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Davies, W. H. 1871–1940

1
It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues.

"Kingfisher" (1910)

2
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

"Leisure" (1911)

[Davies]

3
Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,
Thou knowest of no strange continent.

"Sweet Stay-At-Home" (1913)

[Davies]

Back  -   New Search

Davis, Sammy Jnr. 1925–90

1 Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.
Yes I Can (1965) pt. 3, ch. 23

Back  -   New Search

Davis, Thomas 1814–45

1
And then I prayed I yet might see
Our fetters rent in twain,
And Ireland, long a province, be
A Nation once again.

"A Nation Once Again" (1846)

2
But—hark!—some voice like thunder spake:
The West's awake! the West's awake!

"The West's Asleep" (1846)

[Davis]

Back  -   New Search

Dawkins, Richard

1 [Natural selection] has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.
The Blind Watchmaker (1986) ch. 1.

2 The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale.
The Blind Watchmaker (1986) ch. 11

[Dawkins]

Back  -   New Search

Dawson of Penn, Lord 1864–1945

1 The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close.
bulletin, 20 January 1936

Back  -   New Search

Day-Lewis, C. 1904–72

1
It is the logic of our times,
No subject for immortal verse—
That we who lived by honest dreams
Defend the bad against the worse.

"Where are the War Poets?" (1943)

Back  -   New Search

Dean, John 1938–

1 We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that is growing.
[Nixon] Transcripts, 21 March 1973

Back  -   New Search

Deane, Seamus 1940–

1 Meningitis. It was a word you had to bite on to say it. It had a fright and a hiss in it.
Reading in the Dark (1996)

Back  -   New Search

Dearmer, Percy 1867–1936

1
Jesu, good above all other,
Gentle Child of gentle Mother,
In a stable born our Brother,
Give us grace to persevere.

"Jesu, good above all other" (1906 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

de Beauvoir, Simone 1908–86

1 One is not born a woman: one becomes one.
The Second Sex (1949) vol. 2, pt. 1, ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

de Bernières, Louis 1954–

1 The human heart likes a little disorder in its geometry.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1994) ch. 26

Back  -   New Search

Debs, Eugene Victor 1855–1926

1 While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
at his trial for sedition, 14 September 1918

Back  -   New Search

Decatur, Stephen 1779–1820

1 Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.
Decatur's toast at Norfolk, Virginia, April 1816

Back  -   New Search

Defoe, Daniel 1660–1731

1 Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed.
History of the Devil (1726) bk. 2, ch. 6.

2 He told me…that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness.
Robinson Crusoe (1719)

[Defoe]

3 My man Friday.
Robinson Crusoe (1719)

[Defoe]

4 Necessity makes an honest man a knave.
The Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe (1720) ch. 2

[Defoe]

5
We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.

"Character of the late Dr S. Annesley" (1697)

[Defoe]

6
Actions receive their tincture from the times,
And as they change are virtues made or crimes.

A Hymn to the Pillory (1703) l. 29

[Defoe]

7
Nature has left this tincture in the blood,
That all men would be tyrants if they could.

The History of the Kentish Petition (1712–13) addenda, l. 11

[Defoe]

8
From this amphibious ill-born mob began
That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.

The True Born Englishman (1701) pt.1, l. 132

[Defoe]

9
Your Roman-Saxon-Danish-Norman English.

The True-Born Englishman (1701) pt. 1, l. 139

[Defoe]

10
Titles are shadows, crowns are empty things,
The good of subjects is the end of kings.

The True-Born Englishman (1701) pt. 2, l. 313

[Defoe]

Back  -   New Search

Degas, Edgar 1834–1917

1 Art is vice. You don't marry it legitimately, you rape it.
Paul Lafond Degas (1918)

Back  -   New Search

de Gaulle, Charles 1890–1970

1 France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war!
proclamation, 18 June 1940

2 Since they whose duty it was to wield the sword of France have let it fall shattered to the ground, I have taken up the broken blade.
speech, 13 July 1940

[de Gaulle]

3 Europe des patries.A Europe of nations.
widely associated with De Gaulle, c.1962, and taken as encapsulating his views, although perhaps not coined by him
J. Lacouture De Gaulle: the Ruler (1991)

[de Gaulle]

4 One does not put Voltaire in the Bastille.
when asked to arrest Sartre, in the 1960s
in Encounter June 1975

[de Gaulle]

Back  -   New Search

Dekker, Thomas 1570–1641

1 That great fishpond (the sea).
The Honest Whore (1604) pt. 1, act 1, sc. 2

2
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.

Patient Grissil (1603) act 4, sc. 2

[Dekker]

Back  -   New Search

de la Mare, Walter 1873–1956

1
Ann, Ann!
Come! quick as you can!
There's a fish that talks
In the frying-pan.

"Alas, Alack" (1913)

2
Oh, no man knows
Through what wild centuries
Roves back the rose.

"All That's Past" (1912)

[de la Mare]

3
He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia,
They have stolen his wits away.

"Arabia" (1912)

[de la Mare]

4
Look thy last on all things lovely.

"Fare Well" (1918)

[de la Mare]

5
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door.

"The Listeners" (1912)

[de la Mare]

6
"Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word," he said.

"The Listeners" (1912)

[de la Mare]

7
What is the world, O soldiers?
It is I:
I, this incessant snow,
This northern sky;
Soldiers, this solitude
Through which we go
Is I.

"Napoleon" (1906)

[de la Mare]

8
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon.

"Silver" (1913)

[de la Mare]

Back  -   New Search

Demosthenes c.384 bc

1 There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies against despots—suspicion.
Philippic

2 When asked what was first in oratory, [he] replied to his questioner, "action," what second, "action," and again third, "action".
Cicero Brutus ch. 37, sect. 142

[Demosthenes]

Back  -   New Search

Dempsey, Jack 1895–1983

1 Honey, I just forgot to duck.
to his wife, on losing the World Heavyweight title, 23 September 1926; after a failed attempt on his life in 1981, Ronald Reagan quipped "I forgot to duck"
J. and B. P. Dempsey Dempsey (1977)

Back  -   New Search

Deng Xiaoping 1904–97

1 It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.
in the early 1960s; in Daily Telegraph 20 February 1997, obituary

Back  -   New Search

Denham, John 1615–69

1
Youth, what man's age is like to be doth show;
We may our ends by our beginnings know.

"Of Prudence" (1668) l. 225

Back  -   New Search

Denman, Lord 1779–1854

1 Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, will be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.
on a case involving the fraudulent omission of sixty names from the list of jurors in Dublin
speech in the House of Lords, 4 September 1844

Back  -   New Search

Denning, Lord 1899–1999

1 The keystone of the rule of law in England has been the independence of judges. It is the only respect in which we make any real separation of powers.
The Family Story (1981)

Back  -   New Search

Dennis, John 1657–1734

1 Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder!
on hearing his new thunder effects used at a performance of Macbeth, following the withdrawal of one of his own plays after only a short run
William S. Walsh A Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities (1893)

Back  -   New Search

de Pisan, Christine 1364–1430

1 Where true love is, it showeth; it will not feign.
"The Epistle of Othea to Hector"

Back  -   New Search

De Quincey, Thomas 1785–1859

1 A duller spectacle this earth of ours has not to show than a rainy Sunday in London.
Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822, ed. 1856) pt. 2

2 Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!
Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822, ed. 1856) pt. 2

[De Quincey]

3 Murder considered as one of the fine arts.
title of essay in Blackwood's Magazine February 1827

[De Quincey]

Back  -   New Search

Derby, Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of 1799–1869

1 The duty of an Opposition [is] very simple…to oppose everything, and propose nothing.
quoting "Mr Tierney, a great Whig authority"
in the House of Commons, 4 June 1841

Back  -   New Search

Derrida, Jacques 1930–

1 Il n'y a pas de hors-texte.There is nothing outside of the text.
Of Grammatology (1967)

Back  -   New Search

Descartes, René 1596–1650

1 Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
Le Discours de la méthode (1637) pt. 1

2 Je pense, donc je suis.I think, therefore I am.
usually quoted as, "Cogito, ergo sum", from the 1641 Latin edition
Le Discours de la méthode (1637) pt. 4

[Descartes]

Back  -   New Search

Destouches, Philippe Néricault 1680–1754

1 The absent are always in the wrong.
L'Obstacle imprévu (1717) act 1, sc. 6

Back  -   New Search

De Sylva, Buddy 1895–1950 and Brown, Lew 1893–1958

1
The moon belongs to everyone,
The best things in life are free.

"The Best Things in Life are Free" (1927 song)

Back  -   New Search

de Valera, Eamonn 1882–1975

1 Whenever I wanted to know what the Irish people wanted, I had only to examine my own heart and it told me straight off what the Irish people wanted.
speech in Dáil Éireann, 6 January 1922

2 That Ireland which we dreamed of would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis of right living, of a people who were satisfied with frugal comfort and devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit; a land whose countryside would be bright with cosy homesteads, whose fields and villages would be joyous with sounds of industry, the romping of sturdy children, the contests of athletic youths, the laughter of comely maidens; whose firesides would be the forums of the wisdom of serene old age.
St Patrick's Day broadcast, 17 March 1943

[de Valera]

Back  -   New Search

Devereux, Robert, Earl of Essex

seeEssex

Back  -   New Search

Dewar, James 1842–1923

1 Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Dewar, Lord 1864–1930

1 [There are] only two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic—the quick, and the dead.
George Robey Looking Back on Life (1933) ch. 28

Back  -   New Search

Diaghilev, Sergei 1872–1929

1 Étonne-moi.Astonish me.
to Jean Cocteau
Wallace Fowlie (ed.) Journals of Jean Cocteau (1956) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Diana, Princess of Wales 1961–97

1 I'd like to be a queen in people's hearts but I don't see myself being Queen of this country.
interview on Panorama, BBC1 TV, 20 November 1995

2 There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
interview on Panorama, BBC1 TV, 20 November 1995

[Diana]

Back  -   New Search

Diaz, Porfirio 1830–1915

1 Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Dibdin, Charles 1745–1814

1
For a soldier I listed, to grow great in fame,
And be shot at for sixpence a-day.

"Charity" (1791)

2
In every mess I finds a friend,
In every port a wife.

"Jack in his Element" (1790)

[Dibdin]

Back  -   New Search

Dibdin, Thomas 1771–1841

1
Oh! what a snug little Island,
A right little, tight little Island!

"The Snug Little Island" (1833)

Back  -   New Search

Dickens, Charles 1812–70

1 Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the Court, perennially hopeless.
Bleak House (1853) ch. 1

2 This is a London particular…A fog, miss.
Bleak House (1853) ch. 3

[Dickens]

3 I call them the Wards in Jarndyce. They are caged up with all the others. With Hope, Joy, Youth, Peace, Rest, Life, Dust, Ashes, Waste, Want, Ruin, Despair, Madness, Death, Cunning, Folly, Words, Wigs, Rags, Sheepskin, Plunder, Precedent, Jargon, Gammon, and Spinach!
Miss Flite's birds
Bleak House (1853) ch. 60

[Dickens]

4 "Bah," said Scrooge. "Humbug!"
A Christmas Carol (1843) stave 1

[Dickens]

5 I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.
A Christmas Carol (1843) stave 2

[Dickens]

6 "God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim.
A Christmas Carol (1843) stave 3

[Dickens]

7 I am a lone lorn creetur … and everythink goes contrairy with me.
Mrs Gummidge
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 3

[Dickens]

8 Barkis is willin'.
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 5

[Dickens]

9 I have known him come home to supper with a flood of tears, and a declaration that nothing was now left but a jail; and go to bed making a calculation of the expense of putting bow-windows to the house, "in case anything turned up," which was his favourite expression.
of Mr Micawber
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 11

[Dickens]

10 Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.
Mr Micawber
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 12

[Dickens]

11 Mr. Dick had been for upwards of ten years endeavouring to keep King Charles the First out of the Memorial; but he had been constantly getting into it, and was there now.
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 14

[Dickens]

12 We are so very 'umble.
Uriah Heep
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 17

[Dickens]

13 It was as true…as taxes is. And nothing's truer than them.
Mr Barkis
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 21

[Dickens]

14 What a world of gammon and spinnage it is, though, ain't it!
Miss Mowcher
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 22

[Dickens]

15 Accidents will occur in the best-regulated families.
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 28 (Mr Micawber)

[Dickens]

16 It's only my child-wife.
of Dora
David Copperfield (1850) ch. 44

[Dickens]

17 None of your live languages for Miss Blimber. They must be dead—stone dead—and then Miss Blimber dug them up like a Ghoul.
Dombey and Son (1848) ch. 11

[Dickens]

18 When found, make a note of.
Captain Cuttle
Dombey and Son (1848) ch. 15

[Dickens]

19 What the waves were always saying.
Dombey and Son (1848) title of ch. 16

[Dickens]

20 "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy," said Estella with disdain, before our first game was out.
Great Expectations (1861) ch. 8

[Dickens]

21 Her bringing me up by hand, gave her no right to bring me up by jerks.
Great Expectations (1861) ch. 8

[Dickens]

22 Now, what I want is, Facts…Facts alone are wanted in life.
Mr Gradgrind
Hard Times (1854) bk. 1, ch. 1

[Dickens]

23 Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving—how not to do it.
Little Dorrit (1857) bk. 1, ch. 10

[Dickens]

24 There's milestones on the Dover Road!
Mr F.'s Aunt
Little Dorrit (1857) bk. 1, ch. 23

[Dickens]

25 The word Papa, besides, gives a pretty form to the lips. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism, are all very good words for the lips: especially prunes and prism.
Mrs General
Little Dorrit (1857) bk. 2, ch. 5

[Dickens]

26 He'd make a lovely corpse.
Mrs Gamp
Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) ch. 25

[Dickens]

27 The words she spoke of Mrs Harris, lambs could not forgive…nor worms forget.
Mrs Gamp
Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) ch. 49

[Dickens]

28 education.—At Mr Wackford Squeers's Academy, Dotheboys Hall, at the delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, Youth are boarded, clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all necessaries, instructed in all languages living and dead, mathematics, orthography, geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, the use of the globes, algebra, single stick (if required), writing, arithmetic, fortification, and every other branch of classical literature. Terms, twenty guineas per annum. No extras, no vacations, and diet unparalleled.
Nicholas Nickleby (1839) ch. 3

[Dickens]

29 He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favour of two.
Mr Squeers
Nicholas Nickleby (1839) ch. 4

[Dickens]

30 C-l-e-a-n, clean, verb active, to make bright, to scour. W-i-n, win, d-e-r, der, winder, a casement. When the boy knows this out of the book, he goes and does it.
Mr Squeers
Nicholas Nickleby (1839) ch. 8

[Dickens]

31 Language was not powerful enough to describe the infant phenomenon.
Nicholas Nickleby (1839) ch. 23

[Dickens]

32 All is gas and gaiters.
The Gentleman in the Small-clothes
Nicholas Nickleby (1839) ch. 49

[Dickens]

33 Please, sir, I want some more.
Oliver
Oliver Twist (1838) ch. 2

[Dickens]

34 Known by the sobriquet of "The artful Dodger".
Oliver Twist (1838) ch. 8

[Dickens]

35 "If the law supposes that," said Mr Bumble…"the law is a ass—a idiot."
Bumble
Oliver Twist (1838) ch. 51.

[Dickens]

36 I think…that it is the best club in London.
Mr Twemlow, on the House of Commons
Our Mutual Friend (1865) bk. 2, ch. 3

[Dickens]

37 I want to be something so much worthier than the doll in the doll's house.
Bella
Our Mutual Friend (1865) bk. 4, ch. 5

[Dickens]

38 Kent, sir—everybody knows Kent—apples, cherries, hops, and women.
Jingle
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 2

[Dickens]

39 I wants to make your flesh creep.
The Fat Boy
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 8

[Dickens]

40 "It's always best on these occasions to do what the mob do." "But suppose there are two mobs?" suggested Mr Snodgrass. "Shout with the largest," replied Mr Pickwick.
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 13

[Dickens]

41 Be wery careful o' vidders all your life.
Mr Weller
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 20

[Dickens]

42 "Do you spell it with a "V” or a "W”?" inquired the judge. "That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord," replied Sam [Weller].
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 34

[Dickens]

43 "You must not tell us what the soldier, or any other man, said, sir," interposed the judge; "it's not evidence."
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 34

[Dickens]

44 The have-his-carcase, next to the perpetual motion, is vun of the blessedest things as wos ever made.
Sam Weller
Pickwick Papers (1837) ch. 43

[Dickens]

45 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) bk. 1, ch. 1

[Dickens]

46 It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.
Sydney Carton's thoughts on the scaffold
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) bk. 3, ch. 15

[Dickens]

Back  -   New Search

Dickinson, Emily 1830–86

1
Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.

"Because I could not stop for Death" (c.1863)

2
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry.

"A Book (2)" (c.1873)

[Dickinson]

3
The Bustle in a House
The Morning after Death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon Earth—

The Sweeping up the Heart
And putting Love away
We shall not want to use again
Until Eternity.

"The Bustle in a House" (c.1866)

[Dickinson]

4
Heaven is what I cannot reach
The apple on the tree

"Forbidden Fruit" (c.1861)

[Dickinson]

5
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

"My life closed twice before its close"

[Dickinson]

6
They shut me up in prose—
As when a little girl
They put me in the closet—
Because they liked me "still".

"They shut me up in prose" (c.1862)

[Dickinson]

Back  -   New Search

Dickinson, John 1732–1808

1
Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,—
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.

"The Liberty Song" (1768)

Back  -   New Search

Dickson, Paul 1939–

1 Rowe's Rule: the odds are five to six that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
in Washingtonian November 1978.

Back  -   New Search

Diderot, Denis 1713–84

1
And [with] the guts of the last priest
Let's shake the neck of the last king.

Dithrambe sur fête de rois.

2 L'esprit de l'escalier.Staircase wit.
the witty riposte one thinks of only when one has left the drawing-room and is already on the way downstairs
Paradoxe sur le Comédien (written 1773–8, published 1830)

[Diderot]

Back  -   New Search

Dillon, Wentworth, Lord Roscommon c.1633–1685

1
Choose an author as you choose a friend.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684) l. 96

2
Immodest words admit of no defence,
For want of decency is want of sense.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684) l. 113

[Dillon]

3 The multitude is always in the wrong.
Essay on Translated Verse (1684) l. 183.

[Dillon]

Back  -   New Search

Dimnet, Ernest

1 Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul.
What We Live By (1932) pt. 2, ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Dinesen, Isak 1885–1962

1 A herd of elephant…pacing along as if they had an appointment at the end of the world.
Out of Africa (1937) pt. 1, ch. 1

2 What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?
Seven Gothic Tales (1934) "The Dreamers"

[Dinesen]

Back  -   New Search

Diogenes c.400 bc

1 Alexander…asked him if he lacked anything. "Yes," said he, "that I do: that you stand out of my sun a little."
Plutarch Parallel Lives "Alexander" ch. 14, sect. 4 (translated by T. North, 1579)

Back  -   New Search

Dionysius of Halicarnassus fl. 30 bc

1 History is philosophy from examples.
Ars Rhetorica ch. 11, sect. 2

Back  -   New Search

Disney, Walt 1901–66

1 Fancy being remembered around the world for the invention of a mouse!
during his last illness
Leonard Mosley Disney's World (1985)

Back  -   New Search

Disraeli, Benjamin, Lord Beaconsfield 1804–81

1 The Continent will [not] suffer England to be the workshop of the world.
speech, House of Commons, 15 March 1838.

2 Thus you have a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and in addition the weakest executive in the world. That is the Irish Question.
speech, House of Commons, 16 February 1844

[Disraeli]

3 The noble Lord is the Prince Rupert of Parliamentary discussion.
of Edward Stanley, later Lord Derby
speech, House of Commons, 24 April 1844.

[Disraeli]

4 The right hon. Gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes.
on Sir Robert Peel's abandoning protection in favour of free trade, traditionally the policy of the Whig Opposition
speech, House of Commons, 28 February 1845

[Disraeli]

5 A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.
speech, House of Commons, 17 March 1845

[Disraeli]

6 Party is organized opinion.
speech at Oxford, 25 November 1864

[Disraeli]

7 Is man an ape or an angel? Now I am on the side of the angels.
speech at Oxford, 25 November 1864

[Disraeli]

8 You behold a range of exhausted volcanoes.
of the Treasury Bench
speech at Manchester, 3 April 1872

[Disraeli]

9 Coffee house babble.
on the Bulgarian Atrocities, 1876
in R. W. Seton-Watson Britain in Europe 1789–1914 (1955)

[Disraeli]

10 Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own.
speech at Guildhall, 9 November 1877.

[Disraeli]

11 Lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace—but a peace I hope with honour.
speech on returning from the Congress of Berlin, 16 July 1878

[Disraeli]

12 A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity.
of Gladstone
in The Times 29 July 1878

[Disraeli]

13 I will not go down to posterity talking bad grammar.
while correcting proofs of his last Parliamentary speech, 31 March 1881
Robert Blake Disraeli (1966) ch. 32

[Disraeli]

14 No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.
Coningsby (1844) bk. 2, ch. 1

[Disraeli]

15 "A sound Conservative government," said Taper, musingly. "I understand: Tory men and Whig measures."
Coningsby (1844) bk. 2, ch. 6

[Disraeli]

16 It seems to me a barren thing this Conservatism—an unhappy cross-breed, the mule of politics that engenders nothing.
Coningsby (1844) bk. 3, ch. 5.

[Disraeli]

17 Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
Contarini Fleming (1832) pt. 1, ch. 23.

[Disraeli]

18 His Christianity was muscular.
Endymion (1880) ch. 14

[Disraeli]

19 An insular country, subject to fogs, and with a powerful middle class, requires grave statesmen.
Endymion (1880) ch. 37

[Disraeli]

20 As for our majority…one is enough.
Endymion (1880) ch. 64

[Disraeli]

21 "Sensible men are all of the same religion." "And pray what is that?"…"Sensible men never tell."
Endymion (1880) ch. 81.

[Disraeli]

22 The sweet simplicity of the three per cents.
Endymion (1880) ch. 91.

[Disraeli]

23 The blue ribbon of the turf.
of the Derby
Lord George Bentinck (1852) ch. 26

[Disraeli]

24 "Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws." "You speak of—" said Egremont, hesitatingly, "the rich and the poor."
Sybil (1845) bk. 2, ch. 5.

[Disraeli]

25 London is a modern Babylon.
Tancred (1847) bk. 5, ch. 5

[Disraeli]

26 All power is a trust.
Vivian Grey (1826) bk. 6, ch. 7.

[Disraeli]

27 Let me die eating ortolans to the sound of soft music!
The Young Duke (1831) bk. 1, ch. 10.

[Disraeli]

28 Damn your principles! Stick to your party.
attributed to Disraeli and believed to have been said to Edward Bulwer-Lytton
E. Latham Famous Sayings and their Authors (1904)

[Disraeli]

29 Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.
to Matthew Arnold
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 23

[Disraeli]

30 I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole.
on becoming Prime Minister
W. Monypenny and G. Buckle Life of Benjamin Disraeli vol. 4 (1916) ch. 16

[Disraeli]

31 Never complain and never explain.
J. Morley Life of William Ewart Gladstone (1903) vol. 1.

[Disraeli]

32 Pray remember, Mr Dean, no dogma, no Dean.
W. Monypenny and G. Buckle Life of Benjamin Disraeli vol. 4 (1916) ch. 10

[Disraeli]

33 The school of Manchester.
describing the free trade politics of Cobden and Bright
Robert Blake Disraeli (1966) ch. 10

[Disraeli]

34 There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
attributed to Disraeli in Mark Twain Autobiography (1924) vol. 1

[Disraeli]

35 When I want to read a novel, I write one.
W. Monypenny and G. Buckle Life of Benjamin Disraeli vol. 6 (1920) ch. 17.

[Disraeli]

Back  -   New Search

Dix, William Chatterton 1837–98

1
As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold.

"As with gladness men of old" (1861 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Dobson, Henry Austin 1840–1921

1
All passes. Art alone
Enduring stays to us;
The Bust outlasts the throne,—
The Coin, Tiberius.

"Ars Victrix" (1876); translation of Gautier's "L'Art".

2
Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.

"The Paradox of Time" (1877)

[Dobson]

Back  -   New Search

Dodd, Ken 1931–

1 Freud's theory was that when a joke opens a window and all those bats and bogeymen fly out, you get a marvellous feeling of relief and elation. The trouble with Freud is that he never had to play the old Glasgow Empire on a Saturday night after Rangers and Celtic had both lost.
in Guardian 30 April 1991; quoted in many, usually much contracted, forms since the mid-1960s

Back  -   New Search

Doddridge, Philip 1702–51

1
O God of Bethel, by whose hand
Thy people still are fed,
Who through this weary pilgrimage
Hast all our fathers led.

Hymns (1755) "O God of Bethel"

Back  -   New Search

Donatus, Aelius

1 Confound those who have said our remarks before us.
St Jerome Commentary on Ecclesiastes bk 1

Back  -   New Search

Donleavy, J. P. 1926–

1 When you don't have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it's sex. When you have both it's health.
The Ginger Man (1955) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Donne, John 1572–1631

Verse dates are those of composition 1
No spring, nor summer beauty hath such grace,
As I have seen in one autumnal face.

Elegies "The Autumnal" (c.1600)

2
License my roving hands, and let them go,
Behind, before, above, between, below.
O my America, my new found land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned.

Elegies "To His Mistress Going to Bed" (c.1595)

[Donne]

3
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.

Holy Sonnets (1609) no. 6 (ed. J. Carey, 1990)

[Donne]

4
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death thou shalt die.

Holy Sonnets (1609) no. 6 (ed. J. Carey, 1990)

[Donne]

5
Batter my heart, three-personed God; for, you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend.

Holy Sonnets (after 1609) no. 10 (ed. J. Carey, 1990)

[Donne]

6
What if this present were the world's last night?

Holy Sonnets (after 1609) no. 19 (ed. J. Carey, 1990)

[Donne]

7
As thou
Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now,
Thou lov'st not, till from loving more, thou free
My soul; who ever gives, takes liberty.

"A Hymn to Christ, at the Author's last going into Germany" (1619)

[Donne]

8
Since I am coming to that holy room,
Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be made thy music; as I come
I tune the instrument here at the door,
And what I must do then, think now before.

"Hymn to God my God, in my Sickness" (1623)

[Donne]

9
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sins, through which I run
And do them still: though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For, I have more.

"A Hymn to God the Father" (1623)

[Donne]

10
Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant,
The only harmless great thing.

"The Progress of the Soul" (1601) st. 39

[Donne]

11
On a huge hill,
Cragged, and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
Reach her, about must, and about must go.

Satire no. 3 (1594–5) l. 79

[Donne]

12 Air and angels.
title of poem, Songs and Sonnets

[Donne]

13
All other things, to their destruction draw,
Only our love hath no decay;
This, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday,
Running it never runs from us away,
But truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.

Songs and Sonnets "The Anniversary"

[Donne]

14
Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

Songs and Sonnets "The Bait"

[Donne]

15
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love.

Songs and Sonnets "The Canonization"

[Donne]

16
I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I
Did, till we loved, were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers den?

Songs and Sonnets "The Good-Morrow"

[Donne]

17
I long to talk with some old lover's ghost,
Who died before the god of love was born.

Songs and Sonnets "Love's Deity"

[Donne]

18
'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's.

Songs and Sonnets "A Nocturnal upon St Lucy's Day"

[Donne]

19
When my grave is broke up again
Some second guest to entertain,
(For graves have learnt that woman-head
To be to more than one a bed)
And he that digs it, spies
A bracelet of bright hair about the bone,
Will he not let us alone?

Songs and Sonnets "The Relic"

[Donne]

20
Go, and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me, where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing.

Songs and Sonnets "Song: Go and catch a falling star"

[Donne]

21
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?

Songs and Sonnets "The Sun Rising"

[Donne]

22
This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere.

Songs and Sonnets "The Sun Rising"

[Donne]

23
I have done one braver thing
Than all the Worthies did,
And yet a braver thence doth spring,
Which is, to keep that hid.

Songs and Sonnets "The Undertaking"

[Donne]

24
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end, where I begun.

Songs and Sonnets "A Valediction: forbidding mourning"

[Donne]

25 Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls.
"To Sir Henry Wotton" (1597–8)

[Donne]

26 But I do nothing upon my self, and yet I am mine own Executioner.
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624) "Meditation XII"

[Donne]

27 No man is an Island, entire of it self.
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624) "Meditation XVII"

[Donne]

28 Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624) "Meditation XVII"

[Donne]

29 When a whirlwind hath blown the dust of the Churchyard into the Church, and the man sweeps out the dust of the Church into the Churchyard, who will undertake to sift those dusts again, and to pronounce, This is the Patrician, this is the noble flower, and this the yeomanly, this the Plebeian bran.
LXXX Sermons (1640) 8 March 1621/2

[Donne]

30 I throw myself down in my Chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door.
LXXX Sermons (1640) 12 December 1626 "At the Funeral of Sir William Cokayne"

[Donne]

31 Poor intricated soul! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthical soul!
LXXX Sermons (1640) 25 January 1628/9

[Donne]

32 John Donne, Anne Donne, Un-done.
in a letter to his wife, on being dismissed from the service of his father-in-law, Sir George More
Izaak Walton The Life of Dr Donne (first printed in LXXX Sermons, 1640)

[Donne]

Back  -   New Search

Dostoevsky, Fedor 1821–81

1 If you were to destroy in mankind the belief in immortality, not only love but every living force maintaining the life of the world would at once be dried up.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80) bk. 2, ch. 6

2 Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80) bk. 3, ch. 3

[Dostoevsky]

3 If the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80) bk. 5, ch. 4

[Dostoevsky]

Back  -   New Search

Douglas, Lord Alfred 1870–1945

1
I am the Love that dare not speak its name.

"Two Loves" (1896)

Back  -   New Search

Douglas, James, Earl of Morton c.1516–81

1 Here lies he who neither feared nor flattered any flesh.
of John Knox, said as he was buried, 26 November 1572
George R. Preedy The Life of John Knox (1940) ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Douglas, Keith 1920–44

1
And all my endeavours are unlucky explorers
come back, abandoning the expedition.

"On Return from Egypt, 1943–4" (1946)

2
Remember me when I am dead
And simplify me when I'm dead.

"Simplify me when I'm Dead" (1941)

[Douglas]

3
For here the lover and killer are mingled
who had one body and one heart.
And death, who had the soldier singled
has done the lover mortal hurt.

"Vergissmeinnicht, 1943"

[Douglas]

Back  -   New Search

Douglas, O. 1877–1948

1 It is wonderful how much news there is when people write every other day; if they wait for a month, there is nothing that seems worth telling.
Penny Plain (1920)

Back  -   New Search

Douglas-Home, Alec

seeLord Home

Back  -   New Search

Douglass, Frederick c.1818–95

1 Every tone [of the songs of the slaves] was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Dow, Lorenzo 1777–1834

1 You will be damned if you do—And you will be damned if you don't.
on the Calvinist doctrine of "Particular Election"
Reflections on the Love of God (1836) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Dowson, Ernest 1867–1900

1
I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses, riotously, with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, all the time, because the dance was long:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

"Non Sum Qualis Eram" (1896) (also known as "Cynara").

2
They are not long, the days of wine and roses.

"Vitae Summa Brevis" (1896)

[Dowson]

Back  -   New Search

Doyle, Arthur Conan 1859–1930

1 It is quite a three-pipe problem.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) "The Red-Headed League"

2 The giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.
The Case-Book of Sherlock Homes (1927) "The Sussex Vampire"

[Doyle]

3 "Excellent," I cried. "Elementary," said he.
often misquoted as, "Elementary, my dear Watson", a remark attributed to Sherlock Holmes, but not found in this form in any book by Arthur Conan Doyle, first found in P.G. Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1915)
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) "The Crooked Man"

[Doyle]

4 Ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity…is the Napoleon of crime, Watson.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) "The Final Problem"

[Doyle]

5 "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
"The dog did nothing in the night-time."
"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) "Silver Blaze"

[Doyle]

6 What one man can invent another can discover.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) "The Dancing Men"

[Doyle]

7 When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
The Sign of Four (1890) ch. 6

[Doyle]

8 You know my methods. Apply them.
The Sign of Four (1890) ch. 6

[Doyle]

9 It is the unofficial force—the Baker Street irregulars.
The Sign of Four (1890) ch. 8

[Doyle]

Back  -   New Search

Drabble, Margaret 1939–

1 England's not a bad country…It's just a mean, cold, ugly, divided, tired, clapped-out, post-imperial, post-industrial slag-heap covered in polystyrene hamburger cartons.
A Natural Curiosity (1989)

Back  -   New Search

Drake, Francis c.1540–96

1 The singeing of the King of Spain's Beard.
on the expedition to Cadiz, 1587
Francis Bacon Considerations touching a War with Spain (1629)

2 I must have the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner, and the mariner with the gentleman…I would know him, that would refuse to set his hand to a rope, but I know there is not any such here.
J. S. Corbett Drake and the Tudor Navy (1898) vol. 1, ch. 9

[Drake]

3 There is plenty of time to win this game, and to thrash the Spaniards too.
attributed, in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Drake]

Back  -   New Search

Drayton, Michael 1563–1631

1
Ill news hath wings, and with the wind doth go,
Comfort's a cripple and comes ever slow.

The Barons' Wars (1603) canto 2, st. 28

2
Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part,
Nay, I have done: you get no more of me,
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly, I myself can free,
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows.

Idea (1619) Sonnet 61

[Drayton]

3
That shire which we the Heart of England well may call.

of Warwickshire
Poly-Olbion (1612–22) Song 13, l. 2

[Drayton]

4
Next these, learn'd Jonson, in this list I bring,
Who had drunk deep of the Pierian spring.

"To Henry Reynolds, of Poets and Poesy" (1627) l. 129.

[Drayton]

5
Fair stood the wind for France
When we our sails advance,
Nor now to prove our chance
Longer will tarry.

To the Cambro-Britons (1619) "Agincourt"

[Drayton]

Back  -   New Search

Drennan, William 1754–1820

1
Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle.

Erin (1795) st. 3

Back  -   New Search

Drinkwater, John 1882–1937

1
Deep is the silence, deep
On moon-washed apples of wonder.

"Moonlit Apples" (1917)

Back  -   New Search

Driver, William 1803–86

1 I name thee Old Glory.
saluting a new flag hoisted on his ship, the Charles Doggett
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Drummond, Thomas 1797–1840

1 Property has its duties as well as its rights.
letter to the Earl of Donoughmore, 22 May 1838

Back  -   New Search

Drummond, William of Hawthornden 1585–1649

1
Phoebus, arise,
And paint the sable skies,
With azure, white, and red.

"Song: Phoebus, arise" (1614)

Back  -   New Search

Dryden, John 1631–1700

1
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up commonwealths and ruin kings.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 83

2
Of these the false Achitophel was first,
A name to all succeeding ages curst.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 150

[Dryden]

3
A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high
He sought the storms; but for a calm unfit.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 159

[Dryden]

4
Great wits are sure to madness near allied.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 163

[Dryden]

5
In friendship false, implacable in hate:
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 173

[Dryden]

6
All empire is no more than power in trust.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 411.

[Dryden]

7
And pity never ceases to be shown
To him, who makes the people's wrongs his own.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 725

[Dryden]

8
Nor is the people's judgement always true:
The most may err as grossly as the few.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 781

[Dryden]

9
Beware the fury of a patient man.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681) pt. 1, l. 1005

[Dryden]

10
None but the brave deserves the fair.

Alexander's Feast (1697) l. 7

[Dryden]

11
Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Alexander's Feast (1697) l. 60

[Dryden]

12
Revenge, revenge! Timotheus cries.

Alexander's Feast (1697) l. 131

[Dryden]

13
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.

All for Love (1678) prologue

[Dryden]

14
Men are but children of a larger growth;
Our appetites as apt to change as theirs,
And full as craving too, and full as vain.

All for Love (1678) act 4, sc. 1.

[Dryden]

15
I am as free as nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran.

The Conquest of Granada (1670) pt. 1, act 1, sc. 1

[Dryden]

16
T'abhor the makers, and their laws approve,
Is to hate traitors and the treason love.

The Hind and the Panther (1687) pt. 3, l. 706.

[Dryden]

17
And love's the noblest frailty of the mind.

The Indian Emperor (1665) act 2, sc. 2.

[Dryden]

18 War is the trade of kings.
King Arthur (1691) act 2, sc. 2

[Dryden]

19
Fairest Isle, all isles excelling,
Seat of pleasures, and of loves;
Venus here will choose her dwelling,
And forsake her Cyprian groves.

King Arthur (1691) act 5 "Song of Venus".

[Dryden]

20
The rest to some faint meaning make pretence,
But Shadwell never deviates into sense.

MacFlecknoe (1682) l. 19

[Dryden]

21
But treason is not owned when 'tis descried;
Successful crimes alone are justified.

The Medal (1682) l. 207

[Dryden]

22
And Antony, who lost the world for love.

Palamon and Arcite (1700) bk. 2, l. 607

[Dryden]

23
But 'tis the talent of our English nation,
Still to be plotting some new reformation.

"The Prologue at Oxford, 1680" (prologue to Nathaniel Lee Sophonisba, 2nd ed., 1681)

[Dryden]

24
And this unpolished rugged verse I chose
As fittest for discourse and nearest prose.

Religio Laici (1682) l. 453

[Dryden]

25
For secrets are edged tools,
And must be kept from children and from fools.

Sir Martin Mar-All (1667) act 2, sc. 2

[Dryden]

26
What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

A Song for St Cecilia's Day (1687) st. 2

[Dryden]

27
There is a pleasure sure,
In being mad, which none but madmen know!

The Spanish Friar (1681) act 1, sc. 1

[Dryden]

28
Wit will shine
Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.

"To the Memory of Mr Oldham" (1684)

[Dryden]

29
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He, who can call to-day his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

translation of Horace Odes bk. 3, no. 29

[Dryden]

30
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her with a single hair.

Translation of Persius Satires no. 5, l. 246

[Dryden]

31
Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.

translation of Virgil Aeneid (Aeneis, 1697) bk. 1, l. 1.

[Dryden]

32 The famous rules, which the French call Des Trois Unitez, or, the Three Unities, which ought to be observed in every regular play; namely, of Time, Place, and Action.
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668)

[Dryden]

33 He is many times flat, insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is always great.
on Shakespeare
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668)

[Dryden]

34 'Tis sufficient to say, according to the proverb, that here is God's plenty.
of Chaucer
Fables Ancient and Modern (1700) preface

[Dryden]

Back  -   New Search

Dubek, Alexander 1921–92

1 In the service of the people we followed such a policy that socialism would not lose its human face.
in Rudé Právo 19 July 1968

Back  -   New Search

Du Bellay, Joachim 1522–60

1
France, mère des arts, des armes et des lois.

France, mother of arts, of warfare, and of laws.

Les Regrets (1558) sonnet no. 9

2
Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage
Happy he who like Ulysses has made a great journey.
Les Regrets (1558) Sonnet no. 31

[Du Bellay]

Back  -   New Search

Du Bois, W. E. B. 1868–1963

1 One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life!
last message, written 26 June, 1957, and read at his funeral, 1963

Back  -   New Search

Du Deffand, Mme 1697–1780

1 La distance n'y fait rien; il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte.The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.
commenting on the legend that St Denis, carrying his head in his hands, walked two leagues
letter to Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, 7 July 1763

Back  -   New Search

Duffield, George 1818–88

1
Stand up!—stand up for Jesus!
Ye soldiers of the Cross.

"Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" (1858 hymn); the opening line inspired by the dying words of the American evangelist, Dudley Atkins Tyng

Back  -   New Search

Duffy, Carol Ann 1965–

1
Whatever "in love" means,
true love is talented.
Someone vividly gifted in love has gone.

on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
"September, 1997" (1997).

Back  -   New Search

Dulles, John Foster 1888–1959

1 The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art…We walked to the brink and we looked it in the face.
in Life 16 January 1956.

Back  -   New Search

Dumas, Alexandre 1802–70

1 Cherchons la femme.Let us look for the woman.
attributed to Joseph Fouché (1763–1820) in the form "Cherchez la femme"
Les Mohicans de Paris (1854–5) passim

2 Tous pour un, un pour tous.All for one, one for all.
Les Trois Mousquetaires (1844) ch. 9

[Dumas]

Back  -   New Search

Du Maurier, Daphne 1907–89

1 Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
Rebecca (1938) ch. 1; opening words

Back  -   New Search

Dumouriez, Charles François du Périer 1739–1823

1 The courtiers who surround him have forgotten nothing and learnt nothing.
of Louis XVIII, at the time of the Declaration of Verona, September 1795; quoted by Napoleon in his Declaration to the French on his return from Elba, 1815
Examen impartial d'un Écrit intitulé Déclaration de Louis XVIII (1795).

Back  -   New Search

Dunbar, Paul Lawrence 1872–1906

1 I know why the caged bird sings!
adopted by Maya Angelou as the title of her autobiography, 1969
"Sympathy" st. 3.

Back  -   New Search

Dunbar, William c.1465–1513

1
Timor mortis conturbat me.
Fear of death troubles me.
"Lament for the Makaris [Makers]"

Back  -   New Search

Duncan, Isadora 1878–1927

1 Adieu, mes amis. Je vais à la gloire.Farewell, my friends. I go to glory.
before her scarf caught in a car wheel, breaking her neck
Mary Desti Isadora Duncan's End (1929) ch. 25

Back  -   New Search

Dunlop, Ian 1940–

1 The shock of the new: seven historic exhibitions of modern art.
title of book (1972)

Back  -   New Search

Dunn, Douglas 1942–

1
In a country like this
Our ghosts outnumber us…

"At Falkland Palace" (1988)

2
My poems should be Clyde-built, crude and sure,
With images of those dole-deployed
To honour the indomitable Reds,
Clydesiders of slant steel and angled cranes.

"Clydesiders" (1974)

[Dunn]

Back  -   New Search

Dunne, Sean 1956–97

1
The country wears their going like a scar,
Today their relatives save to support and
Send others in planes for the new diaspora.

"Letter from Ireland" (1991)

Back  -   New Search

Dunning, John 1731–83

1 The influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.
resolution passed in the House of Commons, 6 April 1780

Back  -   New Search

Duppa, Richard 1770–1831

1 In language, the ignorant have prescribed laws to the learned.
Maxims (1830) no. 252

Back  -   New Search

Durham, John George Lambton, Lord 1792–1840

1 £40,000 a year a moderate income—such a one as a man might jog on with.
Thomas Creevey, letter to Elizabeth Ord, 13 September 1821

2 I expected to find a contest between a government and a people: I found two nations warring in the bosom of a single state.
of Canada
Report of the Affairs of British North America (1839)

[Durham]

Back  -   New Search

Durocher, Leo 1906–91

1 I called off his players' names as they came marching up the steps behind him…All nice guys. They'll finish last. Nice guys. Finish last.
casual remark at a practice ground in the presence of a number of journalists, July 1946, generally quoted as "Nice guys finish last"
Nice Guys Finish Last (1975) pt. 1

Back  -   New Search

Dury, Ian 1942–

1 Sex and drugs and rock and roll.
title of song (1977)

Back  -   New Search

Dworkin, Andrea 1946–

1 Seduction is often difficult to distinguish from rape. In seduction, the rapist bothers to buy a bottle of wine.
speech to women at Harper & Row, 1976

Back  -   New Search

Dyer, Edward d. 1607

1
Silence augmenteth grief, writing increaseth rage,
Staled are my thoughts, which loved and lost, the wonder of our age.

previously attributed to Fulke Greville
"Elegy on the Death of Sir Philip Sidney" (1593)

2
My mind to me a kingdom is.

"In praise of a contented mind" (1588), attributed

[Dyer]

Back  -   New Search

Dyer, John 1700–58

1
But transient is the smile of fate:
A little rule, a little sway,
A sunbeam in a winter's day,
Is all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave.

Grongar Hill (1726) l. 88

Back  -   New Search

Dyer, John

1
And he that will this health deny,
Down among the dead men let him lie.

"Down among the Dead Men" (c.1700)

Back  -   New Search

Dylan, Bob 1941–

1
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you can call him a man?…
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

"Blowin' in the Wind" (1962 song)

2
And it's a hard rain's a gonna fall.

"A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" (1963 song)

[Dylan]

3
Money doesn't talk, it swears.

"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" (1965 song)

[Dylan]

4
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks like a little girl.

"Just Like a Woman" (1966 song)

[Dylan]

5
Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me.

"Mr Tambourine Man" (1965 song)

[Dylan]

6
Señor, señor, do you know where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?

"Señor (Tale of Yankee Power)" (1978 song)

[Dylan]

7
All that foreign oil controlling American soil.

"Slow Train" (1979 song)

[Dylan]

8 The times they are a-changin'.
title of song (1964)

[Dylan]

9
Come mothers and fathers,
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand.

"The Times They Are A-Changing" (1964 song)

[Dylan]

Back  -   New Search

Dyson, Esther

1 The important thing to remember is that this is not a new form of life. It is just a new activity.
of the Internet
in New York Times 7 July 1996

Back  -   New Search

E

Eddington, Arthur 1882–1944

1 I shall use the phrase "time's arrow" to express this one-way property of time which has no analogue in space.
The Nature of the Physical World (1928) ch. 4

2 If an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters they might write all the books in the British Museum.
The Nature of the Physical World (1928).

[Eddington]

3 If your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.
The Nature of the Physical World (1928) ch. 14

[Eddington]

4 Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers.
attributed in Robert L. Weber More Random Walks in Science (1982)

[Eddington]

Back  -   New Search

Eddy, Mary Baker 1821–1910

1 Disease is an experience of so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the body.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875)

Back  -   New Search

Eden, Anthony, Earl of Avon 1897–1977

1 We are in an armed conflict; that is the phrase I have used. There has been no declaration of war.
on the Suez crisis
speech in the House of Commons, 1 November 1956

Back  -   New Search

Eden, Clarissa 1920–

1 For the past few weeks I have really felt as if the Suez Canal was flowing through my drawing-room.
speech at Gateshead, 20 November 1956

Back  -   New Search

Edgar, Marriott 1880–1951

1
There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That's noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

"The Lion and Albert" (1932)

Back  -   New Search

Edgeworth, Maria 1767–1849

1 Well! some people talk of morality, and some of religion, but give me a little snug property.
The Absentee (1812) ch. 2

2 It was her settled purpose to make the Irish and Ireland ridiculous and contemptible to Lord Colambre; to disgust him with his native country…To confirm him an absentee was her object.
The Absentee (1812) ch. 7

[Edgeworth]

Back  -   New Search

Edison, Thomas Alva 1847–1931

1 Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
said c.1903, in Harper's Monthly Magazine September 1932

Back  -   New Search

Edmeston, James 1791–1867

1
Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us
O'er the world's tempestuous sea;
Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us,
For we have no help but Thee;
Yet possessing every blessing,
If our God our Father be.

"Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us" (1821)

Back  -   New Search

Edmonds, John Maxwell 1875–1958

1
When you go home, tell them of us and say,
"For your tomorrows these gave their today."

second line often quoted as "For your tomorrow we gave our today", as on the Kohima memorial to the Burma campaign of the Second World War
Inscriptions Suggested for War Memorials (1919)

Back  -   New Search

Edward III 1312–77

1 Also say to them, that they suffre hym this day to wynne his spurres, for if god be pleased, I woll this journey be his, and the honoure therof.
speaking of the Black Prince at Crécy, 1346; commonly quoted "Let the boy win his spurs"
The Chronicle of Froissart (tr. Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners, 1523–5) ch. 130

Back  -   New Search

Edward VIII, afterwards Duke of Windsor 1894–1972

1 These works brought all these people here. Something should be done to get them at work again.
speaking at the derelict Dowlais Iron and Steel Works, 18 November 1936; often misquoted as, "Something must be done"
in Western Mail 19 November 1936

2 At long last I am able to say a few words of my own…you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.
radio broadcast following his abdication, 11 December 1936

[Edward VIII]

Back  -   New Search

Edwards, Jonathan 1703–58

1 Of all Insects no one is more wonderful than the spider especially with Respect to their sagacity and admirable way of working…I…once saw a very large spider to my surprise swimming in the air…and others have assured me that they often have seen spiders fly, the appearance is truly very pretty and pleasing.
The Flying Spider—Observations by Jonathan Edwards when a boy "Of Insects" in Andover Review vol. 13 (1890)

2 The bodies of those that made such a noise and tumult when alive, when dead, lie as quietly among the graves of their neighbours as any others.
Sermon on procrastination in Works (1834) vol. 2

[Edwards]

Back  -   New Search

Edwards, Oliver 1711–91

1 I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 17 April 1778

Back  -   New Search

Ehrenreich, Barbara 1941–

1 Exercise is the yuppie version of bulimia.
The Worst Years of Our Lives (1991) "Food Worship"

Back  -   New Search

Ehrlichman, John 1925–99

1 I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.
Richard Nixon had withdrawn his support for Patrick Gray, nominated as director of the FBI, although Gray himself had not been informed
in a telephone conversation with John Dean; in Washington Post 27 July 1973

Back  -   New Search

Ehrmann, Max 1872–1945

1
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

often wrongly dated to 1692, the date of foundation of a church in Baltimore whose vicar circulated the poem in 1956
"Desiderata" (1948)

Back  -   New Search

Einstein, Albert 1879–1955

1 Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium (1941) ch. 13

2 E = mc^2.
the usual form of Einstein's original statement: "If a body releases the energy L in the form of radiation, its mass is decreased by L/V^2"
in Annalen der Physik 18 (1905)

[Einstein]

3 God is subtle but he is not malicious.
remark made during a week at Princeton beginning 9 May 1921, later carved above the fireplace of the Common Room of Fine Hall (the Mathematical Institute), Princeton University

[Einstein]

4 I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice.
often quoted as: "God does not play dice"
letter to Max Born, 4 December 1926; in Einstein und Born Briefwechsel (1969)

[Einstein]

Back  -   New Search

Eisenhower, Dwight D. 1890–1969

1 You have broader considerations that might follow what you might call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly. So you have the beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.
speech at press conference, 7 April 1954

2 I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.
broadcast discussion, 31 August 1959

[Eisenhower]

Back  -   New Search

Eisenstaedt, Alfred 1898–1995

1 It's more important to click with people than to click the shutter
in Life 24 August 1995 (electronic edition), obituary

Back  -   New Search

Eleazar of Worms 1176–1238

1 The highest sacrifice is a broken and contrite heart; the highest wisdom is that which is found in the Torah; the noblest of all ornaments is modesty; and the most beautiful thing that man can do, is to forgive a wrong.
Sefer Rokeah

Back  -   New Search

Elgar, Edward 1857–1934

1 To my friends pictured within.
Enigma Variations (1899) dedication

2 There is music in the air.
R. J. Buckley Sir Edward Elgar (1905) ch. 4

[Elgar]

Back  -   New Search

Eliot, George 1819–80

1 A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
Daniel Deronda (1876) bk. 2, ch. 15

2 An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.
Felix Holt (1866) ch. 5

[Eliot]

3 A woman can hardly ever choose…she is dependent on what happens to her. She must take meaner things, because only meaner things are within her reach.
Felix Holt (1866) ch. 27

[Eliot]

4 Debasing the moral currency.
The Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879) essay title

[Eliot]

5 He said he should prefer not to know the sources of the Nile, and that there should be some unknown regions preserved as hunting-grounds for the poetic imagination.
Middlemarch (1871–2) bk. 1, ch. 9

[Eliot]

6 Fred's studies are not very deep…he is only reading a novel.
Middlemarch (1871–2) bk 1, ch. 11

[Eliot]

7 If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.
Middlemarch (1871–2) bk. 2, ch. 20

[Eliot]

8 Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.
The Mill on the Floss (1860) bk. 1, ch. 10

[Eliot]

9 The dead level of provincial existence.
The Mill on the Floss (1860) bk. 5, ch. 3

[Eliot]

10 "Character" says Novalis, in one of his questionable aphorisms—"character is destiny."
The Mill on the Floss (1860) bk. 6, ch. 6

[Eliot]

Back  -   New Search

Eliot, T. S. 1888–1965

1
Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn.

Ash-Wednesday (1930) pt. 1

2
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.

Ash-Wednesday (1930) pt. 1

[Eliot]

3
Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree
In the cool of the day.

Ash-Wednesday (1930) pt. 2

[Eliot]

4
What is hell?
Hell is oneself,
Hell is alone, the other figures in it
Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from
And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.

The Cocktail Party (1950) act 1, sc. 3.

[Eliot]

5
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 1

[Eliot]

6
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 1

[Eliot]

7
Human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 1.

[Eliot]

8
At the still point of the turning world.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 2

[Eliot]

9
In my beginning is my end.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 1.

[Eliot]

10
The intolerable wrestle
With words and meanings.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 2

[Eliot]

11
The houses are all gone under the sea.
The dancers are all gone under the hill.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 2

[Eliot]

12
O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 3

[Eliot]

13
I think that the river
Is a strong brown god—sullen, untamed and intractable.

Four Quartets "The Dry Salvages" (1941) pt. 1

[Eliot]

14
Speech, and speech impelled us
To purify the dialect of the tribe.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 2

[Eliot]

15
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 5

[Eliot]

16
So, while the light fails
On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel
History is now and England.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 5

[Eliot]

17
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 5.

[Eliot]

18
Here I am, an old man in a dry month
Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.

"Gerontion" (1920)

[Eliot]

19
After such knowledge, what forgiveness?

"Gerontion" (1920)

[Eliot]

20
Tenants of the house,
Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season.

"Gerontion" (1920)

[Eliot]

21
We are the hollow men.

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

22
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow.

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

23
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

24
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.

"Journey of the Magi" (1927).

[Eliot]

25
An alien people clutching their gods.

"Journey of the Magi" (1927)

[Eliot]

26
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

27
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

28
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

29
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

30
I grow old…I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

31
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917).

[Eliot]

32
Yet we have gone on living,
Living and partly living.

Murder in the Cathedral (1935) pt. 1

[Eliot]

33
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

Murder in the Cathedral (1935) pt. 1

[Eliot]

34
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place—macavity wasn't there!

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) "Macavity: the Mystery Cat"

[Eliot]

35
I gotta use words when I talk to you.

Sweeney Agonistes (1932) "Fragment of an Agon"

[Eliot]

36
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,

And sang within the bloody wood
When Agamemnon cried aloud
And let their liquid siftings fall
To stain the stiff dishonoured shroud.

"Sweeney among the Nightingales" (1919)

[Eliot]

37
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 1

[Eliot]

38
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 1

[Eliot]

39
The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Glowed on the marble.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2.

[Eliot]

40
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
"Jug Jug" to dirty ears.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2.

[Eliot]

41
I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2

[Eliot]

42
o o o o that Shakespeherian Rag—
It's so elegant
So intelligent.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2.

[Eliot]

43
But at my back from time to time I hear
The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring
Sweeney to Mrs Porter in the spring.
O the moon shone bright on Mrs Porter
And on her daughter
They wash their feet in soda water.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 3.

[Eliot]

44
I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 3

[Eliot]

45
When lovely woman stoops to folly and
Paces about her room again, alone,
She smoothes her hair with automatic hand,
And puts a record on the gramophone.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 3.

[Eliot]

46
Shantih, shantih, shantih.

The Waste Land (1922) closing words.

[Eliot]

47
Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin.

"Whispers of Immortality" (1919)

[Eliot]

48 Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
The Sacred Wood (1920) "Philip Massinger"

[Eliot]

49 In the seventeenth century a dissociation of sensibility set in, from which we have never recovered; and this dissociation, as is natural, was due to the influence of the two most powerful poets of the century, Milton and Dryden.
Selected Essays (1932) "The Metaphysical Poets" (1921)

[Eliot]

Back  -   New Search

Elizabeth I 1533–1603

1 The queen of Scots is this day leichter of a fair son, and I am but a barren stock.
to her ladies, June 1566

2 I know what it is to be a subject, what to be a Sovereign, what to have good neighbours, and sometimes meet evil-willers.
speech to a Parliamentary deputation at Richmond, 12 November 1586, from a report "which the Queen herself heavily amended in her own hand"

Top

3 In trust I have found treason.
traditional concluding words of the speech to a Parliamentary deputation at Richmond, 12 November 1586

Top

4 I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.
speech to the troops at Tilbury on the approach of the Armada, 1588

Top

5 The daughter of debate, that eke discord doth sow.
on Mary Queen of Scots
George Puttenham (ed.) The Art of English Poesie (1589) bk. 3, ch. 20

Top

6 Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: that I have reigned with your loves.
The Golden Speech, 1601

Top

7 Must! Is must a word to be addressed to princes? Little man, little man! thy father, if he had been alive, durst not have used that word.
to Robert Cecil, on his saying she must go to bed, shortly before her death
J. R. Green A Short History of the English People (1874) ch. 7

Top

8 If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.
lines after Sir Walter Ralegh, written on a window-pane
Thomas Fuller Worthies of England vol. 1.

Top

9 I would not open windows into men's souls.
oral tradition, in J. B. Black Reign of Elizabeth 1558–1603 (1936)

Top

10 All my possessions for a moment of time.
last words; attributed, but almost certainly apocryphal

Top

Back  -   New Search

Elizabeth II 1926–

1 I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family to which we all belong.
broadcast speech, as Princess Elizabeth, to the Commonwealth from Cape Town, 21 April 1947

2 In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an "annus horribilis".
speech at Guildhall, London, 24 November 1992

Top

3 I for one believe that there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death.
broadcast from Buckingham Palace on the evening before the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, 5 September 1997
in The Times 6 September 1997

Top

Back  -   New Search

Elizabeth, Queen, the Queen Mother 1900–2002

1 I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face.
to a London policeman, 13 September 1940
John Wheeler-Bennett King George VI (1958) pt. 3, ch. 6

2 The Princesses would never leave without me and I couldn't leave without the King, and the King will never leave.
on the suggestion that the royal family be evacuated during the Blitz
Penelope Mortimer Queen Elizabeth (1986) ch. 25

Top

Back  -   New Search

Ellerton, Alf

1 Belgium put the kibosh on the Kaiser.
title of song (1914)

Back  -   New Search

Ellerton, John 1826–93

1
The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended,
The darkness falls at Thy behest.

Hymn (1870), the first line borrowed from an earlier, anonymous hymn

Back  -   New Search

Elliot, Jane 1727–1805

1
I've heard them lilting, at the ewe milking.
Lasses a' lilting, before dawn of day;
But now they are moaning, on ilka green loaning;
The flowers of the forest are a' wede away.

"The Flowers of the Forest" (1769), the most popular version of the traditional lament for the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

Back  -   New Search

Elliott, Charlotte 1789–1871

1
Just as I am, without one plea.

Invalid's Hymn Book (1834) "Just as I am"

2
Watch and pray.

Morning and Evening Hymns (1836) "Christian! seek not yet repose".

[Elliott]

Back  -   New Search

Elliott, Ebenezer 1781–1849

1
What is a communist? One who hath yearnings
For equal division of unequal earnings.

"Epigram" (1850)

Back  -   New Search

Ellis, George 1753–1815

1
Snowy, Flowy, Blowy,
Showery, Flowery, Bowery,
Hoppy, Croppy, Droppy,
Breezy, Sneezy, Freezy.

"The Twelve Months"

Back  -   New Search

Ellis, Havelock (Henry Havelock Ellis) 1859–1939

1 What we call "progress" is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.
Impressions and Comments (1914) 31 July 1912

2 All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922) ch. 7

[Ellis]

Back  -   New Search

Elstow, Friar

1 With thanks to God we know the way to heaven, to be as ready by water as by land, and therefore we care not which way we go.
when threatened with drowning by Henry VIII
John Stow The Annals of England (1615).

Back  -   New Search

Éluard, Paul 1895–1952

1 L'espoir ne fait pas de poussière.Hope raises no dust.
"Ailleurs, ici, partout" (1946)

2
Adieu tristesse
Bonjour tristesse

Farewell sadness
Good-day sadness
You are inscribed in the lines of the ceiling.

"À peine défigurée" (1932)

[Éluard]

Back  -   New Search

Emecheta, Buchi 1944–

1 I am a woman and a woman of Africa. I am a daughter of Nigeria and if she is in shame, I shall stay and mourn with her in shame.
Destination Biafra (1982)

Back  -   New Search

Emerson, Ralph Waldo 1803–82

1
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

"Brahma" (1867).

2
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

"Concord Hymn" (1837)

[Emerson]

3
When Duty whispers low, Thou must,
The youth replies, I can.

"Voluntaries" no. 3 (1867)

[Emerson]

4 The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
The Conduct of Life (1860) "Worship"

[Emerson]

5 There is properly no history; only biography.
Essays (1841) "History".

[Emerson]

6 A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Essays (1841) "Self-Reliance"

[Emerson]

7 What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.
Fortune of the Republic (1878)

[Emerson]

8 Hitch your wagon to a star.
Society and Solitude (1870) "Civilization"

[Emerson]

9 I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks (1961) May 1849

[Emerson]

10 Glittering generalities! They are blazing ubiquities.
on Rufus Choate
attributed.

[Emerson]

11 If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho' he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
attributed to Emerson in Sarah S. B. Yule Borrowings (1889); the quotation was the occasion of a long controversy owing to Elbert Hubbard's claim to its authorship

[Emerson]

Back  -   New Search

Emmet, Robert 1778–1803

1 Let no man write my epitaph…When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.
speech from the dock when condemned to death, 19 September 1803

Back  -   New Search

Empson, William 1906–84

1
Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end.

"Just a smack at Auden" (1940)

2 Seven types of ambiguity.
title of book (1930)

[Empson]

3 Learning French is some trouble, but after that you have a clear and beautiful language; in English the undergrowth is part of the language.
in Spectator 14 June 1935

[Empson]

Back  -   New Search

Engels, Friedrich 1820–95

1 Der Staat wird nicht "abgeschafft", er stirbt ab.The State is not "abolished", it withers away.
Anti-Dühring (1878) pt. 3, ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Epictetus ad c.50–120

1 Everything has two handles, by one of which it ought to be carried and by the other not.
The Encheiridion sect. 43

Back  -   New Search

Epicurus 341 bc

1 Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are death is not come, and when death is come, we are not.
Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers bk. 10

Back  -   New Search

Equiano, Olaudah c.1745–1797

1 We are…a nation of dancers, singers and poets.
of the Ibo people
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Erasmus c.1469–1536

1 In regione caecorum rex est luscus.In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
Adages bk. 3, century 4, no. 96

Back  -   New Search

Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of 1566–1601

1 Reasons are not like garments, the worse for wearing.
letter to Lord Willoughby, 4 January 1599

Back  -   New Search

Estienne, Henri 1531–98

1 Si jeunesse savait; si vieillesse pouvait.If youth knew; if age could.
Les Prémices (1594) bk. 4, epigram 4

Back  -   New Search

Etherege, George c.1635–91

1 I walk within the purlieus of the Law.
Love in a Tub (1664) act 1, sc. 3.

Back  -   New Search

Euclid fl. c.300 bc

1 Quod erat demonstrandum.Which was to be proved.
often abbreviated to QED
Latin translation from the Greek of Elementa bk. 1, proposition 5 and passim

2 A line is length without breadth.
Elementa bk. 1, definition 2

[Euclid]

3 There is no "royal road" to geometry.
addressed to Ptolemy I, in Proclus Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elementa prologue, pt. 2

[Euclid]

Back  -   New Search

Euripides c.485 bc

1 My tongue swore, but my mind's unsworn.
Hippolytus lamenting his breaking of an oath
Hippolytus l. 612

2 You mention a slave's condition; not to say what one thinks.
The Phoenician Women l. 392

[Euripides]

Back  -   New Search

Evans, Abel 1679–1737

1
Under this stone, Reader, survey
Dead Sir John Vanbrugh's house of clay.
Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he
Laid many heavy loads on thee!

"Epitaph on Sir John Vanbrugh, Architect of Blenheim Palace"

Back  -   New Search

Eversley, Lord

see Charles Shaw-Lefevre

Back  -   New Search

Ewart, Gavin 1916–95

1
So the last date slides into the bracket,
that will appear in all future anthologies—
And in quiet Cornwall and in London's ghastly racket
We are now Betjemanless.

"In Memoriam, Sir John Betjeman (1906–84)" (1985)

Back  -   New Search

Ewer, William Norman 1885–1976

1
I gave my life for freedom—This I know:
For those who bade me fight had told me so.

"Five Souls" (1917)

2
How odd
Of God
To choose
The Jews.

Week-End Book (1924).

[Ewer]

Back  -   New Search

F

Faber, Frederick William 1814–63

1
Faith of our Fathers! Mary's prayers
Shall win our country back to thee
And by the truth that comes from God
England shall then indeed be free.

"Faith of our Fathers"

2
My God, how wonderful Thou art!
Thy Majesty how bright!

Oratory Hymns (1854) "The Eternal Father"

[Faber]

Back  -   New Search

Fabyan, Robert d. 1513

1 Ranulphe says he took a surfeit by eating of a lamprey, and thereof died.
The New Chronicles of England and France (1516) vol. 1, ch. 229

2 The Duke of Clarence…then being a prisoner in the Tower, was secretly put to death and drowned in a barrel of Malmesey wine within the said Tower.
The New Chronicles of England and France (1516) vol. 2 "1478"; "malvesye" for "malmesey" in early editions

[Fabyan]

Back  -   New Search

Fadiman, Clifton 1904–

1 Milk's leap toward immortality.
of cheese
Any Number Can Play (1957)

2 The mama of dada.
of Gertrude Stein
Party of One (1955)

[Fadiman]

Back  -   New Search

Faguet, Émile 1847–1916

1 It would be equally reasonable to say that sheep are born carnivorous, and everywhere nibble grass.
in response to Rousseau (see )
paraphrasing Joseph de Maistre; Politiques et Moralistes du Dix-Neuvième Siècle (1899)

Back  -   New Search

Faithfull, Marianne 1946–

1 Maybe the most that you can expect from a relationship that goes bad is to come out of it with a few good songs.
Faithfull (1994) "Colston Hall"

Back  -   New Search

Falkland, Lucius Cary, Lord 1610–43

1 When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.
Discourses of Infallibility (1660) "A Speech concerning Episcopacy" delivered in 1641

Back  -   New Search

Fanon, Frantz 1925–61

1 The shape of Africa resembles a revolver, and Zaire is the trigger.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Faraday, Michael 1791–1867

1 Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature, and in such things as these, experiment is the best test of such consistency.
diary, 19 March 1849

2 Why sir, there is every possibility that you will soon be able to tax it!
to Gladstone, when asked about the usefulness of electricity
W. E. H. Lecky Democracy and Liberty (1899 ed.)

[Faraday]

Back  -   New Search

Farjeon, Eleanor 1881–1965

1
Morning has broken
Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.

Children's Bells (1957) "A Morning Song (for the First Day of Spring)"

Back  -   New Search

Farjeon, Herbert 1887–1945

1
For I've danced with a man.
I've danced with a man
Who—well, you'll never guess.
I've danced with a man who's danced with a girl
Who's danced with the Prince of Wales!

"I've danced with a man who's danced with a girl"; first written for Elsa Lanchester and sung at private parties; later sung on stage by Mimi Crawford (1928)

Back  -   New Search

Farley, James 1888–1976

1 As Maine goes, so goes Vermont.
after predicting correctly that Franklin Roosevelt would carry all but two states in the election of 1936
statement to the press, 4 November 1936

Back  -   New Search

Farmer, Edward c.1809–76

1
I have no pain, dear mother, now;
But oh! I am so dry:
Just moisten poor Jim's lips once more;
And, mother, do not cry!

"The Collier's Dying Child"

Back  -   New Search

Farouk 1920–65

1 The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left—the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts and the King of Diamonds.
said to Lord Boyd-Orr at a conference in Cairo, 1948

Back  -   New Search

Farquhar, George 1678–1707

1 My Lady Bountiful.
The Beaux' Stratagem (1707) act 1, sc. 1

2 Money is the sinews of love, as of war.
Love and a Bottle (1698) act 2, sc. 1.

[Farquhar]

3 Poetry's a mere drug, Sir.
Love and a Bottle (1698) act 3, sc. 2.

[Farquhar]

4 Hanging and marriage, you know, go by Destiny
The Recruiting Officer (1706) act 3, sc. 2

[Farquhar]

5
A lady, if undressed at Church, looks silly,
One cannot be devout in dishabilly.

The Stage Coach (1704) prologue

[Farquhar]

Back  -   New Search

Farragut, David Glasgow 1801–70

1 Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead.
at the battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 (torpedoes mines)
A. T. Mahan Great Commanders: Admiral Farragut (1892) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Faulkner, William 1897–1962

1 The past is never dead. It's not even past.
Requiem for a Nun (1951) act 1

Back  -   New Search

Fawkes, Guy 1570–1606

1 A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.
6 November 1605, in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–).

Back  -   New Search

Feinstein, Dianne 1933–

1 Toughness doesn't have to come in a pinstripe suit.
in Time 4 June 1984

Back  -   New Search

Fenton, James 1949–

1
It is not what they built. It is what they knocked down.
It is not the houses. It is the spaces between the houses.
It is not the streets that exist. It is the streets that no longer exist.

German Requiem (1981)

2
Yes
You have come upon the fabled lands where myths
Go when they die.

"The Pitt-Rivers Museum" (1983)

[Fenton]

Back  -   New Search

Ferdinand I 1503–64

1 Fiat justitia et pereat mundus.Let justice be done, though the world perish.
motto of Ferdinand I (1503–64), Holy Roman Emperor.

Back  -   New Search

Ferguson, Samuel 1810–86

1
As I heard the sweet lark sing
In the clear air of the day.

"The Lark in the Clear Air"

Back  -   New Search

Fermat, Pierre de 1601–65

1 Cuius rei demonstrationem mirabilem sane detexi hanc marginis exiguitas non caperet.I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.
of "Fermat's last theorem", written in the margin of his copy of Diophantus' Arithmetica, and subsequently published by his son in 1670 in an edition of the book containing Fermat's annotations
Simon Singh Fermat's Last Theorem (1997)

Back  -   New Search

Fermi, Enrico 1901–54

1 Whatever Nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge.
Laura Fermi Atoms in the Family (1955)

Back  -   New Search

Ferrier, Kathleen 1912–53

1 Now I'll have eine kleine Pause.
last words
Gerald Moore Am I Too Loud? (1962)

Back  -   New Search

Feuerbach, Ludwig 1804–72

1 Der Mensch ist, was er isst.Man is what he eats.
Jacob Moleschott Lehre der Nahrungsmittel: Für das Volk (1850) "Advertisement".

Back  -   New Search

Feynman, Richard Phillips 1918–88

1 For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
appendix to the Rogers Commission Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident 6 June 1986

2 What I cannot create, I do not understand.
attributed

[Feynman]

Back  -   New Search

Field, Eugene 1850–95

1
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe—
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.

"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" (1889)

2 He played the King as though under momentary apprehension that someone else was about to play the ace.
of Creston Clarke as King Lear
review attributed to Field, in the Denver Tribune c.1880

[Field]

Back  -   New Search

Fielding, Helen 1958–

1 I will not…sulk about having no boyfriend, but develop inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend, as best way to obtain boyfriend.
Bridget Jones's Diary (1996)

Back  -   New Search

Fielding, Henry 1707–54

1
Oh! The roast beef of England,
And old England's roast beef.

The Grub Street Opera (1731) act 3, sc. 3

2 He in a few minutes ravished this fair creature, or at least would have ravished her, if she had not, by a timely compliance, prevented him.
Jonathan Wild (1743) bk. 3, ch. 7

[Fielding]

3
A lottery is a taxation
Upon all the fools in creation
And Heaven be praised
It is easily rais'd,
Credulity's always in fashion.

The Lottery (1732) sc. 1

[Fielding]

4 What is commonly called love, namely the desire of satisfying a voracious appetite with a certain quantity of delicate white human flesh.
Tom Jones (1749) bk. 6, ch. 1

[Fielding]

5 His designs were strictly honourable, as the phrase is; that is, to rob a lady of her fortune by way of marriage.
Tom Jones (1749) bk. 11, ch. 4

[Fielding]

6
All Nature wears one universal grin.

Tom Thumb the Great (1731) act 1, sc. 1

[Fielding]

Back  -   New Search

Fields, Dorothy 1905–74

1
A fine romance with no kisses.
A fine romance, my friend, this is.

"A Fine Romance" (1936 song)

2
Leave your worry on the doorstep,
Just direct your feet
To the sunny side of the street.

"On the Sunny Side of the Street" (1930 song)

[Fields]

Back  -   New Search

Fields, W. C. 1880–1946

1 Never give a sucker an even break.
title of a W. C. Fields film (1941); the catchphrase (Fields's own) is said to have originated in the musical comedy Poppy (1923)

2 Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939 film)

[Fields]

3 It ain't a fit night out for man or beast.
adopted by Fields but claimed by him not to be original; letter, 8 February 1944

[Fields]

4 Hell, I never vote for anybody. I always vote against.
Robert Lewis Taylor W. C. Fields (1950).

[Fields]

5 Here lies W. C. Fields. I would rather be living in Philadelphia.
suggested epitaph for himself, in Vanity Fair June 1925

[Fields]

Back  -   New Search

Firbank, Ronald 1886–1926

1 "O! help me, heaven," she prayed, "to be decorative and to do right!"
The Flower Beneath the Foot (1923) ch. 2

2 There was a pause—just long enough for an angel to pass, flying slowly.
Vainglory (1915) ch. 6

[Firbank]

Back  -   New Search

Firmont, L'Abbé Edgeworth de 1745–1807

1 Fils de Saint Louis, montez au ciel.Son of Saint Louis, ascend to heaven.
to Louis XVI as he mounted the steps of the guillotine, 1793
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Fish, Michael 1944–

1 A woman rang to say she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well don't worry, there isn't.
weather forecast on the night before serious gales in southern England
BBC TV, 15 October 1987

Back  -   New Search

Fisher, H. A. L. 1856–1940

1 Europe is a continent of energetic mongrels.
A History of Europe (1935) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Fisher, John Arbuthnot 1841–1920

1 Sack the lot!
on government overmanning and overspending
letter to The Times, 2 September 1919

2 Never contradict
Never explain
Never apologize.

letter to The Times, 5 September 1919

[Fisher]

3 Yours till Hell freezes.
attributed to Fisher, but not original

[Fisher]

Back  -   New Search

Fisher, Marve

1
I like Chopin and Bizet, and the voice of Doris Day,
Gershwin songs and old forgotten carols.
But the music that excels is the sound of oil wells
As they slurp, slurp, slurp into the barrels.

"An Old-Fashioned Girl" (1954 song)

2
I want an old-fashioned house
With an old-fashioned fence
And an old-fashioned millionaire.

"An Old-Fashioned Girl" (1954 song)

[Fisher]

Back  -   New Search

Fitt, Gerry 1926–

1 People [in Northern Ireland] don't march as an alternative to jogging. They do it to assert their supremacy. It is pure tribalism, the cause of troubles all over the world.
referring to the "marching season" in Northern Ireland, leading up to the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July, when parades by Orange communities traditionally take place
in The Times 5 August 1994

2 The people have spoken and the politicians have had to listen.
on the outcome of the referendum on the Good Friday agreement
in Sunday Telegraph 24 May 1998

[Fitt]

Back  -   New Search

Fitz, Albert H.

1
You are my honey, honeysuckle, I am the bee.

"The Honeysuckle and the Bee" (1901 song)

Back  -   New Search

Fitzgeffrey, Charles c.1575–1638

1
And bold and hard adventures t' undertake,
Leaving his country for his country's sake.

Sir Francis Drake (1596) st. 213

Back  -   New Search

Fitzgerald, Edward 1809–83

1
Awake! for Morning in the bowl of night
Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's turret in a noose of light.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 1

2
Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough,
A flask of wine, a book of verse—and Thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness—
And wilderness is paradise enow.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 11

A book of verses underneath the bough,
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness—
Oh, wilderness were paradise enow!

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (4th ed., 1879) st. 12

[Fitzgerald]

3
Ah, take the cash in hand and waive the rest;
Oh, the brave music of a distant drum!

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 12

Ah, take the cash and let the credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum!

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (4th ed., 1879) st. 13

[Fitzgerald]

4
I sometimes think that never blows so red
The rose as where some buried Caesar bled.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 18

[Fitzgerald]

5
One thing is certain, and the rest is lies;
The flower that once hath blown for ever dies.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 26

One thing is certain and the rest is lies;
The flower that once has blown for ever dies.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (4th ed., 1879) st. 63

[Fitzgerald]

6
The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 51; "all your tears" in 4th ed. (1879) st. 71

[Fitzgerald]

7
Who is the potter, pray, and who the pot?

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 60

[Fitzgerald]

8
Indeed the idols I have loved so long
Have done my credit in this world much wrong:
Have drowned my glory in a shallow cup
And sold my reputation for a song.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (4th ed., 1879) st. 93

[Fitzgerald]

9
Alas, that spring should vanish with the rose!
That youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close!

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 72

[Fitzgerald]

10
And when Thyself with shining foot shall pass
Among the guests star-scattered on the grass,
And in thy joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made one—turn down an empty glass!

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859) st. 75

And when like her, O Saki, you shall pass
Among the guests star-scattered on the grass,
And in your joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made one—turn down an empty glass!

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (4th ed., 1879) st. 101

[Fitzgerald]

11 Taste is the feminine of genius.
letter to J. R. Lowell, October 1877

[Fitzgerald]

Back  -   New Search

Fitzgerald, F. Scott 1896–1940

1 Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.
to which Ernest Hemingway replied, "Yes, they have more money"
All the Sad Young Men (1926) "Rich Boy"

2 The beautiful and damned.
title of novel (1922)

[Fitzgerald]

3 At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.
"Bernice Bobs her Hair" (1920)

[Fitzgerald]

4 I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.
The Great Gatsby (1925) ch. 3

[Fitzgerald]

5 In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning.
"Handle with Care" in Esquire March 1936.

[Fitzgerald]

6 See that little stream—we could walk to it in two minutes. It took the British a month to walk it—a whole empire walking very slowly, dying in front and pushing forward behind. And another empire walked very slowly backward a few inches a day, leaving the dead like a million bloody rugs.
Tender is the Night (1934)

[Fitzgerald]

7 There are no second acts in American lives.
Edmund Wilson (ed.) The Last Tycoon (1941) "Hollywood, etc."

[Fitzgerald]

Back  -   New Search

Fitzgerald, Garret 1926–

1 Living in history is a bit like finding oneself in a shuttered mansion to which one has been brought blindfold, and trying to imagine what it might look like from the outside.
in Irish Times 9 May 1998

Back  -   New Search

Fitzsimmons, Robert 1862–1917

1 The bigger they are, the further they have to fall.
prior to a fight
in Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11 August 1900

Back  -   New Search

Flanagan, Bud 1896–1968

1
Underneath the Arches,
I dream my dreams away,
Underneath the Arches,
On cobble-stones I lay.

"Underneath the Arches" (1932 song)

Back  -   New Search

Flanders, Michael 1922–75 and Swann, Donald 1923–94

1 Have Some Madeira, M'dear.
title of song (c.1956)

2
Mud! Mud! Glorious mud!
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.

"The Hippopotamus" (1952)

[Flanders]

3
Eating people is wrong!

"The Reluctant Cannibal" (1956 song); adopted as the title of a novel (1959) by Malcolm Bradbury

[Flanders]

Back  -   New Search

Flaubert, Gustave 1821–80

1 Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.
Madame Bovary (1857) pt. 1, ch. 12 (translated by F. Steegmuller)

2 Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry.
letter to Louise Colet, 14 August 1853

[Flaubert]

3 Style is life! It is the very life-blood of thought!
letter to Louise Colet, 7 September 1853

[Flaubert]

4 Books are made not like children but like pyramids…and they're just as useless! and they stay in the desert!…Jackals piss at their foot and the bourgeois climb up on them.
letter to Ernest Feydeau, November/December 1857

[Flaubert]

Back  -   New Search

Flecker, James Elroy 1884–1915

1
West of these out to seas colder than the Hebrides
I must go
Where the fleet of stars is anchored and the young
Star captains glow.

"The Dying Patriot" (1913)

2
The dragon-green, the luminous, the dark, the serpent-haunted sea.

"The Gates of Damascus" (1913)

[Flecker]

3
For lust of knowing what should not be known,
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.

The Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) pt. 1, "Epilogue"

[Flecker]

4
I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep
Beyond the village which men still call Tyre,
With leaden age o'ercargoed, dipping deep
For Famagusta and the hidden sun
That rings black Cyprus with a lake of fire.

"Old Ships" (1915)

[Flecker]

Back  -   New Search

Fleming, Ian 1908–64

1 A medium Vodka dry Martini—with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred.
Dr No (1958) ch. 14

Back  -   New Search

Fleming, Marjory 1803–11

1 The most devilish thing is 8 times 8 and 7 times 7 it is what nature itselfe cant endure.
Journals, Letters and Verses (ed. A. Esdaile, 1934)

2
His noses cast is of the roman
He is a very pretty weoman
I could not get a rhyme for roman
And was oblidged to call it weoman.

"Sonnet"

[Fleming]

Back  -   New Search

Flers, Robert, Marquis de 1872–1927 and Caillavet, Arman de 1869–1915

1 Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them.
L'habit vert act 1, sc. 12, in La petite Illustration série théâtre 31 May 1913

Back  -   New Search

Fletcher, Andrew of Saltoun 1655–1716

1 If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.
"An Account of a Conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Government for the Good of Mankind. In a Letter to the Marquis of Montrose" (1704)

Back  -   New Search

Fletcher, John 1579–1625

1
Three merry boys, and three merry boys,
And three merry boys are we,
As ever did sing in a hempen string
Under the Gallows-Tree.

The Bloody Brother act 3, sc. 2

2
Death hath so many doors to let out life.

The Custom of the Country (with Massinger) act 2, sc. 2. ,

[Fletcher]

3
Care-charming Sleep, thou easer of all woes,
Brother to Death.

Valentinian (performed c.1610–14) act 5, sc. 7 "Song"

[Fletcher]

4 Whistle and she'll come to you.
Wit Without Money act 4, sc. 4.

[Fletcher]

Back  -   New Search

Fletcher, Phineas 1582–1650

1
Drop, drop, slow tears,
And bathe those beauteous feet,
Which brought from Heaven
The news and Prince of Peace.

Poetical Miscellanies (1633) "An Hymn"

2
Love's tongue is in the eyes.

Piscatory Eclogues (1633) no. 5, st. 13

[Fletcher]

3
Love is like linen often changed, the sweeter.

Sicelides (performed 1614) act 3, sc. 5

[Fletcher]

4
The coward's weapon, poison.

Sicelides (performed 1614) act 5, sc. 3

[Fletcher]

Back  -   New Search

Florian, Jean-Pierre Claris de 1755–94

1
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

Love's pleasure lasts but a moment;
Love's sorrow lasts all through life.

Célestine (1784)

Back  -   New Search

Fo, Dario 1926–

1 Non si paga, non si paga.We won't pay, we won't pay.
title of play (1975; translated by Lino Pertile in 1978 as "We Can't Pay? We Won't Pay!" and performed in London in 1981 as "Can't Pay? Won't Pay!")

Back  -   New Search

Foch, Ferdinand 1851–1929

1 My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.
message during the first Battle of the Marne, September 1914
R. Recouly Foch (1919) ch. 6

2 This is not a peace treaty, it is an armistice for twenty years.
at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919
Paul Reynaud Mémoires (1963) vol. 2

[Foch]

Back  -   New Search

Foley, J. 1906–1970

1
Old soldiers never die,
They simply fade away.

"Old Soldiers Never Die" (1920 song); copyrighted by Foley but possibly a "folk-song" from the First World War

Back  -   New Search

Fonda, Jane 1937–

1 A man has every season, while a woman has only the right to spring.
in Daily Mail 13 September 1989

Back  -   New Search

Foot, Michael 1913–

1 Think of it! A second Chamber selected by the Whips. A seraglio of eunuchs.
speech in the House of Commons, 3 February 1969

2 It is not necessary that every time he rises he should give his famous imitation of a semi-house-trained polecat.
of Norman Tebbit
speech in the House of Commons, 2 March 1978

[Foot]

Back  -   New Search

Foote, Samuel 1720–77

1 Born in a cellar…and living in a garret.
The Author (1757) act 2

2 So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. "What! no soap?" So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top; and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the gun powder ran out at the heels of their boots.
nonsense composed to test the vaunted memory of the actor Charles Macklin (1697?–1797)
Maria Edgeworth Harry and Lucy (1825) vol. 2

[Foote]

Back  -   New Search

Forbes, Miss C. F. 1817–1911

1 The sense of being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity which religion is powerless to bestow.
R. W. Emerson Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Back  -   New Search

Ford, Gerald 1909–

1 If the Government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have.
John F. Parker If Elected (1960)

2 I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.
on taking the vice-presidential oath, 6 December 1973
in Washington Post 7 December 1973

[Ford]

3 Our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men.
on being sworn in as President, 9 August 1974
G. J. Lankevich Gerald R. Ford (1977).

[Ford]

Back  -   New Search

Ford, Henry 1863–1947

1 Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.
on the Model T Ford, 1909
Henry Ford with Samuel Crowther My Life and Work (1922) ch. 2

2 History is more or less bunk.
in Chicago Tribune 25 May 1916

[Ford]

Back  -   New Search

Ford, John 1586–1639

1
He hath shook hands with time.

The Broken Heart (1633) act 5, sc. 2

2
View but her face, and in that little round,
You may observe a world of variety.

'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1633) act 2

[Ford]

Back  -   New Search

Ford, Lena Guilbert 1870–1916

1
Keep the Home-fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning,
Though your lads are far away
They dream of Home.
There's a silver lining
Through the dark cloud shining;
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come Home.

"Till the Boys Come Home!" (1914 song); music by Ivor Novello

Back  -   New Search

Forgy, Howell 1908–83

1 Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, while Forgy moved along a line of sailors passing ammunition by hand to the deck
in New York Times 1 November 1942; later the title of a song by Frank Loesser, 1942

Back  -   New Search

Forster, E. M. 1879–1970

1 Yes—oh dear yes—the novel tells a story.
Aspects of the Novel (1927) ch. 2

2 A dogged attempt to cover the universe with mud, an inverted Victorianism, an attempt to make crossness and dirt succeed where sweetness and light failed.
of James Joyce's Ulysses
Aspects of the Novel (1927) ch. 6

[Forster]

3 It is a period between two wars—the long week-end it has been called.
The Development of English Prose between 1918 and 1939 (1945)

[Forster]

4 Railway termini. They are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.
Howards End (1910) ch. 2

[Forster]

5 Only connect!…Only connect the prose and the passion.
Howards End (1910) ch. 22

[Forster]

6 The so-called white races are really pinko-grey.
A Passage to India (1924) ch. 7

[Forster]

7 If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
Two Cheers for Democracy (1951) "What I Believe"

[Forster]

8 So Two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three. Only Love the Beloved Republic deserves that.
Two Cheers for Democracy (1951) "What I Believe".

[Forster]

Back  -   New Search

Fortunatus, Venantius ad c.530–610

1
Pange, lingua, gloriosi
Proelium certaminis.
Sing, my tongue, of the battle in the glorious struggle.
Passiontide hymn, most commonly sung as: "Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle"
"Pange lingua gloriosi".

2
Vexilla regis prodeunt,
Fulget crucis mysterium.
The banners of the king advance, the mystery of the cross shines bright.
hymn, usually sung as "The royal banners forward go"
"Vexilla Regis"

[Fortunatus]

3 Regnavit a ligno Deus.God reigned from the wood.
"Vexilla Regis"

[Fortunatus]

Back  -   New Search

Fosdick, Harry Emerson 1878–1969

1 I renounce war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatred it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in the place of democracy, for the starvation that stalks after it.
Armistice Day Sermon in New York, 1933

Back  -   New Search

Foster, Charles 1828–1904

1 Isn't this a billion dollar country?
responding to a Democratic gibe about a "million dollar Congress"
at the 51st Congress; also attributed to Thomas B. Reed

Back  -   New Search

Foster, John 1770–1843

1 But the two classes [the educated and the uneducated] so beheld in contrast, might they not seem to belong to two different nations?
Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance (1820).

Back  -   New Search

Foster, Stephen Collins 1826–64

1
Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrop are waiting for thee.

"Beautiful Dreamer" (1864 song)

2
I'll bet my money on de bobtail nag—
Somebody bet on de bay.

"De Camptown Races" (1850) chorus

[Foster]

3
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Floating, like a vapour, on the soft summer air.

"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (1854)

[Foster]

4
Way down upon the Swanee River,
Far, far, away,
There's where my heart is turning ever;
There's where the old folks stay.

"The Old Folks at Home" (1851)

[Foster]

5
All the world is sad and dreary
Everywhere I roam,
Oh! darkies, how my heart grows weary,
Far from the old folks at home.

"The Old Folks at Home" (1851) chorus

[Foster]

Back  -   New Search

Fourier, Charles 1772–1837

1 The extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social progress.
Théorie des Quatre Mouvements (1808) vol. 2, ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Fowler, H. W. 1858–1933

1 The English speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority and are a happy folk, to be envied by most of the minority classes.
Modern English Usage (1926)

Back  -   New Search

Fowler, Norman 1938–

1 I have a young family and for the next few years I should like to devote more time to them.
often quoted as "spend more time with my family"
resignation letter to the Prime Minister, in Guardian 4 January 1990.

Back  -   New Search

Fox, Charles James 1749–1806

1 How much the greatest event it is that ever happened in the world! and how much the best!
on the fall of the Bastille
letter to Richard Fitzpatrick, 30 July 1789

Back  -   New Search

Fox, George 1624–91

1 I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
Journal 1647

2 I…espied three steeple-house spires, and they struck at my life.
on seeing the spires of Lichfield
Journal 1651

[Fox]

3 Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.
Journal 1656

[Fox]

Back  -   New Search

Fox, Henry

seeLord Holland

Back  -   New Search

France, Anatole 1844–1924

1 In every well-governed state, wealth is a sacred thing; in democracies it is the only sacred thing.
L'Île des pingouins (1908) pt. 6, ch. 2

2 They [the poor] have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
Le Lys rouge (1894) ch. 7

[France]

Back  -   New Search

Francis I 1494–1547

1 De toutes choses ne m'est demeuré que l'honneur et la vie qui est saulve.Of all I had, only honour and life have been spared.
letter to his mother following his defeat at Pavia, 1525; usually quoted as "Tout est perdu fors l'honneur [All is lost save honour]"
in Collection des Documents Inédits sur l'Histoire de France (1847) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Francis, St de Sales 1567–1622

1 Big fires flare up in a wind, but little ones are blown out unless they are carried in under cover.
Introduction à la vie dévote (1609) pt. 3, ch. 34

2 It has been well said, that heart speaks to heart, whereas language only speaks to the ears.
letter to the Archbishop of Bourges, 5 October 1604, in Oeuvres de Saint François de Sales (1834) vol. 3

[Francis]

Back  -   New Search

Francis, St of Assisi 1181–1226

1
Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day and through whom You give us light.

"The Canticle of Brother Sun"

2
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace!
Where there is hatred let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

"Prayer of St Francis" (attributed)

[Francis]

Back  -   New Search

Frank, Anne 1929–45

1 I want to go on living even after death!
diary, 4 April 1944

Back  -   New Search

Franklin, Benjamin 1706–90

1 Necessity never made a good bargain.
Poor Richard's Almanac (1735) April

2 He that lives upon hope will die fasting.
Poor Richard's Almanac (1758) preface

[Franklin]

3 We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776 (possibly not original)

[Franklin]

4 There never was a good war, or a bad peace.
letter to Josiah Quincy, 11 September 1783

[Franklin]

5 In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy, 13 November 1789.

[Franklin]

6 Man is a tool-making animal.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 7 April 1778

[Franklin]

7 What is the use of a new-born child?
when asked what was the use of a new invention
J. Parton Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (1864) pt. 4, ch. 17

[Franklin]

Back  -   New Search

Franks, Lord 1905–92

1 The Pentagon, that immense monument to modern man's subservience to the desk.
in Observer 30 November 1952

Back  -   New Search

Frederick the Great 1712–86

1 My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
his interpretation of benevolent despotism
attributed

2 Rascals, would you live for ever?
to hesitant Guards at Kolin, 18 June 1757
attributed

[Frederick the Great]

Back  -   New Search

Freeman, E. A. 1823–92

1 History is past politics, and politics is present history.
Methods of Historical Study (1886)

Back  -   New Search

Freeth, John c.1731–1808

1
The loss of America what can repay?
New colonies seek for at Botany Bay.

"Botany Bay" in New London Magazine (1786)

Back  -   New Search

French, Percy 1854–1920

1
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

"The Mountains of Mourne"

Back  -   New Search

Frere, John Hookham 1769–1846

1
The feathered race with pinions skim the air—
Not so the mackerel, and still less the bear!

"The Progress of Man" (1798) canto 1, l. 34

Back  -   New Search

Freud, Sigmund 1856–1939

1 Anatomy is destiny.
Collected Writings (1924) vol. 5

2 The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
often misquoted as, "Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious"
The Interpretation of Dreams (2nd ed., 1909) ch. 7, sect. E

[Freud]

3 All that matters is love and work.
attributed

[Freud]

4 Frozen anger.
his definition of depression
attributed

[Freud]

Back  -   New Search

Friedan, Betty 1921–

1 The problem that has no name.
being the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities
The Feminine Mystique (1963) ch. 14

Back  -   New Search

Friedman, Milton 1912–

1 There is an invisible hand in politics that operates in the opposite direction to the invisible hand in the market. In politics, individuals who seek to promote only the public good are led by an invisible hand to promote special interests that it was no part of their intention to promote.
Bright Promises, Dismal Performance: An Economist's Protest (1983)

Back  -   New Search

Friel, Brian 1929–

1 Do you want the whole countryside to be laughing at us?—women of our years?—mature women, dancing?
Dancing at Lughnasa (1990)

Back  -   New Search

Frisch, Max 1911–91

1 Technology…the knack of so arranging the world that we need not experience it.
Homo Faber (1957) pt. 2

Back  -   New Search

Frohman, Charles 1860–1915

1 Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.
before drowning in the Lusitania, 7 May 1915
I. F. Marcosson and D. Frohman Charles Frohman (1916).

Back  -   New Search

Fromm, Erich 1900–80

1 In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead.
The Sane Society (1955) ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Frost, David 1939–

1 Having one child makes you a parent; having two you are a referee.
in Independent 16 September 1989

Back  -   New Search

Frost, Robert 1874–1963

1
Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.

"Cluster of Faith" (1962)

2
And nothing to look backward to with pride,
And nothing to look forward to with hope.

"The Death of the Hired Man" (1914)

[Frost]

3
"Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in."

"The Death of the Hired Man" (1914)

[Frost]

4
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.

"Fire and Ice" (1923)

[Frost]

5
The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people.

"The Gift Outright" (1942)

[Frost]

6
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it.

"Mending Wall" (1914)

[Frost]

7
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."

"Mending Wall" (1914)

[Frost]

8
I never dared be radical when young
For fear it would make me conservative when old.

"Precaution" (1936)

[Frost]

9
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

"The Road Not Taken" (1916)

[Frost]

10
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (1923)

[Frost]

11 I'd as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down.
Edward Lathem Interviews with Robert Frost (1966)

[Frost]

12 Poetry is what is lost in translation. It is also what is lost in interpretation.
Louis Untermeyer Robert Frost (1964)

[Frost]

Back  -   New Search

Fry, Christopher 1907–

1 The dark is light enough.
title of play (1954)

2 The lady's not for burning.
title of play (1949).

[Fry]

3
Where in this small-talking world can I find
A longitude with no platitude?

The Lady's not for Burning (1949) act 3

[Fry]

Back  -   New Search

Fry, Elizabeth 1780–1845

1 Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.
note found among her papers; Rachel E. Cresswell and Katharine Fry Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry (1848)

Back  -   New Search

Fry, Roger 1866–1934

1 Art is significant deformity.
Virginia Woolf Roger Fry (1940) ch. 8

Back  -   New Search

Fulbright, J. William 1905–95

1 The Soviet Union has indeed been our greatest menace, not so much because of what it has done, but because of the excuses it has provided us for our failures.
in Observer 21 December 1958 "Sayings of the Year"

Back  -   New Search

Fuller, R. Buckminster 1895–1983

1
God, to me, it seems,
is a verb
not a noun,
proper or improper.

No More Secondhand God (1963) (untitled poem written in 1940).

2 Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1969) ch. 4

[Fuller]

Back  -   New Search

Fuller, Thomas 1608–61

1 But our captain counts the Image of God nevertheless his image, cut in ebony as if done in ivory.
The Holy State and the Profane State (1642) bk. 2 "The Good Sea-Captain"

2 Anger is one of the sinews of the soul.
The Holy State and the Profane State bk. 3 "Of Anger"

[Fuller]

3 Light (God's eldest daughter) is a principal beauty in building.
The Holy State and the Profane State bk. 3 "Of Building"

[Fuller]

Back  -   New Search

Fuller, Thomas 1654–1734

1 He that plants trees loves others beside himself.
Gnomologia (1732) no. 2247

2 We are all Adam's children but silk makes the difference.
Gnomologia (1732) no. 5425

[Fuller]

Back  -   New Search

Funke, Alfred b. 1869

1 Gott strafe England!God punish England!
Schwert und Myrte (1914)

Back  -   New Search

Fyfe, David Maxwell

seeLord Kilmuir

Back  -   New Search

Fyleman, Rose 1877–1957

1 There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
Fairies and Chimneys (1918) "The Fairies" (first published in Punch 23 May 1917)

Back  -   New Search

G

Gainsborough, Thomas 1727–88

1 We are all going to Heaven, and Vandyke is of the company.
last words; attributed, William B. Boulton Thomas Gainsborough (1905) ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Gaitskell, Hugh 1906–63

1 There are some of us…who will fight and fight and fight again to save the Party we love.
speech at Labour Party Conference, 5 October 1960

2 It means the end of a thousand years of history.
on a European federation
speech at Labour Party Conference, 3 October 1962

[Gaitskell]

Back  -   New Search

Gaius (or Caius) ad c.110–180

1 Damnosa hereditas.Ruinous inheritance.
The Institutes bk. 2, ch. 163

Back  -   New Search

Galbraith, J. K. 1908–

1 The affluent society.
title of book (1958)

2 Trickle-down theory—the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.
The Culture of Contentment (1992)

[Galbraith]

3 Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
speech to President Kennedy, 2 March 1962.

[Galbraith]

Back  -   New Search

Galen ad 129–199

1 That which is grows, while that which is not becomes.
On the Natural Faculties bk. 2, sect. 3

Back  -   New Search

Galileo Galilei 1564–1642

1 Eppur si muove.But it does move.
after his recantation, that the earth moves around the sun, in 1632
attributed; Baretti Italian Library (1757) is possibly the earliest appearance of the phrase

Back  -   New Search

Galsworthy, John 1867–1933

1 He was afflicted by the thought that where Beauty was, nothing ever ran quite straight, which, no doubt, was why so many people looked on it as immoral.
In Chancery (1920) pt. 1, ch. 13

2 A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it.
Maid in Waiting (1931) ch. 3

[Galsworthy]

Back  -   New Search

Galt, John 1779–1839

1
From the lone shieling of the misty island
Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas—
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides!

"Canadian Boat Song" translated from the Gaelic in Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine September 1829, and later attributed to Galt

Back  -   New Search

Galton, Ray 1930– and Simpson, Alan 1929–

1 I came in here in all good faith to help my country. I don't mind giving a reasonable amount [of blood], but a pint…why that's very nearly an armful.
Hancock's Half Hour "The Blood Donor" (1961 television programme); words spoken by Tony Hancock

Back  -   New Search

Gandhi, Mahatma 1869–1948

1 Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.
speech at Shahi Bag, 18 March 1922, on a charge of sedition

2 Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.
speech in Ahmadabad, 23 March 1922

[Gandhi]

Back  -   New Search

Garbo, Greta (Greta Lovisa Gustafsson) 1905–90

1 I want to be alone.
Grand Hotel (1932 film), the phrase already being associated with Garbo

Back  -   New Search

García Lorca, Federico 1899–1936

1
A las cinco de la tarde.
Eran las cinco en punto de la tarde.
Un niño trajo la blanca sábana
a las cinco de la tarde.

At five in the afternoon.
It was exactly five in the afternoon.
A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.

Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (1935) "La Cogida y la muerte"

2
Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.

Green how I love you green.
Green wind.
Green boughs.
The ship on the sea
and the horse on the mountain.

Romance sonámbulo (1924–7)

[García Lorca]

Back  -   New Search

Gardiner, Richard b. c.1533

1 Sowe Carrets in your Gardens, and humbly praise God for them, as for a singular and great blessing.
Profitable Instructions for the Manuring, Sowing and Planting of Kitchen Gardens (1599)

Back  -   New Search

Gardner, Ed 1901–63

1 Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.
in Duffy's Tavern (US radio programme, 1940s)

Back  -   New Search

Garfield, James A. 1831–81

1 Fellow-citizens: God reigns, and the Government at Washington lives!
speech on the assassination of President Lincoln, 17 April 1865

Back  -   New Search

Garibaldi, Giuseppe 1807–82

1 Men, I'm getting out of Rome. Anyone who wants to carry on the war against the outsiders, come with me. I can offer you neither honours nor wages; I offer you hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Anyone who loves his country, follow me.
Giuseppe Guerzoni Garibaldi (1882) vol. 1 (not a verbatim record)

Back  -   New Search

Garner, John Nance 1868–1967

1 The vice-presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss.
O. C. Fisher Cactus Jack (1978) ch. 11

Back  -   New Search

Garrick, David 1717–79

1
Heart of oak are our ships,
Heart of oak are our men:
We always are ready;
Steady, boys, steady;
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.

Harlequin's Invasion (1759) "Heart of Oak" (song)

2
Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll,
Who wrote like an angel, but talked like poor Poll.

"Impromptu Epitaph" (written 1773/4)

[Garrick]

3
Life is a jest; and all things show it.
I thought so once; but now I know it.

"My Own Epitaph" (1720)

[Garrick]

4
Heaven sends us good meat, but the Devil sends cooks.

"On Doctor Goldsmith's Characteristical Cookery" (1777)

[Garrick]

Back  -   New Search

Garrison, William Lloyd 1805–79

1 I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard!
in The Liberator 1 January 1831 "Salutatory Address"

2 The compact which exists between the North and the South is "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell".
resolution adopted by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 27 January 1843.

[Garrison]

Back  -   New Search

Garth, Samuel 1661–1719

1
All their luxury was doing good.

"Claremont" (1715) l. 148

2
A barren superfluity of words.

The Dispensary (1699) canto 2, l. 82

[Garth]

Back  -   New Search

Gaskell, Elizabeth 1810–65

1 A man…is so in the way in the house!
Cranford (1853) ch. 1

2 I'll not listen to reason…Reason always means what someone else has got to say.
Cranford (1853) ch. 14

[Gaskell]

3 That kind of patriotism which consists in hating all other nations.
Sylvia's Lovers (1863) ch. 1

[Gaskell]

4 It is a noble grand book, whoever wrote it—but Miss Evans' life taken at the best construction, does so jar against the beautiful book that one cannot help hoping against hope.
on first hearing of the true identity of "George Eliot", author of Adam Bede
letter to George Smith, 4 August 1859

[Gaskell]

Back  -   New Search

Gauguin, Paul 1848–1903

1 A hint—don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an abstraction! study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God—to create like our Divine Master.
letter to Emile Schuffenecker, 14 August 1888

Back  -   New Search

Gautier, Théophile 1811–72

1
Toute passe.—L'art robuste
Seul à l'éternité,
Le Buste
Survit à la cité.
Everything passes. Robust art alone is eternal, the bust survives the city.
"L'Art" (1857).

Back  -   New Search

Gavarni (Guillaume Sulpice Chevalier) 1804–66

1 Les enfants terribles.The little terrors.
title of a series of prints (1842)

Back  -   New Search

Gay, John 1685–1732

1
Our Polly is a sad slut! nor heeds what we have taught her.
I wonder any man alive will ever rear a daughter!

The Beggar's Opera (1728) act 1, sc. 8, air 7

2 Do you think your mother and I should have lived comfortably so long together, if ever we had been married?
The Beggar's Opera (1728) act 1, sc. 8

[Gay]

3 The comfortable estate of widowhood, is the only hope that keeps up a wife's spirits.
The Beggar's Opera (1728) act 1, sc. 10

[Gay]

4
If with me you'd fondly stray.
Over the hills and far away.

The Beggar's Opera (1728) act 1, sc. 13, air 16

[Gay]

5
How happy could I be with either,
Were t'other dear charmer away!

The Beggar's Opera (1728) act 2, sc. 13, air 35

[Gay]

6
And when a lady's in the case,
You know, all other things give place.

Fables (1727) "The Hare and Many Friends" l. 41

[Gay]

7
An open foe may prove a curse,
But a pretended friend is worse.

Fables (1727) "The Shepherd's Dog and the Wolf" l. 33

[Gay]

8
Give me, kind heaven, a private station,
A mind serene for contemplation.

Fables (1738) "The Vulture, the Sparrow, and Other Birds" l. 69

[Gay]

9
Behold the bright original appear.

"A Letter to a Lady" (1714) l. 85

[Gay]

10 An inconstant woman, tho' she has no chance to be very happy, can never be very unhappy.
"Polly" (1729) act 1, sc. 14

[Gay]

11
All in the Downs the fleet was moored,
The streamers waving in the wind,
When black-eyed Susan came aboard.

"Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan" (1720)

[Gay]

12
They'll tell thee, sailors, when away,
In ev'ry port a mistress find.

"Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan" (1720)

[Gay]

Back  -   New Search

Gay, Noel 1898–1954

1
I'm leaning on a lamp post at the corner of the street,
In case a certain little lady comes by.

"Leaning on a Lamp Post" (1937); sung by George Formby in the film Father Knew Best

Back  -   New Search

Geddes, Eric 1875–1937

1 The Germans, if this Government is returned, are going to pay every penny; they are going to be squeezed as a lemon is squeezed—until the pips squeak.
speech at Cambridge, 10 December 1918

Back  -   New Search

Geldof, Bob 1954– and Ure, Midge 1953–

1 Do they know it's Christmas?
title of song (1984)

Back  -   New Search

Gellhorn, Martha 1908–98

1 I had no idea you could be what I became, an unscathed tourist of wars.
The Face of War (1959)

2 Never believe governments, not any of them, not a word they say; keep an untrusting eye on all they do.
in obituary, Daily Telegraph 17 February 1998

[Gellhorn]

Back  -   New Search

Genet, Jean 1910–86

1 What we need is hatred. From it our ideas are born.
The Blacks (1959); epigraph

2 Are you there…Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.
The Blacks (1959)

[Genet]

Back  -   New Search

Genghis Khan (Temujin) 1162–1227

1 Happiness lies in conquering one's enemies, in driving them in front of oneself, in taking their property, in savouring their despair, in outraging their wives and daughters.
Witold Rodzinski The Walled Kingdom: A History of China (1979)

Back  -   New Search

George I 1660–1727

1 I hate all Boets and Bainters.
John Campbell Lives of the Chief Justices (1849) "Lord Mansfield"

Back  -   New Search

George II 1683–1760

1 Non, j'aurai des maîtresses.No, I shall have mistresses.
when Queen Caroline, on her deathbed in 1737, urged him to marry again; the Queen replied, "Ah! mon dieu! cela n'empêche pas [Oh, my God! That won't make any difference]"
John Hervey Memoirs of the Reign of George II (1848) vol. 2.

2 Mad, is he? Then I hope he will bite some of my other generals.
replying to the Duke of Newcastle, who had complained that General Wolfe was a madman
Henry Beckles Willson Life and Letters of James Wolfe (1909) ch. 17

[George II]

Back  -   New Search

George III 1738–1820

1 Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton.
The King's Speech on Opening the Session House of Lords, 18 November 1760

2 Was there ever such stuff as great part of Shakespeare? Only one must not say so! But what think you?—what?—Is there not sad stuff? what?—what?
to Fanny Burney, in Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay vol. 2 (1842) diary, 19 December 1785

[George III]

Back  -   New Search

George IV 1762–1830

1 Harris, I am not well; pray get me a glass of brandy.
on first seeing Caroline of Brunswick, his future wife
Earl of Malmesbury Diaries and Correspondence (1844), 5 April 1795

Back  -   New Search

George V 1865–1936

1 I venture to allude to the impression which seemed generally to prevail among their brethren across the seas, that the Old Country must wake up if she intends to maintain her old position of pre-eminence in her Colonial trade against foreign competitors.
speech at Guildhall, 5 December 1901, reprinted in 1911 under the title "Wake up, England"

2 I pray that my coming to Ireland today may prove to be the first step towards an end of strife among her people, whatever their race or creed. In that hope I appeal to all Irishmen to pause, to stretch out the hand of forbearance and conciliation, to forgive and forget, and to join with me in making for the land they love a new era of peace, contentment and goodwill.
speech to the new Ulster Parliament at Stormont, 22 June 1921

[George V]

3 I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon earth through the years to come than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.
message read at Terlincthun Cemetery, Boulogne, 13 May 1922

[George V]

4 After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months.
of his son, the future Edward VIII
Keith Middlemas and John Barnes Baldwin (1969) ch. 34

[George V]

5 on H. G. Wells's comment on "an alien and uninspiring court":I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm an alien!
Sarah Bradford George VI (1989); attributed

[George V]

6 Bugger Bognor.
on his deathbed in 1936, when someone remarked "Cheer up, your Majesty, you will soon be at Bognor again"; alternatively, a comment made in 1929, when it was proposed that the town be named Bognor Regis on account of the king's convalescence there after a serious illness
probably apocryphal; Kenneth Rose King George V (1983) ch. 9

[George V]

7 How's the Empire?
said to his private secretary on the morning of his death
letter from Lord Wigram, 31 January 1936

[George V]

Back  -   New Search

George VI 1895–1952

1 I feel happier now that we have no allies to be polite to and to pamper.
to Queen Mary, 27 June 1940

2 Abroad is bloody.
W. H. Auden A Certain World (1970) "Royalty".

[George VI]

3 The family firm.
description of the British monarchy
attributed

[George VI]

Back  -   New Search

George, Daniel

1 O Freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name!
The Perpetual Pessimist (1963)

Back  -   New Search

George, Lloyd

see David Lloyd George

Back  -   New Search

Geronimo c.1829–1909

1 Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all.
surrendering to General Crook, 25 March 1886

Back  -   New Search

Gershwin, Ira 1896–1983

1 I don't think I'll fall in love today.
title of song (1928, from Treasure Girl)

2 I got rhythm.
title of song (1930, from Girl Crazy)

[Gershwin]

3
In time the Rockies may crumble,
Gibraltar may tumble,
They're only made of clay,
But our love is here to stay.

"Love is Here to Stay" (1938 song) in The Goldwyn Follies

[Gershwin]

4
Holding hands at midnight
'Neath a starry sky,
Nice work if you can get it,
And you can get it if you try.

"Nice Work If You Can Get It" (1937 song) in Damsel in Distress

[Gershwin]

Back  -   New Search

Getty, J. Paul 1892–1976

1 If you can actually count your money, then you are not really a rich man.
in Observer 3 November 1957

Back  -   New Search

Giacosa, Giuseppe 1847–1906 and Illica, Luigi 1857–1919

1 Che gelida manina.Your tiny hand is frozen.
Rodolfo to Mimi
La Bohème (1896) act 1; music by Puccini

Back  -   New Search

Gibbon, Edward 1737–94

1 In elective monarchies, the vacancy of the throne is a moment big with danger and mischief.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) ch. 3

2 History…is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) ch. 3.

[Gibbon]

3 Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his inclinations, and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than ostentation. [Footnote] By each of his concubines the younger Gordian left three or four children. His literary productions were by no means contemptible.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) ch. 7

[Gibbon]

4 Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) ch. 14

[Gibbon]

5 In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
of Comnenus
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) ch. 48.

[Gibbon]

6 To the University of Oxford I acknowledge no obligation; and she will as cheerfully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College: they proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life.
Memoirs of My Life (1796) ch. 3

[Gibbon]

7 I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.
Memoirs of My Life (1796) ch. 4 n.

[Gibbon]

8 It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefoot friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Memoirs of My Life (1796) ch. 6 n.

[Gibbon]

9 My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the obscurity of a learned language.
parodied as "decent obscurity" in the Anti-Jacobin, 1797–8
Memoirs of My Life (1796) ch. 8

[Gibbon]

Back  -   New Search

Gibbons, Orlando 1583–1625

1
The silver swan, who, living had no note,
When death approached unlocked her silent throat.

The First Set of Madrigals and Motets of Five Parts (1612) "The Silver Swan"

Back  -   New Search

Gibbons, Stella 1902–89

1 When the sukebind hangs heavy from the wains.
Cold Comfort Farm (1932) ch. 5

2 Something nasty in the woodshed.
Cold Comfort Farm (1932) ch. 10

[Gibbons]

Back  -   New Search

Gibbs, Wolcott 1902–58

1 Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind.
satirizing the style of Time magazine
in New Yorker 28 November 1936 "Time…Fortune…Life…Luce"

Back  -   New Search

Gibran, Kahlil 1883–1931

1 Are you a politician who says to himself: "I will use my country for my own benefit"?…Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers in the ear of his inner self: "I love to serve my country as a faithful servant."
The New Frontier (1931), tr. Anthony R. Ferris in The Voice of the Master (1958).

2
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They came through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

The Prophet (1923) "On Children"

[Gibran]

Back  -   New Search

Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson 1878–1962

1
Nor feel the heart-break in the heart of things.

"Lament" (1918)

Back  -   New Search

Gide, André 1869–1951

1 Hugo—alas!
when asked who was the greatest 19th-century poet
Claude Martin La Maturité d'André Gide (1977)

Back  -   New Search

Gilbert, Humphrey c.1537–83

1 We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!
Richard Hakluyt Third and Last Volume of the Voyages…of the English Nation (1600).

Back  -   New Search

Gilbert, W. S. 1836–1911

1
That celebrated,
Cultivated,
Underrated
Nobleman,
The Duke of Plaza Toro!

The Gondoliers (1889) act 1

2
Of that there is no manner of doubt—
No probable, possible shadow of doubt—
No possible doubt whatever.

The Gondoliers (1889) act 1

[Gilbert]

3
Take a pair of sparkling eyes.

The Gondoliers (1889) act 2

[Gilbert]

4
When every one is somebodee,
Then no one's anybody.

The Gondoliers (1889) act 2

[Gilbert]

5
The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that's excellent.
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law.

Iolanthe (1882) act 1

[Gilbert]

6
I often think it's comical
How Nature always does contrive
That every boy and every gal,
That's born into the world alive,
Is either a little Liberal,
Or else a little Conservative!

Iolanthe (1882) act 2

[Gilbert]

7
The prospect of a lot
Of dull MPs in close proximity,
Áll thinking for themselves is what
No man can face with equanimity.

Iolanthe (1882) act 2

[Gilbert]

8
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well.

Iolanthe (1882) act 2

[Gilbert]

9
When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is taboo'd by anxiety,
I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in, without impropriety.

Iolanthe (1882) act 2

[Gilbert]

10
A wandering minstrel I—
A thing of shreds and patches.
Of ballads, songs and snatches,
And dreamy lullaby!

The Mikado (1885) act 1.

[Gilbert]

11 I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something in-conceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering.
The Mikado (1885) act 1

[Gilbert]

12
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list—I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be under ground
And who never would be missed—who never would be missed!

The Mikado (1885) act 1

[Gilbert]

13
The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own.

The Mikado (1885) act 1

[Gilbert]

14
Three little maids from school are we.

The Mikado (1885) act 1

[Gilbert]

15
Modified rapture!

The Mikado (1885) act 1

[Gilbert]

16
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.

The Mikado (1885) act 1

[Gilbert]

17
Here's a how-de-doo!

The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

18
Here's a state of things!

The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

19
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime.

The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

20 I have a left shoulder-blade that is a miracle of loveliness. People come miles to see it. My right elbow has a fascination that few can resist.
The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

21 Something lingering, with boiling oil in it, I fancy.
The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

22 Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

23
The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,
Have nothing to do with the case.

The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

24
On a tree by a river a little tom-tit
Sang "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!"

The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

25
There's a fascination frantic
In a ruin that's romantic;
Do you think you are sufficiently decayed?

The Mikado (1885) act 2

[Gilbert]

26
If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare.

Patience (1881) act 1

[Gilbert]

27
The meaning doesn't matter if it's only idle chatter of a transcendental kind.

Patience (1881) act 1

[Gilbert]

28
An attachment à la Plato for a bashful young potato, or a not too French French bean!

Patience (1881) act 1

[Gilbert]

29
If you walk down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in your medieval hand.

Patience (1881) act 1

[Gilbert]

30
Francesca di Rimini, miminy, piminy,
Je-ne-sais-quoi young man!

Patience (1881) act 2

[Gilbert]

31
A greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery,
Foot-in-the-grave young man!

Patience (1881) act 2

[Gilbert]

32
I'm called Little Buttercup—dear Little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why.

HMS Pinafore (1878) act 1

[Gilbert]

33
And so do his sisters, and his cousins and his aunts!
His sisters and his cousins,
Whom he reckons up by dozens,
And his aunts!

HMS Pinafore (1878) act 1

[Gilbert]

34
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!

HMS Pinafore (1878) act 1

[Gilbert]

35
I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.

HMS Pinafore (1878) act 1

[Gilbert]

36
For he himself has said it,
And it's greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman!

HMS Pinafore (1878) act 2

[Gilbert]

37
For he might have been a Roosian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Ital-ian!
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!

HMS Pinafore (1878) act 2

[Gilbert]

38
It is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.

The Pirates of Penzance (1879) act 1

[Gilbert]

39
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

The Pirates of Penzance (1879) act 1

[Gilbert]

40
When constabulary duty's to be done,
A policeman's lot is not a happy one.

The Pirates of Penzance (1879) act 2

[Gilbert]

41 He combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist.
Ruddigore (1887) act 1

[Gilbert]

42 Some word that teems with hidden meaning—like Basingstoke.
Ruddigore (1887) act 2

[Gilbert]

43
This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter
Isn't generally heard, and if it is it doesn't matter.

Ruddigore (1887) act 2

[Gilbert]

44
She may very well pass for forty-three
In the dusk with a light behind her!

Trial by Jury (1875)

[Gilbert]

Back  -   New Search

Gill, Eric 1882–1940

1 That state is a state of slavery in which a man does what he likes to do in his spare time and in his working time that which is required of him.
Art-nonsense and Other Essays (1929) "Slavery and Freedom".

Back  -   New Search

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 1860–1935

1 There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. As well speak of a female liver.
Women and Economics (1898) ch. 8

Back  -   New Search

Ginsberg, Allen 1926–97

1
What if someone gave a war & Nobody came?
Life would ring the bells of Ecstasy and Forever be Itself again.

"Graffiti" (1972).

2
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of the night.

Howl (1956)

[Ginsberg]

Back  -   New Search

Gipp, George 1895–1920

1 Tell them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper.
the catchphrase "Win one for the Gipper" was later used by Ronald Reagan, who played Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American
Knut Rockne "Gipp the Great" in Collier's 22 November 1930

Back  -   New Search

Giraudoux, Jean 1882–1944

1 As soon as war is declared it will be impossible to hold the poets back. Rhyme is still the most effective drum.
La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu (1935) act 2, sc. 4 (tr. Christopher Fry as Tiger at the Gates, 1955)

Back  -   New Search

Gladney, Edna

1 There are no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents.
MGM paid her a large sum for the line for the 1941 film based on her life, "Blossoms in the Dust"
A. Loos Kiss Hollywood Good-Bye (1978)

Back  -   New Search

Gladstone, W. E. 1809–98

1 My mission is to pacify Ireland.
on receiving news that he was to form his first cabinet, 1st December 1868
H. C. G. Matthew Gladstone 1809–1874 (1986) ch. 5

2 Swimming for his life, a man does not see much of the country through which the river winds.
diary, 31 December 1868

[Gladstone]

3 Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only possible manner, namely by carrying off themselves…one and all, bag and baggage, shall I hope clear out from the province they have desolated and profaned.
Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East (1876)

[Gladstone]

4 [An] Established Clergy will always be a Tory Corps d'Armée.
letter to Bishop Goodwin, 8 September 1881

[Gladstone]

5 There never was a Churchill from John of Marlborough down that had either morals or principles.
in conversation in 1882, recorded by Captain R. V. Briscoe

[Gladstone]

6 All the world over, I will back the masses against the classes.
speech in Liverpool, 28 June 1886

[Gladstone]

7 The blubbering Cabinet.
of the colleagues who wept at his final Cabinet meeting
diary, 10 April 1887

[Gladstone]

8 The God-fearing and God-sustaining University of Oxford. I served her, perhaps mistakenly, but to the best of my ability.
farewell message, just before his death, May 1898
Roy Jenkins Gladstone (1995)

[Gladstone]

9 I absorb the vapour and return it as a flood.
on public speaking
Lord Riddell Some Things That Matter (1927 ed.)

[Gladstone]

10 It is not a Life at all. It is a Reticence, in three volumes.
on J. W. Cross's Life of George Eliot
E. F. Benson As We Were (1930) ch. 6

[Gladstone]

11 [Money should] fructify in the pockets of the people.
H. G. C. Matthew Gladstone 1809–1874 (1986)

[Gladstone]

Back  -   New Search

Glasse, Hannah fl. 1747

1 Take your hare when it is cased.
"cased" = skinned
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Gloucester, William Henry, Duke of 1743–1805

1 Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr Gibbon?
Henry Best Personal and Literary Memorials (1829); alternatively attributed to the Duke of Cumberland and King George III

Back  -   New Search

Godard, Jean-Luc 1930–

1 Photography is truth. The cinema is truth 24 times per second.
Le Petit Soldat (1960 film)

2 georges franju: Movies should have a beginning, a middle and an end.
jean-luc godard: Certainly, but not necessarily in that order.

in Time 14 September 1981.

[Godard]

Back  -   New Search

Godley, A. D. 1856–1925

1
What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum!

letter to C. R. L. Fletcher, 10 January 1914, in Reliquiae (1926) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Goebbels, Joseph 1897–1945

1 We can manage without butter but not, for example, without guns. If we are attacked we can only defend ourselves with guns not with butter.
speech in Berlin, 17 January 1936.

2 Making noise is an effective means of opposition.
Ernest K. Bramsted Goebbels and National Socialist Propaganda 1925–45 (1965)

[Goebbels]

Back  -   New Search

Goering, Hermann 1893–1946

1 We have no butter…but I ask you—would you rather have butter or guns?…preparedness makes us powerful. Butter merely makes us fat.
speech at Hamburg, 1936, in W. Frischauer Goering (1951) ch. 10.

2 I herewith commission you to carry out all preparations with regard to…a total solution of the Jewish question in those territories of Europe which are under German influence.
instructions to Heydrich, 31 July 1941.

[Goering]

Back  -   New Search

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 1749–1832

1
Es irrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt.

Man will err while yet he strives.

Faust pt. 1 (1808) "Prolog im Himmel"

2
Entbehren sollst Du! sollst entbehren!
Das ist der ewige Gesang.

Deny yourself! You must deny yourself!
That is the song that never ends.

Faust pt. 1 (1808) "Studierzimmer"

[Goethe]

3
Grau, teurer Freund, ist alle Theorie
Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.
All theory, dear friend, is grey, but the golden tree of actual life springs ever green.
Faust pt. 1 (1808) "Studierzimmer"

[Goethe]

4
Meine Ruh' ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer.

My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy.

Faust pt. 1 (1808) "Gretchen am Spinnrad"

[Goethe]

5
Die Tat ist alles, nichts der Ruhm.

The deed is all, the glory nothing.

Faust pt. 2 (1832) "Hochgebirg"

[Goethe]

6
Das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan.

Eternal Woman draws us upward.

Faust pt. 2 (1832) "Hochgebirg" closing words

[Goethe]

7
Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt.
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
Torquato Tasso (1790) act 1, sc. 2

[Goethe]

8 Die Wahlverwandtschaften.Elective affinities.
title of novel (1809)

[Goethe]

9
Über allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh'.

Over all the mountain tops is peace.

Wanderers Nachtlied (1821)

[Goethe]

10
Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn?
Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen glühn.
Know you the land where the lemon-trees bloom? In the dark foliage the gold oranges glow.
Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795–6) bk. 3, ch. 1

[Goethe]

11 Mehr Licht!More light!
abbreviated version of "Macht doch den zweiten Fensterladen auch auf, damit mehr Licht hereinkomme [Open the second shutter, so that more light can come in]")
K. W. Müller Goethes letze literarische Thätigkeit (1832)

[Goethe]

Back  -   New Search

Goldberg, Isaac 1887–1938

1
Diplomacy is to do and say
The nastiest thing in the nicest way.

in The Reflex October 1927

Back  -   New Search

Goldberg, Whoopi 1949–

1 I dislike this idea that if you're a black person in America then you must be called an African-American. I'm not an African. I'm an American. Just call me black, if you want to call me anything.
in Irish Times 25 April 1998 "Quotes of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Goldman, Emma 1869–1940

1 Anarchism, then, really, stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraints of government.
Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)

Back  -   New Search

Golding, William 1911–93

1 Nothing is so impenetrable as laughter in a language you don't understand.
An Egyptian Journal (1985)

Back  -   New Search

Goldsmith, Oliver 1728–74

1
Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 1

2
Ill fares the land, to hast'ning ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 51

[Goldsmith]

3
How happy he who crowns in shades like these,
A youth of labour with an age of ease.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 99

[Goldsmith]

4
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 122

[Goldsmith]

5
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 141

[Goldsmith]

6
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 179

[Goldsmith]

7
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could carry all he knew.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 215

[Goldsmith]

8
How wide the limits stand
Between a splendid and a happy land.

The Deserted Village (1770) l. 267

[Goldsmith]

9
Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.

"Edwin and Angelina, or the Hermit" (1766).

[Goldsmith]

10
The doctor found, when she was dead,—
Her last disorder mortal.

"Elegy on Mrs Mary Blaize" (1759)

[Goldsmith]

11
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.

"Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog" (1766)

[Goldsmith]

12
Our Garrick's a salad; for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree.

Retaliation (1774) l. 11.

[Goldsmith]

13
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.

of Edmund Burke
Retaliation (1774) l. 32

[Goldsmith]

14
On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting;
'Twas only that when he was off he was acting.

of David Garrick
Retaliation (1774) l. 101

[Goldsmith]

15
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is, at home.

The Traveller (1764) l. 73

[Goldsmith]

16
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

The Traveller (1764) l. 92

[Goldsmith]

17
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.

The Traveller (1764) l. 386

[Goldsmith]

18
How small, of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!

The Traveller (1764) l. 429.

[Goldsmith]

19 The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.
The Bee no. 3 (20 October 1759) "On the Use of Language"

[Goldsmith]

20 Measures not men, have always been my mark.
The Good Natured Man (1768) act 2

[Goldsmith]

21
Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain,
With grammar, and nonsense, and learning,
Good liquor, I stoutly maintain,
Gives genius a better discerning.

She Stoops to Conquer (1773) act 1, sc. 1 "Song"

[Goldsmith]

22 The very pink of perfection.
She Stoops to Conquer (1773) act 1

[Goldsmith]

23 This is Liberty-Hall, gentlemen.
She Stoops to Conquer (1773) act 2

[Goldsmith]

24 I…chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well.
The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) ch. 1

[Goldsmith]

25
When lovely woman stoops to folly
And finds too late that men betray,
What charm can soothe her melancholy,
What art can wash her guilt away?

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) ch. 29.

[Goldsmith]

26 There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 26 October 1769

[Goldsmith]

Back  -   New Search

Goldwater, Barry 1909–98

1 I would remind you that extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!
accepting the presidential nomination, 16 July 1964

Back  -   New Search

Goldwyn, Sam 1882–1974

1 Gentlemen, include me out.
resigning from the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, October 1933
Michael Freedland The Goldwyn Touch (1986) ch. 10

2 That's the way with these directors, they're always biting the hand that lays the golden egg.
Alva Johnston The Great Goldwyn (1937) ch. 1

[Goldwyn]

3 A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it is written on.
Alva Johnston The Great Goldwyn (1937) ch. 1

[Goldwyn]

4 Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.
Arthur Marx Goldwyn (1976) ch. 15

[Goldwyn]

Back  -   New Search

Goncharov, Ivan 1812–91

1 No devastating or redeeming fires have ever burnt in my life…My life began by flickering out.
Obolomov (1859) pt. 2, ch. 4 (tr. David Magarshak)

2 You lost your ability for doing things in childhood…It all began with your inability to put on your socks and ended by your inability to live.
Obolomov (1859) pt. 4, ch. 2 (tr. David Magarshak)

[Goncharov]

Back  -   New Search

Gonne, Maud 1867–1953

1 The Famine Queen.
of Queen Victoria
in L'Irlande libre 1900

Back  -   New Search

Goodman, Amy 1957–

1 Go to where the silence is and say something.
accepting an award from Columbia University for her coverage of the 1991 massacre in East Timor by Indonesian troops
in Columbia Journalism Review March/April 1994

Back  -   New Search

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich 1931–

1 The idea of restructuring [perestroika]…combines continuity and innovation, the historical experience of Bolshevism and the contemporaneity of socialism.
speech on the seventieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution, 2 November 1987

Back  -   New Search

Gordon, Adam Lindsay 1833–70

1
Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

Ye Wearie Wayfarer (1866) "Fytte 8"

Back  -   New Search

Gordon, Mack 1904–59

1
Pardon me boy is that the Chattanooga Choo-choo,
Track twenty nine,
Boy you can gimme a shine.

"Chattanooga Choo-choo" (1941 song)

Back  -   New Search

Gorky, Maxim 1868–1936

1 The proletarian state must bring up thousands of excellent "mechanics of culture", "engineers of the soul".
speech at the Writers' Congress 1934.

Back  -   New Search

Gorrell, Stuart 1902–63

1
Georgia, Georgia, no peace I find,
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

"Georgia on my Mind" (1930 song)

Back  -   New Search

Goschen, George Joachim, Lord 1831–1907

1 I have the courage of my opinions, but I have not the temerity to give a political blank cheque to Lord Salisbury.
speech in the House of Commons, 19 February 1884

Back  -   New Search

Gould, Stephen Jay 1941–2002

1 A man does not attain the status of Galileo merely because he is persecuted; he must also be right.
Ever since Darwin (1977)

2 Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It's one of the glories of human intellectual tradition.
in Independent 24 January 1990

[Gould]

Back  -   New Search

Goya 1746–1828

1 One cannot look at this.
The Disasters of War (1863) title of etching, no. 26

2 The dream of reason produces monsters.
Los Caprichos (1799) plate 43 (title)

[Goya]

Back  -   New Search

Gracián, Baltasar 1601–58

1 Never open the door to the least of evils, for many other, greater ones lurk outside.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (translated by Christopher Maurer, 1994)

2 Renew your brilliance. It is the privilege of the Phoenix. Excellence grows old and so does fame. Custom wears down our admiration, and a mediocre novelty can conquer the greatest eminence in its old age. So be reborn in courage, in intellect, in happiness, and in all else. Dare to renew your brilliance, dawning many times, like the sun, only changing your surroundings. Withhold it and make people miss it; renew it and make them applaud.
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (translated by Christopher Maurer, 1994)

[Gracián]

Back  -   New Search

Graham, D. M. 1911–99

1 That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country.
motion worded by Graham for a debate at the Oxford Union, of which he was Librarian, 9 February 1933 (passed by 275 votes to 153)

Back  -   New Search

Graham, Harry 1874–1936

1
Weep not for little Léonie
Abducted by a French Marquis!
Though loss of honour was a wrench
Just think how it's improved her French.

More Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (1930) "Compensation"

2
"There's been an accident," they said,
"Your servant's cut in half; he's dead!"
"Indeed!" said Mr Jones, "and please,
Send me the half that's got my keys."

Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (1899) "Mr Jones" (attributed to "G.W.")

[Graham]

3
Billy, in one of his nice new sashes,
Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes;
Now, although the room grows chilly,
I haven't the heart to poke poor Billy.

Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (1899) "Tender-Heartedness"

[Graham]

Back  -   New Search

Graham, James

seeMarquess of Montrose

Back  -   New Search

Grahame, Kenneth 1859–1932

1 There is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
The Wind in the Willows (1908) ch. 1

2 The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today—in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else's horizon!
The Wind in the Willows (1908) ch. 2.

[Grahame]

3 O bliss! O poop-poop! O my!
The Wind in the Willows (1908) ch. 2

[Grahame]

4
The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr Toad!

The Wind in the Willows (1908) ch. 10

[Grahame]

Back  -   New Search

Gramm, Phil 1942–

1 I did not come to Washington to be loved, and I have not been disappointed.
Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa The American Political Almanac 1994

Back  -   New Search

Grant, Bernie 1944–2000

1 The police were to blame for what happened on Sunday night and what they got was a bloody good hiding.
after a riot in which a policeman was killed
speech as leader of Haringey Council outside Tottenham Town Hall, 8 October 1985

Back  -   New Search

Grant, Robert 1785–1838

1
O worship the King, all-glorious above;
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.

"O worship the King, all glorious above" (1833 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Grant, Ulysses S. 1822–85

1 No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
to Simon Bolivar Buckner, under siege at Fort Donelson, 16 February 1862

2 I purpose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.
dispatch to Washington, from head-quarters in the field, 11 May 1864

[Grant]

3 The war is over—the rebels are our countrymen again.
preventing his men from cheering after Lee's surrender at Appomattox
on 9 April, 1865

[Grant]

4 I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
inaugural address, 4 March 1869

[Grant]

Back  -   New Search

Granville, George, Lord Lansdowne 1666–1735

1
Bright as the day, and like the morning, fair,
Such Cloe is…and common as the air.

"Cloe" (1712)

2
Cowards in scarlet pass for men of war.

The She Gallants (1696) act 5

[Granville]

Back  -   New Search

Grattan, Henry 1746–1820

1 The thing he proposes to buy is what cannot be sold—liberty.
speech in the Irish Parliament against the proposed union, 16 January 1800
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

Back  -   New Search

Graves, Arthur Percival 1846–1931

1
Trottin' to the fair,
Me and Moll Maloney,
Seated, I declare
On a single pony.

"Ridin' Double"

Back  -   New Search

Graves, John Woodcock 1795–1886

1
D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so grey?
D'ye ken John Peel at the break of the day?
D'ye ken John Peel when he's far far away
With his hounds and his horn in the morning?

an alternative version "coat so gay" is often sung
"John Peel" (1820)

Back  -   New Search

Graves, Robert 1895–1985

1
Beware, madam, of the witty devil,
The arch intriguer who walks disguised
In a poet's cloak, his gay tongue oozing evil.

"Beware, Madam!"

2
There's a cool web of language winds us in,
Retreat from too much joy or too much fear.

"The Cool Web" (1927)

[Graves]

3
Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon
The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.

"The Persian Version" (1945)

[Graves]

4 Goodbye to all that.
title of autobiography (1929)

[Graves]

Back  -   New Search

Gray, John 1951–

1 Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.
title of book (1992)

Back  -   New Search

Gray, John Chipman 1839–1915

1 Dirt is only matter out of place; and what is a blot on the escutcheon of the Common Law may be a jewel in the crown of the Social Republic.
Restraints on the Alienation of Property (2nd ed., 1895) preface

Back  -   New Search

Gray, Patrick, Lord d. 1612

1 A dead woman bites not.
pressing for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587
oral tradition

Back  -   New Search

Gray, Thomas 1716–71

1
Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!
Confusion on thy banners wait.

The Bard (1757) l. 1

2
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;
Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm.

"The Bard" (1757) l. 73

[Gray]

3
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) l. 1

[Gray]

4
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) l. 13

[Gray]

5
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) l. 36

[Gray]

6
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) l. 53

[Gray]

7
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) l. 73

[Gray]

8
Alas, regardless of their doom,
The little victims play!
No sense have they of ills to come,
Nor care beyond to-day.

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1747) l. 51

[Gray]

9
Where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1747) l. 99

[Gray]

10
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
Nor all, that glisters, gold.

"Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat" (1748)

[Gray]

11
He saw; but blasted with excess of light,
Closed his eyes in endless night.

of Milton
The Progress of Poesy (1757) l. 101

[Gray]

Back  -   New Search

Greeley, Horace 1811–72

1 Go West, young man, and grow up with the country.
Hints toward Reforms (1850)

Back  -   New Search

Greene, Graham 1904–91

1 Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate.
The Comedians (1966) pt. 3, ch. 4

2 So much of life was a putting-off of unhappiness for another time. Nothing was ever lost by delay.
The Heart of the Matter (1948) bk. 1, pt. 1, ch. 1

[Greene]

3 What do we ever get nowadays from reading to equal the excitement and the revelation in those first fourteen years?
The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951) title essay

[Greene]

4 There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
The Power and the Glory (1940) pt. 1, ch. 1

[Greene]

5 Innocence always calls mutely for protection, when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world meaning no harm.
The Quiet American (1955) pt. 1, ch. 3

[Greene]

Back  -   New Search

Greene, Robert c.1560–92

1
Ah! what is love! It is a pretty thing,
As sweet unto a shepherd as a king.

"The Shepherd's Wife's Song" (1590)

2 For there is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blank verse as the best of you; and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.
Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance (1592).

[Greene]

Back  -   New Search

Greer, Germaine 1939–

1 The female eunuch.
title of book (1970)

2 Women have very little idea of how much men hate them.
The Female Eunuch (1970)

[Greer]

Back  -   New Search

Gregory, Pope the Great ad c.540–604

1 Non Angli sed Angeli.Not Angles but Angels.
on seeing English slaves in Rome
oral tradition, based on "Responsum est, quod Angli vocarentur. At ille: "Bene," inquit; "nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales angelorum in caelis decet esse coheredes [It is well," he said, "for they have the faces of angels, and such should be the co-heirs of the angels of heaven]"; Bede Historia Ecclesiastica bk. 2

Back  -   New Search

Gregory VII, Pope c.1020–85

1 I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
at Salerno, following his conflict with the Emperor Henry IV
J. W. Bowden The Life and Pontificate of Gregory VII (1840) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Grenfell, Joyce 1910–79

1 George—don't do that.
recurring line in monologues about a nursery school, from the 1950s, in George—Don't Do That (1977)

Back  -   New Search

Grenfell, Julian 1888–1915

1
And Life is Colour and Warmth and Light
And a striving evermore for these;
And he is dead, who will not fight;
And who dies fighting has increase.

"Into Battle" in The Times 28 May 1915

Back  -   New Search

Greville, Frances c.1724–89

1
Far as distress the soul can wound
'Tis pain in each degree;
Bliss goes but to a certain bound,
Beyond is agony.

"A Prayer for Indifference" (1759)

Back  -   New Search

Greville, Fulke, Lord Brooke 1554–1628

1
Life is a top which whipping Sorrow driveth.

Caelica (1633) "The earth with thunder torn, with fire blasted"

Back  -   New Search

Grey, Lord of Fallodon 1862–1933

1 The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
on the eve of the First World War
25 Years (1925) vol. 2, ch. 18

Back  -   New Search

Grey, Lady Jane 1537–54

1 One of the greatest benefits that God ever gave me is that he sent me so sharp and severe parents and so gentle a schoolmaster.
Roger Ascham The Schoolmaster (1570) bk. 1

Back  -   New Search

Griffith, Arthur 1871–1922

1 What I have signed I will stand by, in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand.
statement to Dáil Éireann before the debate on the Treaty, December 1921

2 We have brought back the flag; we have brought back the evacuation of Ireland after 700 years by British troops and the formation of an Irish army. We have brought back to Ireland her full rights.
when moving acceptance of the Treaty in the Dáil, December 1921

[Griffith]

Back  -   New Search

Griffith-Jones, Mervyn 1909–79

1 Is it a book you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?
of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, while appearing for the prosecution at the Old Bailey, 20 October 1960
in The Times 21 October 1960

Back  -   New Search

Grigg, John 1924–

1 The personality conveyed by the utterances which are put into her mouth is that of a priggish schoolgirl, captain of the hockey team, a prefect, and a recent candidate for confirmation. It is not thus that she will be able to come into her own as an independent and distinctive character.
of Queen Elizabeth II
in National and English Review August 1958

2 Autobiography is now as common as adultery and hardly less reprehensible.
in Sunday Times 28 February 1962

[Grigg]

Back  -   New Search

Grimond, Jo 1913–93

1 In bygone days, commanders were taught that when in doubt, they should march their troops towards the sound of gunfire. I intend to march my troops towards the sound of gunfire.
speech to the Liberal Party Assembly, 14 September 1963

Back  -   New Search

Gromyko, Andrei 1909–89

1 Comrades, this man has a nice smile, but he's got iron teeth.
of Mikhail Gorbachev
speech to Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, 11 March 1985

Back  -   New Search

Grossmith, George 1847–1912

1
You should see me dance the Polka,
You should see me cover the ground,
You should see my coat-tails flying,
As I jump my partner round.

"See me Dance the Polka" (c.1887 song)

Back  -   New Search

Grossmith, George and Weedon 1847–1912, 1854–1919

1 What's the good of a home if you are never in it?
The Diary of a Nobody (1894) ch. 1

2 I left the room with silent dignity, but caught my foot in the mat.
The Diary of a Nobody (1894) ch. 12

[Grossmith]

3 I am a poor man, but I would gladly give ten shillings to find out who sent me the insulting Christmas card I received this morning.
The Diary of a Nobody (1894) ch. 13

[Grossmith]

Back  -   New Search

Grove, Andrew 1936–

1 Only the paranoid survive.
dictum on which he has long run his company, the Intel Corporation
in New York Times 18 December 1994

Back  -   New Search

Guedalla, Philip 1889–1944

1 The little ships, the unforgotten Homeric catalogue of Mary Jane and Peggy IV, of Folkestone Belle, Boy Billy, and Ethel Maud, of Lady Haig and Skylark…the little ships of England brought the Army home.
on the evacuation of Dunkirk
Mr Churchill (1941) ch. 7

2 The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender.
Supers and Supermen (1920) "Some Critics"

[Guedalla]

Back  -   New Search

Guest, Edgar A. 1881–1959

1
The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds.

"Sermons we See" (1926)

Back  -   New Search

Guevara, Che 1928–67

1 The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.
Socialism and Man in Cuba (1968)

Back  -   New Search

Guibert, Hervé 1955–91

1 [Aids was] an illness in stages, a very long flight of steps that led assuredly to death, but whose every step represented a unique apprenticeship. It was a disease that gave death time to live and its victims time to die, time to discover time, and in the end to discover life.
To the Friend who did not Save my Life (1991) ch. 61 (translated by Linda Coverdale)

Back  -   New Search

Gurney, Dorothy Frances 1858–1932

1
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

"God's Garden" (1913)

Back  -   New Search

Gurney, John Hampden 1802–62

1
My soul, bear thou thy part,
Triumph in God above,
And with a well-tuned heart
Sing thou the songs of love.

"Ye holy angels bright" (1838 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Guthrie, Woody 1912–67

1
This land is your land, this land is my land,
From California to the New York Island.
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

"This Land is Your Land" (1956 song)

Back  -   New Search

Gwyn, Nell 1650–87

1 Pray, good people, be civil. I am the Protestant whore.
at Oxford, during the Popish Terror, 1681

Back  -   New Search

H

Hadrian ad 76–138

1
Animula vagula blandula,
Hospes comesque corporis.

Ah! gentle, fleeting, wav'ring sprite,
Friend and associate of this clay!

J. W. Duff (ed.) Minor Latin Poets (1934); tr. Byron as "Adrian's Address to His Soul When Dying".

Back  -   New Search

Haggadah

1 This is the bread of poverty which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are in need come to our Passover feast. Now we are here; next year may we be in the land of Israel! Now we are slaves; next year may we be free!
The narration

2 Rabban Gamaliel says: "Whoever does not mention the following three things at Passover has not fulfilled his duty—the Passover sacrifice, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs."
The three essentials of the Seder

[Haggadah]

3 Next year in Jerusalem!
Accepted

[Haggadah]

Back  -   New Search

Haggard, H. Rider 1856–1925

1 Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go…Life is nothing. Life is all. It is the hand with which we hold off death. It is the glow-worm that shines in the night-time and is black in the morning; it is the white breath of the oxen in winter; it is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself at sunset.
King Solomon's Mines (1886) ch. 5.

2 She who must be obeyed.
She (1887) ch. 6 and passim

[Haggard]

Back  -   New Search

Hague, William 1961–

1 It was inevitable the Titanic was going to set sail, but that doesn't mean it was a good idea to be on it.
on his opposition to joining the single currency
in Mail on Sunday 11 January 1998 "Quotes of the Week"

2 Feather-bedding, pocket-lining, money-grabbing cronies.
on the influence of lobbyists
in the House of Commons, 8 July 1998

[Hague]

Back  -   New Search

Haig, Earl 1861–1928

1 A very weak-minded fellow I am afraid, and, like the feather pillow, bears the marks of the last person who has sat on him!
describing Lord Derby
letter to Lady Haig, 14 January 1918

2 Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end.
order to British troops, 12 April 1918

[Haig]

Back  -   New Search

Hailsham, Lord (Quintin Hogg) 1907–2001

1 A great party is not to be brought down because of a scandal by a woman of easy virtue and a proved liar.
on the Profumo affair, in The Times 14 June 1963

2 The elective dictatorship.
title of the Dimbleby Lecture, 19 October 1976

[Hailsham]

Back  -   New Search

Hakuin 1686–1769

1 If someone claps his hand a sound arises. Listen to the sound of the single hand!
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Haldane, J. B. S. 1892–1964

1 Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.
Possible Worlds and Other Essays (1927) "Possible Worlds"

2 The Creator, if He exists, has a special preference for beetles.
on observing that there are 400,000 species of beetle on this planet, but only 8,000 species of mammals
report of lecture, 7 April 1951, in Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (1951) vol. 10

[Haldane]

Back  -   New Search

Haldeman, H. R. 1929–93

1 Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is awfully hard to get it back in.
on the Watergate affair
to John Dean, 8 April 1973

Back  -   New Search

Hale, Edward Everett 1822–1909

1 "Do you pray for the senators, Dr Hale?" "No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country."
Van Wyck Brooks New England Indian Summer (1940)

Back  -   New Search

Hale, Matthew 1609–76

1
Christianity is part of the laws of England.

William Blackstone's summary of Hale's words (Taylor's case, 1676) in Commentaries (1769); the origin of the expression has been traced to Sir John Prisot (d. 1460)

Back  -   New Search

Hale, Nathan 1755–76

1 I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
prior to his execution by the British for spying, 22 September 1776
Henry Phelps Johnston Nathan Hale, 1776 (1914) ch. 7.

Back  -   New Search

Hale, Sarah Josepha 1788–1879

1
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.

Poems for Our Children (1830) "Mary's Little Lamb"

Back  -   New Search

Ha-Levi, Judah c.1075–1141

1 I understand the difference between the God and the Lord and I see how great is the difference between the God of Abraham and the God of Aristotle.
The Kuzari 4.16

Back  -   New Search

Halifax, George Savile, Lord ("the Trimmer") 1633–95

1 This innocent word Trimmer signifieth no more than this, that if men are together in a boat, and one part of the company would weigh it down on one side, another would make it lean as much to the contrary.
Character of a Trimmer (1685, printed 1688)

2 A known liar should be outlawed in a well-ordered government.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750) "Miscellaneous: Lying"

[Halifax]

3 Malice is of a low stature, but it hath very long arms.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750) "Of Malice and Envy"

[Halifax]

4 When the people contend for their liberty, they seldom get anything by their victory but new masters.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750) "Of Prerogative, Power and Liberty"

[Halifax]

5 Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750) "Of Punishment"

[Halifax]

6 Wherever a knave is not punished, an honest man is laughed at.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750) "Of Punishment"

[Halifax]

7 State business is a cruel trade; good nature is a bungler in it.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750) "Wicked Ministers"

[Halifax]

8 [Halifax] had heard of many kicked down stairs, but never of any that was kicked up stairs before.
Gilbert Burnet History of My Own Time (written 1683–6) vol. 1 (1724)

[Halifax]

Back  -   New Search

Hall, Joseph 1574–1656

1 Perfection is the child of Time.
Works (1625)

Back  -   New Search

Hall, Radclyffe 1883–1943

1 The well of loneliness
title of novel (1928)

2 You're neither unnatural, nor abominable, nor mad; you're as much a part of what people call nature as anyone else; only you're unexplained as yet—you've not got your niche in creation.
of lesbianism
The Well of Loneliness (1928) bk. 2, ch. 20, sect. 3

[Hall]

Back  -   New Search

Halm, Friedrich 1806–71

1
Zwei Seelen und ein Gedanke,
Zwei Herzen und ein Schlag!

Two souls with but a single thought,
Two hearts that beat as one.

Der Sohn der Wildnis (1842) act 2

Back  -   New Search

Halsey, W. F. ("Bull") 1882–1959

1 The Third Fleet's sunken and damaged ships have been salvaged and are retiring at high speed toward the enemy.
on hearing claims that the Japanese had virtually annihilated the US fleet
report, 14 October 1944; E. B. Potter Bull Halsey (1985) ch. 17

Back  -   New Search

Hamilton, Alexander c.1755–1804

1 A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
letter to Robert Morris, 30 April 1781

Back  -   New Search

Hamilton, William 1788–1856

1 Truth, like a torch, the more it's shook it shines.
Discussions on Philosophy (1852) title page (epigram)

2 On earth there is nothing great but man; in man there is nothing great but mind.
Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1859); attributed in a Latin form to Favorinus in Pico di Mirandola (1463–94) Disputationes Adversus Astrologiam Divinatricem

[Hamilton]

Back  -   New Search

Hammerstein II, Oscar 1895–1960

1
Fish got to swim and birds got to fly
I got to love one man till I die,
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.

"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine" (1927 song) in Showboat

2
Climb ev'ry mountain, ford ev'ry stream
Follow ev'ry rainbow, till you find your dream.

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (1959 song) in The Sound of Music

[Hammerstein II]

3 I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair.
title of song (1949) from South Pacific

[Hammerstein II]

4 June is bustin' out all over.
title of song (1945) in Carousel

[Hammerstein II]

5
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay.

"The Last Time I saw Paris" (1941 song) in Lady Be Good

[Hammerstein II]

6
The corn is as high as an elephant's eye.

"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' " (1943 song) in Oklahoma!

[Hammerstein II]

7
Ol' man river, dat ol' man river,
He must know sumpin', but don't say nothin',
He jus' keeps rollin',
He jus' keeps rollin' along.

"Ol' Man River" (1927 song) in Showboat

[Hammerstein II]

8
Some enchanted evening,
You may see a stranger,
You may see a stranger,
Across a crowded room.

"Some Enchanted Evening" (1949 song) in South Pacific

[Hammerstein II]

9
The hills are alive with the sound of music,
With songs they have sung for a thousand years.
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music,
My heart wants to sing ev'ry song it hears.

"The Sound of Music" (1959 title-song in show)

[Hammerstein II]

10 There is nothin' like a dame.
title of song (1949) in South Pacific

[Hammerstein II]

11
I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
High as a flag on the Fourth of July!

"A Wonderful Guy" (1949 song) in South Pacific

[Hammerstein II]

12 You'll never walk alone.
title of song (1945) in Carousel

[Hammerstein II]

Back  -   New Search

Hankey, Kate 1834–1911

1
Tell me the old, old story.

Title of hymn (1867)

Back  -   New Search

Hanrahan, Brian 1949–

1 I counted them all out and I counted them all back.
on the number of British aeroplanes joining the raid on Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands
BBC broadcast report, 1 May 1982

Back  -   New Search

Hansberry, Lorraine 1930–65

1 Though it be a thrilling and marvellous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so, doubly dynamic—to be young, gifted and black.
To be young, gifted and black: Lorraine Hansberry in her own words (1969) adapted by Robert Nemiroff.

Back  -   New Search

Haraucourt, Edmond 1856–1941

1
Partir c'est mourir un peu,
C'est mourir à ce qu'on aime.
To go away is to die a little, it is to die to that which one loves.
Seul (1891) "Rondel de l'Adieu"

Back  -   New Search

Harbach, Otto 1873–1963

1
Now laughing friends deride tears I cannot hide,
So I smile and say "When a lovely flame dies,
Smoke gets in your eyes."

"Smoke Gets in your Eyes" (1933 song)

Back  -   New Search

Harburg, E. Y. ("Yip") 1898–1981

1 Brother can you spare a dime?
title of song (1932)

2
Say, it's only a paper moon,
Sailing over a cardboard sea.

"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933 song, with Billy Rose)

[Harburg]

3
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

"Over the Rainbow" (1939 song) in The Wizard of Oz

[Harburg]

4 Follow the yellow brick road.
"We're Off to See the Wizard" (1939 song)

[Harburg]

Back  -   New Search

Harcourt, William 1827–1904

1 We are all socialists now.
during the passage of Lord Goschen's 1888 budget, noted for the reduction of the national debt
attributed; Hubert Bland "The Outlook" in G. B. Shaw (ed.) Fabian Essays in Socialism (1889)

Back  -   New Search

Hardie, Keir 1856–1915

1 Woman, even more than the working class, is the great unknown quantity of the race.
speech at Bradford, 11 April 1914

Back  -   New Search

Harding, D. W. 1906–

1 Regulated hatred.
title of an article on the novels of Jane Austen
in Scrutiny March 1940

Back  -   New Search

Hardy, Godfrey Harold 1877–1947

1 Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.
A Mathematician's Apology (1940)

Back  -   New Search

Hardy, Thomas 1840–1928

1 Done because we are too menny.
Jude the Obscure (1896) pt. 6, ch. 2

2 Dialect words—those terrible marks of the beast to the truly genteel.
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) ch. 20

[Hardy]

3 Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) ch. 45, closing words

[Hardy]

4 "Justice" was done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891) ch. 59

[Hardy]

5
After two thousand years of mass
We've got as far as poison-gas.

"Christmas: 1924" (1928)

[Hardy]

6
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.

"Convergence of the Twain" (1914)

[Hardy]

7
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything.

"Convergence of the Twain" (1914)

[Hardy]

8
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume.

"The Darkling Thrush" (1902)

[Hardy]

9
So little cause for carollings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

"The Darkling Thrush" (1902)

[Hardy]

10
I am the family face;
Flesh perishes, I live on,
Projecting trait and trace
Through time to times anon,
And leaping from place to place
Over oblivion.

"Heredity" (1917)

[Hardy]

11
What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away.

"Men Who March Away" (1914)

[Hardy]

12
In the third-class seat sat the journeying boy
And the roof-lamp's oily flame
Played down on his listless form and face,
Bewrapt past knowing to what he was going,
Or whence he came.

"Midnight on the Great Western" (1917)

[Hardy]

13
Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me.

"The Voice" (1914)

[Hardy]

14
This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I.

"Weathers" (1922)

[Hardy]

15
When I set out for Lyonnesse,
A hundred miles away,
The rime was on the spray,
And starlight lit my lonesomeness
When I set out for Lyonnesse
A hundred miles away.

"When I set out for Lyonnesse" (1914)

[Hardy]

16 If this sort of thing continues no more novel-writing for me. A man must be a fool to deliberately stand up and be shot at.
of a hostile review of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, 1891
Florence Hardy The Early Life of Thomas Hardy (1928)

[Hardy]

Back  -   New Search

Hare, Julius 1795–1855 and Hare, Augustus 1792–1834

1 The ancients dreaded death: the Christian can only fear dying.
Guesses at Truth (1827) Series 1

Back  -   New Search

Hare, Maurice Evan 1886–1967

1
There once was an old man who said, "Damn!
It is borne in upon me I am
An engine that moves
In determinate grooves,
I'm not even a bus, I'm a tram."

"Limerick" (1905)

Back  -   New Search

Hargreaves, W. F. 1846–1919

1
I'm Burlington Bertie
I rise at ten thirty and saunter along like a toff,
I walk down the Strand with my gloves on my hand,
Then I walk down again with them off.

"Burlington Bertie from Bow" (1915 song)

2
I acted so tragic the house rose like magic,
The audience yelled "You're sublime."
They made me a present of Mornington Crescent
They threw it a brick at a time.

"The Night I Appeared as Macbeth" (1922 song)

[Hargreaves]

Back  -   New Search

Harington, John 1561–1612

1
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

Epigrams (1618) bk. 4, no. 5

Back  -   New Search

Harlech, Lord 1918–85

1 Britain will be honoured by historians more for the way she disposed of an empire than for the way in which she acquired it.
in New York Times 28 October 1962

Back  -   New Search

Harold II c.1019–66

1 He will give him seven feet of English ground, or as much more as he may be taller than other men.
his offer to Harald Hardrada of Norway, invading England, before the battle of Stamford Bridge
King Harald's Saga1, in Snorri Sturluson Heimskringla (c.1260)

Back  -   New Search

Harper, Jimmy, Haines, Will E., and Connor, Tommy

1 The biggest aspidistra in the world.
title of song (1938); popularized by Gracie Fields

Back  -   New Search

Harris, Arthur 1892–1984

1 I would not regard the whole of the remaining cities of Germany as worth the bones of one British Grenadier.
supporting the continued strategic bombing of German cities
letter to Norman Bottomley, deputy Chief of Air Staff, 29 March 1945.

Back  -   New Search

Harris, Joel Chandler 1848–1908

1 Bred en bawn in a brier-patch!
Uncle Remus and His Legends of the Old Plantation (1881) "How Mr Rabbit was too Sharp for Mr Fox"

2 Tar-baby ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low.
Uncle Remus and His Legends of the Old Plantation (1881) "The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story"

[Harris]

Back  -   New Search

Hart, Lorenz 1895–1943

1
Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I.

"Bewitched" (1941 song) in Pal Joey (1941)

2
When love congeals
It soon reveals
The faint aroma of performing seals.

"I Wish I Were in Love Again" (1937 song) in Babes in Arms

[Hart]

3
I get too hungry for dinner at eight.
I like the theatre, but never come late.
I never bother with people I hate.
That's why the lady is a tramp.

"The Lady is a Tramp" (1937 song) in Babes in Arms

[Hart]

4
In a mountain greenery
Where God paints the scenery.

"Mountain Greenery" (1926 song)

[Hart]

5
Thou swell! Thou witty!
Thou sweet! Thou grand!
Wouldst kiss me pretty?
Wouldst hold my hand?

"Thou Swell" (1927 song)

[Hart]

Back  -   New Search

Harte, Bret 1836–1902

1
If, of all words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are, "It might have been,"
More sad are these we daily see:
"It is, but hadn't ought to be!"

"Mrs Judge Jenkins" (1867).

Back  -   New Search

Hartley, L. P. 1895–1972

1 The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
The Go-Between (1953) prologue.

Back  -   New Search

Harvey, F. W. b. 1888

1
From troubles of the world
I turn to ducks
Beautiful comical things.

"Ducks" (1919)

Back  -   New Search

Haskell, Molly 1940–

1 Being alone and liking it is, for a woman, an act of treachery, an infidelity far more threatening than adultery.
Love and Other Infectious Diseases (1990)

Back  -   New Search

Haskins, Minnie Louise 1875–1957

1 And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."
quoted by George VI in his Christmas broadcast, 1939
Desert (1908) "God Knows"

Back  -   New Search

Hatch, Edwin 1835–89

1
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Fill me with life anew.

"Breathe on me, Breath of God" (1878 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Hathaway, Helen 1893–1932

1 More tears have been shed over men's lack of manners than their lack of morals.
Manners for Men (1928)

Back  -   New Search

Haughey, Charles 1925–

1 It was a bizarre happening, an unprecedented situation, a grotesque situation, an almost unbelievable mischance.
on the series of events leading to the resignation of the Attorney General; the acronym gubu was subsequently coined by Conor Cruise O'Brien to describe Haughey's style of government
at a press conference in 1982

Back  -   New Search

Havel, Václav 1936–

1 That special time caught me up in its wild vortex and—in the absence of leisure to reflect on the matter—compelled me to do what had to be done.
on his election to the Presidency of the Czech republic
Summer Meditations (1992)

Back  -   New Search

Hawes, Stephen d. c.1523

1
For though the day be never so long,
At last the bells ringeth to evensong.

The Pastime of Pleasure (1509) ch. 42, st. 10

Back  -   New Search

Hawker, R. S. 1803–75

1
And have they fixed the where and when?
And shall Trelawny die?
Here's twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!

the last three lines have been in existence since the imprisonment by James II, in 1688, of seven bishops, including Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol
"The Song of the Western Men"

Back  -   New Search

Hawkes, Jacquetta 1910–96

1 I was conscious of this vanished being and myself as part of an unbroken stream of consciousness…With an imaginative effort it is possible to see the eternal present in which all days, all the seasons of the plain, stand in enduring unity.
discovering a Neanderthal skeleton
in New York Times Biographical Service 21 March 1996

Back  -   New Search

Hawking, Stephen 1942–

1 What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe…Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?
A Brief History of Time (1988)

2 If we find the answer to that [why it is that we and the universe exist], it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God.
A Brief History of Time (1988) ch. 11

[Hawking]

Back  -   New Search

Hawthorne, Nathaniel 1804–64

1 The scarlet letter.
title of novel (1850)

2 America is now given over to a damned mob of scribbling women.
letter, 1855; Caroline Ticknor Hawthorne and his Publisher (1913)

[Hawthorne]

Back  -   New Search

Hay, Ian 1876–1952

1 War is hell, and all that, but it has a good deal to recommend it. It wipes out all the small nuisances of peace-time.
The First Hundred Thousand (1915)

2 What do you mean, funny? Funny-peculiar or funny ha-ha?
The Housemaster (1938) act 3

[Hay]

Back  -   New Search

Haydn, Franz Joseph 1732–1809

1 But all the world understands my language.
on being advised by Mozart, in 1790, not to visit England because he knew too little of the world and too few languages
Rosemary Hughes Haydn (1950) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Hayes, Alfred 1911–85

1
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you and me.
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead."
"I never died," says he.

"I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" (1936 song)

Back  -   New Search

Hayes, J. Milton 1884–1940

1
There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu,
There's a little marble cross below the town,
There's a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down.

The Green Eye of the Yellow God (1911)

Back  -   New Search

Hazlitt, William 1778–1830

1 His sayings are generally like women's letters; all the pith is in the postscript.
of Charles Lamb
Conversations of James Northcote (1826–7)

2 He talked on for ever; and you wished him to talk on for ever.
of Coleridge
Lectures on the English Poets (1818) "On the Living Poets"

[Hazlitt]

3 There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it.
The Round Table (1817) "Observations on Mr Wordsworth's Poem The Excursion"

[Hazlitt]

4 We can scarcely hate any one that we know.
Table Talk vol. 2 (1822) "On Criticism"

[Hazlitt]

5 Well, I've had a happy life.
W. C. Hazlitt Memoirs of William Hazlitt (1867)

[Hazlitt]

Back  -   New Search

Head, Bessie 1937–86

1 And if the white man thought that Asians were a low, filthy nation, Asians could still smile with relief—at least, they were not Africans. And if the white man thought that Africans were a low, filthy nation, Africans in southern Africa could still smile—at least, they were not bushmen. They all have their monsters.
Maru (1971) pt. 1

Back  -   New Search

Healey, Denis 1917–

1 Like being savaged by a dead sheep.
on being criticized by Geoffrey Howe in the House of Commons
in the House of Commons, 14 June 1978

Back  -   New Search

Healey, Edna 1918–

1 She has no hinterland; in particular she has no sense of history.
of Margaret Thatcher
Denis Healey The Time of My Life (1989)

Back  -   New Search

Healy, Timothy Michael 1855–1931

1 redmond: Gladstone is now master of the Party!
healy: Who is to be mistress of the Party?

at the meeting of the Irish Parliamentary Party on 6 December 1890, when the Party split over Parnell's involvement in the O'Shea divorce; Healy's reference to Katherine O'Shea was particularly damaging to Parnell
Robert Kee The Laurel and the Ivy (1993)

Back  -   New Search

Heaney, Seamus 1939–

1
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

"Digging" (1966)

2
Don't be surprised
If I demur, for, be advised
My passport's green.
No glass of ours was ever raised
To toast The Queen.

rebuking the editors of The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry for including him among its authors
Open Letter (Field Day pamphlet no. 2, 1983)

[Heaney]

3
My heart besieged by anger, my mind a gap of danger,
I walked among their old haunts, the home ground where they bled;
And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in the winter
Till its oak would sprout in Derry where the thirteen men lay dead.

of Bloody Sunday, Londonderry, 30 January 1972
"The Road to Derry"

[Heaney]

4
The famous
Northern reticence, the tight gag of place
And times: yes, yes. Of the "wee six" I sing
Where to be saved you only must save face
And whatever you say, you say nothing.

"Whatever You Say Say Nothing" (1975)

[Heaney]

5 No death outside my immediate family has left me more bereft. No death in my lifetime has hurt poets more.
funeral oration for Ted Hughes, 3 November 1998

[Heaney]

Back  -   New Search

Hearst, William Randolph 1863–1951

1 You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war.
message to the artist Frederic Remington in Havana, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War of 1898
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Heath, Edward 1916–

1 The unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism.
on the Lonrho affair
in the House of Commons, 15 May 1973

Back  -   New Search

Heath-Stubbs, John 1918–

1
Venerable Mother Toothache
Climb down from the white battlements,
Stop twisting in your yellow fingers
The fourfold rope of nerves.

"A Charm Against the Toothache" (1954)

Back  -   New Search

Heber, Reginald 1783–1826

1
Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid.

"Brightest and best of the sons of the morning" (1827 hymn)

2
From Greenland's icy mountains,
From India's coral strand.

"From Greenland's icy mountains" (1821 hymn)

[Heber]

3
What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle;
Though every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile:
In vain with lavish kindness
The gifts of God are strown;
The heathen in his blindness
Bows down to wood and stone.

"From Greenland's icy mountains" (1821 hymn); Heber later altered "Ceylon's isle" to "Java's isle".

[Heber]

4
Holy, Holy, Holy! all the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea,
Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!" (1826 hymn)

[Heber]

Back  -   New Search

Hegel, G. W. F. 1770–1831

1 What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.
Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction (1830, tr. H. B. Nisbet, 1975) introduction

2 Only in the state does man have a rational existence…Man owes his entire existence to the state, and has his being within it alone.
Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction (1830, tr. H. B. Nisbet, 1975)

[Hegel]

3 When philosophy paints its grey on grey, then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy's grey on grey it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.
Philosophy of Right (1821, tr. T. M. Knox, 1952)

[Hegel]

Back  -   New Search

Heine, Heinrich 1797–1856

1
Dort, wo man Bücher
Verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.
Wherever books will be burned, men also, in the end, are burned.
Almansor (1823) l. 245

2 Auf Flügeln des Gesanges.On wings of song.
title of song (1823)

[Heine]

3 Maximilien Robespierre was nothing but the hand of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the bloody hand that drew from the womb of time the body whose soul Rousseau had created.
Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland (1834) bk. 3, para. 3

[Heine]

4 Dieu me pardonnera, c'est son métier.God will pardon me, it is His trade.
on his deathbed
Alfred Meissner Heinrich Heine. Erinnerungen (1856) ch. 5.

[Heine]

Back  -   New Search

Heisenberg, Werner 1901–76

1 An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject and who manages to avoid them.
Der Teil und das Ganze (1969) ch. 17 (tr. A. J. Pomerans as Physics and Beyond, 1971)

Back  -   New Search

Heller, Joseph 1923–99

1 There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind…Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
Catch-22 (1961) ch. 5

2 Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three.
Catch-22 (1961) ch. 9.

[Heller]

3 When I read something saying I've not done anything as good as Catch-22 I'm tempted to reply, "Who has?"
in The Times 9 June 1993

[Heller]

Back  -   New Search

Hellman, Lillian 1905–84

1 I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.
letter to John S. Wood, 19 May 1952, in US Congress Committee Hearing on Un-American Activities (1952) pt. 8

Back  -   New Search

Helmsley, Leona c.1920–

1 Only the little people pay taxes.
comment made to her housekeeper in 1983, and reported at her trial for tax evasion
in New York Times 12 July 1989

Back  -   New Search

Hemans, Felicia 1793–1835

1
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled.

"Casabianca" (1849)

2
The stately homes of England,
How beautiful they stand!
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O'er all the pleasant land.

"The Homes of England" (1849).

[Hemans]

Back  -   New Search

Hemingway, Ernest 1899–1961

1 But did thee feel the earth move?
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) ch. 13

2 Paris is a movable feast.
A Movable Feast (1964) epigraph

[Hemingway]

3 The sun also rises.
title of novel (1926)

[Hemingway]

4 Grace under pressure.
when asked what he meant by "guts" in an interview with Dorothy Parker
in New Yorker 30 November 1929

[Hemingway]

5 The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector.
in Paris Review Spring 1958

[Hemingway]

Back  -   New Search

Henley, Arthur W. D.

1 Nobody loves a fairy when she's forty.
title of song (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Henley, W. E. 1849–1903

1
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

"Invictus. In Memoriam R.T.H.B." (1888)

2
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

"Invictus. In Memoriam R.T.H.B." (1888)

[Henley]

3
What have I done for you,
England, my England?

"Pro Rege Nostro" (1900).

[Henley]

4
I was a King in Babylon
And you were a Christian slave.

"To W. A." (1888)

[Henley]

Back  -   New Search

Henri IV 1553–1610

1 I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he is unable to have a chicken in his pot every Sunday.
Hardouin de Péréfixe Histoire de Henry le Grand (1681).

2 Paris is well worth a mass.
attributed to Henri IV; alternatively to his minister Sully, in conversation with Henri

[Henri IV]

3 The wisest fool in Christendom.
of James I of England
attributed both to Henri IV and Sully

[Henri IV]

Back  -   New Search

Henry II 1133–89

1 Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?
of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, December 1170
oral tradition, conflating a number of variant forms

Back  -   New Search

Henry VIII 1491–1547

1 That man hath the sow by the right ear.
of Thomas Cranmer, June 1529
Acts and Monuments of John Foxe ["Fox's Book of Martyrs"] (1570)

2 The King found her so different from her picture…that…he swore they had brought him a Flanders mare.
of Anne of Cleves
Tobias Smollett A Complete History of England (3rd ed., 1759) vol. 6

[Henry VIII]

Back  -   New Search

Henry, Matthew 1662–1714

1 The better day, the worse deed.
An Exposition on the Old and New Testament (1710) Genesis ch. 3, v. 6, gloss 2

2 They that die by famine die by inches.
An Exposition on the Old and New Testament (1710) Psalm 59, v. 15, gloss 5 (referring incorrectly to v. 13)

[Henry]

Back  -   New Search

Henry, O. 1862–1910

1 It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are.
Gentle Grafter (1908) "Octopus Marooned"

2 Turn up the lights; I don't want to go home in the dark.
last words, quoting a song; Charles Alphonso Smith O. Henry Biography (1916) ch. 9
I'm afraid to come home in the dark.
Harry Williams (1874–1924) title of song (1907)

[Henry]

Back  -   New Search

Henry, Patrick 1736–99

1 Caesar had his Brutus—Charles the First, his Cromwell—and George the Third—("Treason," cried the Speaker)…may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.
speech in the Virginia assembly, May 1765

2 I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
speech in Virginia Convention, 23 March 1775

[Henry]

Back  -   New Search

Henry, Philip 1631–96

1 All this, and heaven too!
in Matthew Henry Life of Mr Philip Henry (1698) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Hepworth, Barbara 1903–75

1 Carving is interrelated masses conveying an emotion: a perfect relationship between the mind and the colour, light and weight which is the stone, made by the hand which feels.
Herbert Read (ed.) Unit One (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Heraclitus c.540 bc

1 You can't step twice into the same river.
Plato Cratylus 402a

2 A man's character is his fate.
On the Universe fragment 121 (tr. W. H. S. Jones)

[Heraclitus]

3 The road up and the road down are one and the same.
H. Diels and W. Kranz Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (7th ed., 1954) fragment 60

[Heraclitus]

Back  -   New Search

Herbert, A. P. 1890–1971

1
The Farmer will never be happy again;
He carries his heart in his boots;
For either the rain is destroying his grain
Or the drought is destroying his roots.

"The Farmer" (1922)

2
As my poor father used to say
In 1863,
Once people start on all this Art
Goodbye, moralitee!

"Lines for a Worthy Person" (1930)

[Herbert]

3
This high official, all allow,
Is grossly overpaid;
There wasn't any Board, and now
There isn't any Trade.

"The President of the Board of Trade" (1922)

[Herbert]

4 Holy deadlock.
title of novel (1934)

[Herbert]

5 People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any Act of Parliament.
Uncommon Law (1935) "Is it a Free Country?"

[Herbert]

6 The critical period in matrimony is breakfast-time.
Uncommon Law (1935) "Is Marriage Lawful?"

[Herbert]

Back  -   New Search

Herbert, Lord of Cherbury 1583–1648

1
Now that the April of your youth adorns
The garden of your face.

"Ditty: Now that the April" (1665)

Back  -   New Search

Herbert, George 1593–1633

1
Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing
My God and King.

"Antiphon: Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing" (1633)

2
I struck the board, and cried, "No more.
I will abroad."

"The Collar" (1633)

[Herbert]

3
Away; take heed:
I will abroad.
Call in thy death's-head there: tie up thy fears.

"The Collar" (1633)

[Herbert]

4
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Methought I heard one calling, "Child";
And I replied, "My Lord."

"The Collar" (1633)

[Herbert]

5
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in any thing
To do it as for Thee.

"The Elixir" (1633)

[Herbert]

6
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws
Makes that and th' action fine.

"The Elixir" (1633)

[Herbert]

7
Lovely enchanting language, sugar-cane,
Honey of roses!

"The Forerunners" (1633)

[Herbert]

8
Who says that fictions only and false hair
Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
Is all good structure in a winding stair?

"Jordan (1)" (1633)

[Herbert]

9
Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.

"Love: Love bade me welcome" (1633)

[Herbert]

10
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

"Love: Love bade me welcome" (1633)

[Herbert]

11
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by;
Let us (said he) pour on him all we can:
Let the world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.

"The Pulley" (1633)

[Herbert]

12
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast.

"The Pulley" (1633)

[Herbert]

13 Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree.
"The Sacrifice" (1633) l. 202

[Herbert]

14
The God of love my Shepherd is,
And He that doth me feed:
While He is mine, and I am His,
What can I want or need?

"The 23rd Psalm" (1633).

[Herbert]

15
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie.

"Virtue" (1633)

[Herbert]

Back  -   New Search

Herodotus c.485–425

1 In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.
Histories bk. 1 sect. 87

2 The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
Histories bk. 9 sect. 16

[Herodotus]

Back  -   New Search

Herrick, Robert 1591–1674

1
Here a little child I stand,
Heaving up my either hand;
Cold as paddocks though they be,
Here I lift them up to Thee,
For a benison to fall
On our meat, and on us all. Amen.

"Another Grace for a Child" (1647)

2
I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers:
Of April, May, of June, and July-flowers.
I sing of May-poles, Hock-carts, wassails, wakes,
Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes.

"The Argument of his Book" from Hesperides (1648)

[Herrick]

3
And once more yet (ere I am laid out dead)
Knock at a star with my exalted head.

"The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad" (1648)

[Herrick]

4
Cherry-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry,
Full and fair ones; come and buy:
If so be, you ask me where
They do grow? I answer, there,
Where my Julia's lips do smile;
There's the land, or cherry-isle.

"Cherry-Ripe" (1648)

[Herrick]

5
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:

"Delight in Disorder" (1648)

[Herrick]

6
Night makes no difference 'twixt the Priest and Clerk;
Joan as my Lady is as good i' th' dark.

"No Difference i' th' Dark" (1648)

[Herrick]

7
Fain would I kiss my Julia's dainty leg,
Which is as white and hairless as an egg.

"On Julia's Legs" (1648)

[Herrick]

8
But, for Man's fault, then was the thorn,
Without the fragrant rose-bud, born;
But ne'er the rose without the thorn.

"The Rose" (1647)

[Herrick]

9
Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon.

"To Daffodils" (1648)

[Herrick]

10
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.

"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (1648)

[Herrick]

11
Then be not coy, but use your time;
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (1648)

[Herrick]

12
Whenas in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes.
Next, when I cast mine eyes and see
That brave vibration each way free;
O how that glittering taketh me!

"Upon Julia's Clothes" (1648)

[Herrick]

Back  -   New Search

Hervey, Lord 1696–1743

1 Whoever would lie usefully should lie seldom.
Memoirs of the Reign of George II (ed. J. W. Croker, 1848) vol. 1

2 I am fit for nothing but to carry candles and set chairs all my life.
letter to Robert Walpole, 1737

[Hervey]

Back  -   New Search

Herzl, Theodor 1860–1904

1 At Basle I founded the Jewish state.
of the first Zionist congress, held in Basle in 1897
diary, 3 September 1897

Back  -   New Search

Hesiod c.700 bc

1 The half is greater than the whole.
Works and Days l. 40

2
The man who does evil to another does evil
to himself,
and the evil counsel is most evil
for him who counsels it.

Works and Days l. 265, tr. R. Lattimore

[Hesiod]

Back  -   New Search

Hesse, Hermann 1877–1962

1 If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.
Demian (1919) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Hewart, Gordon 1870–1943

1 A long line of cases shows that it is not merely of some importance, but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.
Rex v Sussex Justices, 9 November 1923

Back  -   New Search

Heydrich, Reinhard 1904–42

1 Now the rough work has been done we begin the period of finer work. We need to work in harmony with the civil administration. We count on you gentlemen as far as the final solution is concerned.
on the planned mass murder of all European Jews
speech in Wannsee, 20 January 1942

Back  -   New Search

Heyward, Du Bose 1885–1940 and Gershwin, Ira 1896–1983

1
It ain't necessarily so,
It ain't necessarily so,
De t'ings dat yo' li'ble
To read in de Bible
It ain't necessarily so.

"It ain't necessarily so" (1935 song) in Porgy and Bess

2
Summer time an' the livin' is easy,
Fish are jumpin' an' the cotton is high.

"Summertime" (1935 song) in Porgy and Bess

[Heyward]

3 A woman is a sometime thing.
title of song (1935) in Porgy and Bess

[Heyward]

Back  -   New Search

Heywood, John c.1497–1580

1
All a green willow, willow;
All a green willow is my garland.

"The Green Willow"

Back  -   New Search

Heywood, Thomas c.1574–1641

1
Seven cities warred for Homer, being dead,
Who, living, had no roof to shroud his head.

"The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels" (1635).

Back  -   New Search

Hill, Aaron 1685–1750

1
Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.

"Verses Written on a Window in Scotland"

Back  -   New Search

Hill, Damon 1960–

1 Winning is everything. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog.
in Sunday Times 18 December 1994 "Quotes of the Year"

Back  -   New Search

Hill, Joe 1879–1915

1
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

"Preacher and the Slave" in Songs of the Workers (Industrial Workers of the World, 1911)

2 I will die like a true-blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning—organize.
before his death by firing squad
farewell telegram to Bill Haywood, 18 November 1915

[Hill]

Back  -   New Search

Hill, Pattie S. 1868–1946

1 Happy birthday to you.
title of song (1935)

Back  -   New Search

Hill, Rowland 1744–1833

1 He did not see any reason why the devil should have all the good tunes.
E. W. Broome The Rev. Rowland Hill (1881) ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Hillary, Edmund 1919–

1 Well, we knocked the bastard off!
on conquering Mount Everest, 1953
Nothing Venture, Nothing Win (1975) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Hillebrand, Fred 1893–1963

1 Home James, and don't spare the horses.
title of song (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Hillel "The Elder" c.60–9

1 What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour: that is the whole Torah.
in Talmud Shabbat 31a

2 If I am not for myself who is for me? and being for my own self what am I? If not now when?
in Talmud Mishnah "Pirqei Avot" 1:14

[Hillel]

Back  -   New Search

Hilton, James 1900–54

1 Nothing really wrong with him—only anno domini, but that's the most fatal complaint of all, in the end.
Goodbye, Mr Chips (1934) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Hippocrates c.460 bc

1 Life is short, the art long.
often quoted as "Ars longa, vita brevis", after Seneca's rendering in De Brevitate Vitae sect. 1
Aphorisms sect. 1, para. 1 (tr. W. H. S. Jones).

Back  -   New Search

Hirohito, Emperor 1901–89

1 The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage.
announcing Japan's surrender, in a broadcast to his people after atom bombs had destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki
on 15 August 1945

Back  -   New Search

Hirst, Damien 1965–

1 It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-level art, twisted imagination and a chainsaw.
after winning the 1995 Turner Prize
in Observer 3 December 1995 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Hitchcock, Alfred 1899–1980

1 Actors are cattle.
in Saturday Evening Post 22 May 1943

2 Television has brought back murder into the home—where it belongs.
in Observer 19 December 1965

[Hitchcock]

Back  -   New Search

Hitler, Adolf 1889–1945

1 The broad mass of a nation…will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.
Mein Kampf (1925) vol. 1, ch. 10

2 The night of the long knives.
referring to the massacre of Ernst Roehm and his associates by Hitler on 29–30 June 1934 (subsequently associated with Harold Macmillan's Cabinet dismissals of 13 July 1962)
S. H. Roberts The House Hitler Built (1937) pt. 2, ch. 3

[Hitler]

3 I go the way that Providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker.
speech in Munich, 15 March 1936

[Hitler]

4 It is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe, but it is the claim from which I will not recede and which, God-willing, I will make good.
on the Sudetenland
speech at Berlin Sportpalast, 26 September 1938

[Hitler]

5 My patience is now at an end!
speech at Berlin Sportpalast, 26 September 1938

[Hitler]

Back  -   New Search

Ho, Lady fl. 300 bc

1
When a pair of magpies fly together
They do not envy the pair of phoenixes.

"A Song of Magpies"; K. Rexroth and Chung (eds.) The Orchid Boat: Women Poets of China (1972)

Back  -   New Search

Hobbes, Thomas 1588–1679

1 By art is created that great Leviathan, called a commonwealth or state, (in Latin civitas) which is but an artificial man…and in which, the sovereignty is an artificial soul.
Leviathan (1651); introduction

2 They that approve a private opinion, call it opinion; but they that mislike it, heresy: and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion.
Leviathan (1651) pt. 1, ch. 11

[Hobbes]

3 During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man.
Leviathan (1651) pt. 1, ch. 13

[Hobbes]

4 For as the nature of foul weather, lieth not in a shower or two of rain; but in an inclination thereto of many days together: so the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting, but in the known disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary.
Leviathan (1651) pt. 1, ch. 13

[Hobbes]

5 No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
Leviathan (1651) pt. 1, ch. 13

[Hobbes]

6 Liberties…depend on the silence of the law.
Leviathan (1651) pt. 2, ch. 16

[Hobbes]

7 The papacy is not other than the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.
Leviathan (1651) pt. 4, ch. 47

[Hobbes]

8 I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.
last words; attributed (cf. ), but with no authoritative source

[Hobbes]

Back  -   New Search

Hobhouse, John Cam, Lord Broughton 1786–1869

1 When I invented the phrase "His Majesty's Opposition" [Canning] paid me a compliment on the fortunate hit.

Recollections of a Long Life (1865) vol. 2, ch. 12.

Back  -   New Search

Hobsbawm, Eric 1917–

1 This was the kind of war which existed in order to produce victory parades.
of the Falklands War
in Marxism Today January 1983

Back  -   New Search

Hockney, David 1937–

1 All painting, no matter what you're painting, is abstract in that it's got to be organized.
David Hockney (1976)

2 The thing with high-tech is that you always end up using scissors.
in Observer 10 July 1994 "Sayings of the Week"

[Hockney]

Back  -   New Search

Hodgson, Ralph 1871–1962

1
'Twould ring the bells of Heaven
The wildest peal for years,
If Parson lost his senses
And people came to theirs,
And he and they together
Knelt down with angry prayers
For tamed and shabby tigers
And dancing dogs and bears,
And wretched, blind, pit ponies,
And little hunted hares.

"Bells of Heaven" (1917)

Back  -   New Search

Hoffman, Al 1902–60 and Manning, Dick 1912–

1 Takes two to tango.
title of song (1952)

Back  -   New Search

Hoffman, August Heinrich (Hoffman von Fallersleben) 1798–1874

1 Deutschland über alles.Germany above all.
title of poem (1841)

Back  -   New Search

Hoffmann, Heinrich 1809–94

1
Look at little Johnny there,
Little Johnny Head-In-Air!

Struwwelpeter (1848) "Johnny Head-In-Air".

2
The door flew open, in he ran,
The great, long, red-legged scissor-man.

Struwwelpeter (1848) "The Little Suck-a-Thumb"

[Hoffmann]

3
Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast.
That both his thumbs are off at last.

Struwwelpeter (1848) "The Little Suck-a-Thumb"

[Hoffmann]

4
The hare sits snug in leaves and grass,
And laughs to see the green man pass.

Struwwelpeter (1848) "The Man Who Went Out Shooting"

[Hoffmann]

5
And now she's trying all she can,
To shoot the sleepy, green-coat man.

Struwwelpeter (1848) "The Man Who Went Out Shooting"

[Hoffmann]

6
Anything to me is sweeter
Than to see Shock-headed Peter.

Struwwelpeter (1848) "Shock-Headed Peter" (title poem)

[Hoffmann]

Back  -   New Search

Hoffnung, Gerard 1925–59

1 Standing among savage scenery, the hotel offers stupendous revelations. There is a French widow in every bedroom, affording delightful prospects.
supposedly quoting a letter from a Tyrolean landlord
speech at the Oxford Union, 4 December 1958

Back  -   New Search

Hogben, Lancelot 1895–1975

1 This is not the age of pamphleteers. It is the age of the engineers. The spark-gap is mightier than the pen.
Science for the Citizen (1938) epilogue

Back  -   New Search

Hogg, James 1770–1835

1
Where the pools are bright and deep
Where the gray trout lies asleep,
Up the river and o'er the lea
That's the way for Billy and me.

"A Boy's Song" (1838)

2
We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea,
We'll o'er the water to Charlie;
Come weel, come wo, we'll gather and go,
And live or die wi' Charlie.

"O'er the Water to Charlie" in Jacobite Relics of Scotland Second Series (1821)

[Hogg]

3 The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner.
title of novel (1824)

[Hogg]

Back  -   New Search

Holbach, Paul Henri, Baron d' 1723–89

1 If ignorance of nature gave birth to the Gods, knowledge of nature is destined to destroy them.
Système de la Nature (1770) pt. 2, ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Holiday, Billie 1915–59

1
Mama may have, papa may have,
But God bless the child that's got his own!
That's got his own.

"God Bless the Child" (1941 song, with Arthur Herzog Jnr)

2
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

"Strange Fruit" (1939)

[Holiday]

3 Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three.
Lady Sings the Blues (1956)

[Holiday]

Back  -   New Search

Holland, Henry Fox, Lord 1705–74

1 If Mr Selwyn calls again, shew him up: if I am alive I shall be delighted to see him; and if I am dead he would like to see me.
during his last illness
J. H. Jesse George Selwyn and his Contemporaries (1844) vol. 3

Back  -   New Search

Holland, Henry Scott 1847–1918

1 Death is nothing at all; it does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room.
sermon preached on Whitsunday 1910

Back  -   New Search

Holmes, John H. 1879–1964

1 This, now, is the judgement of our scientific age—the third reaction of man upon the universe! This universe is not hostile, nor yet is it friendly. It is simply indifferent.
The Sensible Man's View of Religion (1932) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Holmes, Oliver Wendell 1809–94

1 It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
The Poet at the Breakfast-Table (1872) ch. 10

2
Lean, hungry, savage anti-everythings.

"A Modest Request" (1848)

[Holmes]

Back  -   New Search

Holmes, Oliver Wendell Jr. 1841–1935

1 We pause to…recall what our country has done for each of us and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return.
speech, Keene, New Hampshire, 30 May 1884.

2 It is better to be seventy years young than forty years old!
reply to invitation from Julia Ward Howe to her seventieth birthday party, 27 May 1889
Laura Richards and Maud Howe Elliott Julia Ward Howe (1916) vol. 2

[Holmes]

3 The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.
sometimes quoted as, "shouting fire in a crowded theatre"
in Schenck v. United States (1919)

[Holmes]

Back  -   New Search

Home, John 1722–1808

1
My name is Norval; on the Grampian hills
My father feeds his flocks.

Douglas (1756) act 2, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Home, Alec Douglas-Home, Lord 1903–95

1 As far as the fourteenth earl is concerned, I suppose Mr Wilson, when you come to think of it, is the fourteenth Mr Wilson.
replying to Harold Wilson's remark (on Home's becoming leader of the Conservative party) that "the whole [democratic] process has ground to a halt with a fourteenth Earl"
in Daily Telegraph 22 October 1963

Back  -   New Search

Homer

1 Achilles' cursed anger sing, O goddess, that son of Peleus, which started a myriad sufferings for the Achaeans.
The Iliad bk. 1, l. 1.

2 Winged words.
The Iliad bk. 1, l. 201

[Homer]

3 Smiling through her tears.
The Iliad bk. 6, l. 484

[Homer]

4 It lies in the lap of the gods.
The Iliad bk. 17, l. 514 and elsewhere

[Homer]

5 Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered far and wide after he had sacked Troy's sacred city, and saw the towns of many men and knew their mind.
of Odysseus
The Odyssey bk. 1, l. 1

[Homer]

6 Rosy-fingered dawn.
The Odyssey bk. 2, l. 1 and passim

[Homer]

Back  -   New Search

Hood, Thomas 1799–1845

1
The bleak wind of March
Made her tremble and shiver;
But not the dark arch,
Or the black flowing river.

"The Bridge of Sighs" (1844)

2
Mad from life's history,
Glad to death's mystery,
Swift to be hurled.

"The Bridge of Sighs" (1844)

[Hood]

3
And Eugene Aram walked between,
With gyves upon his wrist.

"The Dream of Eugene Aram" (1829)

[Hood]

4
For here I leave my second leg,
And the Forty-second Foot!

"Faithless Nelly Gray" (1826)

[Hood]

5
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton tolled the bell.

"Faithless Sally Brown" (1826)

[Hood]

6
I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn.

"I Remember" (1826)

[Hood]

7
She stood breast high amid the corn,
Clasped by the golden light of morn,

"Ruth" (1827).

[Hood]

8
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt.
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the "Song of the Shirt".

"The Song of the Shirt" (1843)

[Hood]

9 The sedate, sober, silent, serious, sad-coloured sect.
of Quakers
Comic Annual (1839) "The Doves and the Crows"

[Hood]

Back  -   New Search

Hooker, Richard c.1554–1600

1 Alteration though it be from worse to better hath in it inconveniences, and those weighty.
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593) bk. 4.

Back  -   New Search

Hooper, Ellen Sturgis 1816–41

1
I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty;
I woke, and found that life was duty.

"Beauty and Duty" (1840)

Back  -   New Search

Hoover, Herbert 1874–1964

1 Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.
on the Eighteenth Amendment enacting Prohibition
letter to Senator W. H. Borah, 23 February 1928

2 The American system of rugged individualism.
speech in New York City, 22 October 1928

[Hoover]

3 The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage.
sometimes paraphrased as, "a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot"
speech, 22 October 1928.

[Hoover]

4 The grass will grow in the streets of a hundred cities, a thousand towns.
on proposals "to reduce the protective tariff to a competitive tariff for revenue"
speech, 31 October 1932

[Hoover]

Back  -   New Search

Hope, Anthony 1863–1933

1 Economy is going without something you do want in case you should, some day, want something you probably won't want.
The Dolly Dialogues (1894) no. 12

2 Oh, for an hour of Herod!
at the first night of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan in 1904
Denis Mackail The Story of JMB (1941) ch. 17

[Hope]

Back  -   New Search

Hope, Bob 1903–

1 A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
In Alan Harrington Life in the Crystal Palace (1959) "The Tyranny of Farms"

2 Well, I'm still here.
after erroneous reports of his death, marked by tributes paid to him in Congress
in Mail on Sunday 7 June 1998 "Quotes of the Week"

[Hope]

Back  -   New Search

Hope, Laurence 1865–1904

1
Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar,
Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell?

The Garden of Kama (1901) "Kashmiri Song"

2
Less than the dust, beneath thy Chariot wheel.

The Garden of Kama (1901) "Less than the Dust"

[Hope]

Back  -   New Search

Hopkins, Gerard Manley 1844–89

1
Towery city and branchy between towers;
Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook-racked, river-rounded.

"Duns Scotus's Oxford" (written 1879)

2
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out like shining from shook foil…
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

"God's Grandeur" (written 1877)

[Hopkins]

3
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

"God's Grandeur" (written 1877)

[Hopkins]

4
Elected Silence, sing to me
And beat upon my whorlèd ear.

"The Habit of Perfection" (written 1866)

[Hopkins]

5
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

"Inversnaid" (written 1881)

[Hopkins]

6
O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there.

"No worst, there is none" (written 1885)

[Hopkins]

7
Glory be to God for dappled things.

"Pied Beauty" (written 1877)

[Hopkins]

8
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

"Pied Beauty" (written 1877)

[Hopkins]

9
Márgarét, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?

"Spring and Fall: to a young child" (written 1880)

[Hopkins]

10
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie.

"Spring and Fall: to a young child" (written 1880)

[Hopkins]

11
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

"Spring and Fall: to a young child" (written 1880)

[Hopkins]

12
Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners' ways prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavour end?

"Thou art indeed just, Lord" (written 1889)

[Hopkins]

13
Birds build—but not I build; no, but strain,
Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.

"Thou art indeed just, Lord" (written 1889)

[Hopkins]

14
I caught this morning morning's minion, kingdom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon.

"The Windhover" (written 1877)

[Hopkins]

15
On Saturday sailed from Bremen,
American-outward-bound,
Take settler and seamen, tell men with women,
Two hundred souls in the round.

"The Wreck of the Deutschland" (written 1876) pt. 2

[Hopkins]

16 To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a dungfork in his hand, a woman with a slop-pail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should.
"The Principle or Foundation" (1882)

[Hopkins]

Back  -   New Search

Horace 65 bc

1
Inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis
Purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter
Adsuitur pannus.
Works of serious purpose and grand promises often have a purple patch or two stitched on, to shine far and wide.
Ars Poetica l. 14

2
Brevis esse laboro,
Obscurus fio.
I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.
Ars Poetica l. 25

[Horace]

3
Grammatici certant et adhuc sub iudice lis est.
Scholars dispute, and the case is still before the courts.
Ars Poetica l. 78

[Horace]

4
Proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba.
He throws aside his paint-pots and his words a foot and a half long.
Ars Poetica l. 97.

[Horace]

5
Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Mountains will go into labour, and a silly little mouse will be born.
Ars Poetica l. 139

[Horace]

6
Semper ad eventum festinat et in medias res
Non secus ac notas auditorem rapit.
He always hurries to the main event and whisks his audience into the middle of things as though they knew already.
Ars Poetica l. 148

[Horace]

7
Difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti
Se puero, castigator censorque minorum.
Tiresome, complaining, a praiser of past times, when he was a boy, a castigator and censor of the young generation.
Ars Poetica l. 173

[Horace]

8
Indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.
I'm aggrieved when sometimes even excellent Homer nods.
Ars Poetica l. 359.

[Horace]

9
Ut pictura poesis.
A poem is like a painting.
Ars Poetica l. 361

[Horace]

10
Si possis recte, si non, quocumque modo rem.
If possible honestly, if not, somehow, make money.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 1, l. 66.

[Horace]

11
Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
We are just statistics, born to consume resources.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 2, l. 27

[Horace]

12
Ira furor brevis est.
Anger is a short madness.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 2, l. 62

[Horace]

13
Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici,
Solaque quae possit facere et servare beatum.
To marvel at nothing is just about the one and only thing, Numicius, that can make a man happy and keep him that way.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 6, l. 1.

[Horace]

14
Naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret.
You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she'll be constantly running back.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 10, l. 24

[Horace]

15
Concordia discors.
Discordant harmony.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 12, l. 19

[Horace]

16
Et semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.
And once sent out a word takes wing beyond recall.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 18, l. 71

[Horace]

17
Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.
For it is your business, when the wall next door catches fire.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 18, l. 84

[Horace]

18
O imitatores, servum pecus.
O imitators, you slavish herd.
Epistles bk. 1, no. 19, l. 19

[Horace]

19
Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim.
Skilled or unskilled, we all scribble poems.Epistles bk. 2, no. 1, l. 117
[Horace]

20
Atque inter silvas Academi quaerere verum.
And seek for truth in the groves of Academe.
Epistles bk. 2, no. 2, l. 45

[Horace]

21
Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum.
I have to put up with a lot, to please the touchy breed of poets.
Epistles bk. 2, no. 2, l. 102

[Horace]

22
Nil desperandum.
Never despair.
Odes bk. 1, no. 7, l. 27

[Horace]

23
Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
While we're talking, envious time is fleeing: seize the day, put no trust in the future.
Odes bk. 1, no. 11, l. 7

[Horace]

24
Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,
Dulce loquentem.
I will go on loving Lalage, who laughs so sweetly and talks so sweetly.
Odes bk. 1, no. 22, l. 23

[Horace]

25
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero
Pulsanda tellus.
Now for drinking, now the Earth must shake beneath a lively foot.
Odes bk. 1, no. 37, l. 1

[Horace]

26
Auream quisquis mediocritatem
Diligit.
Someone who loves the golden mean.
Odes bk. 2, no. 10, l. 5

[Horace]

27
Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
Labuntur anni.
Ah me, Postumus, Postumus, the fleeting years are slipping by.
Odes bk. 2, no. 14, l. 1

[Horace]

28
Credite posteri.
Believe me, you who come after me!
Odes bk. 2, no. 19, l. 2

[Horace]

29
Post equitem sedet atra Cura.
Black Care sits behind the horseman.
Odes bk. 3, no. 1, l. 40

[Horace]

30
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Lovely and honourable it is to die for one's country.
Odes bk. 3, no. 2, l. 13

[Horace]

31
Opaco
Pelion imposuisse Olympo.
To pile Pelion on top of shady Olympus.
Odes bk. 3, no. 4, l. 52

[Horace]

32
Exegi monumentum aere perennius.
I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze.
Odes bk. 3, no. 30, l. 1

[Horace]

33
Non omnis moriar.
I shall not altogether die.
Odes bk. 3, no. 30, l. 6

[Horace]

34
Non sum qualis eram bonae
Sub regno Cinarae.
I am not as I was when good Cinara was my queen.
Odes bk. 4, no. 1, l. 3.

[Horace]

35
Est modus in rebus.
There is moderation in everything.
Satires bk. 1, no. 1, l. 106

[Horace]

36
Etiam disiecti membra poetae.
Even though broken up, the limbs of a poet.
of Ennius
Satires bk. 1, no. 4, l. 62

[Horace]

37
Hoc erat in votis: modus agri non ita magnus,
Hortus ubi et tecto vicinus iugis aquae fons
Et paulum silvae super his foret.
This was among my prayers: a piece of land not so very large, where a garden should be and a spring of ever-flowing water near the house, and a bit of woodland as well as these.
Satires bk. 2, no. 6, l. 1.

[Horace]

Back  -   New Search

Horsley, Samuel 1733–1806

1 In this country…the individual subject…"has nothing to do with the laws but to obey them."
defending a maxim he had used earlier in committee
speech, House of Lords, 13 November 1795

Back  -   New Search

Housman, A. E. 1859–1936

1
Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?
And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists?
And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?
Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.

first drafted in summer 1895, following the trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde
Collected Poems (1939) "Additional Poems" no. 18

2
The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild;
He has devoured the infant child.
The infant child is not aware
He has been eaten by the bear.

"Infant Innocence" (1938)

[Housman]

3
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.

Last Poems (1922) no. 12

[Housman]

4
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.

Last Poems (1922) no. 37 "Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries"

[Housman]

5
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young.

More Poems (1936) no. 36

[Housman]

6
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 2

[Housman]

7
And naked to the hangman's noose
The morning clocks will ring
A neck God made for other use
Than strangling in a string.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 9

[Housman]

8
In summertime on Bredon
The bells they sound so clear;
Round both the shires they ring them
In steeples far and near,
A happy noise to hear.

Here of a Sunday morning
My love and I would lie,
And see the coloured counties,
And hear the larks so high
About us in the sky.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 21

[Housman]

9
On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble;
His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 31

[Housman]

10
To-day the Roman and his trouble
Are ashes under Uricon.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 31

[Housman]

11
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 40

[Housman]

12
Clunton and Clunbury,
Clungunford and Clun,
Are the quietest places
Under the sun.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 50 (epigraph)

[Housman]

13
By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 54

[Housman]

14
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 62.

[Housman]

15
Mithridates, he died old.

A Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 62

[Housman]

Back  -   New Search

Houston, Samuel 1793–1863

1 The North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction…they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche.
in 1861, warning the people of Texas against secession
Geoffrey C. Ward The Civil War (1991) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Howe, Geoffrey 1926–

1 It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find the moment that the first balls are bowled that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.
on the difficulties caused him as Foreign Secretary by Margaret Thatcher's anti-European views
resignation speech as Deputy Prime Minister, in the House of Commons, 13 November 1990

2 The time has come for others to consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties with which I have myself wrestled for perhaps too long.
resignation speech
in the House of Commons, 13 November 1990

[Howe]

Back  -   New Search

Howe, Julia Ward 1819–1910

1
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

"Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1862)

Back  -   New Search

Howell, James c.1594–1666

1
Some hold translations not unlike to be
The wrong side of a Turkey tapestry.

Familiar Letters (1645–55) bk. 1, no. 6

2 The Netherlands have been for many years, as one may say, the very cockpit of Christendom.
Instructions for Foreign Travel (1642)

[Howell]

Back  -   New Search

Howerd, Frankie 1922–92

1 Such cruel glasses.
of Robin Day
in That Was The Week That Was (BBC television series, from 1963)

2 It's television, you see. If you are not on the thing every week, the public think you are either dead or deported.
attributed

[Howerd]

Back  -   New Search

Howitt, Mary 1799–1888

1
Buttercups and daisies,
Oh, the pretty flowers;
Coming ere the springtime,
To tell of sunny hours.

"Buttercups and Daisies" (1838)

2
"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly:
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy."

"The Spider and the Fly" (1834)

[Howitt]

Back  -   New Search

Hoyle, Edmond 1672–1769

1 When in doubt, win the trick.
Hoyle's Games Improved (ed. Charles Jones, 1790) "Twenty-four Short Rules for Learners"; though attributed to Hoyle, it is not found in earlier editions

Back  -   New Search

Hoyle, Fred 1915–2001

1 Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards.
in Observer 9 September 1979 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Hubbard, Elbert 1859–1915

1 Never explain—your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
The Motto Book (1907).

2 Life is just one damned thing after another.
Philistine December 1909; often attributed to Frank Ward O'Malley

[Hubbard]

3 Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed.
The Roycroft Dictionary (1914)

[Hubbard]

Back  -   New Search

Hubbard, Frank McKinney ("Kin") 1868–1930

1 Classic music is th'kind that we keep thinkin'll turn into a tune.
Comments of Abe Martin and His Neighbors (1923)

2 It's no disgrace t'be poor, but it might as well be.
Short Furrows (1911)

[Hubbard]

Back  -   New Search

Hughes, Jimmy and Lake, Frank

1
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, my lads, Bless 'em all!
Bless 'em all! Bless 'em all! The long and the short and the tall.

"Bless 'Em All" (1940 song)

Back  -   New Search

Hughes, Langston 1902–67

1
I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes.

"I, Too" in Survey Graphic March 1925

2
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921)

[Hughes]

Back  -   New Search

Hughes, Ted 1930–98

1
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot.

"Hawk Roosting" (1960)

2
Fourteen centuries have learned,
From charred remains, that what took place
When Alexandria's library burned
Brain-damaged the human race.

"Hear it Again" (1997)

[Hughes]

3
…With a sudden sharp hot stink of fox,
It enters the dark hole of the head.

"The Thought-Fox" (1957)

[Hughes]

4
Ten years after your death
I meet on a page of your journal, as never before,
The shock of your joy.

"Visit" (1998)

[Hughes]

Back  -   New Search

Hughes, Thomas 1822–96

1 It's more than a game. It's an institution.
of cricket
Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) pt. 2, ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Hugo, Victor 1802–85

1 The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God.
Contemplations (1856) bk. 1, no. 8

2 A stand can be made against invasion by an army; no stand can be made against invasion by an idea.
Histoire d'un Crime (written 1851–2, published 1877) pt. 5, sect. 10

[Hugo]

3 Take away time is money, and what is left of England? take away cotton is king, and what is left of America?
Les Misérables (1862) "Marius" bk. 4 ch. 4

[Hugo]

Back  -   New Search

Hume, David 1711–76

1 Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748) sect. 5, pt. 1

2 If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning, concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748) sect. 12, pt. 3

[Hume]

3 Avarice, the spur of industry.
Essays: Moral and Political (1741–2) "Of Civil Liberty"

[Hume]

4 Money…is none of the wheels of trade: it is the oil which renders the motion of the wheels more smooth and easy.
Essays: Moral and Political (1741–2) "Of Money"

[Hume]

5 Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my Treatise of Human Nature. It fell dead-born from the press.
My Own Life (1777) ch. 1

[Hume]

6 It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.
A Treatise upon Human Nature (1739) bk. 2, pt. 3

[Hume]

Back  -   New Search

Hunt, G. W. c.1829–1904

1
We don't want to fight, but, by jingo if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too.

"We Don't Want to Fight" (1878 music hall song)

Back  -   New Search

Hunt, Leigh 1784–1859

1
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace.

"Abou Ben Adhem" (1838)

2
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.

"Abou Ben Adhem" (1838)

[Hunt]

3
The laughing queen that caught the world's great hands.

referring to Cleopatra
"The Nile" (1818)

[Hunt]

4
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in.

"Rondeau" (1838)

[Hunt]

5 This Adonis in loveliness was a corpulent man of fifty.
of the Prince Regent
in The Examiner 22 March 1812

[Hunt]

Back  -   New Search

Hunter, Anne 1742–1821

1
My mother bids me bind my hair
With bands of rosy hue,
Tie up my sleeves with ribbons rare,
And lace my bodice blue.

"A Pastoral Song" (1794)

Back  -   New Search

Hunter, Robert 1941–

1 The word Greenpeace had a ring to it—it conjured images of Eden; it said ecology and antiwar in two syllables; it fit easily into even a one-column headline.
Warriors of the Rainbow (1979).

Back  -   New Search

Hupfeld, Herman 1894–1951

1
You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss,
A sigh is just a sigh;
The fundamental things apply,
As time goes by.

"As Time Goes By" (1931 song)

Back  -   New Search

Hurston, Zora Neale c.1901–60

1 I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.
How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928)

Back  -   New Search

Huss, John c.1372–1415

1 O sancta simplicitas!O holy simplicity!
at the stake, seeing an aged peasant bringing a bundle of twigs to throw on the pile
J. W. Zincgreff and J. L. Weidner Apophthegmata (Amsterdam, 1653) pt. 3.

Back  -   New Search

Hussein, Saddam 1937–

1 The mother of battles.
popular interpretation of his description of the approaching Gulf War
speech in Baghdad, 6 January 1991

Back  -   New Search

Hutcheson, Francis 1694–1746

1 Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.
An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) Treatise 1

2 That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.
An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) Treatise 2.

[Hutcheson]

Back  -   New Search

Huxley, Aldous 1894–1963

1 The proper study of mankind is books.
Crome Yellow (1921) ch. 28.

2 Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.
Do What You Will (1929) "Wordsworth in the Tropics"

[Huxley]

3 So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.
Ends and Means (1937) ch. 8

[Huxley]

4 Chastity—the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions.
Eyeless in Gaza (1936) ch. 27

[Huxley]

5
Beauty for some provides escape,
Who gain a happiness in eyeing
The gorgeous buttocks of the ape
Or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.

"Ninth Philosopher's Song" (1920)

[Huxley]

Back  -   New Search

Huxley, Julian 1887–1975

1 Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat.
Religion without Revelation (1957 ed.) ch. 3.

Back  -   New Search

Huxley, T. H. 1825–95

1 Most of my colleagues [in the Metaphysical Society] were -ists of one sort or another; and, however kind and friendly they might be, I, the man without a rag of a label to cover himself with, could not fail to have some of the uneasy feelings which must have beset the historical fox when, after leaving the trap in which his tail remained, he presented himself to his normally elongated companions. So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of "agnostic".

Collected Essays (1893–4) "Agnosticism"

2 The great tragedy of Science—the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
Collected Essays (1893–4) "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis"

[Huxley]

3 If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?
Collected Essays vol. 3 (1895) "On Elementary Instruction in Physiology" (written 1877)

[Huxley]

4 It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.
Science and Culture and Other Essays (1881) "The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species"

[Huxley]

5 Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
Science and Culture and Other Essays (1881) "The Coming of Age of the Origin of Species"

[Huxley]

6 Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.
Science and Culture and Other Essays (1881) "On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata"

[Huxley]

7 A man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor whom I should feel shame in recalling it would rather be a man—a man of restless and versatile intellect—who, not content with an equivocal success in his own sphere of activity, plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digressions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice.
replying to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in the debate on Darwin's theory of evolution; see
meeting of the British Association in Oxford, 30 June 1860

[Huxley]

8 I am too much of a sceptic to deny the possibility of anything.
letter to Herbert Spencer, 22 March 1886

[Huxley]

Back  -   New Search

Hyde, Edward

seeEarl of Clarendon

Back  -   New Search

Hytner, Nicholas 1956–

1 If you gave him a good script, actors and technicians, Mickey Mouse could direct a movie.
in an interview, Daily Telegraph 24 February 1994

Back  -   New Search

I

Ibarruri, Dolores ("La Pasionaria") 1895–1989

1 It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
also attributed to Emiliano Zapata
speech in Paris, 3 September 1936

2 No pasarán.They shall not pass.
radio broadcast, Madrid, 19 July 1936

[Ibarruri]

Back  -   New Search

Ibsen, Henrik 1828–1906

1 The majority never has right on its side.
An Enemy of the People (1882) act 4.

2 You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
An Enemy of the People (1882) act 5

[Ibsen]

3 Mother, give me the sun.
Ghosts (1881) act 3

[Ibsen]

4 But good God, people don't do such things!
Hedda Gabler (1890) act 4

[Ibsen]

5 Castles in the air—they are so easy to take refuge in. And easy to build, too.
The Master Builder (1892) act 3

[Ibsen]

6 On the contrary.
last words, after a nurse had said that he "seemed to be a little better"
Michael Meyer Ibsen (1967)

[Ibsen]

Back  -   New Search

Ice Cube 1970–

1 If I'm more of an influence to your son as a rapper than you are as a father…you got to look at yourself as a parent.
to Mike Sager in Rolling Stone 4 October 1990

Back  -   New Search

Ice-T 1958–

1 Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place.
The Ice Opinion (as told to Heidi Sigmund, 1994) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Ignatius Loyola, St 1491–1556

1
Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest:
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest;
To labour and not to ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that we do Thy will.

"Prayer for Generosity" (1548)

Back  -   New Search

Illich, Ivan 1926–

1 In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
Tools for Conviviality (1973) ch. 3

Back  -   New Search

Inge, William Ralph 1860–1954

1 To become a popular religion, it is only necessary for a superstition to enslave a philosophy.
Idea of Progress (Romanes Lecture delivered at Oxford, 27 May 1920)

2 Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature, when they are only repelled by man.
More Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1931) pt. 4, ch. 1

[Inge]

3 It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
Outspoken Essays: First Series (1919) "Patriotism"

[Inge]

4 A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.
a similar image was used by Boris Yeltsin at the time of the failed military coup in Russia, August 1991
Philosophy of Plotinus (1923) vol. 2, Lecture 22

[Inge]

Back  -   New Search

Ingelow, Jean 1820–97

1
Play uppe "The Brides of Enderby".

"The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571" (1863)

2
But each will mourn her own (she saith)
And sweeter woman ne'er drew breath
Than my sonne's wife, Elizabeth.

"The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571" (1863)

[Ingelow]

Back  -   New Search

Ingersoll, Robert G. 1833–99

1 An honest God is the noblest work of man.
The Gods (1876) pt. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Ingham, Bernard 1932–

1 Blood sport is brought to its ultimate refinement in the gossip columns.
speech, 5 February 1986

Back  -   New Search

Ingram, John Kells 1823–1907

1
They rose in dark and evil days.

"The Memory of the Dead" (1843)

2
Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight?
Who blushes at the name?

"The Memory of the Dead" (1843)

[Ingram]

Back  -   New Search

Ingres, J. A. D. 1780–1867

1 Drawing is the true test of art.
Pensées d'Ingres (1922)

Back  -   New Search

Ionesco, Eugène 1912–94

1 A civil servant doesn't make jokes.
Tueur sans gages (The Killer, 1958) act 1

Back  -   New Search

Irenaeus, St c.130 ad

1 The glory of God is a man fully alive.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Irvine, Weldon J.

1 Young, gifted and black.
title of song (1969).

Back  -   New Search

Irving, Washington 1783–1859

1 A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
The Sketch Book (1820) "Rip Van Winkle"

2 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion.
Wolfert's Roost (1855) "The Creole Village"

[Irving]

Back  -   New Search

Isherwood, Christopher 1904–86

1
The common cormorant (or shag)
Lays eggs inside a paper bag,
You follow the idea, no doubt?
It's to keep the lightning out.

But what these unobservant birds
Have never thought of, is that herds
Of wandering bears might come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

"The Common Cormorant" (written c.1925)

2 I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.
Goodbye to Berlin (1939) "Berlin Diary" Autumn 1930

[Isherwood]

Back  -   New Search

Issigonis, Alec 1906–88

1 A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
on his dislike of working in teams
in Guardian 14 January 1991 "Notes and Queries"; attributed

Back  -   New Search

Izetbegovi, Alija 1925–

1 And to my people I say, this may not be a just peace, but it is more just than a continuation of war.
after signing the Dayton accord with representatives of Serbia and Croatia
in Dayton, Ohio, 21 November 1995

Back  -   New Search

J

Jackson, Andrew 1767–1845

1 Our Federal Union: it must be preserved.
toast given on the Jefferson Birthday Celebration, 13 April 1830

Back  -   New Search

Jackson, Holbrook 1874–1948

1 Pedantry is the dotage of knowledge.
Anatomy of Bibliomania (1930) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Jackson, Jesse 1941–

1 When I look out at this convention, I see the face of America, red, yellow, brown, black, and white. We are all precious in God's sight—the real rainbow coalition.
speech at Democratic National Convention, Atlanta, 19 July 1988

Back  -   New Search

Jackson, Michael 1958–

1
Before you judge me, try hard to love me, look within your heart
Then ask,—have you seen my childhood?

"Childhood" (1995 song)

Back  -   New Search

Jackson, Robert H. 1892–1954

1 That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury, stay the hands of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgement of the law, is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.
opening statement for the prosecution at Nuremberg
before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, 21 November 1945

Back  -   New Search

Jacobs, Joe 1896–1940

1 We was robbed!
after Jack Sharkey beat Max Schmeling (of whom Jacobs was manager) in the heavyweight title fight, 21 June 1932
Peter Heller In This Corner (1975)

2 I should of stood in bed.
after leaving his sick-bed to attend the World Baseball Series in Detroit, 1935, and betting on the losers
John Lardner Strong Cigars (1951)

[Jacobs]

Back  -   New Search

Jacopone da Todi c.1230–1306

1
Stabat Mater dolorosa,
Iuxta crucem lacrimosa.

At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping.

"Stabat Mater dolorosa", ascribed also to Pope Innocent III and others (translation based on that of E. Caswall in Lyra Catholica, 1849)

Back  -   New Search

Jagger, Mick 1943– and Richards, Keith 1943–

1 Get off of my cloud.
title of song (1966)

2
And though she's not really ill,
There's a little yellow pill:
She goes running for the shelter
Of a mother's little helper.

"Mother's Little Helper" (1966 song)

[Jagger]

3
I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no girl reaction.

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965 song)

[Jagger]

4
Ev'rywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy.

"Street Fighting Man" (1968 song)

[Jagger]

Back  -   New Search

Jago, Richard 1715–81

1
With leaden foot time creeps along
While Delia is away.

"Absence"

Back  -   New Search

Jaina Sutras

textual translations are those of H. Jacobi, 1884 1 This is the quintessence of wisdom: not to kill anything. Know this to be the legitimate conclusion from the principle of the reciprocity with regard to non-killing.
Strakritnga bk. 1, lecture 1, ch. 4, v. 10

2 Exert and control yourself! For it is not easy to walk on ways where there are minutely small animals.
Strakritnga bk. 1, lecture 2, ch. 1, v. 11

[Jaina Sutras]

Back  -   New Search

James I (James VI of Scotland) 1566–1625

1 A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.
A Counterblast to Tobacco (1604)

2 No bishop, no King.
to a deputation of Presbyterians from the Church of Scotland, seeking religious tolerance in England
W. Barlow Sum and Substance of the Conference (1604)

[James I]

3 The king is truly parens patriae, the politique father of his people.
speech to Parliament, 21 March 1610

[James I]

4 Dr Donne's verses are like the peace of God; they pass all understanding.
remark recorded by Archdeacon Plume (1630–1704).

[James I]

5 I made the carles lords, but who made the carlines ladies?
E. Grenville Murray Embassies and Foreign Courts (1855) ch. 14

[James I]

Back  -   New Search

James V 1512–42

1 It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass.
of the crown of Scotland, on learning of the birth of Mary Queen of Scots, December 1542
Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie (c.1500–65) History of Scotland (1728)

Back  -   New Search

James, Evan

1
The land of my fathers, how fair is thy fame.

"Land of My Fathers" (1856), translated by W. G. Rothery

Back  -   New Search

James, Henry 1843–1916

1 Most English talk is a quadrille in a sentry-box.
The Awkward Age (1899) bk. 5, ch. 19

2 The black and merciless things that are behind the great possessions.
The Ivory Tower (1917) notes

[James]

3 Cats and monkeys—monkeys and cats—all human life is there!
The Madonna of the Future (1879) vol. 1

[James]

4 We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
"The Middle Years" (short story, 1893)

[James]

5 What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?
Partial Portraits (1888) "The Art of Fiction"

[James]

6 The house of fiction has in short not one window, but a million…but they are, singly or together, as nothing without the posted presence of the watcher.
The Portrait of a Lady (1908 ed.) preface

[James]

7 The note I wanted; that of the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy.
Prefaces (1909) "The Altar of the Dead"

[James]

8 The time-honoured bread-sauce of the happy ending.
Theatricals (1894) 2nd series

[James]

9 The turn of the screw
title of novel (1898)

[James]

10 We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped.
The Turn of the Screw (1898)

[James]

11 The war has used up words.
in New York Times 21 March 1915

[James]

12 Of course, of course.
on hearing that Rupert Brooke had died on a Greek island
C. Hassall Rupert Brooke (1964) ch. 14

[James]

13 Summer afternoon—summer afternoon…the two most beautiful words in the English language.
Edith Wharton A Backward Glance (1934) ch. 10

[James]

14 So here it is at last, the distinguished thing!
on experiencing his first stroke
Edith Wharton A Backward Glance (1934) ch. 14

[James]

Back  -   New Search

James, P. D. 1920–

1 What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order.
in Face December 1986

2 I had an interest in death from an early age. It fascinated me. When I heard "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall," I thought, "Did he fall or was he pushed?"
in Paris Review 1995

[James]

Back  -   New Search

James, William 1842–1910

1 There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it.
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)

2 The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess success.
letter to H. G. Wells, 11 September 1906

[James]

3
Hogamus, higamous
Man is polygamous
Higamus, hogamous
Woman monogamous.

in Oxford Book of Marriage (1990)

[James]

Back  -   New Search

Jarrell, Randall 1914–65

1
In bombers named for girls, we burned
The cities we had learned about in school—
Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
The people we had killed and never seen.
When we lasted long enough they gave us medals;
When we died they said, "Our casualties were low."

"Losses" (1963)

2 It is better to entertain an idea than to take it home to live with you for the rest of your life.
Pictures from an Institution (1954) pt. 1, ch. 4

[Jarrell]

Back  -   New Search

Jay, Douglas 1907–96

1 In the case of nutrition and health, just as in the case of education, the gentleman in Whitehall really does know better what is good for people than the people know themselves.
The Socialist Case (1939) ch. 30

Back  -   New Search

Jean Paul

see Johann Paul Friedrich Richter

Back  -   New Search

Jeans, James 1877–1946

1 If we assume that the last breath of, say, Julius Caesar has by now become thoroughly scattered through the atmosphere, then the chances are that each of us inhales one molecule of it with every breath we take.
now usually quoted as the "dying breath of Socrates"
An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases (1940)

2 Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.
The Mysterious Universe (1930) ch. 1

[Jeans]

3 From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.
The Mysterious Universe (1930) ch. 5

[Jeans]

Back  -   New Search

Jefferson, Thomas 1743–1826

1 We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
"Rough Draft" of the American Declaration of Independence, in J. P. Boyd et al. Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1950) vol. 1.

2 The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
letter to W. S. Smith, 13 November 1787

[Jefferson]

3 If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? Those by death are few; by resignation none.
often quoted as, "Few die and none resign"
letter to E. Shipman and others, 12 July 1801

[Jefferson]

4 When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.
to Baron von Humboldt, 1807

[Jefferson]

5 We have the wolf by the ears; and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.
on slavery
letter to John Holmes, 22 April 1820

[Jefferson]

6 To attain all this [universal republicanism], however, rivers of blood must yet flow, and years of desolation pass over; yet the object is worth rivers of blood, and years of desolation.
letter to John Adams, 4 September 1823

[Jefferson]

7 Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
Notes on the State of Virginia (1781–5) Query 18

[Jefferson]

Back  -   New Search

Jeffrey, Francis, Lord 1773–1850

1 This will never do.
on Wordsworth's The Excursion (1814)
in Edinburgh Review November 1814

Back  -   New Search

Jenkins, David 1925–

1 I am not clear that God manoeuvres physical things…After all, a conjuring trick with bones only proves that it is as clever as a conjuring trick with bones.
on the Resurrection
in "Poles Apart" (BBC radio, 4 October 1984)

Back  -   New Search

Jenkins, Roy 1920–

1 The politics of the left and centre of this country are frozen in an out-of-date mould which is bad for the political and economic health of Britain and increasingly inhibiting for those who live within the mould. Can it be broken?
speech to Parliamentary Press Gallery, 9 June 1980, in The Times 10 June 1980

2 Nearly all Prime Ministers are dissatisfied with their successors, perhaps even more so if they come from their own party.
Gladstone (1995)

[Jenkins]

Back  -   New Search

Jennings, Elizabeth 1926–2001

1
I hate a word like "pets": it sounds so much
Like something with no living of its own.

"My Animals" (1966)

Back  -   New Search

Jerome, St c. ad 342–420

1 Venerationi mihi semper fuit non verbosa rusticitas, sed sancta simplicitas.I have revered always not crude verbosity, but holy simplicity.
letter 57, To Pammachius.

2 The Roman world is falling, yet we hold our heads erect instead of bowing our necks.
letter 60, To Heliodorus, ad 396

[Jerome]

Back  -   New Search

Jerome, Jerome K. 1859–1927

1 It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.
Three Men in a Boat (1889) ch. 1

2 I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.
Three Men in a Boat (1889) ch. 15

[Jerome]

Back  -   New Search

Jerome, William 1865–1932

1 Any old place I can hang my hat is home sweet home to me.
title of song (1901)

Back  -   New Search

Jerrold, Douglas 1803–57

1 The best thing I know between France and England is—the sea.
The Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold (1859) "The Anglo-French Alliance"

2 Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.
of Australia
The Wit and Opinions of Douglas Jerrold (1859) "A Land of Plenty"

[Jerrold]

Back  -   New Search

Jewel, John 1522–71

1 In old time we had treen chalices and golden priests, but now we have treen priests and golden chalices.
Certain Sermons Preached Before the Queen's Majesty (1609)

Back  -   New Search

John XXIII, Pope 1881–1963

1 If civil authorities legislate for or allow anything that is contrary to that order and therefore contrary to the will of God, neither the laws made or the authorizations granted can be binding on the consciences of the citizens, since God has more right to be obeyed than man.
Pacem in Terris (1963)

2 I want to throw open the windows of the Church so that we can see out and the people can see in.
attributed

[John XXIII]

Back  -   New Search

John, St of the Cross 1542–91

1 Muero porque no muero.I die because I do not die.
the same words occur in St Teresa of Ávila "Versos nacidos del fuego del amor de Dios" (c.1571–3)
"Coplas del alma que pena por ver a Dios" (c.1578)

2 Noche oscura.Dark night.
often quoted as, "Faith, the dark night of the soul"; the phrase appears in the chapter heading for the poem in Complete Works (1864), translated by David Lewis
title of poem, St John of the Cross (1542–91) The Ascent of Mount Carmel (1578–80)

[John]

Back  -   New Search

John, Elton 1947– and Taupin, Bernie 1950–

1
Goodbye Norma Jean…

It seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind.
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in.

of Marilyn Monroe
"Candle in the Wind" (song, 1973)

2
The candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.

"Candle in the Wind" (song, 1973)

[John]

3
Goodbye England's rose;
May you ever grow in our hearts.

rewritten for and sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, 7 September 1997
"Candle in the Wind" (song, revised version, 1997)

[John]

4
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind:
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in.
And your footsteps will always fall here
On England's greenest hills;
Your candle's burned out long before
Your legend ever will.

"Candle in the Wind" (song, revised version, 1997)

[John]

5 Goodbye yellow brick road.
title of song (1973).

[John]

Back  -   New Search

John Paul II, Pope 1920–

1 It would be simplistic to say that Divine Providence caused the fall of communism. It fell by itself as a consequence of its own mistakes and abuses. It fell by itself because of its own inherent weaknesses.
when asked if the fall of the USSR could be ascribed to God
Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of our Time (1996)

Back  -   New Search

Johnson, Lyndon Baines 1908–73

1 I am a free man, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.
in Texas Quarterly Winter 1958

2 All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.
following the assassination of J. F. Kennedy
first speech to Congress as President, 27 November 1963

[Johnson]

3 In your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.
speech at University of Michigan, 22 May 1964

[Johnson]

4 We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.
speech at Akron University, 21 October 1964

[Johnson]

5 I don't want loyalty. I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy's window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket.
discussing a prospective assistant
David Halberstam The Best and the Brightest (1972) ch. 20

[Johnson]

6 Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in.
of J. Edgar Hoover
David Halberstam The Best and the Brightest (1972) ch. 20

[Johnson]

7 So dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.
of Gerald Ford
Richard Reeves A Ford, not a Lincoln (1975) ch. 2

[Johnson]

Back  -   New Search

Johnson, Philander Chase 1866–1939

1 Cheer up! the worst is yet to come!
in Everybody's Magazine May 1920

Back  -   New Search

Johnson, Philip 1906–

1 Architecture is the art of how to waste space.
New York Times 27 December 1964

Back  -   New Search

Johnson, Samuel 1709–84

1 Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) preface.

2 I am not yet so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven. Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things which they denote.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) preface.

[Johnson]

3 But these were the dreams of a poet doomed at last to wake a lexicographer.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) preface

[Johnson]

4 Lexicographer. A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

[Johnson]

5 Network. Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

[Johnson]

6 Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

[Johnson]

7 Patron. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

[Johnson]

8 Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.
in The Idler no. 30 (11 November 1758)

[Johnson]

9 Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.
The Idler no. 40 (20 January 1759)

[Johnson]

10 Language is the dress of thought.
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81) "Cowley"

[Johnson]

11 The father of English criticism.
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81) "Dryden"

[Johnson]

12 I am disappointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.
on the death of Garrick
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81) "Edmund Smith"

[Johnson]

13 I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that cannot without so much labour appear to be right.
Plays of William Shakespeare… (1765) preface

[Johnson]

14 No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes, than a public library.
in The Rambler no. 106 (23 March 1751)

[Johnson]

15 He [the poet] must write as the interpreter of nature, and the legislator of mankind.
Rasselas (1759) ch. 10.

[Johnson]

16 Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.
Rasselas (1759) ch. 11

[Johnson]

17 Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.
Rasselas (1759) ch. 26

[Johnson]

18 Example is always more efficacious than precept.
Rasselas (1759) ch. 30

[Johnson]

19 I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the insufficiency of human enjoyments.
of the Pyramids
Rasselas (1759) ch. 32

[Johnson]

20
How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.
Still to ourselves in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find.

lines added to Oliver Goldsmith's The Traveller (1764) l. 429.

[Johnson]

21
Let observation with extensive view,
Survey mankind, from China to Peru.

The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) l. 1

[Johnson]

22
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labours tire.

of Charles XII of Sweden
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) l. 193

[Johnson]

23
He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

of Charles XII of Sweden
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) l. 221

[Johnson]

24
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,
That life protracted is protracted woe.

The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) l. 257

[Johnson]

25
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,
But leave to heaven the measure and the choice.

The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) l. 351

[Johnson]

26 A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge.
James Boswell Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) 15 August 1773

[Johnson]

27 I inherited a vile melancholy from my father, which has made me mad all my life, at least not sober.
James Boswell Tour to the Hebrides (1785) 16 September 1773.

[Johnson]

28 I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.
James Boswell Tour to the Hebrides (1785) 18 September 1773

[Johnson]

29 I do not much like to see a Whig in any dress; but I hate to see a Whig in a parson's gown.
James Boswell Tour to the Hebrides (1785) 24 September 1773

[Johnson]

30 A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.
James Boswell Tour to the Hebrides (1785) 5 October 1773

[Johnson]

31 I am sorry I have not learned to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness and consolidates society.
James Boswell Tour to the Hebrides (1785) 21 November 1773

[Johnson]

32
johnson: I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor.
boswell: That, Sir, was great fortitude of mind.
johnson: No, Sir; stark insensibility.

James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 31 October 1728

[Johnson]

33 Sir, we are a nest of singing birds.
of Pembroke College, Oxford
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1730

[Johnson]

34 I'll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.
to Garrick
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1750

[Johnson]

35 This man I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords.
of Lord Chesterfield
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1754

[Johnson]

36 They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.
of the Letters of Lord Chesterfield
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1754

[Johnson]

37 Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) letter to Lord Chesterfield, 7 February 1755

[Johnson]

38 Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.
on being asked why he had defined pastern as the "knee" of a horse
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1755

[Johnson]

39 I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 24 May 1763

[Johnson]

40 The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 6 July 1763

[Johnson]

41 A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 14 July 1763

[Johnson]

42 But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses, let us count our spoons.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 14 July 1763.

[Johnson]

43 A woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 31 July 1763

[Johnson]

44 I refute it thus.
on Boswell observing of Bishop Berkeley's theory of the non-existence of matter that though they were satisfied it was not true, they were unable to refute it, Johnson struck his foot against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, with these words
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 6 August 1763

[Johnson]

45 Sir John, Sir, is a very unclubbable man.
of Sir John Hawkins
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) Spring 1764

[Johnson]

46 In the description of night in Macbeth, the beetle and the bat detract from the general idea of darkness,—inspissated gloom.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 16 October 1769

[Johnson]

47 Most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 26 October 1769

[Johnson]

48 That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.
of a chance-met acquaintance
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1770

[Johnson]

49 The triumph of hope over experience.
of a man who remarried immediately after the death of a wife with whom he had been unhappy
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1770

[Johnson]

50 Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.
letter to Sir Joshua Reynolds, 17 July 1771

[Johnson]

51 He has, indeed, done it very well; but it is a foolish thing well done.
on Goldsmith's apology in the London Chronicle for physically assaulting Thomas Evans
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 3 April 1773

[Johnson]

52
elphinston: What, have you not read it through?
johnson: No, Sir, do you read books through?

James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 19 April 1773

[Johnson]

53 Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
quoting a college tutor
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 30 April 1773

[Johnson]

54 There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 27 March 1775

[Johnson]

55 He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him great.
of Thomas Gray
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 28 March 1775

[Johnson]

56 Fleet-street has a very animated appearance; but I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing-Cross.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 2 April 1775

[Johnson]

57 Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 7 April 1775

[Johnson]

58 Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 18 April 1775

[Johnson]

59 In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1775

[Johnson]

60 We would all be idle if we could.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1776

[Johnson]

61 No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 5 April 1776

[Johnson]

62 boswell: Sir, what is poetry?
johnson: Why Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is; but it is not easy to tell what it is.

James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 12 April 1776

[Johnson]

63 If I had no duties, and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 19 September 1777

[Johnson]

64 Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
on the execution of Dr Dodd for forgery, 27 June 1777
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 19 September 1777

[Johnson]

65 When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 20 September 1777

[Johnson]

66 All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.
of the existence of ghosts
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 31 March 1778

[Johnson]

67 Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 10 April 1778

[Johnson]

68 Johnson had said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland", from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus:—"chap. lxxii. Concerning snakes. There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island."
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 13 April 1778

[Johnson]

69 Sir, the insolence of wealth will creep out.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 18 April 1778

[Johnson]

70 Were it not for imagination, Sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a Duchess.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 9 May 1778

[Johnson]

71 Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 7 April 1779

[Johnson]

72 Worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see.
on the Giant's Causeway
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 12 October 1779

[Johnson]

73 They are forced plants, raised in a hot-bed; and they are poor plants; they are but cucumbers after all.
of Thomas Gray's Odes
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1780

[Johnson]

74 No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had.
of Oliver Goldsmith
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1780.

[Johnson]

75 This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) March 1781

[Johnson]

76 We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich, beyond the dreams of avarice.
at the sale of Thrale's brewery
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 6 April 1781.

[Johnson]

77 Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 8 May 1781

[Johnson]

78 Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) letter to Boswell, 7 December 1782

[Johnson]

79 How few of his friends' houses would a man choose to be at when he is sick.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1783

[Johnson]

80 There is a wicked inclination in most people to suppose an old man decayed in his intellects. If a young or middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect where he laid his hat, it is nothing; but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, people will shrug up their shoulders, and say, "His memory is going."
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1783

[Johnson]

81 Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.
on the relative merits of two minor poets
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1783

[Johnson]

82 When I observed he was a fine cat, saying, "Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this"; and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, "but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed."
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 1783

[Johnson]

83 Clear your mind of cant.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 15 May 1783

[Johnson]

84 The black dog I hope always to resist, and in time to drive, though I am deprived of almost all those that used to help me…When I rise my breakfast is solitary, the black dog waits to share it, from breakfast to dinner he continues barking, except that Dr Brocklesby for a little keeps him at a distance…Night comes at last, and some hours of restlessness and confusion bring me again to a day of solitude. What shall exclude the black dog from a habitation like this?
on his attacks of melancholia; more recently associated with Winston Churchill, who used the phrase "black dog" when alluding to his own periodic bouts of depression
letter to Mrs Thrale, 28 June 1783

[Johnson]

85 Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones.
to Hannah More, who had expressed a wonder that the poet who had written Paradise Lost should write such poor sonnets
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 13 June 1784

[Johnson]

86 It might as well be said "Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat."
parodying Henry Brooke
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) June 1784.

[Johnson]

87 Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
letter to Francesco Sastres, 21 August 1784

[Johnson]

88 Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) November 1784

[Johnson]

89 Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.
on the performance of a celebrated violinist
William Seward Supplement to the Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons (1797)

[Johnson]

90 A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.
John Hawkins (ed.) The Works of Samuel Johnson (1787) "Apophthegms, Sentiments, Opinions, etc." vol. 11

[Johnson]

91 Of music Dr Johnson used to say that it was the only sensual pleasure without vice.
in European Magazine (1795)

[Johnson]

92 What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
William Seward Biographia (1799)

[Johnson]

Back  -   New Search

Johnson, Samuel 1822–82

1 City of God, how broad and far.
title of hymn (1864)

Back  -   New Search

Johnstone, John Benn 1803–91

1 I want you to assist me in forcing her on board the lugger; once there, I'll frighten her into marriage.
often quoted as, "Once aboard the lugger and the maid is mine"
The Gipsy Farmer (performed 1845)

Back  -   New Search

Johst, Hanns 1890–1978

1 Whenever I hear the word culture…I release the safety-catch of my Browning!
often attributed to Hermann Goering, and quoted as "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my pistol!"
Schlageter (1933) act 1, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Jolson, Al 1886–1950

1 You think that's noise—you ain't heard nuttin' yet!
in a café, competing with the din from a neighbouring building site, in 1906; subsequently an aside in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer
Martin Abramson The Real Story of Al Jolson (1950) (later the title of a Jolson song, 1919, in the form "You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet")

Back  -   New Search

Jones, Henry Arthur 1851–1929 and Herman, Henry 1832–94

1 O God! Put back Thy universe and give me yesterday.
The Silver King (1907) act 2, sc. 4

Back  -   New Search

Jones, John Paul 1747–92

1 I have not yet begun to fight.
when asked whether he had lowered his flag, as his ship was sinking, 23 September 1779
Mrs Reginald De Koven Life and Letters of John Paul Jones (1914) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Jones, Mary Harris “Mother” c.1837–1930

1 Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!
The Autobiography of Mother Jones (1925)

Back  -   New Search

Jones, Steve 1944–

1 Sex and taxes are in many ways the same. Tax does to cash what males do to genes. It dispenses assets among the population as a whole. Sex, not death, is the great leveller.
speech to the Royal Society; in Independent 25 January 1997

Back  -   New Search

Jonson, Ben c.1573–1637

1
Neither do thou lust after that tawney weed tobacco.

Bartholomew Fair (1614) act 2, sc. 6

2
The voice of Rome is the consent of heaven!

Catiline his Conspiracy (1611) act 3, sc. 1

[Jonson]

3
Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair,
State in wonted manner keep:
Hesperus entreats thy light,
Goddess, excellently bright.

Cynthia's Revels (1600) act 5, sc. 3

[Jonson]

4
This is Mab, the Mistress-Fairy
That doth nightly rob the dairy.

The Entertainment at Althorpe (1603)

[Jonson]

5
Still to be neat, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powdered, still perfumed,
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Epicene (1609) act 1, sc. 1

[Jonson]

6
Such sweet neglect more taketh me,
Than all the adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

Epicene (1609) act 1, sc. 1

[Jonson]

7
Blind Fortune still
Bestows her gifts on such as cannot use them.

Every Man out of His Humour (1599) act 2, sc. 2

[Jonson]

8
Ramp up my genius, be not retrograde;
But boldly nominate a spade a spade.

The Poetaster (1601) act 5, sc. 1

[Jonson]

9
I glory
More in the cunning purchase of my wealth
Than in the glad possession.

Volpone (1606) act 1, sc. 1

[Jonson]

10 I have been at my book, and am now past the craggy paths of study, and come to the flowery plains of honour and reputation.
Volpone (1606) act 2, sc. 1

[Jonson]

11
Suns, that set, may rise again;
But if once we lose this light,
'Tis with us perpetual night.

Volpone (1606) act 3, sc. 5.

[Jonson]

12
Come, my Celia, let us prove,
While we can, the sports of love.

Volpone (1606) act 3, sc. 5.

[Jonson]

13
You have a gift, sir, (thank your education),
Will never let you want, while there are men,
And malice, to breed causes.

to a lawyer
Volpone (1606) act 5, sc. 1

[Jonson]

14
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.

"On My First Son" (1616)

[Jonson]

15
This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut,
Wherein the graver had a strife
With Nature, to out-do the life.

on the portrait of Shakespeare
First Folio Shakespeare (1623) "To the Reader"

[Jonson]

16
Reader, look
Not on his picture, but his book.

on the portrait of Shakespeare
First Folio Shakespeare (1623) "To the Reader"

[Jonson]

17
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I'll not look for wine.

"To Celia" (1616)

[Jonson]

18
Soul of the Age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!

"To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr William Shakespeare" (1623)

[Jonson]

19
How far thou didst our Lyly outshine,
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line.

"To the Memory of…Shakespeare" (1623)

[Jonson]

20
Thou hadst small Latin, and less Greek.

"To the Memory of…Shakespeare" (1623)

[Jonson]

21
He was not of an age, but for all time!

"To the Memory of…Shakespeare" (1623)

[Jonson]

22
Sweet Swan of Avon!

"To the Memory of…Shakespeare" (1623)

[Jonson]

23 Donne, for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging…Shakespeare wanted art.
in Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden (written 1619) no. 3

[Jonson]

24 Whatsoever he [Shakespeare] penned, he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been "Would he had blotted a thousand"…But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned.
Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (1641) l. 658 "De Shakespeare Nostrati".

[Jonson]

Back  -   New Search

Joplin, Janis 1943–70

1 Fourteen heart attacks and he had to die in my week. In my week.
when ex-President Eisenhower's death prevented her photograph appearing on the cover of Newsweek
in New Musical Express 12 April 1969

Back  -   New Search

Jortin, John 1698–1770

1 Palmam qui meruit, ferat.Let him who has won it bear the palm.
adopted by Lord Nelson as his motto
Lusus Poetici (3rd ed., 1748) "Ad Ventos"

Back  -   New Search

Joseph II 1741–90

1 Too beautiful for our ears, and much too many notes, dear Mozart.
of The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782)
attributed; Franz Xaver Niemetschek Life of Mozart (1798)

Back  -   New Search

Joseph, Chief c.1840–1904

1 From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
speech at the end of the Nez Percé war in 1877

Back  -   New Search

Joseph, Jenny 1932–

1
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've got no money for butter.

"Warning" (1974)

Back  -   New Search

Jowett, Benjamin 1817–93

1 The lie in the soul is a true lie.
introduction to his translation (1871) of Plato's Republic bk. 2

Back  -   New Search

Joyce, James 1882–1941

1 Dear, dirty Dublin.
Dubliners (1914) "A Little Cloud"

2 riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
Finnegans Wake (1939) pt. 1

[Joyce]

3 All moanday, tearsday, wailsday, thumpsday, frightday, shatterday till the fear of the Law.
Finnegans Wake (1939) pt. 2

[Joyce]

4 Three quarks for Muster Mark!
Finnegans Wake (1939) pt. 2

[Joyce]

5 A portrait of the artist as a young man.
title of book (1916)

[Joyce]

6 Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916); opening words

[Joyce]

7 Poor Parnell! he cried loudly. My dead king!
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) ch. 1

[Joyce]

8 Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) ch. 5

[Joyce]

9 Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.
Ulysses (1922); opening words

[Joyce]

10 The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

11 It is a symbol of Irish art. The cracked lookingglass of a servant.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

12 I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so unhappy.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

13 History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

14 The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

15
O, father forsaken,
Forgive your son!

"Ecce Puer"

[Joyce]

Back  -   New Search

Joyce, William (Lord Haw-Haw) 1906–46

1 Germany calling! Germany calling!
habitual introduction to propaganda broadcasts to Britain during the Second World War

Back  -   New Search

Juan Carlos I 1938–

1 I will neither abdicate the Crown nor leave Spain. Whoever rebels will provoke a new civil war and will be responsible.
on the occasion of the attempted coup in 1981
television broadcast at 1.15 a.m., 24 February 1981

Back  -   New Search

Judge, Jack 1878–1938 and Williams, Harry 1874–1924

1
It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go;
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square,
It's a long, long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there!

"It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (1912 song)

Back  -   New Search

Julian of Norwich 1343–1416

1 He showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed to me, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding, and thought: What can this be? I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that because of its littleness it would suddenly have fallen into nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will, because God loves it; and thus every thing has being through the love of God.
Revelations of Divine Love (the long text) ch. 5

2 Sin is behovely, but all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.
Revelations of Divine Love (the long text) ch. 27, Revelation 13.

[Julian]

Back  -   New Search

Julian the Apostate ad c.332–363

1 Vicisti, Galilaee.You have won, Galilean.
supposed dying words
a late embellishment of Theodoret Ecclesiastical History (ad c.450).

Back  -   New Search

Jung, Carl Gustav 1875–1961

1 The contents of the personal unconscious are chiefly the feeling-toned complexes…The contents of the collective unconscious, on the other hand, are known as archetypes.
Eranos Jahrbuch (1934)

2 A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962) ch. 9

[Jung]

3 As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962) ch. 11

[Jung]

4 Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962) ch. 12

[Jung]

Back  -   New Search

Jung Chang 1952–

1 At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general.
Wild Swans (1991)

Back  -   New Search

Junius, ""

1 The liberty of the press is the Palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman.
The Letters of Junius (1772 ed.) "Dedication to the English Nation"

2 There is a holy mistaken zeal in politics as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves.
in Public Advertiser 19 December 1769, letter 35

[Junius]

Back  -   New Search

Juvenal ad c.60–130

1 Honesty is praised and left to shiver.
Satires no. 1, l. 74 (translation by G. G. Ramsay)

2 Even if nature says no, indignation makes me write verse.
Satires no. 1, l. 79

[Juvenal]

3 The misfortunes of poverty carry with them nothing harder to bear than that it makes men ridiculous.
Satires no. 3, l. 152

[Juvenal]

4
…Omnia Romae
Cum pretio.
Everything in Rome has its price.
Satires no. 3, l. 183

[Juvenal]

5 Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cycno.A rare bird on this earth, like nothing so much as a black swan.
Satires no. 6, l. 165

[Juvenal]

6
Sed quis custodiet ipsos
Custodes?
But who is to guard the guards themselves?
Satires no. 6, l. 347

[Juvenal]

7
Tenet insanabile multos
Scribendi cacoethes et aegro in corde senescit.
Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing, and it becomes chronic in their sick minds.
Satires no. 7, l. 51

[Juvenal]

8 Travel light and you can sing in the robber's face.
Satires no. 10, l. 22

[Juvenal]

9
…Duas tantum res anxius optat,
Panem et circenses.
Only two things does he [the modern citizen] anxiously wish for—bread and circuses.
Satires no. 10, l. 80

[Juvenal]

10
Mens sana in corpore sano.
A sound mind in a sound body.
Satires no. 10, l. 356

[Juvenal]

11
…Prima est haec ultio, quod se
Iudice nemo nocens absolvitur.
This is the first of punishments, that no guilty man is acquitted if judged by himself.
Satires no. 13, l. 2

[Juvenal]

12
Maxima debetur puero reverentia, siquid
Turpe paras, nec tu pueri contempseris annos.
A child is owed the greatest respect; if you ever have something disgraceful in mind, don't ignore your son's tender years.
Satires no. 14, l. 47

[Juvenal]

Back  -   New Search

K

Kafka, Franz 1883–1924

1 When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
The Metamorphosis (1915) ch. 1.

2 Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.
The Trial (1925) ch. 1

[Kafka]

3 You may object that it is not a trial at all; you are quite right, for it is only a trial if I recognize it as such.
The Trial (1925) ch. 2

[Kafka]

4 It's often better to be in chains than to be free.
The Trial (1925) ch. 8

[Kafka]

Back  -   New Search

Kahn, Gus 1886–1941 and Egan, Raymond B. 1890–1952

1
There's nothing surer,
The rich get rich and the poor get children.

"Ain't We Got Fun" (1921 song)

Back  -   New Search

Kant, Immanuel 1724–1804

1 Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more seriously reflection concentrates upon them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me.
Critique of Practical Reason (1788)

2 There is an imperative which commands a certain conduct immediately, without having as its condition any other purpose to be attained by it. This imperative is Categorical…This imperative may be called that of Morality.
Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics (1785) sect. 2 (translated by T. K. Abbott)

[Kant]

3 Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.
Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics (1785) sect. 2 (translated by T. K. Abbott)

[Kant]

4 Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing can ever be made.
Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht (1784) proposition 6

[Kant]

Back  -   New Search

Karr, Alphonse 1808–90

1 If we are to abolish the death penalty, let the murderers take the first step.
Les Guêpes January 1849 (6th series, 1859)

2 Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.The more things change, the more they are the same.
Les Guêpes January 1849 (6th series, 1859)

[Karr]

Back  -   New Search

Kaufman, George S. 1889–1961

1 Satire is what closes Saturday night.
Scott Meredith George S. Kaufman and his Friends (1974) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Kaufman, Gerald 1930–

1 The longest suicide note in history.
on the Labour Party manifesto New Hope for Britain (1983)
Denis Healey The Time of My Life (1989) ch. 23

Back  -   New Search

Kaufman, Paul and Anthony, Mike

1 Poetry in motion.
title of song (1960).

Back  -   New Search

Kaufmann, Christoph 1753–95

1 Sturm und Drang.Storm and stress.
title suggested by Kaufmann for a romantic drama of the American War of Independence by the German dramatist, F. M. Klinger (1775), and thereafter given to a period of literary ferment which prevailed in Germany during the latter part of the 18th century

Back  -   New Search

Kaunda, Kenneth 1924–

1 Westerners have aggressive problem-solving minds; Africans experience people.
attributed, 1990

Back  -   New Search

Kavanagh, Patrick 1904–67

1
The weak, washy way of true tragedy—
A sick horse nosing around the meadow for a clean place to die.

"The Great Hunger" (1947)

Back  -   New Search

Keating, Paul 1944–

1 Even as it [Great Britain] walked out on you and joined the Common Market, you were still looking for your MBEs and your knighthoods, and all the rest of the regalia that comes with it. You would take Australia right back down the time tunnel to the cultural cringe where you have always come from.
addressing Australian Conservative supporters of Great Britain
speech, House of Representatives (Australia) 27 February 1992

Back  -   New Search

Keats, John 1795–1821

1
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

Endymion (1818) bk. 1, l. 1

2
St Agnes' Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limped trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in woolly fold.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

3
The silver, snarling trumpets 'gan to chide.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 4

[Keats]

4
By degrees
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 26

[Keats]

5
Trembling in her soft and chilly nest.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 27

[Keats]

6
As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 27

[Keats]

7
And still she slept an azure-lidded sleep,
In blanchèd linen, smooth, and lavendered,
While he from forth the closet brought a heap
Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;
With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 30

[Keats]

8
He played an ancient ditty, long since mute,
In Provence called, "La belle dame sans mercy."

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 33

[Keats]

9
And they are gone: aye, ages long ago
These lovers fled away into the storm.

"The Eve of St Agnes" (1820) st. 42

[Keats]

10
Ever let the fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home.

"Fancy" (1820) l. 1

[Keats]

11
I had a dove and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving:
O, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied,
With a silken thread of my own hand's weaving.

"I had a dove and the sweet dove died" (written 1818)

[Keats]

12
In drear nighted December
Too happy, happy tree
Thy branches ne'er remember
Their green felicity.

"In drear nighted December" (written 1817)

[Keats]

13
So the two brothers and their murdered man
Rode past fair Florence.

"Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil" (1820) st. 27

[Keats]

14
"For cruel 'tis," said she,
"To steal my Basil-pot away from me."

"Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil" (1820) st. 62

[Keats]

15
Here are sweet peas, on tip-toe for a flight.

"I stood tip-toe upon a little hill" (1817) l. 57

[Keats]

16
Oh, what can ail thee knight at arms
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake
And no birds sing!

"La belle dame sans merci" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

17
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

"La belle dame sans merci" (1820) st. 3

[Keats]

18
I met a lady in the meads
Full beautiful, a faery's child
Her hair was long, her foot was light
And her eyes were wild.

"La belle dame sans merci" (1820) st. 4

[Keats]

19
…La belle dame sans merci
Thee hath in thrall.

"La belle dame sans merci" (1820) st. 10

[Keats]

20
I saw their starved lips in the gloam
With horrid warning gapèd wide
And I awoke and found me here
On the cold hill's side.

"La belle dame sans merci" (1820) st. 11

[Keats]

21
She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue,
Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue;
Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard,
Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barred.

"Lamia" (1820) pt. 1, l. 47

[Keats]

22
Love in a hut, with water and a crust,
Is—Love, forgive us!—cinders, ashes, dust.

"Lamia" (1820) pt. 2, l. 1.

[Keats]

23
Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?

"Lamia" (1820) pt. 2, l. 229

[Keats]

24
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings.

"Lamia" (1820) pt. 2, l. 234

[Keats]

25
Souls of poets dead and gone,
What Elysium have ye known,
Happy field or mossy cavern,
Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?

"Lines on the Mermaid Tavern" (1820)

[Keats]

26
Thou still unravished bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

27
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

28
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 2

[Keats]

29
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 2

[Keats]

30
For ever piping songs for ever new.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 3

[Keats]

31
For ever warm and still to be enjoyed,
For ever panting, and for ever young.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 3

[Keats]

32
O Attic shape! Fair attitude!

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 5

[Keats]

33
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) st. 5

[Keats]

34
No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine.

"Ode on Melancholy" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

35
But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globèd peonies.

"Ode on Melancholy" (1820) st. 2

[Keats]

36
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu.

"Ode on Melancholy" (1820) st. 3

[Keats]

37
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

38
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cooled a long age in the deep-delvèd earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 2

[Keats]

39
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stainèd mouth.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 2

[Keats]

40
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 4

[Keats]

41
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Called him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 6

[Keats]

42
Thou wast not born for death, immortal bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 7.

[Keats]

43
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do, deceiving elf.

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 8

[Keats]

44
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—do I wake or sleep?

"Ode to a Nightingale" (1820) st. 8

[Keats]

45
'Mid hushed, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,
Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian.

"Ode to Psyche" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

46
Much have I travelled in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen.

"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1817)

[Keats]

47
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1817)

[Keats]

48
Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,
And seal the hushèd casket of my soul.

"Sonnet to Sleep" (written 1819)

[Keats]

49
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run.

"To Autumn" (1820) st. 1

[Keats]

50
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too.

"To Autumn" (1820) st. 3

[Keats]

51
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies.

"To Autumn" (1820) st. 3

[Keats]

52
It is a flaw
In happiness, to see beyond our bourn.

"To J. H. Reynolds, Esq." (written 1818)

[Keats]

53
To one who has been long in city pent,
'Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven.

"To one who has been long in city pent" (1817).

[Keats]

54
When I behold, upon the night's starred face
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.

"When I have fears that I may cease to be" (written 1818)

[Keats]

55
Then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

"When I have fears that I may cease to be" (written 1818)

[Keats]

56 A long poem is a test of invention which I take to be the polar star of poetry, as fancy is the sails, and imagination the rudder.
letter to Benjamin Bailey, 8 October 1817

[Keats]

57 I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of imagination—what the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth—whether it existed before or not.
letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817.

[Keats]

58 O for a life of sensations rather than of thoughts!
letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817

[Keats]

59 Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason—Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge.
letter to George and Thomas Keats, 21 December 1817

[Keats]

60 If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.
letter to John Taylor, 27 February 1818

[Keats]

61 It is impossible to live in a country which is continually under hatches…Rain! Rain! Rain!
letter to J. H. Reynolds from Devon, 10 April 1818

[Keats]

62 I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.
letter to Benjamin Bailey, 25 May 1818

[Keats]

63 O the flummery of a birth place! Cant! Cant! Cant! It is enough to give a spirit the guts-ache.
letter to John Hamilton Reynolds, 11 July 1818

[Keats]

64 The Wordsworthian or egotistical sublime.
letter to Richard Woodhouse, 27 October 1818

[Keats]

65 The roaring of the wind is my wife and the stars through the window pane are my children.
letter to George and Georgiana Keats, 24 October 1818

[Keats]

66 I have met with women whom I really think would like to be married to a poem and to be given away by a novel.
letter to Fanny Brawne, 8 July 1819

[Keats]

67 Fine writing is next to fine doing the top thing in the world.
letter to J. H. Reynolds, 24 August 1819

[Keats]

68 If you should have a boy do not christen him John…'Tis a bad name and goes against a man. If my name had been Edmund I should have been more fortunate.
letter to George and Georgiana Keats, 13 January 1820

[Keats]

69 "Load every rift" of your subject with ore.
letter to Shelley, August 1820.

[Keats]

70 Here lies one whose name was writ in water.
epitaph for himself
Richard Monckton Milnes Life, Letters and Literary Remains of John Keats (1848) vol. 2.

[Keats]

Back  -   New Search

Keble, John 1792–1866

1
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see our God,
The secret of the Lord is theirs,
Their soul is Christ's abode.

The Christian Year (1827) "Blessed are the pure in heart"

2
New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove.

The Christian Year (1827) "Morning"

[Keble]

3
The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we ought to ask.

The Christian Year (1827) "Morning"

[Keble]

4
The voice that breathed o'er Eden,
That earliest wedding-day.

"Holy Matrimony" (1857 hymn)

[Keble]

5 If the Church of England were to fail, it would be found in my parish.
D. Newsome The Parting of Friends (1966) ch. 8, pt. 3

[Keble]

Back  -   New Search

Keillor, Garrison 1942–

1 Years ago, manhood was an opportunity for achievement, and now it is a problem to be overcome.
The Book of Guys (1994)

Back  -   New Search

Keller, Helen 1880–1968

1 The mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free!
The Story of My Life (1902) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Kellogg, Frank B.

see Aristide Briand

Back  -   New Search

Kelly, Thomas 1769–1855

1
The head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glory now.

"The head that once was crowned with thorns" (1820 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Kelvin, Lord 1824–1907

1 When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.
often quoted as "If you cannot measure it, then it is not science"
Popular Lectures and Addresses vol. 1 (1889) "Electrical Units of Measurement", delivered 3 May 1883

Back  -   New Search

Kempis, Thomas à

seeThomas

Back  -   New Search

Ken, Thomas 1637–1711

1
Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run.
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

"Morning Hymn" in Winchester College Manual of Prayers (1695) but already in use by 1674

2
Redeem thy mis-spent time that's past,
And live this day as if thy last.

"Morning Hymn" (1709 ed.) v. 2

[Ken]

3
Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.

"Evening Hymn" (1695) v. 3

[Ken]

Back  -   New Search

Kenbrovin, Jaan and Kellette, William

1 I'm forever blowing bubbles.
title of song (1919)

Back  -   New Search

Kennedy, Florynce 1916–2001

1 If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
in Ms. March 1973

Back  -   New Search

KennedyCarr, Jimmy Michael

1 We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line.
title of song (1939)

Back  -   New Search

Kennedy, John F. 1917–63

1 We stand today on the edge of a new frontier.
speech accepting the Democratic nomination in Los Angeles, 15 July 1960

2 We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

3 If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

4 Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

5 All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

6 And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

7 There are no "white" or "coloured" signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.
Message to Congress on proposed Civil Rights Bill, 19 June 1963

[Kennedy]

8 Ich bin ein Berliner.I am a Berliner.
speech in West Berlin, 26 June 1963.

[Kennedy]

9 In free society art is not a weapon…Artists are not engineers of the soul.
speech at Amherst College, Mass., 26 October 1963

[Kennedy]

10 It was involuntary. They sank my boat.
on being asked how he became a war hero
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. A Thousand Days (1965) ch. 4

[Kennedy]

Back  -   New Search

Kennedy, Joseph P. 1888–1969

1 We're going to sell Jack like soapflakes.
when his son John made his bid for the Presidency
John H. Davis The Kennedy Clan (1984) ch. 23

2 When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
also attributed to Knute Rockne
J. H. Cutler Honey Fitz (1962)

[Kennedy]

Back  -   New Search

Kennedy, Rose 1890–1995

1 Now Teddy must run.
to her daughter, on hearing of the assassination of Robert Kennedy
in The Times 24 January 1995 (obituary); attributed, perhaps apocryphal

Back  -   New Search

Kenyatta, Jomo 1891–1978

1 The African is conditioned, by the cultural and social institutions of centuries, to a freedom of which Europe has little conception, and it is not in his nature to accept serfdom forever. He realizes that he must fight unceasingly for his own emancipation; for without this he is doomed to remain the prey of rival imperialisms.
Facing Mount Kenya (1938); conclusion

Back  -   New Search

Kerouac, Jack 1922–69

1 The beat generation.
phrase coined in the course of a conversation; in Playboy June 1959

Back  -   New Search

Kerr, Jean 1923–

1 I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on.
The Snake Has All the Lines (1958)

2 I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want—an adorable pancreas?
The Snake has all the Lines (1958)

[Kerr]

Back  -   New Search

Kethe, William d. 1594

1
All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

"All people that on earth do dwell" in Fourscore and Seven Psalms of David (Geneva, 1561; later known as the Geneva Psalter); usually sung to the tune "Old Hundredth", and often known by that name

2
O enter then his gates with praise,
Approach with joy his courts unto.

"All people that on earth do dwell" in Fourscore and Seven Psalms of David (Geneva, 1561; later known as the Geneva Psalter)

[Kethe]

Back  -   New Search

Kettle, Thomas 1880–1916

1 My only programme for Ireland consists, in equal parts, of Home Rule and the Ten Commandments. My only counsel to Ireland is, that in order to become deeply Irish, she must become European.
"Apology"

2 Ireland is a small but insuppressible island half an hour nearer the sunset than Great Britain.
"On Crossing the Irish Sea"

[Kettle]

Back  -   New Search

Key, Francis Scott 1779–1843

1
'Tis the star-spangled banner; O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

"The Star-Spangled Banner" (1814)

Back  -   New Search

Keyes, Marian

1 My biological clock is ticking so loud I'm nearly deafened by it. They search me going into planes.
"Late Opening at the Last Chance Saloon" (1997)

Back  -   New Search

Keynes, John Maynard 1883–1946

1 I work for a Government I despise for ends I think criminal.
letter to Duncan Grant, 15 December 1917

2 Lenin was right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency.
The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919) ch. 6

[Keynes]

3 I do not know which makes a man more conservative—to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
The End of Laissez-Faire (1926) pt. 1

[Keynes]

4 If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coalmines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again (the right to do so being obtained, of course, by tendering for leases of the note-bearing territory) there need be no more unemployment and, with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community, and its capital wealth also, would probably become a good deal greater than it actually is.
General Theory (1936) bk. 3, ch. 10

[Keynes]

5 Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
General Theory (1947 ed.) ch. 24

[Keynes]

6 In the long run we are all dead.
A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923) ch. 3

[Keynes]

7 We threw good housekeeping to the winds. But we saved ourselves and helped save the world.
of Britain in the Second World War
A. J. P. Taylor English History, 1914–1945 (1965)

[Keynes]

Back  -   New Search

Khomeini, Ruhollah 1900–89

1 If laws are needed, Islam has established them all. There is no need…after establishing a government, to sit down and draw up laws.
Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1981) "Islamic Government"

2 I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet and the Qur'an, as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, have been declared madhur el dam [those whose blood must be shed]. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they find them, so that no-one will dare to insult Islam again. Whoever is killed in this path will be regarded as a martyr.
fatwa against Salman Rushdie, issued 14 February 1989.

[Khomeini]

Back  -   New Search

Khrushchev, Nikita 1894–1971

1 If anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin he deceives himself. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle.
speech in Moscow, 17 September 1955

2 Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
speech to Western diplomats at reception in Moscow for Polish leader Mr Gomulka, 18 November 1956

[Khrushchev]

3 If one cannot catch the bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.
in Time 6 January 1958

[Khrushchev]

4 If you start throwing hedgehogs under me, I shall throw a couple of porcupines under you.
in New York Times 7 November 1963

[Khrushchev]

Back  -   New Search

Kiernan, Kitty d. 1945

1 I felt, if we were ever to part, it would be easier for us both, especially for me, to do it soon, because later it would be bitter for me. But I'd love you just the same.
letter to Michael Collins, 1921

Back  -   New Search

Kilmer, Joyce 1886–1918

1
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

"Trees" (1914).

2
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

"Trees" (1914)

[Kilmer]

Back  -   New Search

Kilmuir, David Maxwell Fyfe, Lord 1900–67

1 Loyalty is the Tory's secret weapon.
Anthony Sampson Anatomy of Britain (1962) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Kilvert, Francis 1840–79

1 Of all noxious animals, too, the most noxious is a tourist. And of all tourists the most vulgar, ill-bred, offensive and loathsome is the British tourist.
diary, 5 April 1870

Back  -   New Search

King, Benjamin Franklin 1857–94

1
Nothing to do but work,
Nothing to eat but food,
Nothing to wear but clothes
To keep one from going nude.

"The Pessimist"

Back  -   New Search

King, Henry 1592–1669

1
Sleep on (my Love!) in thy cold bed
Never to be disquieted.
My last Good-night! Thou wilt not wake
Till I thy fate shall overtake:
Till age, or grief, or sickness must
Marry my body to that dust
It so much loves; and fill the room
My heart keeps empty in thy tomb.
Stay for me there: I will not fail
To meet thee in that hollow vale.

"An Exequy" (1657) l. 81 (written for his wife Anne, d. 1624)

2
But hark! My pulse, like a soft drum
Beats my approach, tells thee I come.

"An Exequy" (1657) l. 111

[King]

Back  -   New Search

King, Martin Luther 1929–68

1 I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.
in New York Journal-American 10 September 1962

2 Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
letter from Birmingham Jail, Alabama, 16 April 1963

[King]

3 If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
speech in Detroit, 23 June 1963

[King]

4 I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
speech at Civil Rights March in Washington, 28 August 1963

[King]

5 I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land…So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.
on the day before his assassination
speech in Memphis, 3 April 1968

[King]

6 A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
Where Do We Go From Here? (1967) ch. 4

[King]

Back  -   New Search

King, Stoddard 1889–1933

1
There's a long, long trail awinding
Into the land of my dreams.

"There's a Long, Long Trail" (1913 song)

Back  -   New Search

King, William Lyon Mackenzie 1874–1950

1 If some countries have too much history, we have too much geography.
speech, Canadian House of Commons, 18 June 1936

Back  -   New Search

King, Stephen 1947–

1 Terror…often arises from a pervasive sense of disestablishment; that things are in the unmaking.
Danse Macabre (1981)

Back  -   New Search

Kingsley, Charles 1819–75

1
Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long.

"A Farewell" (1858)

2
Do the work that's nearest,
Though it's dull at whiles,
Helping, when we meet them,
Lame dogs over stiles.

"The Invitation. To Tom Hughes" (1856)

[Kingsley]

3
O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.

"The Sands of Dee" (1858)

[Kingsley]

4
And never home came she.

"The Sands of Dee" (1858)

[Kingsley]

5
For men must work, and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep,

"The Three Fishers" (1858)

[Kingsley]

6
When all the world is young, lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan, lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away:
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog his day.

"Young and Old" (from The Water Babies, 1863)

[Kingsley]

7 We have used the Bible as if it was a constable's handbook—an opium-dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they are being overloaded.
Letters to the Chartists no. 2.

[Kingsley]

Back  -   New Search

Kingsmill, Hugh (Hugh Kingsmill Lunn) 1889–1949

1
What still alive at twenty-two,
A clean upstanding chap like you?
Sure, if your throat 'tis hard to slit,
Slit your girl's, and swing for it.

"Two Poems, after A. E. Housman" (1933) no. 1

Back  -   New Search

Kinnock, Neil 1942–

1 If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday, I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, and I warn you not to grow old.
on the prospect of a Conservative re-election
speech at Bridgend, 7 June 1983

Back  -   New Search

Kinsey, Alfred 1894–1956

1 The only unnatural sex act is that which you cannot perform.
in Time 21 January 1966

Back  -   New Search

Kipling, Rudyard 1865–1936

1
When you've shouted "Rule Britannia", when you've sung "God save the Queen"—
When you've finished killing Kruger with your mouth.

"The Absent-Minded Beggar" (1899) st. 1

2
England's on the anvil—hear the hammers ring—
Clanging from the Severn to the Tyne!

"The Anvil" (1927)

[Kipling]

3
Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind.

"The Appeal" (1940)

[Kipling]

4
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgement Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of earth!

"The Ballad of East and West" (1892)

[Kipling]

5
Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin' over Africa—
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!)

"Boots" (1903)

[Kipling]

6
If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.

"Common Form" (1919)

[Kipling]

7
It's clever, but is it Art?

"The Conundrum of the Workshops" (1892)

[Kipling]

8
They've taken of his buttons off an' cut his stripes away,
An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.

"Danny Deever" (1892)

[Kipling]

9
The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone;
'E don't obey no orders unless they is 'is own.

"The 'Eathen" (1896).

[Kipling]

10
And what should they know of England who only England know?

"The English Flag" (1892)

[Kipling]

11
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

"The Female of the Species" (1919)

[Kipling]

12
So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man.

"Fuzzy-Wuzzy" (1892)

[Kipling]

13
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree,
Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we,
Baa! Yah! Bah!

"Gentlemen-Rankers" (1892)

[Kipling]

14
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:—"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade.

"The Glory of the Garden" (1911)

[Kipling]

15
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

"Gunga Din" (1892)

[Kipling]

16
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.

"If—" (1910)

[Kipling]

17
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch…
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

"If—" (1910)

[Kipling]

18
There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,
And—every—single—one—of—them—is—right!

"In the Neolithic Age" (1893)

[Kipling]

19
Then ye returned to your trinkets; then ye contented your souls
With the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals.

"The Islanders" (1903)

[Kipling]

20
For the Colonel's Lady an' Judy O'Grady
Are sisters under their skins!

"The Ladies" (1896)

[Kipling]

21
Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
He travels the fastest who travels alone.

L'Envoi to The Story of the Gadsbys (1890), "The Winners"

[Kipling]

22
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!

"Mandalay" (1892)

[Kipling]

23
Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst.

"Mandalay" (1892)

[Kipling]

24
"Have you news of my boy Jack?"
Not this tide.
"When d'you think that he'll come back?"
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

"My Boy Jack" (1916)

[Kipling]

25
The toad beneath the harrow knows
Exactly where each tooth-point goes;
The butterfly upon the road
Preaches contentment to that toad.

"Pagett, MP" (1886)

[Kipling]

26
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

"The Power of the Dog" (1909)

[Kipling]

27
The tumult and the shouting dies—
The captains and the kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

"Recessional" (1897)

[Kipling]

28
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh, and Tyre!

"Recessional" (1897)

[Kipling]

29
Such boasting as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law.

"Recessional" (1897)

[Kipling]

30
How far is St. Helena from the field of Austerlitz?

"A St. Helena Lullaby" (1910)

[Kipling]

31
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark—
Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk;
Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!

"A Smuggler's Song" (1906)

[Kipling]

32
If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha' paid in full!

"The Song of the Dead" (1896)

[Kipling]

33
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

"Tommy" (1892).

[Kipling]

34
Of all the trees that grow so fair,
Old England to adorn,
Greater are none beneath the Sun,
Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

"A Tree Song" (1906)

[Kipling]

35
A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care)
But the fool he called her his lady fair—
(Even as you and I!)

"The Vampire" (1897) st. 1

[Kipling]

36
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods.

"The Way through the Woods" (1910)

[Kipling]

37
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

"What Dane-geld means" (1911)

[Kipling]

38
When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre,
He'd 'eard men sing by land an' sea;
An' what he thought 'e might require,
'E went an' took—the same as me!

"When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre' (1896)

[Kipling]

39
Take up the White Man's burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need.

"The White Man's Burden" (1899)

[Kipling]

40 Lalun is a member of the most ancient profession in the world.
In Black and White (1888) "On the City Wall".

[Kipling]

41 They settled things by making up a saying, "What the Bandar-log think now the Jungle will think later": and that comforted them a great deal.
The Jungle Book (1894) "Kaa's Hunting"

[Kipling]

42 The motto of all the mongoose family is, "Run and find out."
The Jungle Book (1894) "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"

[Kipling]

43 He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.
Just So Stories (1902) "The Cat that Walked by Himself"

[Kipling]

44 An Elephant's Child—who was full of 'satiable curtiosity.
Just So Stories (1902) "The Elephant's Child"

[Kipling]

45 The great grey-green, greasy, Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees.
Just So Stories (1902) "The Elephant's Child"

[Kipling]

46 Little Friend of all the World.
Kim's nickname
Kim (1901) ch. 1

[Kipling]

47 The man who would be king.
title of short story (1888)

[Kipling]

48 He swathed himself in quotations—as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.
Many Inventions (1893) "The Finest Story in the World"

[Kipling]

49 The silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it takes a very clever woman to manage a fool.
Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) "Three and—an Extra"

[Kipling]

50
Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

The Second Jungle Book (1895) "The Law of the Jungle"

[Kipling]

51 'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walked down a street.
Traffics and Discoveries (1904) "Mrs Bathurst"

[Kipling]

52 Power without responsibility: the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.
summing up Lord Beaverbrook's political standpoint vis-à-vis the Daily Express, and quoted by Stanley Baldwin, 18 March 1931
in Kipling Journal vol. 38, no. 180, December 1971.

[Kipling]

Back  -   New Search

Kissinger, Henry 1923–

1 Power is the great aphrodisiac.
in New York Times 19 January 1971

2 We are the President's men.
M. and B. Kalb Kissinger (1974) ch. 7

[Kissinger]

3 For other nations, Utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon.
attributed

[Kissinger]

Back  -   New Search

Kitchener, Lord 1850–1916

1 You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King…While treating all women with perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.
message to soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force (1914), in The Times 19 August 1914

2 I don't mind your being killed, but I object to your being taken prisoner.
to the Prince of Wales during the First World War
in Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher (1938) vol. 3, 18 December 1914

[Kitchener]

Back  -   New Search

Klee, Paul 1879–1940

1 Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.
Inward Vision (1958) "Creative Credo" (1920)

2 An active line on a walk, moving freely without a goal. A walk for walk's sake. The agent is a point that shifts position.
Pedagogical Sketchbook (1925)

[Klee]

Back  -   New Search

Klopstock, Friedrich 1724–1803

1 God and I both knew what it meant once; now God alone knows.
C. Lombroso The Man of Genius (1891) pt. 1, ch. 2.

Back  -   New Search

Knight, Charles and Lyle, Kenneth

1
When there's trouble brewing,
When there's something doing,
Are we downhearted?
No! Let 'em all come!

"Here we are! Here we are again!!" (1914 song)

Back  -   New Search

Knight, Frank H. 1885–1973

1 Costs merely register competing attractions.
Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (1921)

Back  -   New Search

Knights, L. C. 1906–97

1 How many children had Lady Macbeth?
satirizing an over-realistic approach to criticism
title of essay (1933)

Back  -   New Search

Knowles, Mary 1733–1807

1 He gets at the substance of a book directly; he tears out the heart of it.
on Samuel Johnson
James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 15 April 1778

Back  -   New Search

Knox, John c.1505–72

1 The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women.
"regiment" = rule
title of pamphlet (1558)

Back  -   New Search

Knox, Ronald 1888–1957

1
When suave politeness, tempering bigot zeal,
Corrected I believe to One does feel.

"Absolute and Abitofhell" (1913)

2
There once was a man who said, "God
Must think it exceedingly odd
If he finds that this tree
Continues to be
When there's no one about in the Quad."

Langford Reed Complete Limerick Book (1924), to which came the anonymous reply:

Dear Sir,
Your astonishment's odd:
I am always about in the Quad.
And that's why the tree
Will continue to be,
Since observed by
Yours faithfully,
God.

[Knox]

3 A loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
definition of a baby
attributed

[Knox]

Back  -   New Search

Knox, Vicesimus 1752–1821

1 Can anything be more absurd than keeping women in a state of ignorance, and yet so vehemently to insist on their resisting temptation?
Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Koehler, Ted

1
Stormy weather,
Since my man and I ain't together.

"Stormy Weather" (1933 song)

Back  -   New Search

Koestler, Arthur 1905–83

1 One may not regard the world as a sort of metaphysical brothel for emotions.
Darkness at Noon (1940) "The Second Hearing' pt. 7

2 God seems to have left the receiver off the hook, and time is running out.
The Ghost in the Machine (1967) ch. 18

[Koestler]

Back  -   New Search

Kohl, Helmut 1930–

1 The policy of European integration is in reality a question of war and peace in the 21st century.
speech at Louvain University, 2 February 1996

Back  -   New Search

Kollwitz, Käthe 1867–1945

1 As you, the children of my body, have been my tasks, so too are my other works.
letter to her son Hans, 21 February 1915

2 I have never done any work cold…I have always worked with my blood, so to speak.
letter to her son Hans, 16 April 1917

[Kollwitz]

Back  -   New Search

Koran, The

textual translations are those of A. J. Arberry, 1964 1
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

sura 1

2
That is the Book [the Koran], wherein is no doubt,
a guidance to the godfearing
who believe in the Unseen.

sura 2

Top

3
The month of Ramadan, wherein the Koran
was sent down to be a guidance
to the people, and as clear signs
of the Guidance and the Salvation
So let those of you, who are present
at the month, fast it.

sura 2

Top

4
No compulsion is there in religion.

sura 2

Top

5
God has
permitted trafficking, and forbidden usury.

sura 2

Top

6
Say to the unbelievers: "You shall be
overthrown, and mustered into Gehenna—
an evil cradling!"

sura 3

Top

7
The true religion with God is Islam.

sura 3

Top

8
Every soul shall taste of death; you shall surely
be paid in full your wages on the Day
of Resurrection.

sura 3

Top

9
Men are the managers of the affairs of women.

sura 4

Top

10
Whatever good visits thee, it is of God;
whatever evil visits thee is of thyself.

sura 4

Top

11
To God belongs all that is in the heavens
and in the earth, and God encompasses
everything.

sura 4

Top

12
Souls are very
prone to avarice. If you do good
and are godfearing, surely God is aware of the things you do.

sura 4;
Men's souls are naturally inclined to covetousness; but if ye be kind towards women and fear to wrong them, God is well acquainted with what ye do.
in George Sale's translation, 1734

Top

13
And we have sent down to thee the Book
with the truth, confirming the Book
that was before it, and assuring it.

sura 5

Top

14
Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night
from the Holy Mosque to the Further Mosque
the precincts of which We have blessed,
that We might show him some of Our signs.

sura 17

Top

15
Perform the prayer
at the sinking of the sun to the darkening of the night
and the recital of dawn.

sura 17

Top

16
He
named you Muslims
aforetime and in this, that the Messenger
might be a witness against you, and that
you might be witnesses against mankind.

sura 22

Top

17
Muhammad is not the father of any one
of your men, but the Messenger of God,
and the Seal of the Prophets

sura 33

Top

18
It belongs not to any mortal that
God should speak to him, except
by revelation, or from behind
a veil.

sura 42

Top

19
Surely,
unto God all things come home.

sura 42

Top

20
He is God
the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper,
To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful.

sura 59

Top

Back  -   New Search

Krishnamurti, Jiddu d. 1986

1 Religion is the frozen thought of men out of which they build temples.
in Observer 22 April 1928 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Kristofferson, Kris 1936–

1
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose,
Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free.

"Me and Bobby McGee" (1969 song, with Fred Foster)

Back  -   New Search

Kubrick, Stanley 1928–99

1 The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
in Guardian 5 June 1963

Back  -   New Search

Kumar, Satish 1937–

1
Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.

"Prayer for Peace" (1981); adapted from the Upanishads.

Back  -   New Search

Kundera, Milan 1929–

1 The unbearable lightness of being.
title of novel (1984)

Back  -   New Search

Kyd, Thomas 1558–94

1
My son—and what's a son? A thing begot
Within a pair of minutes, thereabout,
A lump bred up in darkness.

The Spanish Tragedy (1592) act 3, sc. 11, The Third Addition (1602 ed.) l. 5

2
It grew a gallows and did bear our son,
It bore thy fruit and mine.

The Spanish Tragedy (1592) act 3, sc. 12, The Fourth Addition (1602 ed.) l. 70

[Kyd]

3 Hieronimo is mad again.
alternative title given to The Spanish Tragedy in 1615

[Kyd]

Back  -   New Search

L

Labouchere, Henry 1831–1912

1 He [Labouchere] did not object to the old man always having a card up his sleeve, but he did object to his insinuating that the Almighty had placed it there.
on Gladstone's "frequent appeals to a higher power"
Earl Curzon Modern Parliamentary Eloquence (1913)

Back  -   New Search

la Bruyère, Jean de 1645–96

1 The people have little intelligence, the great no heart…if I had to choose I should have no hesitation: I would be of the people.
Les Caractères ou les moeurs de ce siècle (1688) "Des Grands"

2 Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live.
Les Caractères ou les moeurs de ce siècle (1688) "De l'homme"

[la Bruyère]

Back  -   New Search

la Chaussée, Nivelle de 1692–1754

1 When everyone is wrong, everyone is right.
La Gouvernante (1747) act 1, sc. 3

Back  -   New Search

Laclos, Pierre Choderlos de 1741–1803

1 Our intentions make blackguards of us all; our weakness in carrying them out we call probity.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) letter 66

2 He cannot rate me very high if he thinks he is worth my fidelity!
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) letter 113

[Laclos]

3 A man enjoys the happiness he feels, a woman the happiness she gives.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) letter 130

[Laclos]

Back  -   New Search

Lacroix, Christian 1951–

1 Haute Couture should be fun, foolish and almost unwearable.
in Observer 27 December 1987 "Sayings of the Year"

Back  -   New Search

la Fontaine, Jean de 1621–95

1 I bend and I break not.
Fables bk. 1 (1668) "Le Chêne et le Roseau"

2
La mort ne surprend point le sage,
Il est toujours prêt à partir.
Death never takes the wise man by surprise; he is always ready to go.
Fables bk. 8 (1678–9) "La Mort et le Mourant".

[la Fontaine]

Back  -   New Search

La Fayette, Madame de 1634–93

1 One reproaches a lover, but can one reproach a husband, when his only fault is that he no longer loves?
The Princess of Clèves (1678) pt. 4

Back  -   New Search

Laforgue, Jules 1860–87

1
Ah! que la vie est quotidienne.

Oh, what a day-to-day business life is.

Complainte sur certains ennuis (1885)

Back  -   New Search

La Guardia, Fiorello 1882–1947

1 When I make a mistake, it's a beaut!
on the appointment of Herbert O'Brien as a judge in 1936
William Manners Patience and Fortitude (1976)

Back  -   New Search

Lahr, John 1941–

1 Criticism is a life without risk.
Light Fantastic (1996)

2 Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising.
in Guardian 2 August 1989

[Lahr]

Back  -   New Search

Laing, R. D. 1927–89

1 The divided self.
title of book (1960) on schizophrenia

2 Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through.
The Politics of Experience (1967) ch. 6

[Laing]

Back  -   New Search

Lamartine, Alphonse de 1790–1869

1
Ô temps! suspend ton vol, et vous, heures propices! Suspendez votre cours.
O Time! arrest your flight, and you, propitious hours, stay your course.
Le Lac (1820) st. 6

Back  -   New Search

Lamb, Lady Caroline 1785–1828

1 Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
of Byron, after their first meeting at a ball
diary, March 1812; in Elizabeth Jenkins Lady Caroline Lamb (1932)

Back  -   New Search

Lamb, Charles 1775–1834

1 Presents, I often say, endear Absents.
Essays of Elia (1823) "A Dissertation upon Roast Pig"

2 Your borrowers of books—those mutilators of collections, spoilers of the symmetry of shelves, and creators of odd volumes.
Essays of Elia (1823) "The Two Races of Men"

[Lamb]

3 Not many sounds in life…exceed in interest a knock at the door.
Essays of Elia (1823) "Valentine's Day"

[Lamb]

4 [A pun] is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.
Last Essays of Elia (1833) "Popular Fallacies" no. 9

[Lamb]

5
Gone before
To that unknown and silent shore.

"Hester" (1803) st. 7

[Lamb]

6
I have had playmates, I have had companions,
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days,—
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

"The Old Familiar Faces"

[Lamb]

7 A child's a plaything for an hour.
"Parental Recollections" (1809); often attributed to Lamb's sister Mary

[Lamb]

8 I have something more to do than feel.
on the death of his mother, at his sister Mary's hands
letter to S. T. Coleridge, 27 September 1796

[Lamb]

9 Cultivate simplicity, Coleridge.
letter to S. T. Coleridge, 8 November 1796

[Lamb]

10 This very night I am going to leave off tobacco! Surely there must be some other world in which this unconquerable purpose shall be realized.
letter to Thomas Manning, 26 December 1815

[Lamb]

11 An Archangel a little damaged.
of Coleridge
letter to Wordsworth, 26 April 1816

[Lamb]

12 When my sonnet was rejected, I exclaimed, "Damn the age; I will write for Antiquity!"
letter to B. W. Proctor, 22 January 1829

[Lamb]

Back  -   New Search

Lambton, John George

seeLord Durham

Back  -   New Search

Lamming, George b. 1927

1 In the castle of my skin.
title of novel (1953)

Back  -   New Search

Lamont, Norman 1942–

1 Rising unemployment and the recession have been the price that we've had to pay to get inflation down. [Labour shouts] That is a price well worth paying.
speech in the House of Commons, 16 May 1991

2 The green shoots of economic spring are appearing once again.
often misquoted as, "the green shoots of recovery"
speech at Conservative Party Conference, 9 October 1991

[Lamont]

3 We give the impression of being in office but not in power.
as a backbencher
speech in the House of Commons, 9 June 1993

[Lamont]

Back  -   New Search

Lampedusa, Giuseppe di 1896–1957

1 If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.
The Leopard (1957)

2 Love. Of course, love. Flames for a year, ashes for thirty.
The Leopard (1957)

[Lampedusa]

Back  -   New Search

Lancaster, Osbert 1908–86

1 Fan-vaulting…from an aesthetic standpoint frequently belongs to the "Last-supper-carved-on-a-peach-stone" class of masterpiece.
Pillar to Post (1938) "Perpendicular"

Back  -   New Search

Landor, Walter Savage 1775–1864

1
I strove with none; for none was worth my strife;
Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art.

"Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher" (1853)

2
Ah, what avails the sceptred race!
Ah, what the form divine!

"Rose Aylmer" (1806)

[Landor]

3
George the First was always reckoned
Vile, but viler George the Second;
And what mortal ever heard
Any good of George the Third?
When from earth the Fourth descended
God be praised the Georges ended!

epigram in The Atlas, 28 April 1855

[Landor]

Back  -   New Search

Lang, Andrew 1844–1912

1
They hear like ocean on a western beach
The surge and thunder of the Odyssey.

"The Odyssey" (1881)

2 He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts—for support rather than illumination.
Alan L. Mackay Harvest of a Quiet Eye (1977); attributed

[Lang]

Back  -   New Search

Langland, William c.1330–1400

1
In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne.

The Vision of Piers Plowman B text (ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, 1987) prologue l. 1

2
Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.

The Vision of Piers Plowman B text (ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, 1987) prologue l. 5

Ac on a May mornyng on Maluerne hulles
Me biful for to slepe, for werynesse of-walked.

The Vision of Piers Plowman C text (ed. D. Pearsall, 1978) prologue l. 6)

[Langland]

3
A faire feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene.

The Vision of Piers Plowman B text (ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, 1987) prologue l. 17

[Langland]

4
Grammer, the ground of al.

The Vision of Piers Plowman B text (ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, 1987) Passus 15, l. 370

[Langland]

Back  -   New Search

Langton, Stephen d. 1228

1
Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
Et emitte coelitus
Lucis tuae radium.
Come, Holy Spirit, and send out from heaven the beam of your light.
The "Golden Sequence" for Whit Sunday (also attributed to several others, notably Pope Innocent III)

Back  -   New Search

Lao Tzu c.604 bc

textual translations are those of Wing-Tsit Chan, 1963 1
Heaven and earth are not humane
They regard all things as straw dogs.
The sage is not humane.
He regards all people as straw dogs.

Tao-te Ching ch. 5

2
The best [rulers] are those whose existence is [merely] known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are reviled…
[The great rulers] accomplish their task; they complete their work.
Nevertheless their people say that they simply follow Nature.

Tao-te Ching ch. 17

[Lao Tzu]

3
There is nothing softer and weaker than water,
And yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things.
For this reason there is no substitute for it.
All the world knows that the weak overcomes the strong and the soft overcomes the hard.
But none can practice it.

Tao-te Ching ch. 78

[Lao Tzu]

Back  -   New Search

Lardner, Dionysius 1793–1859

1 Men might as well project a voyage to the moon as attempt to employ steam navigation against the stormy North Atlantic Ocean.
speech to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1838

Back  -   New Search

Lardner, Ring 1885–1933

1 Are you lost daddy I arsked tenderly.
Shut up he explained.

The Young Immigrunts (1920) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Larkin, James 1867–1947

1 Hell has no terror for me. I have lived there. Thirty six years of hunger and poverty have been my portion. They cannot terrify me with hell. Better to be in hell with Dante and Davitt than to be in heaven with Carson and Murphy.
in 1913, during the "Dublin lockout" labour dispute
Ulick O'Connor The Troubles (rev. ed., 1996)

Back  -   New Search

Larkin, Philip 1922–1985

1
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(Which was rather late for me) —
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

"Annus Mirabilis" (1974)

2
What will survive of us is love.

"An Arundel Tomb" (1964)

[Larkin]

3
And that will be England gone,
The shadows, the meadows, the lanes,
The guildhalls, the carved choirs.
There'll be books; it will linger on
In galleries; but all that remains
For us will be concrete and tyres.

"Going, Going" (1974)

[Larkin]

4
Nothing, like something, happens anywhere.

"I Remember, I Remember" (1955)

[Larkin]

5
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

"This Be The Verse" (1974)

[Larkin]

6
Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off?

"Toads" (1955)

[Larkin]

7
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road.

"Toads Revisited" (1964)

[Larkin]

8 A beginning, a muddle, and an end.
on the "classic formula" for a novel
in New Fiction no. 15, January 1978.

[Larkin]

Back  -   New Search

la Rochefoucauld, Duc de 1613–80

1 We are all strong enough to bear the misfortunes of others.
Maximes (1678) no. 19

2 There are good marriages, but no delightful ones.
Maximes (1678) no. 113

[la Rochefoucauld]

3 Hypocrisy is a tribute which vice pays to virtue.
Maximes (1678) no. 218

[la Rochefoucauld]

4 Absence diminishes commonplace passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and kindles fire.
Maximes (1678) no. 276

[la Rochefoucauld]

5 In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope for greater favours.
Maximes (1678) no. 298.

[la Rochefoucauld]

6 In the misfortune of our best friends, we always find something which is not displeasing to us.
Réflexions ou Maximes Morales (1665) maxim 99

[la Rochefoucauld]

Back  -   New Search

la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Duc de 1747–1827

1 louis xvi: C'est une grande révolte.
la rochefoucauld-liancourt: Non, Sire, c'est une grande révolution.
louis xvi: It is a big revolt.
la rochefoucauld-liancourt: No, Sir, it is a big revolution.

on a report reaching Versailles of the Fall of the Bastille, 1789
F. Dreyfus La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (1903) ch. 2, sect. 3

Back  -   New Search

Latimer, Hugh c.1485–1555

1 Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo.The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.
The Second Sermon preached before the King's Majesty (19 April 1549).

2 Be of good comfort Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as (I trust) shall never be put out.
prior to being burned for heresy, 16 October 1555
John Foxe Actes and Monuments (1570 ed.)

[Latimer]

Back  -   New Search

Lauder, Harry 1870–1950

1
Keep right on to the end of the road,
Keep right on to the end.
Tho' the way be long, let your heart be strong,
Keep right on round the bend.

"The End of the Road" (1924 song)

2
I love a lassie, a bonnie, bonnie lassie,
She's as pure as the lily in the dell.
She's as sweet as the heather, the bonnie bloomin' heather—
Mary, ma Scotch Bluebell.

"I Love a Lassie" (1905 song)

[Lauder]

3
Roamin' in the gloamin'.

"Roamin' in the Gloamin'" (1911 song)

[Lauder]

Back  -   New Search

Laurel, Stan 1890–1965

1 Another nice mess you've gotten me into.
often "another fine mess"
Another Fine Mess (1930 film) and many other Laurel and Hardy films; spoken by Oliver Hardy

Back  -   New Search

Laurier, Wilfrid 1841–1919

1 The nineteenth century was the century of the United States. I think we can claim that it is Canada that shall fill the twentieth century.
speech in Ottawa, 18 January 1904

Back  -   New Search

Lawrence, D. H. 1885–1930

1 To the Puritan all things are impure, as somebody says.
Etruscan Places (1932) "Cerveteri".

2 It was in 1915 the old world ended.
Kangaroo (1923)

[Lawrence]

3 John Thomas says good-night to Lady Jane, a little droopingly, but with a hopeful heart.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) ch. 19

[Lawrence]

4 Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it.
Phoenix (1936) "Pornography and Obscenity" ch. 3

[Lawrence]

5 Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.
Studies in Classic American Literature (1923) ch. 1

[Lawrence]

6 Be a good animal, true to your instincts.
The White Peacock (1911) pt. 2, ch. 2

[Lawrence]

7 Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?
Women in Love (1920) ch. 11

[Lawrence]

8 Men! The only animal in the world to fear!
"Mountain Lion" (1923)

[Lawrence]

9
I never saw a wild thing
Sorry for itself.

"Self-Pity" (1929)

[Lawrence]

10
Now it is autumn and the falling fruit
And the long journey towards oblivion…
Have you built your ship of death, O have you?
O build your ship of death, for you will need it.

"Ship of Death" (1932)

[Lawrence]

11
Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!

"Song of a Man who has Come Through" (1917)

[Lawrence]

12
When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder
That such trivial people should muse and thunder
In such lovely language.

"When I Read Shakespeare" (1929)

[Lawrence]

13 Tragedy ought really to be a great kick at misery.
letter to A. W. McLeod, 6 October 1912

[Lawrence]

14 The dead don't die. They look on and help.
letter to J. Middleton Murry, 2 February 1923

[Lawrence]

Back  -   New Search

Lawrence, T. E. 1888–1935

1 Many men would take the death-sentence without a whimper to escape the life-sentence which fate carries in her other hand.
The Mint (1955) pt. 1, ch. 4

2
I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars.

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) dedication

[Lawrence]

Back  -   New Search

Lawson, Nigel 1932–

1 It represented the tip of a singularly ill-concealed iceberg, with all the destructive potential that icebergs possess.
of an article by Alan Walters, Margaret Thatcher's economic adviser, criticizing the Exchange Rate Mechanism
in the House of Commons following his resignation as Chancellor, 31 October 1989

Back  -   New Search

Lazarus, Emma 1849–87

1
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

inscription on the Statue of Liberty, New York
"The New Colossus" (1883)

Back  -   New Search

Leacock, Stephen 1869–1944

1 Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
Garden of Folly (1924) "The Perfect Salesman"

2 I am what is called a professor emeritus—from the Latin e, "out", and meritus, "so he ought to be".
Here are my Lectures (1938) ch. 14

[Leacock]

3 A sportsman is a man who, every now and then, simply has to get out and kill something. Not that he's cruel. He wouldn't hurt a fly. It's not big enough.
My Remarkable Uncle (1942)

[Leacock]

Back  -   New Search

Leapor, Mary 1722–46

1
In spite of all romantic poets sing,
This gold, my dearest, is an useful thing.

"Mira to Octavia"

Back  -   New Search

Lear, Edward 1812–88

1
Who, or why, or which, or what,
Is the Akond of Swat?

"The Akond of Swat" (1888)

2
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"

A Book of Nonsense (1846)

[Lear]

3
On the coast of Coromandel
Where the early pumpkins blow,
In the middle of the woods,
Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bó.

"The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bó" (1871)

[Lear]

4 The Dong with a luminous nose.
title of poem (1871)

[Lear]

5
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

"The Jumblies" (1871)

[Lear]

6
There was an old man of Thermopylae,
Who never did anything properly.

More Nonsense (1872) "One Hundred Nonsense Pictures and Rhymes"

[Lear]

7
"How pleasant to know Mr Lear!"
Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
But a few think him pleasant enough.

Nonsense Songs (1871) preface

[Lear]

8
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" (1871)

[Lear]

9
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" (1871)

[Lear]

10
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" (1871)

[Lear]

11
The Pobble who has no toes
Had once as many as we;
When they said, "Some day you may lose them all";—
He replied,—"Fish fiddle de-dee!"

"The Pobble Who Has No Toes" (1871)

[Lear]

12
He has gone to fish, for his Aunt Jobiska's
Runcible Cat with crimson whiskers!

"The Pobble Who Has No Toes" (1871)

[Lear]

Back  -   New Search

Leary, Timothy 1920–96

1 If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in and drop out.
lecture, June 1966, in The Politics of Ecstasy (1968) ch. 21

2 The PC is the LSD of the '90s.
remark made in the early 1990s; in Guardian 1 June 1996

[Leary]

3 Why not? Why not? Why not? Yeah.
last words; in Independent 1 June 1996

[Leary]

Back  -   New Search

Lease, Mary Elizabeth 1853–1933

1 Kansas had better stop raising corn and begin raising hell.
E. J. James et al. Notable American Women 1607–1950 (1971) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Leavis, F. R. 1895–1978

1 The common pursuit.
title of book (1952)

2 The few really great—the major novelists…are significant in terms of the human awareness they promote; awareness of the possibilities of life.
The Great Tradition (1948) ch. 1

[Leavis]

3 Self-contempt, well-grounded.
on the foundation of T. S. Eliot's work
in Times Literary Supplement 21 October 1988 (quoted by Christopher Ricks in a BBC radio talk).

[Leavis]

Back  -   New Search

Lebowitz, Fran 1946–

1 There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness or death.
Metropolitan Life (1978)

2 The best fame is a writer's fame: it's enough to get a table at a good restaurant, but not enough that you get interrupted when you eat.
in Observer 30 May 1993 "Sayings of the Week"

[Lebowitz]

Back  -   New Search

Lec, Stanislaw 1909–66

1 Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?
Unkempt Thoughts (1962)

Back  -   New Search

le Carré, John 1931–

1 The spy who came in from the cold.
title of novel (1963)

Back  -   New Search

Le Corbusier 1887–1965

1 A house is a machine for living in.
Vers une architecture (1923).

Back  -   New Search

Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre Auguste 1807–74

1 Ah well! I am their leader, I really had to follow them!
E. de Mirecourt Les Contemporains vol. 14 (1857) "Ledru-Rollin"

Back  -   New Search

Lee, Gypsy Rose 1914–70

1 God is love, but get it in writing.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Lee, Harper 1926–

1 Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Lee, Henry ("Light-Horse Harry") 1756–1818

1 A citizen, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.
Funeral Oration on the death of General Washington (1800)

Back  -   New Search

Lee, Laurie 1914–97

1 I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began.
Cider with Rosie (1959)

Back  -   New Search

Lee, Nathaniel c.1653–92

1
When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war!

The Rival Queens (1677) act 4, sc. 2

2 They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me.
attributed

[Lee]

Back  -   New Search

Lee, Robert E. 1807–70

1 It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
after the battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862
attributed

2 refusing an offer to write his memoirs:I should be trading on the blood of my men.
attributed, perhaps apocryphal

[Lee]

Back  -   New Search

Lee-Potter, Lynda

1 Powerful men often succeed through the help of their wives. Powerful women only succeed in spite of their husbands.
in Daily Mail 16 May 1984

Back  -   New Search

Le Gallienne, Richard 1866–1947

1
The cry of the Little Peoples goes up to God in vain,
For the world is given over to the cruel sons of Cain.

"The Cry of the Little Peoples" (1899)

Back  -   New Search

Lehrer, Tom 1928–

1
Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes.

"Lobachevski" (1953 song)

2 Poisoning pigeons in the park.
song title, 1953

[Lehrer]

3 It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for a year.
N. Shapiro (ed.) An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music (1978)

[Lehrer]

Back  -   New Search

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 1646–1716

1 Nihil est sine ratione.There is nothing without a reason.
Studies in Physics and the Nature of Body (1671)

2 Eadem sunt quorum unum potest substitui alteri salva veritate.Two things are identical if one can be substituted for the other without affecting the truth.
"Table de définitions" (1704) in L. Coutourat (ed.) Opuscules et fragments inédits de Leibniz (1903)

[Leibniz]

Back  -   New Search

Leigh, Fred W. d. 1924

1
Can't get away to marry you today,
My wife won't let me!

"Waiting at the Church (My Wife Won't Let Me)" (1906 song)

2
Why am I always the bridesmaid,
Never the blushing bride?

"Why Am I Always the Bridesmaid?" (1917 song, with Charles Collins and Lily Morris)

[Leigh]

Back  -   New Search

LeMay, Curtis E. 1906–90

1 They've got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression, or we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.
on the North Vietnamese
Mission with LeMay (1965)

Back  -   New Search

Lenin 1870–1924

1 While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State.
State and Revolution (1919) ch. 5

2 What is to be done?
title of pamphlet (1902); originally the title of a novel (1863) by N. G. Chernyshevsky

[Lenin]

3 Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
Report to 8th Congress, 1920

[Lenin]

4 Who? Whom? [i.e. Who masters whom?]
definition of political science, meaning "Who will outstrip whom?"
in Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii vol. 44 (1970) 17 October 1921 and elsewhere

[Lenin]

5 A good man fallen among Fabians.
of George Bernard Shaw
Arthur Ransome Six Weeks in Russia in 1919 (1919) "Notes of Conversations with Lenin"

[Lenin]

6 Liberty is precious—so precious that it must be rationed.
Sidney and Beatrice Webb Soviet Communism (1936)

[Lenin]

Back  -   New Search

Lennon, John 1940–80

1 Happiness is a warm gun.
title of song (1968)

2 Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery.
at the Royal Variety Performance, 4 November 1963

[Lennon]

Back  -   New Search

Lennon, John 1940–1980 and McCartney, Paul 1942–

1
For I don't care too much for money,
For money can't buy me love.

"Can't Buy Me Love" (1964 song)

2
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

"Eleanor Rigby" (1966 song)

[Lennon]

3 Give peace a chance.
title of song (1969)

[Lennon]

4
It's been a hard day's night,
And I've been working like a dog.

"A Hard Day's Night" (1964 song)

[Lennon]

5 Strawberry fields forever.
title of song (1967)

[Lennon]

6
She's got a ticket to ride, but she don't care.

"Ticket to Ride" (1965 song)

[Lennon]

7
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four?

"When I'm Sixty Four" (1967 song)

[Lennon]

8
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends.

"With a Little Help From My Friends" (1967 song)

[Lennon]

Back  -   New Search

Leno, Dan (George Galvin) 1860–1904

1 Ah! what is man? Wherefore does he why? Whence did he whence? Whither is he withering?
Dan Leno Hys Booke (1901) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Lenthall, William 1591–1662

1 I have neither eye to see, nor tongue to speak here, but as the House is pleased to direct me.
to Charles I, on being asked if he had seen any of the five MPs whom the King had ordered to be arrested, 4 January 1642
John Rushworth Historical Collections. The Third Part vol. 2 (1692).

Back  -   New Search

Leonardo da Vinci 1452–1519

1 In her [Nature's] inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.
Edward McCurdy (ed. and trans.) Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks (1906) bk. 1

2 The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things.
Irma A. Richter (ed.) Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1952)

[Leonardo da Vinci]

Back  -   New Search

Lermontov, Mikhail 1814–41

1 Of two close friends, one is always the slave of the other.
A Hero of our Time (1840) "Princess Mary" (translated by Philip Longworth)

2 I am like a man yawning at a ball; the only reason he does not go home to bed is that his carriage has not arrived yet.
A Hero of our Time (1840) "Princess Mary" (translated by Philip Longworth)

[Lermontov]

Back  -   New Search

Lerner, Alan Jay 1918–86

1
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot.

now particularly associated with the White House of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
"Camelot" (1960 song)

2
Why can't a woman be more like a man?
Men are so honest, so thoroughly square.

"A Hymn to Him" (1956 song) in My Fair Lady

[Lerner]

3
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

"The Rain in Spain" (1956 song) in My Fair Lady

[Lerner]

Back  -   New Search

Lessing, Doris 1919–

1 When old settlers say "One has to understand the country," what they mean is, "You have to get used to our ideas about the native."
The Grass is Singing (1950) ch. 1

2 What of October, that ambiguous month, the month of tension, the unendurable month?
Martha Quest (1952) pt. 4, sect. 1

[Lessing]

Back  -   New Search

Lessing, G. E. 1729–81

1 One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.
Minna von Barnhelm (1767) act 2, sc. 7

Back  -   New Search

Leverhulme, Lord 1851–1925

1 Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the trouble is I don't know which half.
David Ogilvy Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963)

Back  -   New Search

Leverson, Ada 1865–1936

1 He seemed at ease and to have the look of the last gentleman in Europe.
of Oscar Wilde
Letters to the Sphinx (1930)

Back  -   New Search

Levi, Primo 1919–87

1 Our language lacks words to express this offence, the demolition of a man.
of a year spent in Auschwitz
If This is a Man (1958)

Back  -   New Search

Levin, Bernard 1928–

1 The Stag at Bay with the mentality of a fox at large.
of Harold Macmillan
The Pendulum Years (1970) ch. 12

2 Whom the mad would destroy, they first make gods.
of Mao Zedong in 1967
Levin quoting himself in The Times 21 September 1987

[Levin]

Back  -   New Search

Lévis, Duc de 1764–1830

1 Noblesse oblige.Nobility has its obligations.
Maximes et Réflexions (1812 ed.) "Morale: Maximes et Préceptes" no. 73

2 Gouverner, c'est choisir.To govern is to choose.
Maximes et Réflexions (1812 ed.) "Politique: Maximes de Politique" no. 19

[Lévis]

Back  -   New Search

Lewis, C. S. 1898–1963

1 No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.
A Grief Observed (1961)

2 She's the sort of woman who lives for others—you can always tell the others by their hunted expression.
The Screwtape Letters (1942) no. 26

[Lewis]

3 Often when I pray I wonder if I am not posting letters to a non-existent address.
letter to Arthur Greeves, 24 December 1930

[Lewis]

4 He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it, hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart.
letter, 10 March 1954

[Lewis]

Back  -   New Search

Lewis, Esther (later Clark) fl. 1747–89

1
Why are the needle and the pen
Thought incompatible by men?

"A Mirror for Detractors" (1754) l. 146

Back  -   New Search

Lewis, George Cornewall 1806–63

1 Life would be tolerable but for its amusements.
in The Times 18 September 1872.

Back  -   New Search

Lewis, Sam M. 1885–1959 and Young, Joe 1889–1939

1 How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm (after they've seen Paree)?
title of song (1919)

Back  -   New Search

Lewis, Sinclair 1885–1951

1 Our American professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead.
The American Fear of Literature (Nobel Prize Address, 12 December 1930)

2 She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them.
Babbitt (1922) ch. 18

[Lewis]

3 It can't happen here.
title of novel (1935)

[Lewis]

Back  -   New Search

Lewis, Wyndham 1882–1957

1 Angels in jumpers.
describing the figures in Stanley Spencer's paintings
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Leybourne, George d. 1884

1
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
A daring young man on the flying trapeze.

"The Flying Trapeze" (1868 song)

Back  -   New Search

Liberace 1919–87

1 When the reviews are bad I tell my staff that they can join me as I cry all the way to the bank.
Autobiography (1973) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph 1742–99

1 The journalists have constructed for themselves a little wooden chapel, which they also call the Temple of Fame, in which they put up and take down portraits all day long and make such a hammering you can't hear yourself speak.
A. Leitzmann Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Aphorismen (1904)

2 There is a great deal of difference between still believing something, and again believing it.
Notebook E no. 8 1775–6 in Aphorisms (1990)

[Lichtenberg]

Back  -   New Search

Liebling, A. J. 1904–63

1 Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
"The Wayward Press: Do you belong in Journalism?" (1960)

Back  -   New Search

Ligne, Charles-Joseph, Prince de 1735–1814

1 Le congrès ne marche pas, il danse.The Congress makes no progress; it dances.
Auguste de la Garde-Chambonas Souvenirs du Congrès de Vienne (1820) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Lillo, George 1693–1739

1
There's sure no passion in the human soul,
But finds its food in music.

The Fatal Curiosity (1736) act 1, sc. 2

Back  -   New Search

Lincoln, Abraham 1809–65

1 To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
often quoted as, "The ballot is stronger than the bullet"
speech, 18 May 1858

2 "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free.
speech, 16 June 1858.

[Lincoln]

3 In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free—honourable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of earth.
Annual Message to Congress, 1 December 1862

[Lincoln]

4 Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…In a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and these dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced…we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
the Lincoln Memorial inscription reads "by the people, for the people"
address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, 19 November 1863, as reported the following day, in R. P. Basler (ed.) Collected Works… (1953) vol. 7.

[Lincoln]

5 I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
letter to A. G. Hodges, 4 April 1864

[Lincoln]

6 It is not best to swap horses when crossing streams.
reply to National Union League, 9 June 1864

[Lincoln]

7 With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in: to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
second inaugural address, 4 March 1865

[Lincoln]

8 As President, I have no eyes but constitutional eyes; I cannot see you.
attributed reply to the South Carolina Commissioners.

[Lincoln]

9 People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
judgement of a book
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 30

[Lincoln]

10 So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!
on meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Carl Sandburg Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1936) vol. 2, ch. 39

[Lincoln]

11 You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time.
also attributed to Phineas Barnum
Alexander K. McClure Lincoln's Yarns and Stories (1904)

[Lincoln]

Back  -   New Search

Lindsay, Vachel 1879–1931

1
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum—
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

"General William Booth Enters into Heaven" (1913).

Back  -   New Search

Linehan, Graham and Mathews, Arthur

1 It's great being a priest, isn't it, Ted?
"Good Luck, Father Ted" (1994), episode from Father Ted (Channel 4 TV, 1994–8)

2 Careful now!
placard alerting Craggy Island to a banned film
"The Passion of St Tibulus" (1994), episode from Father Ted (Channel 4 TV, 1994–8)

[Linehan]

Back  -   New Search

Lineker, Gary 1960–

1 The nice aspect about football is that, if things go wrong, it's the manager who gets the blame.
remark before his first match as captain of England
in Independent 12 September 1990

Back  -   New Search

Linklater, Eric 1899–1974

1 "There won't be any revolution in America," said Isadore. Nikitin agreed. "The people are all too clean. They spend all their time changing their shirts and washing themselves. You can't feel fierce and revolutionary in a bathroom."
Juan in America (1931) bk. 5, pt. 3

Back  -   New Search

Linkletter, Art 1912–

1 The four stages of man are infancy, childhood, adolescence and obsolescence.
A Child's Garden of Misinformation (1965) ch. 8

Back  -   New Search

Linley, George 1798–1865

1
Among our ancient mountains,
And from our lovely vales,
Oh, let the prayer re-echo:
"God bless the Prince of Wales!"

"God Bless the Prince of Wales" (1862 song); translated from the Welsh original by J. C. Hughes (1837–87)

Back  -   New Search

Lin Yutang 1895–1976

1 [The traveller can] get the greatest joy of travel even without going to the mountains, by staying at home and watching and going about the field to watch a sailing cloud, or a dog, or a hedge, or a lonely tree.
The Importance of Living (1938) ch. 11

Back  -   New Search

Littledale, Richard 1833–90

1
Let holy charity
Mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become mine inner clothing.

"Come down, O Love divine" (1867 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Littlewood, Joan 1914– and Chilton, Charles 1914–

1 Oh what a lovely war.
title of stage show (1963)

Back  -   New Search

Litvinov, Maxim 1876–1951

1 Peace is indivisible.
note to the Allies, 25 February 1920; A. U. Pope Maxim Litvinoff (1943)

Back  -   New Search

Lively, Penelope 1933–

1 Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.
Moon Tiger (1987)

2 We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse; we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard.
Moon Tiger (1987)

[Lively]

Back  -   New Search

Livingstone, Ken 1945–

1 If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.
title of book, 1987

Back  -   New Search

Livy 59–17

1 Vae victis.Down with the defeated!
cry (already proverbial) of the Gallic King, Brennus, on capturing Rome in 390 bc
Ab Urbe Condita bk. 5, ch. 48, sect. 9

2 Pugna magna victi sumus.We were defeated in a great battle.
announcement of disaster for the Romans in Hannibal's ambush at Lake Trasimene in 217 bc
Ab Urbe Condita bk. 22, ch. 7, sect. 8

[Livy]

Back  -   New Search

Llewellyn, Richard (Richard Llewellyn Lloyd) 1907–83

1 How green was my valley.
title of book (1939)

Back  -   New Search

Lloyd, Robert

1
Alone from Jargon born to rescue Law,
From precedent, grave hum, and formal saw!
To strip chicanery of its vain pretence,
And marry Common Law to Common Sense!

"The Law-Student" (1762); on Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, 1756–88

2
While all the art of Imitation,
Is pilf'ring from the first creation.

"Shakespeare" (1762)

[Lloyd]

Back  -   New Search

Lloyd George, David 1863–1945

1 The leal and trusty mastiff which is to watch over our interests, but which runs away at the first snarl of the trade unions…A mastiff? It is the right hon. Gentleman's poodle.
on the House of Lords and A. J. Balfour respectively
in the House of Commons, 26 June 1907

2 A fully-equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts; and dukes are just as great a terror and they last longer.
speech at Newcastle, 9 October 1909, in The Times 11 October 1909

[Lloyd George]

3 At eleven o'clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.
speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1918.

[Lloyd George]

4 What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.
speech at Wolverhampton, 23 November 1918

[Lloyd George]

5 Unless I am mistaken, by the steps we have taken [in Ireland] we have murder by the throat.
speech at the Mansion House, 9 November 1920

[Lloyd George]

6 Negotiating with de Valera…is like trying to pick up mercury with a fork.
to which de Valera replied, "Why doesn't he use a spoon?"
M. J. MacManus Eamon de Valera (1944) ch. 6

[Lloyd George]

Back  -   New Search

Locke, John 1632–1704

1 New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) "Dedicatory Epistle"

2 No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) bk. 2, ch. 1, sect. 19

[Locke]

3 Crooked things may be as stiff and unflexible as straight: and men may be as positive in error as in truth.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) bk. 4, ch. 19, sect. 11

[Locke]

4 All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) bk. 4, ch. 20, sect. 17

[Locke]

5 The end of law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.
Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690) ch. 6, sect. 57

[Locke]

6 The great and chief end, therefore, of men's uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property.
Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690) ch. 9, sect. 124

[Locke]

Back  -   New Search

Locker-Lampson, Frederick 1821–95

1
And many are afraid of God—
And more of Mrs Grundy.

"The Jester's Plea" (1868).

Back  -   New Search

Lockhart, John Gibson 1794–1854

1 It is a better and a wiser thing to be a starved apothecary than a starved poet; so back to the shop Mr John, back to "plasters, pills, and ointment boxes."
reviewing Keats's Endymion
in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine August 1818

Back  -   New Search

Lodge, David 1935–

1 Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children. Life is the other way round.
The British Museum is Falling Down (1965) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Loesser, Frank 1910–69

1
See what the boys in the back room will have
And tell them I'm having the same.

"Boys in the Back Room" (1939 song)

2
Isn't it grand! Isn't it fine! Look at the cut, the style, the line!
The suit of clothes is altogether, but altogether it's altogether
The most remarkable suit of clothes that I have ever seen.

"The King's New Clothes" (1952 song); from the film Hans Christian Andersen

[Loesser]

Back  -   New Search

London, Jack 1876–1916

1 The call of the wild.
title of novel (1903)

Back  -   New Search

Long, Huey 1893–1935

1 For the present you can just call me the Kingfish.
Every Man a King (1933)

2 Oh hell, say that I am sui generis and let it go at that.
to journalists attempting to analyse his political personality
T. Harry Williams Huey Long (1969)

[Long]

Back  -   New Search

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 1807–82

1
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where.

"The Arrow and the Song" (1845)

2
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

"The Building of the Ship" (1849)

[Longfellow]

3
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.

"The Children's Hour" (1859)

[Longfellow]

4
The cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

"The Day is Done" (1844)

[Longfellow]

5
This is the forest primeval.

Evangeline (1847) introduction

[Longfellow]

6
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

"Excelsior" (1841)

[Longfellow]

7
Giotto's tower,
The lily of Florence blossoming in stone.

"Giotto's Tower" (1866)

[Longfellow]

8
I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
The burial-ground God's-Acre!

"God's-Acre" (1841)

[Longfellow]

9
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

"A Psalm of Life" (1838).

[Longfellow]

10
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

"A Psalm of Life" (1838)

[Longfellow]

11
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.

"Retribution" (1870), translation of Friedrich von Logau (1604–55) Sinnegedichte (1654) no. 3224

[Longfellow]

12
A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.

on Florence Nightingale
"Santa Filomena" (1857)

[Longfellow]

13
By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis.

The Song of Hiawatha (1855) "Hiawatha's Childhood"

[Longfellow]

14
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five.

Tales of a Wayside Inn pt. 1 (1863) "The Landlord's Tale: Paul Revere's Ride"

[Longfellow]

15
One if by land and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and sound the alarm.

Tales of a Wayside Inn pt. 1 (1863) "The Landlord's Tale: Paul Revere's Ride".

[Longfellow]

16
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing;
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness.

Tales of a Wayside Inn pt. 3 (1874) "The Theologian's Tale: Elizabeth" pt. 4

[Longfellow]

17
Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands.

"The Village Blacksmith" (1839)

[Longfellow]

18
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

"The Village Blacksmith" (1839)

[Longfellow]

19
It was the schooner Hesperus,
That sailed the wintry sea;
And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
To bear him company.

"The Wreck of the Hesperus" (1839)

[Longfellow]

20
There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
When she was good
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

composed for, and sung to, his second daughter while a babe in arms, c.1850
B. R. Tucker-Macchetta The Home Life of Henry W. Longfellow (1882) ch. 5

[Longfellow]

Back  -   New Search

Longford, Lord 1905–2001

1 In 1969 I published a small book on Humility. It was a pioneering work which has not, to my knowledge, been superseded.
in Tablet 22 January 1994

Back  -   New Search

Longinus on the Sublime

1 Sublimity is the echo of a noble mind.
sect. 9

Back  -   New Search

Longworth, Alice Roosevelt 1884–1980

1 If you haven't got anything good to say about anyone come and sit by me.
maxim embroidered on a cushion in her home
Michael Teague Mrs L: Conversations with Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1981)

Back  -   New Search

Loos, Anita 1893–1981

1 Gentlemen prefer blondes.
title of book (1925)

2 So I really think that American gentlemen are the best after all, because kissing your hand may make you feel very very good but a diamond and safire bracelet lasts forever.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925) ch. 4.

[Loos]

Back  -   New Search

Lorca, Frederico García

seeGarcía Lorca

Back  -   New Search

Lorenz, Edward N. 1917–

1 Predictability: Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?
title of paper given to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, 29 December 1979; James Gleick Chaos (1988)

Back  -   New Search

Lorenz, Konrad 1903–89

1 It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
Das Sogenannte Böse (1963; tr. Marjorie Latzke as On Aggression, 1966) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Louis XIV (the "Sun King") 1638–1715

1 L'État c'est moi.I am the State.
before the Parlement de Paris, 13 April 1655
probably apocryphal; J. A. Dulaure Histoire de Paris (1834) vol. 6

2 Every time I create an appointment, I create a hundred malcontents and one ingrate.
Voltaire Siècle de Louis XIV (1768 ed.) vol. 2, ch. 26

[Louis XIV]

3 Il n'y a plus de Pyrénées.The Pyrenees are no more.
on the accession of his grandson to the throne of Spain, 1700
attributed to Louis by Voltaire in Siècle de Louis XIV (1753) ch. 26, but to the Spanish Ambassador to France in the Mercure Galant (Paris) November 1700

[Louis XIV]

Back  -   New Search

Louis XVI 1754–93

1 diary entry for 14 July 1789, the day of the storming of the Bastille:Rien.Nothing.
Simon Schama Citizens (1989) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Louis XVIII 1755–1824

1 Remember that there is not one of you who does not carry in his cartridge-pouch the marshal's baton of the duke of Reggio; it is up to you to bring it forth.
speech to Saint-Cyr cadets, 9 August 1819

2 L'exactitude est la politesse des rois.Punctuality is the politeness of kings.
attributed in Souvenirs de J. Lafitte (1844) bk. 1, ch. 3

[Louis XVIII]

Back  -   New Search

Louis Philippe 1773–1850

1 Died, has he? Now I wonder what he meant by that?
of Talleyrand
attributed, perhaps apocryphal

Back  -   New Search

Louis, Joe 1914–81

1 He can run. But he can't hide.
of Billy Conn, his opponent, before a heavyweight title fight, 19 June 1946
Louis: My Life Story (1947)

Back  -   New Search

Lovelace, Ada 1815–52

1 The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.
of Babbage's mechanical computer
Luigi Menabrea Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage (1843), translated and annotated by Ada Lovelace, Note A

Back  -   New Search

Lovelace, Richard 1618–58

1
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage.

"To Althea, From Prison" (1649)

2
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not honour more.

"To Lucasta, Going to the Wars" (1649)

[Lovelace]

Back  -   New Search

Lovell, James 1928–

1 Houston, we've had a problem.
on Apollo 13 space mission, 14 April 1970
in The Times 15 April 1970

Back  -   New Search

Lover, Samuel 1797–1868

1 When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen.
Handy Andy (1842) ch. 36

2
Young Rory O'More courted Kathaleen bawn,
He was bold as a hawk, and she soft as the dawn.

"Rory O'More'" (1837 song).

[Lover]

Back  -   New Search

Low, David 1891–1963

1 Colonel Blimp.
Cartoon creation, proponent of reactionary establishment opinions

Back  -   New Search

Lowe, Robert, Lord Sherbrooke 1811–92

1 The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a man whose duties make him more or less of a taxing machine. He is intrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can.
speech, House of Commons, 11 April 1870

Back  -   New Search

Lowell, Amy 1874–1925

1
And the softness of my body will be guarded by embrace
By each button, hook, and lace.
For the man who should loose me is dead,
Fighting with the Duke in Flanders,
In a pattern called a war.
Christ! What are patterns for?

"Patterns" (1916)

2
All books are either dreams or swords,
You can cut, or you can drug, with words.

"Sword Blades and Poppy Seed" (1914).

[Lowell]

Back  -   New Search

Lowell, James Russell 1819–91

1
An' you've gut to git up airly
Ef you want to take in God.

The Biglow Papers (First Series, 1848) no. 1 "A Letter"

2
There comes Poe with his raven like Barnaby Rudge,
Three-fifths of him genius, and two-fifths sheer fudge.

"A Fable for Critics" (1848) l. 1215.

[Lowell]

3
Blessèd are the horny hands of toil!

"A Glance Behind the Curtain" (1844).

[Lowell]

4
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.

"The Present Crisis" (1845)

[Lowell]

5
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.

"The Present Crisis" (1845)

[Lowell]

Back  -   New Search

Lowell, Robert 1917–77

1
Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city's throat.

"For the Union Dead" (1964)

2
These are the tranquillized Fifties,
and I am forty. Ought I to regret my seed-time?

"Memories of West Street and Lepke" (1956)

[Lowell]

3
At forty-five,
What next, what next?
At every corner,
I meet my Father,
my age, still alive.

"Middle Age" (1964)

[Lowell]

4
This is death.
To die and know it. This is the Black Widow, death.

"Mr Edwards and the Spider" (1950)

[Lowell]

5
If we see light at the end of the tunnel,
It's the light of the oncoming train.

"Since 1939" (1977).

[Lowell]

6
But I suppose even God was born
too late to trust the old religion.

"Tenth Muse" (1964)

[Lowell]

7
the present, yes,
we are in it,
it's the infection
of things gone.

"We Took Our Paradise" (1977)

[Lowell]

Back  -   New Search

Lowndes, William 1652–1724

1 Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
Lord Chesterfield Letters to his Son (1774) 5 February 1750

Back  -   New Search

Lowry, L. S. 1887–1976

1 I'm a simple man, and I use simple materials.
Mervyn Levy Paintings of L. S. Lowry (1975)

Back  -   New Search

Lowry, Malcolm 1909–57

1 How alike are the groans of love to those of the dying.
Under the Volcano (1947) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Lucan ad 39–65

1 There stands the ghost of a great name.
of Pompey
Pharsalia bk. 1, l. 135

2 Thinking nothing done while anything remained to be done.
Pharsalia bk. 2, l. 657.

[Lucan]

3 I have a wife, I have sons: we have given so many hostages to the fates.
Pharsalia bk. 6, l. 661.

[Lucan]

Back  -   New Search

Luce, Clare Booth 1903–87

1 Much of…his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still globaloney.
speech to the House of Representatives, February 1943

Back  -   New Search

Lucilius c.180 bc

1
Maior erat natu; non omnia possumus omnes.
He was greater in years; we cannot all do everything.
Macrobius Saturnalia bk. 6, ch. 1, sect. 35.

Back  -   New Search

Lucretius c.94 bc

1
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
So much wrong could religion induce.
De Rerum Natura bk. 1, l. 101

2
…Nil posse creari
De nilo.
Nothing can be created out of nothing.
De Rerum Natura bk. 1, l. 155

[Lucretius]

3
Inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum
Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.
Some races increase, others are reduced, and in a short while the generations of living creatures are changed and like runners relay the torch of life.
De Rerum Natura bk. 2, l. 8

[Lucretius]

Back  -   New Search

Luis de León, Fray c.1527–91

1 We were saying yesterday…
on resuming a lecture at Salamanca University in 1577, after five years' imprisonment
attributed, among others, by A. F. G. Bell in Luis de León (1925) ch. 8

Back  -   New Search

Luther, Martin 1483–1546

1 Here stand I. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.
speech at the Diet of Worms, 18 April 1521; attributed

2 For, where God built a church, there the devil would also build a chapel…In such sort is the devil always God's ape.
Colloquia Mensalia (1566) ch. 2 (tr. H. Bell as Martin Luther's Divine Discourses, 1652)

[Luther]

3
A safe stronghold our God is still,
A trusty shield and weapon.

"Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott" (1529); tr. Thomas Carlyle

[Luther]

4
Who loves not woman, wine, and song
Remains a fool his whole life long.

attributed (later inscribed in the Luther room in the Wartburg, but with no proof of authorship)

[Luther]

Back  -   New Search

Luxemburg, Rosa 1871–1919

1 Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
Die Russische Revolution (1918) sect. 4

Back  -   New Search

Lydgate, John c.1370–1451

1
Sithe off oure language he was the lodesterre.

of Chaucer
The Fall of Princes (1431–8) prologue l. 252

2
Woord is but wynd; leff woord and tak the dede.

Secrets of Old Philosophers l. 1224

[Lydgate]

Back  -   New Search

Lyly, John c.1554–1606

1
What bird so sings, yet so does wail?
O 'tis the ravished nightingale.
Jug, jug, jug, jug, tereu, she cries,
And still her woes at midnight rise.

Campaspe (1584) act 5, sc. 1.

2
Night hath a thousand eyes.

The Maydes Metamorphosis (1600) act 3, sc. 1

[Lyly]

3
If all the earth were paper white
And all the sea were ink
'Twere not enough for me to write
As my poor heart doth think.

"If all the earth were paper white"

[Lyly]

Back  -   New Search

Lyndhurst, Lord 1772–1863

1 Campbell has added another terror to death.
on Lord Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors being written without the consent of heirs or executors
E. Bowen-Rowlands Seventy-Two Years At the Bar (1924) ch. 10.

Back  -   New Search

Lynn, Jonathan 1943– and Jay, Antony 1930–

1 I think it will be a clash between the political will and the administrative won't.
Yes Prime Minister (1987) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Lysander d. 395 bc

1 Deceive boys with toys, but men with oaths.
Plutarch Parallel Lives "Lysander" ch. 8.

Back  -   New Search

Lyte, Henry Francis 1793–1847

1
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.

"Abide with Me" (probably written in 1847)

2
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me.

"Abide with Me" (probably written in 1847)

[Lyte]

3
Praise my soul, the King of heaven;
To his feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me his praise should sing?

"Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" (1834 hymn)

[Lyte]

4
Father-like, he tends and spares us.

"Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" (1834 hymn)

[Lyte]

Back  -   New Search

Lytton, E. R. Bulwer, Lord

see Owen Meredith

Back  -   New Search

M

MacArthur, Douglas 1880–1964

1 I came through and I shall return.
on reaching Australia, 20 March 1942, having broken through Japanese lines en route from Corregidor
in New York Times 21 March 1942

Back  -   New Search

Macaulay, Rose 1881–1958

1 Love's a disease. But curable.
Crewe Train (1926)

2 "Take my camel, dear," said my aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.
The Towers of Trebizond (1956)

[Macaulay]

Back  -   New Search

Macaulay, Thomas Babington 1800–59

1 In order that he might rob a neighbour whom he had promised to defend, black men fought on the coast of Coromandel, and red men scalped each other by the Great Lakes of North America.
Biographical Essays (1857) "Frederic the Great"

2 The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 1 "Hallam"

[Macaulay]

3 The gigantic body, the huge massy face, seamed with the scars of disease, the brown coat, the black worsted stockings, the grey wig with the scorched foretop, the dirty hands, the nails bitten and pared to the quick.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 1 "Samuel Johnson"

[Macaulay]

4 If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait for ever.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 1 "Milton"

[Macaulay]

5 We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 1 "Moore's Life of Lord Byron"

[Macaulay]

6 On the day of the accession of George the Third, the ascendancy of the Whig party terminated; and on that day the purification of the Whig party began.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 2 "William Pitt, Earl of Chatham"

[Macaulay]

7 Every schoolboy knows who imprisoned Montezuma, and who strangled Atahualpa.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 3 "Lord Clive".

[Macaulay]

8 She [the Roman Catholic Church] may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St Paul's.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 3 "Von Ranke".

[Macaulay]

9 She [the Church of Rome] thoroughly understands what no other church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts.
Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1843) vol. 3 "Von Ranke"

[Macaulay]

10 It was a crime in a child to read by the bedside of a sick parent one of those beautiful collects which had soothed the griefs of forty generations of Christians.
History of England vol. 1 (1849) ch. 2

[Macaulay]

11 The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
History of England vol. 1 (1849) ch. 2

[Macaulay]

12 The English Bible, a book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.
T. F. Ellis (ed.) Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay (1860) "John Dryden" (1828)

[Macaulay]

13 His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar.
T. F. Ellis (ed.) Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay (1860) "John Dryden" (1828)

[Macaulay]

14 This province of literature is a debatable line. It lies on the confines of two distinct territories…It is sometimes fiction. It is sometimes theory.
of history
T. F. Ellis (ed.) Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay (1860) vol. 1 "History" (1828)

[Macaulay]

15
Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

"The Armada" (1833)

[Macaulay]

16
And the Man of Blood was there, with his long essenced hair,
And Astley, and Sir Marmaduke, and Rupert of the Rhine.

"The Battle of Naseby" (1824)

[Macaulay]

17
The priest who slew the slayer,
And shall himself be slain.

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "The Battle of Lake Regillus" st. 10

[Macaulay]

18
Let no man stop to plunder,
But slay, and slay, and slay;
The Gods who live for ever
Are on our side to-day.

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "The Battle of Lake Regillus" st. 35

[Macaulay]

19
Lars Porsena of Clusium
By the nine gods he swore
That the great house of Tarquin
Should suffer wrong no more.

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 1

[Macaulay]

20
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods?

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 27

[Macaulay]

21
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 29

[Macaulay]

22
Then none was for a party;
Then all were for the state.

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 32

[Macaulay]

23
But hark! the cry is Astur
And lo! the ranks divide,
And the great Lord of Luna
Comes with his stately stride.

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 42

[Macaulay]

24
Was none who would be foremost
To lead such dire attack;
But those behind cried "Forward!"
And those before cried "Back!"

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 50

[Macaulay]

25
Oh, Tiber! father Tiber
To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,
Take thou in charge this day!

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 59

[Macaulay]

26
And even the ranks of Tuscany
Could scarce forbear to cheer.

Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) "Horatius" st. 60

[Macaulay]

27 Thank you, madam, the agony is abated.
aged four, having had hot coffee spilt over his legs
G. O. Trevelyan Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay (1876) ch. 1

[Macaulay]

Back  -   New Search

McAuliffe, Anthony 1898–1975

1 Nuts!
replying to the German demand for surrender at Bastogne, Belgium, 22 December 1944
in New York Times 28 December 1944

Back  -   New Search

McCaig, Norman 1910–96

1
Who owns this landscape?
The millionaire who bought it or
the poacher staggering downhill in the early morning
with a deer on his back?

"A Man in Assynt" (1969)

Back  -   New Search

McCarthy, Joseph 1908–57

1 I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five [people] that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.
speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, 9 February 1950

2 McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled.
speech in Wisconsin, 1952

[McCarthy]

Back  -   New Search

McCarthy, Mary 1912–89

1 Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof.
On the Contrary (1961) "America the Beautiful"

2 If someone tells you he is going to make a "realistic decision", you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.
On the Contrary (1961) "American Realist Playwrights"

[McCarthy]

3 Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the".
on Lillian Hellman
in New York Times 16 February 1980

[McCarthy]

Back  -   New Search

McCartney, Paul 1942–

1 Ballads and babies. That's what happened to me.
on reaching the age of fifty
in Time 8 June 1992

Back  -   New Search

McClellan, George B. 1826–85

1 All quiet along the Potomac.
said at the time of the American Civil War
attributed.

Back  -   New Search

MacColl, Ewen 1915–89

1
And I used to sleep standing on my feet
As we hunted for the shoals of herring.

"The Shoals of Herring" (1960 song, from the BBC Radio broadcast Singing the Fishing)

Back  -   New Search

McCord, David 1897–

1
By and by
God caught his eye.

"Remainders" (1935); epitaph for a waiter

Back  -   New Search

McCoy, Horace 1897–1955

1 They shoot horses don't they.
title of novel (1935)

Back  -   New Search

McCrae, John 1872–1918

1
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row.

"In Flanders Fields" (1915)

Back  -   New Search

MacDiarmid, Hugh 1892–1978

1
Scotland small? Our multiform, our infinite Scotland small?
Only as a patch of hillside may be a cliché corner
To a fool who cries "Nothing but heather!"…

Direadh 1 (1974)

2
The rose of all the world is not for me.
I want for my part
Only the little white rose of Scotland
That smells sharp and sweet—and breaks the heart.

"The Little White Rose" (1934)

[MacDiarmid]

Back  -   New Search

MacDonald, George 1824–1905

1
Where did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into here.

At the Back of the North Wind (1871) ch. 33 "Song"

Back  -   New Search

MacDonald, Ramsay 1866–1937

1 Tomorrow every Duchess in London will be wanting to kiss me!
after forming the National Government, 25 August 1931
Viscount Snowden An Autobiography (1934) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

McDonald, Trevor 1939–

1 I am a West Indian peasant who has drifted into this business and who has survived. If I knew the secret, I would bottle it and sell it.
in Independent 20 April 1996 "Quote Unquote"

Back  -   New Search

MacDonell, A. G. 1889–1941

1 England, their England.
title of novel (1933).

Back  -   New Search

McGonagall, William c.1825–1902

1
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas, I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remembered for a very long time.

"The Tay Bridge Disaster"

Back  -   New Search

McGoohan, Patrick 1928–, Markstein, George, and Tomblin, David

1 I am not a number, I am a free man!
Number Six, in The Prisoner (TV series 1967–68); additional title sequence from the second episode onwards

Back  -   New Search

McGough, Roger 1937–

1
Let me die a youngman's death
Not a clean & in-between-
The-sheets, holy-water death.

"Let Me Die a Youngman's Death" (1967)

2
I could never begin a poem; "When I am dead"
In case it tempted Fate, and Fate gave way.

"When I am Dead" (1982)

[McGough]

Back  -   New Search

McGregor, Jimmie 1932–

1
Oh, he's football crazy, he's football mad
And the football it has robbed him o' the wee bit sense he had.
And it would take a dozen skivvies, his clothes to wash and scrub,
Since our Jock became a member of that terrible football club.

"Football Crazy" (1960 song)

Back  -   New Search

Machiavelli, Niccolò 1469–1527

1 Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries—for heavy ones they cannot.
The Prince (written 1513) ch. 3 (tr. Allan Gilbert)

2 It is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two.
The Prince (written 1513) ch. 8 (tr. Allan Gilbert)

[Machiavelli]

3 The prince must be a fox, therefore, to recognize the traps and a lion to frighten the wolves.
The Prince (written 1513) ch. 18 (tr. Allan Gilbert)

[Machiavelli]

Back  -   New Search

Mackenzie, Kelvin 1946–

1 We are surfing food.
of cable television
in Trouble at the Top (BBC2) 12 February 1997

Back  -   New Search

Mackintosh, James 1765–1832

1 The Commons, faithful to their system, remained in a wise and masterly inactivity.
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791) sect. 1

Back  -   New Search

Maclaren, Alexander 1826–1910

1 "The Church is an anvil which has worn out many hammers", and the story of the first collision is, in essentials, the story of all.
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Acts of the Apostles (1907) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

McLean, Don 1945–

1
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

on the death of Buddy Holly
"American Pie" (1972 song)

2
So, bye, bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys was drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die."

"American Pie" (1972 song)

[McLean]

Back  -   New Search

MacLeish, Archibald 1892–1982

1
A poem should not mean
But be.

"Ars Poetica" (1926)

Back  -   New Search

Macleod, Iain 1913–70

1 It is some measure of the tightness of the magic circle on this occasion that neither the Chancellor of the Exchequer nor the Leader of the House of Commons had any inkling of what was happening.
of the "evolvement" of Alec Douglas-Home as Conservative leader after the resignation of Harold Macmillan
in The Spectator 17 January 1964

Back  -   New Search

McLuhan, Marshall 1911–80

1 The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village.
The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)

2 The medium is the message.
Understanding Media (1964) ch. 1 (title)

[McLuhan]

3 Gutenberg made everybody a reader. Xerox makes everybody a publisher.
in Guardian Weekly 12 June 1977

[McLuhan]

Back  -   New Search

MacMahon, Comte de 1808–93

1 J'y suis, j'y reste.Here I am, and here I stay.
at the taking of the Malakoff fortress during the Crimean War, 8 September 1855
G. Hanotaux Histoire de la France Contemporaine (1903–8) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Macmillan, Harold 1894–1986

1 Let us be frank about it: most of our people have never had it so good.
"You Never Had It So Good" was the Democratic Party slogan during the 1952 US election campaign
speech at Bedford, 20 July 1957

2 I thought the best thing to do was to settle up these little local difficulties, and then turn to the wider vision of the Commonwealth.
on leaving for a Commonwealth tour, following the resignation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and others
statement at London airport, 7 January 1958

[Macmillan]

3 The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and, whether we like it or not, this growth of [African] national consciousness is a political fact.
speech at Cape Town, 3 February 1960

[Macmillan]

4 There are three bodies no sensible man directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and the National Union of Mineworkers.
in Observer 22 February 1981.

[Macmillan]

5 First of all the Georgian silver goes, and then all that nice furniture that used to be in the saloon. Then the Canalettos go.
on privatization; often quoted as, "Selling off the family silver"
speech to the Tory Reform Group, 8 November 1985

[Macmillan]

6 Events, dear boy. Events.
when asked what his biggest problem was
attributed

[Macmillan]

Back  -   New Search

McNamara, Robert 1916–

1 I don't object to it's being called "McNamara's War"…It is a very important war and I am pleased to be identified with it and do whatever I can to win it.
in New York Times 25 April 1964

2 We…acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation. We were wrong. We were terribly wrong.
of the conduct of the Vietnam War by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations
in Daily Telegraph (electronic edition) 10 April 1995

[McNamara]

Back  -   New Search

MacNeice, Louis 1907–63

1
It's no go the merrygoround, it's no go the rickshaw,
All we want is a limousine and a ticket for the peepshow.

"Bagpipe Music" (1938)

2
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won't hold up the weather.

"Bagpipe Music" (1938)

[MacNeice]

3
So they were married—to be the more together—
And found they were never again so much together,

"Les Sylphides" (1941)

[MacNeice]

4
I am not yet born; O fill me
With strength against those who would freeze my
humanity.

"Prayer Before Birth" (1944)

[MacNeice]

5
Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me,
Otherwise kill me.

"Prayer Before Birth" (1944)

[MacNeice]

6
By a high star our course is set,
Our end is Life. Put out to sea.

"Thalassa" (1964)

[MacNeice]

7 I would have a poet able-bodied, fond of talking, a reader of the newspapers, capable of pity and laughter, informed in economics, appreciative of women, involved in personal relationships, actively interested in politics, susceptible to physical impressions.
Modern Poetry (1938)

[MacNeice]

Back  -   New Search

Madan, Geoffrey 1895–1947

1 The great tragedy of the classical languages is to have been born twins.
Geoffrey Madan's Notebooks (1981)

2 The dust of exploded beliefs may make a fine sunset.
Livre sans nom: Twelve Reflections (privately printed 1934) no. 12

[Madan]

Back  -   New Search

Madariaga, Salvador de 1886–1978

1 Since, in the main, it is not armaments that cause wars but wars (or the fears thereof) that cause armaments, it follows that every nation will at every moment strive to keep its armament in an efficient state as required by its fear, otherwise styled security.
Morning Without Noon (1974) pt. 1, ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Madden, Samuel 1686–1765

1
Words are men's daughters, but God's sons are things.

Boulter's Monument (1745) l. 377.

Back  -   New Search

Madonna 1958–

1 Being blonde is definitely a different state of mind. I can't really put my finger on it, but the artifice of being blonde has some incredible sort of sexual connotation.
in Rolling Stone 23 March 1989

2 Many people see Eva Perón as either a saint or the incarnation of Satan. That means I can definitely identify with her.
on playing the starring role in the film Evita
in Newsweek 5 February 1996

[Madonna]

Back  -   New Search

Maeterlinck, Maurice 1862–1949

1 Il n'y a pas de morts.There are no dead.
L'Oiseau bleu (1909) act 4

Back  -   New Search

Magee, John Gillespie 1922–41

1
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.

"High Flight" (1943).

2
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

"High Flight" (1943).

[Magee]

Back  -   New Search

Magna Carta

1 That the English Church shall be free.
Clause 1

2 No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed, or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land.
Clause 39

[Magna Carta]

3 To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice.
Clause 40

[Magna Carta]

Back  -   New Search

Mahyna Buddhist texts

1 Where there is no perception, appellation, conception, or conventional expression, there one speaks of "perfect wisdom".
Perfect Wisdom in 8,000 Lines (c.100 bc–100 ad) ch. 7, v. 177

2 Form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, nor does form differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form.
Heart Sutra (4th century ad) v. 3

[Mahyna Buddhist texts]

Back  -   New Search

Mahler, Gustav 1860–1911

1 Fortissimo at last!
on seeing Niagara Falls
K. Blaukopf Gustav Mahler (1973) ch. 8

2 The symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.
remark to Sibelius, Helsinki, 1907

[Mahler]

Back  -   New Search

Mailer, Norman 1923–

1 So we think of Marilyn who was every man's love affair with America, Marilyn Monroe who was blonde and beautiful and had a sweet little rinky-dink of a voice and all the cleanliness of all the clean American backyards.
Marilyn (1973)

2 All the security around the American president is just to make sure the man who shoots him gets caught.
in Sunday Telegraph 4 March 1990

[Mailer]

Back  -   New Search

Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon) 1135–1204

1 When I find the road narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well established truth except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing ten thousand fools—I prefer to address myself to the man.
The Guide for the Perplexed, introduction

Back  -   New Search

Maistre, Joseph de 1753–1821

1 Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite.Every country has the government it deserves.
Lettres et Opuscules Inédits (1851) vol. 1, letter 53 (15 August 1811)

Back  -   New Search

Major, John 1943–

1 If the policy isn't hurting, it isn't working.
on controlling inflation
speech in Northampton, 27 October 1989

2 Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less.
interview with Mail on Sunday 21 February 1993

[Major]

3 Fifty years on from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on county [cricket] grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers, and—as George Orwell said—old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist.
speech to the Conservative Group for Europe, 22 April 1993.

[Major]

4 It is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on the state.
speech to the Conservative Party Conference, 8 October 1993

[Major]

5 So right. OK. We lost.
on election night
in Guardian 3 May 1997

[Major]

Back  -   New Search

Malamud, Bernard 1914–86

1 There's no such thing as an unpolitical man, especially a Jew.
The Fixer (1966) ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Malcolm X 1925–65

1 If you're born in America with a black skin, you're born in prison.
in an interview, June 1963

Back  -   New Search

Mallarmé, Stéphane 1842–98

1
La chair est triste, hélas! et j'ai lu tous les livres.
The flesh, alas, is wearied; and I have read all the books there are.
"Brise Marin" (1887)

2 Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.Prelude to the afternoon of a faun.
title of poem (c.1865)

[Mallarmé]

Back  -   New Search

Mallet, David (or Malloch) c.1705–65

1
O grant me, Heaven, a middle state,
Neither too humble nor too great;
More than enough, for nature's ends,
With something left to treat my friends.

"Imitation of Horace".

Back  -   New Search

Mallory, George Leigh 1886–1924

1 Because it's there.
on being asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest (Mallory was lost on Everest in the following year)
in New York Times 18 March 1923

Back  -   New Search

Malory, Thomas d. 1471

1 Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise King born of all England.
Le Morte D'Arthur (finished 1470, printed by Caxton 1485) bk. 1, ch. 4

2 The questing beast…had in shape like a serpent's head and a body like a leopard, buttocked like a lion and footed like a hart. And in his body there was such a noise as it had been twenty couple of hounds questing.
"questing" = yelping
Le Morte D'Arthur (1485) bk. 9, ch. 12

[Malory]

3 Thus endeth the story of the Sangreal, that was briefly drawn out of French into English, the which is a story chronicled for one of the truest and the holiest that is in this world.
Le Morte D'Arthur (1485) bk. 17, ch. 23

[Malory]

4 And many men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse: Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus [Here lies Arthur, the once and future king].
Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) bk. 31, ch. 7

[Malory]

Back  -   New Search

Malraux, André 1901–76

1 La condition humaine.The human condition.
title of book (1933)

2 L'art est un anti-destin.Art is a revolt against fate.
Les Voix du silence (1951) pt. 4, ch. 7

[Malraux]

Back  -   New Search

Malthus, Thomas Robert 1766–1834

1 Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence only increases in an arithmetical ratio.
Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) ch. 1

2 The perpetual struggle for room and food.
Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) ch. 3

[Malthus]

Back  -   New Search

Mancroft, Lord 1914–87

1 Cricket—a game which the English, not being a spiritual people, have invented in order to give themselves some conception of eternity.
Bees in Some Bonnets (1979)

Back  -   New Search

Mandale, W. R.

1
Up and down the City Road,
In and out the Eagle,
That's the way the money goes—
Pop goes the weasel!

"Pop Goes the Weasel" (1853 song); also attributed to Charles Twiggs

Back  -   New Search

Mandela, Nelson 1918–

1 I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realized. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
speech at his trial in Pretoria, 20 April 1964

2 No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
Long Walk to Freedom (1994)

[Mandela]

3 True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past.
speech, 7 January 1996

[Mandela]

Back  -   New Search

Mandela, Winnie 1934–

1 With that stick of matches, with our necklace, we shall liberate this country.
speech in black townships, 14 April 1986, in Guardian 15 April 1986

2 Maybe there is no rainbow nation after all because it does not have the colour black.
at the funeral of a black child reportedly shot dead by a white farmer
in Irish Times 25 April 1998 "Quotes of the Week"

[Mandela]

Back  -   New Search

Mandelstam, Osip 1892–1938

1
The age is rocking the wave
with human grief
to a golden beat, and an adder
is breathing in time with it in the grass.

"The Age" (1923) (tr. C. M. Bowra)

Back  -   New Search

Manilius (Marcus Manilius) 1–st century ad

1
Eripuitque Jovi fulmen viresque tonandi,
et sonitum ventis concessit, nubibus ignem.
And snatched from Jove the lightning shaft and power to thunder, and attributed the noise to the winds, the flame to the clouds.
of human intelligence
Astronomica bk. 1, l. 104.

Back  -   New Search

Mann, Thomas 1875–1955

1 We come out of the dark and go into the dark again, and in between lie the experiences of our life.
The Magic Mountain (1924) ch. 6, sect. 8 (tr. H. T. Lowe-Porter)

2 A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own.
The Magic Mountain (1924) ch. 6, sect. 8 (tr. H. T. Lowe-Porter)

[Mann]

Back  -   New Search

Mansfield, Katherine 1888–1923

1 Whenever I prepare for a journey I prepare as though for death. Should I never return, all is in order.
Journal (1927) 29 January 1922

Back  -   New Search

Mansfield, William Murray, Lord 1705–93

1 Consider what you think justice requires, and decide accordingly. But never give your reasons; for your judgement will probably be right, but your reasons will certainly be wrong.
advice to a newly appointed colonial governor ignorant in the law
John Lord Campbell The Lives of the Chief Justices of England (1849) vol. 2, ch. 40

Back  -   New Search

Mant, Richard 1776–1848

1
Bright the vision that delighted
Once the sight of Judah's seer;
Sweet the countless tongues united
To entrance the prophet's ear.

"Bright the vision that delighted" (1837 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Mao Zedong 1893–1976

1 Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
lecture, 1938

2 Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".
speech, 6 November 1938

[Mao Zedong]

3 The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't…All reactionaries are paper tigers.
interview, 1946

[Mao Zedong]

4 Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land.
speech in Peking, 27 February 1957

[Mao Zedong]

Back  -   New Search

Maradona, Diego 1960–

1 The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, another bit by head of Maradona.
on his controversial goal against England in the 1986 World Cup
in Guardian 1 July 1986

Back  -   New Search

Marcy, William Learned 1786–1857

1 The politicians of New York…see nothing wrong in the rule, that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.
speech to the Senate, 25 January 1832

Back  -   New Search

Margulis, Lynn 1938–

1 Gaia is a tough bitch. People think the earth is going to die and they have to save it, that's ridiculous…There's no doubt that Gaia can compensate for our output of greenhouse gases, but the environment that's left will not be happy for any people.
in New York Times Biographical Service January 1996

Back  -   New Search

Marie-Antoinette 1755–93

1 Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.Let them eat cake.
on being told that her people had no bread
attributed, but much older; in his Confessions (1740) Rousseau refers to a similar remark being a well-known saying; another version is "Que ne mangent-ils de la croûte de pâté? [Why don't they eat pastry?]", attributed to Marie-Thérèse (1638–83), wife of Louis XIV

Back  -   New Search

Markham, Edwin 1852–1940

1
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes,
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox?

"The Man with the Hoe" (1899)

Back  -   New Search

Marks, Johnny 1909–85

1
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose.

"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1949 song)

Back  -   New Search

Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of 1660–1744

1 The Duke returned from the wars today and did pleasure me in his top-boots.
oral tradition

Back  -   New Search

Marley, Bob 1945–81

1
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Never give up the fight.

"Get up, Stand up" (1973 song)

2
I shot the sheriff
But I swear it was in self-defence
I shot the sheriff
And they say it is a capital offence.

"I Shot the Sheriff" (1974 song)

[Marley]

Back  -   New Search

Marlowe, Christopher 1564–93

1
Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.

Doctor Faustus (1604) act 1, sc. 3

2
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Doctor Faustus (1604) act 5, sc. 1

[Marlowe]

3
O lente lente currite noctis equi.
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
O I'll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?
See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament.
One drop would save my soul, half a drop, ah my Christ.

Doctor Faustus (1604) act 5, sc. 2.

[Marlowe]

4
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat feet dance an antic hay.

Edward II (1593) act 1, sc. 1

[Marlowe]

5
Where both deliberate, the love is slight;
Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?

Hero and Leander (1598) First Sestiad, l. 175

[Marlowe]

6
I count religion but a childish toy,
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.

The Jew of Malta (c.1592) prologue

[Marlowe]

7
Thus methinks should men of judgement frame
Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade,
And, as their wealth increaseth, so enclose
Infinite riches in a little room.

The Jew of Malta (c.1592) act 1, sc. 1

[Marlowe]

8 barnardine: Thou hast committed—
barabas: Fornication? But that was in another country: and besides, the wench is dead.

The Jew of Malta (c.1592) act 4, sc. 1

[Marlowe]

9
Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

"The Passionate Shepherd to his Love"

[Marlowe]

10
Our swords shall play the orators for us.

Tamburlaine the Great (1590) pt. 1, act 1, sc. 2

[Marlowe]

11
Is it not passing brave to be a king,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?

Tamburlaine the Great (1590) pt. 1, act 2, sc. 5

[Marlowe]

12
The ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.

Tamburlaine the Great (1590) pt. 1, act 2, sc. 7

[Marlowe]

13
Virtue is the fount whence honour springs.

Tamburlaine the Great (1590) pt. 1, act 4, sc. 4

[Marlowe]

14
Now walk the angels on the walls of heaven,
As sentinels to warn th' immortal souls,
To entertain divine Zenocrate.

Tamburlaine the Great (1590) pt. 2, act 2, sc. 4

[Marlowe]

15
Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia!
What, can ye draw but twenty miles a day…?

Tamburlaine the Great (1590) pt. 2, act 4, sc. 3.

[Marlowe]

Back  -   New Search

Marquis, Don 1878–1937

1
procrastination is the
art of keeping
up with yesterday.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "certain maxims of archy"

2
it s cheerio
my deario that
pulls a lady through.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "cheerio, my deario"

[Marquis]

3
but wotthehell archy wotthehell
jamais triste archy jamais triste
that is my motto.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "mehitabel sees paris"

[Marquis]

4
did you ever
notice that when
a politician
does get an idea
he usually
gets it all wrong.

archys life of mehitabel (1933) "archygrams"

[Marquis]

5 Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.
E. Anthony O Rare Don Marquis (1962)

[Marquis]

6 The art of newspaper paragraphing is to stroke a platitude until it purrs like an epigram.
E. Anthony O Rare Don Marquis (1962)

[Marquis]

Back  -   New Search

Marriot, John 1780–1825

1
Thou, whose eternal Word
Chaos and darkness heard,
And took their flight,
Hear us, we humbly pray,
And, where the Gospel-day
Sheds not its glorious ray,
Let there be light!

"almighty" substituted for "eternal" from 1861
"Thou, whose eternal Word" (hymn written c.1813)

Back  -   New Search

Marryat, Frederick 1792–1848

1 If you please, ma'am, it was a very little one.
the nurse, excusing her illegitimate baby
Mr Midshipman Easy (1836) ch. 3

2 All zeal…all zeal, Mr Easy.
Mr Midshipman Easy (1836) ch. 9

[Marryat]

Back  -   New Search

Marshall, Arthur 1910–89

1 What, knocked a tooth out? Never mind, dear, laugh it off, laugh it off; it's all part of life's rich pageant.
The Games Mistress (recorded monologue, 1937)

Back  -   New Search

Marshall, John 1755–1835

1 The power to tax involves the power to destroy.
in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

2 The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.
in Cohens v. Virginia (1821)

[Marshall]

Back  -   New Search

Marshall, Thomas R. 1854–1925

1 What this country needs is a really good 5-cent cigar.
in New York Tribune 4 January 1920, pt. 7

Back  -   New Search

Martial ad c.40–104

1
Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare:
Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te.
I don't love you, Sabidius, and I can't tell you why; all I can tell you is this, that I don't love you.
Epigrammata bk. 1, no. 32.

2
Laudant illa sed ista legunt.
They praise those works, but read these.
Epigrammata bk. 4, no. 49

[Martial]

3
Non est vivere, sed valere vita est.
Life's not just being alive, but being well.
Epigrammata bk. 6, no. 70

[Martial]

4
Difficilis facilis, iucundus acerbus es idem:
Nec tecum possum vivere nec sine te.
Difficult or easy, pleasant or bitter, you are the same you: I cannot live with you—or without you.
Epigrammata bk. 12, no. 46(47)

[Martial]

5
Rus in urbe.
Country in the town.
Epigrammata bk. 12, no. 57

[Martial]

Back  -   New Search

Marvell, Andrew 1621–78

1
Where the remote Bermudas ride
In the ocean's bosom unespied.

"Bermudas" (c.1653)

2
Echo beyond the Mexique Bay.

"Bermudas" (c.1653)

[Marvell]

3
My love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis for object strange and high:
It was begotten by Despair
Upon Impossibility.

Magnanimous Despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing,
Where feeble Hope could ne'er have flown
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.

"The Definition of Love" (1681)

[Marvell]

4
How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays.

"The Garden" (1681) st. 1

[Marvell]

5
What wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;
The nectarine, and curious peach,
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons, as I pass,
Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

"The Garden" (1681) st. 5

[Marvell]

6
Annihilating all that's made
To a green thought in a green shade.

"The Garden" (1681) st. 6

[Marvell]

7
He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene:
But with his keener eye
The axe's edge did try.

on the execution of Charles I
"An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland" (written 1650) l. 57

[Marvell]

8
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.

"To His coy Mistress" (1681) l. 1

[Marvell]

9
I would
Love you ten years before the flood:
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow.

"To His coy Mistress" (1681) l. 7

[Marvell]

10
But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.

"To His Coy Mistress" (1681) l. 21.

[Marvell]

11
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.

"To His Coy Mistress" (1681) l. 27

[Marvell]

12
Let us roll all our strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one ball:
And tear our pleasures with rough strife,
Thorough the iron gates of life.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

"To His Coy Mistress" (1681) l. 41

[Marvell]

Back  -   New Search

Marvell, Holt

1
A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces,
An airline ticket to romantic places;
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things
Remind me of you.

"These Foolish Things Remind Me of You" (1935 song)

Back  -   New Search

Marx, Chico 1891–1961

1 I wasn't kissing her, I was just whispering in her mouth.
on being discovered by his wife with a chorus girl
Groucho Marx and Richard J. Anobile Marx Brothers Scrapbook (1973) ch. 24

Back  -   New Search

Marx, Groucho 1895–1977

1 please accept my resignation. i don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.
Groucho and Me (1959) ch. 26

2 I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.
Leo Rosten People I have Loved, Known or Admired (1970) "Groucho"

[Marx]

Back  -   New Search

Marx, Karl 1818–83

1 Religion is …the opium of the people.
A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1843–4) introduction.

2 From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
Critique of the Gotha Programme (written 1875, but of earlier origin) and "The formula of Communism, as propounded by Cabet, may be expressed thus:—"the duty of each is according to his faculties; his right according to his wants” " in North British Review (1849) vol 10

[Marx]

3 Hegel says somewhere that all great events and personalities in world history reappear in one fashion or another. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852) sect. 1.

[Marx]

4 The class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat.
the phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat" had been used earlier in the Constitution of the World Society of Revolutionary Communists (1850), signed by Marx and others
letter to Georg Weydemeyer 5 March 1852; Marx claimed that the phrase had been coined by Auguste Blanqui (1805–81), but it has not been found in this form in Blanqui's work

[Marx]

Back  -   New Search

Marx, Karl 1818–83 and Engels, Friedrich 1820–95

1 A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism.
The Communist Manifesto (1848) opening words

2 The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
The Communist Manifesto (1848) pt. 1

[Marx]

3 The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. working men of all countries, unite!
commonly rendered as "Workers of the world, unite!"
The Communist Manifesto (1848) closing words (from the 1888 translation by Samuel Moore, edited by Engels)

[Marx]

Back  -   New Search

Mary, Queen 1867–1953

1 All this thrown away for that.
on returning home to Marlborough House, London after the abdication of her son, King Edward VIII, December 1936
David Duff George and Elizabeth (1983) ch. 10

2 I do not think you have ever realised the shock, which the attitude you took up caused your family and the whole nation. It seemed inconceivable to those who had made such sacrifices during the war that you, as their King, refused a lesser sacrifice.
letter to the Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII), July 1938

[Mary]

Back  -   New Search

Mary, Queen of Scots 1542–87

1 Look to your consciences and remember that the theatre of the world is wider than the realm of England.
to the commissioners appointed to try her at Fotheringhay, 13 October 1586
Antonia Fraser Mary Queen of Scots (1969) ch. 25

2 En ma fin git mon commencement.In my end is my beginning.
motto embroidered with an emblem of her mother, Mary of Guise, and quoted in a letter from William Drummond of Hawthornden to Ben Jonson in 1619.

[Mary]

Back  -   New Search

Mary Tudor 1516–58

1 When I am dead and opened, you shall find "Calais" lying in my heart.
Holinshed's Chronicles vol. 4 (1808)

Back  -   New Search

Masefield, John 1878–1967

1
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

"Cargoes" (1903).

2
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.

"I must down to the seas" in the original of 1902, possibly a misprint
"Sea Fever" (1902)

[Masefield]

Back  -   New Search

Mason, Donald 1913–

1 Sighted sub, sank same.
on sinking a Japanese submarine in the Atlantic region (the first US naval success in the war)
radio message, 28 January 1942

Back  -   New Search

Massinger, Philip 1583–1640

1
Ambition, in a private man a vice,
Is in a prince the virtue.

The Bashful Lover (licensed 1636, published 1655) act 1, sc. 2

2
Pray enter
You are learned Europeans and we worse
Than ignorant Americans.

The City Madam (licensed 1632, published 1658) act 3, sc. 3

[Massinger]

3
Death has a thousand doors to let out life:
I shall find one.

A Very Woman (licensed 1634, published 1655) act 5, sc. 4. ,

[Massinger]

Back  -   New Search

Mather, Cotton 1662–1728

1 I write the wonders of the Christian religion, flying from the depravations of Europe, to the American strand: and, assisted by the Holy Author of that religion, I do…report the wonderful displays of His infinite power, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness, wherewith His Divine Providence hath irradiated an Indian wildnerness.
introduction to Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), opening line

2 That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. For any to deny the being of a Devil must be from an ignorance or profaneness worse than diabolical.
The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693)

[Mather]

Back  -   New Search

Mather, Increase 1639–1723

1 Thunder is the voice of God, and, therefore, to be dreaded.
Remarkable Providences (1684)

Back  -   New Search

Mathew, James 1830–1908

1 In England, justice is open to all—like the Ritz Hotel.
R. E. Megarry Miscellany-at-Law (1955)

Back  -   New Search

Matisse, Henri 1869–1954

1 What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter…a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Notes d'un peintre (1908)

Back  -   New Search

Matlovich, Leonard d. 1988

1 When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Maugham, W. Somerset 1874–1965

1 The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.
The Circle (1921) act 3

2 Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.
Of Human Bondage (1915) ch. 51

[Maugham]

3 I [Death] was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
Sheppey (1933) act 3

[Maugham]

4 Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.
to his nephew Robin, in 1965
Robin Maugham Conversations with Willie (1978)

[Maugham]

Back  -   New Search

Mauldin, Bill 1921–

1 I feel like a fugitive from th' law of averages.
cartoon caption in Up Front (1945)

Back  -   New Search

Maxton, James 1885–1946

1 All I say is, if you cannot ride two horses you have no right in the circus.
opposing disaffiliation of the Scottish Independent Labour Party from the Labour Party; usually quoted as, "…no right in the bloody circus"
in Daily Herald 12 January 1931

Back  -   New Search

Mayakovsky, Vladimir 1893–1930

1
If you wish—
…I'll be irreproachably tender;
not a man, but—a cloud in trousers!

"The Cloud in Trousers" (1915) (tr. Samuel Charteris)

2 Not a sound. The universe sleeps, resting a huge ear on its paw with mites of stars.
"The Cloud in Trousers" (1915) (tr. Samuel Charteris)

[Mayakovsky]

3
Oh for just
one
more conference
regarding the eradication of all conferences!

"In Re Conferences"; Herbert Marshall (ed.) Mayakovsky (1965)

[Mayakovsky]

Back  -   New Search

Mead, Shepherd 1914–

1 How to succeed in business without really trying.
title of book (1952)

Back  -   New Search

Mearns, Hughes 1875–1965

1
As I was walking up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd stay away.

lines written for The Psycho-ed, an amateur play, in Philadelphia, 1910 (set to music in 1939 as "The Little Man Who Wasn't There")

Back  -   New Search

Medawar, Peter 1915–87

1 If politics is the art of the possible, research is surely the art of the soluble. Both are immensely practical-minded affairs.
in New Statesman 19 June 1964.

Back  -   New Search

Medici, Catherine de' 1518–89

1 A false report, if believed during three days, may be of great service to a government.
Isaac D'Israeli Curiosities of Literature 2nd series (1849) vol. 2; perhaps apocryphal

Back  -   New Search

Medici, Cosimo de' 1389–1464

1 We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.
speaking of what Bacon refers to as "perfidious friends"
Francis Bacon Apophthegms (1625) no. 206

Back  -   New Search

Meir, Golda 1898–1978

1 Those that perished in Hitler's gas chambers were the last Jews to die without standing up to defend themselves.
speech to United Jewish Appeal Rally, New York, 11 June 1967

Back  -   New Search

Melba, Nellie 1861–1931

1 Sing 'em muck! It's all they can understand!
advice to Dame Clara Butt, prior to her departure for Australia
W. H. Ponder Clara Butt (1928) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Melbourne, William Lamb, Lord 1779–1848

1 God help the Minister that meddles with art!
Lord David Cecil Lord M (1954) ch. 3

2 I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything.
Lord Cowper's preface to Lord Melbourne's Papers (1889)

[Melbourne]

3 Now, is it to lower the price of corn, or isn't it? It is not much matter which we say, but mind, we must all say the same.
attributed; Walter Bagehot The English Constitution (1867) ch. 1

[Melbourne]

4 What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.
replying to a politician who said "I will support you as long as you are in the right"
Lord David Cecil Lord M (1954) ch. 4

[Melbourne]

Back  -   New Search

Mellor, David 1949–

1 I do believe the popular press is drinking in the last chance saloon.
interview on Hard News (Channel 4), 21 December 1989

Back  -   New Search

Melville, Herman 1819–91

1 Call me Ishmael.
Moby Dick (1851), opening words

2 A whaleship was my Yale College and my Harvard.
Moby Dick (1851) ch. 24

[Melville]

3 Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale…from hell's heart I stab at thee.
Moby Dick (1851) ch. 135

[Melville]

Back  -   New Search

Menander 342 bc

1 Whom the gods love dies young.
Dis Exapaton fragment 4, in F. H. Sandbach (ed.) Menandri Reliquiae Selectae (1990)

Back  -   New Search

Mencius

see Meng-tzu

Back  -   New Search

Mencken, H. L. 1880–1956

1 Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
Chrestomathy (1949) ch. 30

2 Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
A Little Book in C major (1916)

[Mencken]

3 Conscience: the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
A Little Book in C major (1916)

[Mencken]

Back  -   New Search

Mendelssohn, Moses 1729–86

1 To put it in one word: I believe that Judaism knows nothing of revealed religion, in the sense in which this is understood by Christians. The Israelites possess divine legislation.
Jerusalem (1783) pt. 2

Back  -   New Search

Meng-tzu (Mencius) 371 bc

1 All men have the mind which cannot bear [to see the suffering of] others.
The Book of Mencius bk. 2, pt. A, v. 6

2 Moral principles please our minds as beef and mutton and pork please our mouths.
The Book of Mencius bk. 6, pt. A, v. 7

[Meng-tzu]

Back  -   New Search

Menzies, Robert Gordon 1894–1978

1 What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north.
in Sydney Morning Herald 27 April 1939

Back  -   New Search

Mercer, David 1928–80

1 A suitable case for treatment.
title of television play (1962); later filmed as Morgan—A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966)

Back  -   New Search

Mercer, Johnny 1909–76

1
You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
Elim-my-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-between.

"Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" (1944 song)

2
Jeepers Creepers—where you get them peepers?

"Jeepers Creepers" (1938 song)

[Mercer]

3
Make it one for my baby
And one more for the road.

"One For My Baby" (1943 song)

[Mercer]

4 That old black magic.
title of song (1942)

[Mercer]

Back  -   New Search

Meredith, George 1828–1909

1 'Tis Ireland gives England her soldiers, her generals too.
Diana of the Crossways (1885) ch. 2

2 A dainty rogue in porcelain.
The Egoist (1879) ch. 5

[Meredith]

3 Kissing don't last: cookery do!
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) ch. 28

[Meredith]

4 The lark ascending.
title of poem (1881)

[Meredith]

5
She whom I love is hard to catch and conquer,
Hard, but O the glory of the winning were she won!

"Love in the Valley" st. 2

[Meredith]

6
On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose.
Tired of his dark dominion swung the fiend.

"Lucifer in Starlight" (1883)

[Meredith]

7
Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank,
The army of unalterable law.

"Lucifer in Starlight" (1883)

[Meredith]

8
Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul
When hot for certainties in this our life!

Modern Love (1862) st. 50

[Meredith]

9
Enter these enchanted woods,
You who dare.

"The Woods of Westermain" (1883)

[Meredith]

Back  -   New Search

Meredith, Owen (Lord Lytton) 1831–91

1
Genius does what it must, and Talent does what it can.

"Last Words of a Sensitive Second-Rate Poet" (1868)

Back  -   New Search

Merrill, Bob 1921–98

1 How much is that doggie in the window?
title of song (1953)

2
People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.

"People who Need People" (1964 song)

[Merrill]

Back  -   New Search

Merritt, Dixon Lanier 1879–1972

1
Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His beak holds more than his belican.
He takes in his beak
Food enough for a week.
But I'll be darned if I know how the helican.

in Nashville Banner 22 April 1913

Back  -   New Search

Meslier, Jean c.1664–1733

1 An ignorant, uneducated man…said he wished…that all the great men in the world and all the nobility could be hanged, and strangled with the guts of priests.
often quoted "I should like…the last of the kings to be strangled with the guts of the last priest"
Testament (ed. R. Charles, 1864) vol. 1, ch. 2.

Back  -   New Search

Methodist Service Book 1975

1 I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering.
The Covenant Prayer (based on the words of Richard Alleine in the First Covenant Service, 1782)

Back  -   New Search

Metternich, Prince 1773–1859

1 Italy is a geographical expression.
discussing the Italian question with Palmerston in 1847
Mémoires, Documents, etc. de Metternich publiés par son fils (1883) vol. 7

2 Citizens of a dream-world, nothing is altered. On 14 March 1848, there was merely one man fewer.
of his own downfall
Aus Metternich's Nachgelassenen Papieren (1880) vol. 8

[Metternich]

3 Error has never approached my spirit.
addressed to Guizot in 1848

[Metternich]

Back  -   New Search

Meyer, Anthony 1920–

1 I question the right of that great Moloch, national sovereignty, to burn its children to save its pride.
speaking against the Falklands War, 1982
in Listener 27 September 1990

Back  -   New Search

Michelangelo 1475–1564

1 I've finished that chapel I was painting. The Pope is quite satisfied.
on completing the ceiling of the Sistine chapel
letter to his father, October 1512; E. H. Ramsden (ed.) The Letters of Michelangelo (1963)

Back  -   New Search

Middleton, Thomas c.1580–1627

1 Anything for a quiet life.
title of play (written c.1620, possibly with John Webster)

2
My study's ornament, thou shell of death,
Once the bright face of my betrothèd lady.

The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) act 1, sc. 1 (previously attributed to Cyril Tourneur, c.1575–1626)

[Middleton]

3
Nine coaches waiting—hurry, hurry, hurry.

The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) act 2, sc. 1

[Middleton]

Back  -   New Search

Midler, Bette 1945–

1 When it's three o'clock in New York, it's still 1938 in London.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Midrash

1 The Holy One, blessed be He, makes ladders by which He makes one go up, and another go down.
Leviticus Rabbah 8:1

2 A man cannot say to the Angel of Death, "Wait for me until I make up my accounts."
Ecclesiastes Rabbah 8:8

[Midrash]

Back  -   New Search

Mikes, George 1912–

1 On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.
How to be an Alien (1946)

2 An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.
How to be an Alien (1946) p. 44

[Mikes]

Back  -   New Search

Mill, John Stuart 1806–73

1 Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.
Autobiography (1873) ch. 5

2 The Conservatives…being by the law of their existence the stupidest party.
Considerations on Representative Government (1861) ch. 7 n.

[Mill]

3 The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.
On Liberty (1859) ch. 1

[Mill]

4 Liberty consists in doing what one desires.
On Liberty (1859) ch. 5

[Mill]

5 What is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing—the result of forced repression in some directions, unnatural stimulation in others.
The Subjection of Women (1869) ch. 1

[Mill]

Back  -   New Search

Millay, Edna St Vincent 1892–1950

1
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is.

"Childhood is the Kingdom where Nobody dies" (1934)

2
Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

"Dirge Without Music" (1928)

[Millay]

3
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light.

A Few Figs From Thistles (1920) "First Fig"

[Millay]

4 Justice denied in Massachusetts.
relating to the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and their execution on 22 August 1927
title of poem (1928)

[Millay]

5
We shall die in darkness, and be buried in the rain.

"Justice Denied in Massachusetts" (1928)

[Millay]

Back  -   New Search

Miller, Alice Duer 1874–1942

1
I am American bred,
I have seen much to hate here—much to forgive,
But in a world where England is finished and dead,
I do not wish to live.

The White Cliffs (1940)

Back  -   New Search

Miller, Arthur 1915–

1 A suicide kills two people, Maggie, that's what it's for!
After the Fall (1964) act 2

2 Death of a salesman.
title of play (1949)

[Miller]

3 He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that's an earthquake…A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.
Death of a Salesman (1949) "Requiem"

[Miller]

4 This is Red Hook, not Sicily…This is the gullet of New York swallowing the tonnage of the world.
A View from the Bridge (1955) act 1

[Miller]

5 A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.
in Observer 26 November 1961

[Miller]

Back  -   New Search

Miller, Henry 1891–1980

1 Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.
Tropic of Cancer (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Miller, Jonathan 1934–

1 In fact, I'm not really a Jew. Just Jew-ish. Not the whole hog, you know.
Beyond the Fringe (1960 review) "Real Class"

Back  -   New Search

Milligan, Spike 1918–2002

1 Money couldn't buy friends but you got a better class of enemy.
Puckoon (1963) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Mills, A. J., Godfrey, Fred, and Scott, Bennett

1
Take me back to dear old Blighty.

title of song (1916)

Back  -   New Search

Mills, Irving 1894–1985

1
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing.

"It Don't Mean a Thing" (1932 song; music by Duke Ellington)

Back  -   New Search

Milman, Henry Hart 1791–1868

1
Ride on! ride on in majesty!
The wingèd squadrons of the sky
Look down with sad and wond'ring eyes
To see the approaching sacrifice.

"Ride on! ride on in majesty!" (1827 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Milne, A. A. 1882–1956

1 The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.
The House at Pooh Corner (1928) ch. 1

2 "I don't want him," said Rabbit. "But it's always useful to know where a friend-and-relation is, whether you want him or whether you don't."
The House at Pooh Corner (1928) ch. 3

[Milne]

3 A Bear of Very Little Brain.
The House at Pooh Corner (1928) ch. 6

[Milne]

4
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace—
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
"A soldier's life is terrible hard,"
Says Alice.

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Buckingham Palace"

[Milne]

5
James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his Mother,
Though he was only three.
James James
Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he;
"You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don't go down with me."

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Disobedience"

[Milne]

6
The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"

When We Were Very Young (1924) "The King's Breakfast"

[Milne]

7
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Vespers".

[Milne]

8
Isn't it funny
How a bear likes honey?
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
I wonder why he does?

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 1

[Milne]

9 Time for a little something.
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 6

[Milne]

10 My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 6

[Milne]

Back  -   New Search

Milner, Lord 1854–1925

1 If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it is our duty to try to prevent it and to damn the consequences.
speech in Glasgow, 26 November 1909

Back  -   New Search

Milton, John 1608–74

1
Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.

"Arcades" (1645) l. 68

2
Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of heaven's joy,
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice, and Verse.

"At a Solemn Music" (1645)

[Milton]

3
An old and haughty nation proud in arms.

Comus (1637) l. 33

[Milton]

4
Come, knit hands, and beat the ground,
In a light fantastic round.

Comus (1637) l. 143

[Milton]

5
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day,
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the midday sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.

Comus (1637) l. 381

[Milton]

6
'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that, is clad in complete steel.

Comus (1637) l. 420

[Milton]

7
How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbèd, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute.

Comus (1637) l. 475

[Milton]

8
Storied of old in high immortal verse
Of dire chimeras and enchanted isles,
And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to hell.

Comus (1637) l. 516

[Milton]

9
And filled the air with barbarous dissonance.

Comus (1637) l. 550

[Milton]

10
Against the threats
Of malice or of sorcery, or that power
Which erring men call chance, this I hold firm,
Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled.

Comus (1637) l. 586

[Milton]

11
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair.

Comus (1637) l. 859 "Song"

[Milton]

12
Thus I set my printless feet
O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
That bends not as I tread.

Comus (1637) l. 897

[Milton]

13
Hence, vain deluding joys,
The brood of folly without father bred.

"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 1

[Milton]

14
Come, pensive nun, devout and pure,
Sober, steadfast, and demure.

"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 31

[Milton]

15
Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth.

"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 79

[Milton]

16
Hide me from day's garish eye.

"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 141

[Milton]

17
And storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light.

"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 159

[Milton]

18
Hence, loathèd Melancholy,
Of Cerberus, and blackest Midnight born,
In Stygian cave forlorn
'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 1

[Milton]

19
So buxom, blithe, and debonair.

of Euphrosyne [Mirth], one of the three Graces
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 24

[Milton]

20
Nods, and becks, and wreathèd smiles.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 28

[Milton]

21
Come, and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastic toe.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 33

[Milton]

22
Meadows trim with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 75

[Milton]

23
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
The cynosure of neighbouring eyes.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 79

[Milton]

24
Then to the spicy nut-brown ale.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 100

[Milton]

25
Towered cities please us then,
And the busy hum of men.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 117

[Milton]

26
Such sights as youthful poets dream
On summer eves by haunted stream.
Then to the well-trod stage anon,
If Jonson's learnèd sock be on,
Or sweetest Shakespeare fancy's child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild.

"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 129

[Milton]

27
Let us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind,
For his mercies ay endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

"Let us with a gladsome mind" (1645); paraphrase of Psalm 136.

[Milton]

28
Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more
Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 1

[Milton]

29
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 8

[Milton]

30
For we were nursed upon the self-same hill.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 23

[Milton]

31
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 68

[Milton]

32
Fame is the spur.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 70

[Milton]

33
Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorrèd shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 75

[Milton]

34
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 125

[Milton]

35
But that two-handed engine at the door
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 130

[Milton]

36
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 142

[Milton]

37
Look homeward angel now, and melt with ruth.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 163

[Milton]

38
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore,
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 168

[Milton]

39
Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 173

[Milton]

40
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue:
Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

"Lycidas" (1638) l. 192

[Milton]

41
For what can war, but endless war still breed?

"On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester" (written 1648)

[Milton]

42
The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet.

"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) st. 4

[Milton]

43
It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born-child
All meanly wrapped in the rude manger lies;
Nature in awe to him
Had doffed her gaudy trim,
With her great master so to sympathize.

"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 1

[Milton]

44
Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold.

"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 14

[Milton]

45
So when the sun in bed,
Curtained with cloudy red,
Pillows his chin upon an orient wave.

"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 26

[Milton]

46
Time is our tedious song should here have ending.

"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 27

[Milton]

47
New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.

"On the New Forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament" (1646)

[Milton]

48
Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours.

"On Time" (1645)

[Milton]

49
If any ask for him, it shall be said,
Hobson has supped, and's newly gone to bed.

"On the University Carrier" (1645)

[Milton]

50 Rhyme being…but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame metre.
Paradise Lost (1667) "The Verse" (preface, added 1668)

[Milton]

51 The troublesome and modern bondage of rhyming.
Paradise Lost (1667) "The Verse" (preface, added 1668)

[Milton]

52
Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 1

[Milton]

53
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 16

[Milton]

54
What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 22

[Milton]

55
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 63

[Milton]

56
What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 105

[Milton]

57
And out of good still to find means of evil.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 165

[Milton]

58
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 254

[Milton]

59
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 263

[Milton]

60
A wand,
He walked with to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marl.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 292

[Milton]

61
Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades
High overarched imbower.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 302

[Milton]

62
First Moloch, horrid king besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 392

[Milton]

63
And when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 500

[Milton]

64
A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 542

[Milton]

65
Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heaven.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 678

[Milton]

66
Let none admire
That riches grow in hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 690

[Milton]

67
From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith like a falling star.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 742

[Milton]

68
Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 1, l. 756

[Milton]

69
Belial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not heaven; he seemed
For dignity composed and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 109.

[Milton]

70
With grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed
A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven
Deliberation sat and public care;
And princely counsel in his face yet shone,
Majestic though in ruin.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 300

[Milton]

71
To sit in darkness here
Hatching vain empires.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 377

[Milton]

72
Long is the way
And hard, that out of hell leads up to light.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 432

[Milton]

73
For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 556

[Milton]

74
Black it stood as night,
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as hell,
And shook a dreadful dart.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 670

[Milton]

75
Chaos umpire sits,
And by decision more embroils the fray.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 907

[Milton]

76
Sable-vested Night, eldest of things.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 962

[Milton]

77
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
Confusion worse confounded.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 2, l. 995

[Milton]

78 Die he or justice must.
Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 3, l. 210

[Milton]

79
Dark with excessive bright.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 3, l. 380

[Milton]

80
Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 3, l. 683

[Milton]

81
Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 73

[Milton]

82
Evil, be thou my good.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 110

[Milton]

83
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 256

[Milton]

84
Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers
Herself a fairer flower by gloomy Dis
Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 268

[Milton]

85
He for God only, she for God in him.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 299

[Milton]

86
Adam, the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 323

[Milton]

87
These two
Emparadised in one another's arms
The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 505

[Milton]

88
With thee conversing I forget all time.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 639

[Milton]

89
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 677

[Milton]

90
Sleep on
Blest pair; and O yet happiest if ye seek
No happier state, and know to know no more.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 773

[Milton]

91
Him there they found
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 799

[Milton]

92
But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with thee
Came not all hell broke loose?

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 4, l. 917

[Milton]

93
My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 5, l. 18

[Milton]

94
Best image of myself and dearer half.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 5, l. 95

[Milton]

95
What if earth
Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 5, l. 574

[Milton]

96
Hear all ye angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 5, l. 600.

[Milton]

97
There Leviathan
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 7, l. 412

[Milton]

98
Oft-times nothing profits more
Than self esteem, grounded on just and right
Well managed.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 8, l. 571.

[Milton]

99
The serpent subtlest beast of all the field.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 86

[Milton]

100
As one who long in populous city pent,
Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air,
Forth issuing on a summer's morn to breathe
Among the pleasant villages and farms
Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 445.

[Milton]

101
She fair, divinely fair, fit love for gods.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 489

[Milton]

102
God so commanded, and left that command
Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live
Law to our selves, our reason is our law.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 652

[Milton]

103
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe
That all was lost.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 782

[Milton]

104
O fairest of creation, last and best
Of all God's works.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 896

[Milton]

105
Flesh of flesh,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 9, l. 914.

[Milton]

106
…Yet I shall temper so
Justice with mercy.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 10, l. 77

[Milton]

107
This novelty on earth, this fair defect
Of nature?

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 10, l. 891

[Milton]

108
Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy
And moon-struck madness.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 11, l. 485

[Milton]

109
The evening star,
Love's harbinger.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 11, l. 588

[Milton]

110
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.

Paradise Lost (1667) bk. 12, l. 646

[Milton]

111
But on occasion's forelock watchful wait.

Paradise Regained (1671) bk. 3, l. 173

[Milton]

112
He who seeking asses found a kingdom.

of Saul
Paradise Regained (1671) bk. 3, l. 242.

[Milton]

113
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence…
See there the olive grove of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.

Paradise Regained (1671) bk. 4, l. 240

[Milton]

114
The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew.

Paradise Regained (1671) bk. 4, l. 293.

[Milton]

115
Deep-versed in books and shallow in himself.

Paradise Regained (1671) bk. 4, l. 327

[Milton]

116
But headlong joy is ever on the wing.

"The Passion" (1645) st. 1

[Milton]

117
Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves.

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 40

[Milton]

118
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse
Without all hope of day!

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 80

[Milton]

119
The sun to me is dark
And silent as the moon,
When she deserts the night
Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 86

[Milton]

120
To live a life half dead, a living death.

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 100

[Milton]

121
Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all.

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 293

[Milton]

122
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail.

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 1721

[Milton]

123
And calm of mind, all passion spent.

Samson Agonistes (1671) l. 1758

[Milton]

124
Time the subtle thief of youth.

Sonnet 7 "How soon hath time" (1645)

[Milton]

125
Licence they mean when they cry liberty;
For who loves that, must first be wise and good.

Sonnet 12 "I did but prompt the age" (1673)

[Milton]

126
When I consider how my light is spent,
E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless.

Sonnet 16 "When I consider how my light is spent" (1673)

[Milton]

127
They also serve who only stand and wait.

Sonnet 16 "When I consider how my light is spent" (1673)

[Milton]

128
Methought I saw my late espousèd saint
Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave.

Sonnet 19 "Methought I saw my late espousèd saint" (1673)

[Milton]

129
Cromwell, our chief of men.

"To the Lord General Cromwell" (written 1652)

[Milton]

130
Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war.

"To the Lord General Cromwell" (written 1652)

[Milton]

131 A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.
Areopagitica (1644)

[Milton]

132 I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat…that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary.
Areopagitica (1644)

[Milton]

133 Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.
Areopagitica (1644)

[Milton]

134 If we think to regulate printing, thereby to rectify manners, we must regulate all recreations and pastimes, all that is delightful to man.
Areopagitica (1644)

[Milton]

135 What does he [God] then but reveal Himself to his servants, and as his manner is, first to his Englishmen?
Areopagitica (1644)

[Milton]

136 A city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty.
of London
Areopagitica (1644)

[Milton]

137 Opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.
Areopagitica (1644) p. 31

[Milton]

138 Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live.
The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643) "To the Parliament of England"

[Milton]

139 What I have spoken, is the language of that which is not called amiss The good old Cause.
The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth (2nd ed., 1660).

[Milton]

Back  -   New Search

Mirabeau, Comte de 1749–91

1 War is the national industry of Prussia.
attributed to Mirabeau by Albert Sorel (1842–1906), based on Mirabeau's introduction to De la monarchie prussienne sous Frédéric le Grand (1788)

Back  -   New Search

Missal, The

1
Dominus vobiscum.
Et cum spiritu tuo.

The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.

The Ordinary of the Mass

2 In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
The Ordinary of the Mass

[Missal]

3 Quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opere, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.
The Ordinary of the Mass

[Missal]

4 Kyrie eleison…Christe eleison.Lord, have mercy upon us…Christ, have mercy upon us.
The Ordinary of the Mass

[Missal]

5 Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace to men of good will.
The Ordinary of the Mass.

[Missal]

6 Deo gratias.Thanks be to God.
The Ordinary of the Mass

[Missal]

7 Credo in unum Deum.I believe in one God.
The Ordinary of the Mass "The Nicene Creed".

[Missal]

8 Et homo factus est.And was made man.
The Ordinary of the Mass "The Nicene Creed"

[Missal]

9 Sursum corda.Lift up your hearts.
The Ordinary of the Mass.

[Missal]

10 Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
The Ordinary of the Mass

[Missal]

11 Pater noster, qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo, et in terra…sed libera nos a malo.Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…but deliver us from evil.
The Ordinary of the Mass.

[Missal]

12 Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
The Ordinary of the Mass.

[Missal]

13 Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum; sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof; but say only the word, and my soul shall be healed.
The Ordinary of the Mass.

[Missal]

14 Ite missa est.Go, you are dismissed.
commonly interpreted as "Go, the Mass is ended"
The Ordinary of the Mass

[Missal]

15 Verbum caro factum est.The word was made flesh.The Ordinary of the Mass
[Missal]

16 Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.Grant them eternal rest, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine on them.
Order of Mass for the Dead

[Missal]

17
Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
That day, the day of wrath, will turn the universe to ashes, as David foretells (and the Sibyl too).
Order of Mass for the Dead "Sequentia" l. 1; commonly known as Dies Irae and sometimes attributed to Thomas of Celano (c.1190–1260)

[Missal]

18
Rex tremendae maiestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis!
O King of tremendous majesty, who freely saves those who should be saved, save me, O source of pity!
Order of Mass for the Dead "Sequentia" l. 22

[Missal]

19 Requiescant in pace.May they rest in peace.
Order of Mass for the Dead

[Missal]

20 O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem.O happy fault, which has earned such a mighty Redeemer.
"Exsultet" on Holy Saturday

[Missal]

Back  -   New Search

Mitchell, Adrian 1932–

1
Most people ignore most poetry
because
most poetry ignores most people.

Poems (1964)

Back  -   New Search

Mitchell, George 1933–

1 Nobody ever said it would be easy—and that was an understatement.
on the peace talks
in Times 19 February 1998

2 I am pleased to announce that the two governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland have reached agreement.
announcing the Good Friday agreement
in Times 11 April 1998

[Mitchell]

Back  -   New Search

Mitchell, John 1785–1859

1 The most important political question on which modern times have to decide is the policy that must now be pursued, in order to maintain the security of Western Europe against the overgrown power of Russia.
Thoughts on Tactics (1838)

Back  -   New Search

Mitchell, Joni (Roberta Joan Anderson) 1945–

1
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot,
With a pink hotel,
A boutique, and a swinging hot spot.

"Big Yellow Taxi" (1970 song)

2
We are stardust,
We are golden,
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.

"Woodstock" (1969 song)

[Mitchell]

Back  -   New Search

Mitchell, Margaret 1900–49

1 Death and taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.
Gone with the Wind (1936) ch. 38

2 I wish I could care what you do or where you go but I can't…My dear, I don't give a damn.
Gone with the Wind (1936) ch. 57

[Mitchell]

3 After all, tomorrow is another day.
Gone with the Wind (1936), closing words

[Mitchell]

Back  -   New Search

Mitford, Nancy 1904–73

1 Love in a cold climate.
title of book (1949).

2 Frogs…are slightly better than Huns or Wops, but abroad is unutterably bloody and foreigners are fiends.
The Pursuit of Love (1945) ch. 15.

[Mitford]

Back  -   New Search

Mitterrand, François 1916–96

1 She has the eyes of Caligula, but the mouth of Marilyn Monroe.
of Margaret Thatcher, briefing his new European Minister Roland Dumas
in Observer 25 November 1990

Back  -   New Search

Mizner, Wilson 1876–1933

1 Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet 'em on your way down.
Alva Johnston The Legendary Mizners (1953) ch. 4

2 If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research.
Alva Johnston The Legendary Mizners (1953) ch. 4

[Mizner]

3 A trip through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat.
of Hollywood; reworked by Mayor Jimmy Walker into "A reformer is a guy who rides through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat"
Alva Johnston The Legendary Mizners (1953) ch. 4

[Mizner]

Back  -   New Search

Mnouchkine, Ariane 1934–

1 A cultural Chernobyl.
of Euro Disney
in Harper's Magazine July 1992.

Back  -   New Search

Mola, Emilio 1887–1937

1 Fifth column.
an extra body of supporters claimed by General Mola in a broadcast as being within Madrid when he besieged the city with four columns of Nationalist forces
in New York Times 16 and 17 October 1936

Back  -   New Search

Molière 1622–73

1 One should eat to live, and not live to eat.
L'Avare (1669) act 3, sc. 1

2 All that is not prose is verse; and all that is not verse is prose.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1671) act 2, sc. 4

[Molière]

3 Good heavens! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing it.

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1671) act 2, sc. 4

[Molière]

4 Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?What the devil was he doing in that galley?
Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671) act 2, sc. 11

[Molière]

5 géronte: It seems to me you are locating them wrongly: the heart is on the left and the liver is on the right.
sganarelle: Yes, in the old days that was so, but we have changed all that, and we now practise medicine by a completely new method.

Le Médecin malgré lui (1667) act 2, sc. 4

[Molière]

6 Here [in Paris] they hang a man first, and try him afterwards.
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1670) act 1, sc. 5

[Molière]

7
L'homme est, je vous l'avoue, un méchant animal.

Man, I can assure you, is a nasty creature.

Le Tartuffe (1669) act 5, sc. 6

[Molière]

Back  -   New Search

Moltke, Helmuth von 1800–91

1 Everlasting peace is a dream, and not even a pleasant one; and war is a necessary part of God's arrangement of the world…Without war the world would deteriorate into materialism.
letter to Dr J. K. Bluntschli, 11 December 1880

Back  -   New Search

Mondale, Walter 1928–

1 When I hear your new ideas I'm reminded of that ad, "Where's the beef?"
in a televised debate with Gary Hart, 11 March 1984

Back  -   New Search

Monmouth, James, Duke of 1649–85

1 Do not hack me as you did my Lord Russell.
to his executioner
T. B. Macaulay History of England vol. 1 (1849) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Monnet, Jean 1888–1979

1 We should not create a nation Europe instead of a nation France.
François Duchêne Jean Monnet (1994)

Back  -   New Search

Monroe, Marilyn 1926–62

1 on being asked what she wore in bed:Chanel No. 5.
Pete Martin Marilyn Monroe (1956)

Back  -   New Search

Monroe, James 1758–1831

1 We owe it…to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those [European] powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.
principle that became known as the "Monroe Doctrine"
annual message to Congress, 2 December 1823

Back  -   New Search

Monsell, John Samuel Bewley 1811–75

1
Fight the good fight with all thy might.

"The Fight for Faith" (1863 hymn).

2
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,
Bow down before him, his glory proclaim.

"O Worship the Lord" (1863 hymn)

[Monsell]

Back  -   New Search

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley 1689–1762

1 And we meet with champagne and a chicken at last.
Six Town Eclogues (1747) "The Lover" l. 25

2 Men are vile inconstant toads.
letter to Anne Justice, c. 12 June 1710

[Montagu]

3 I have too much indulged my sedentary humour and have been a rake in reading.
letter to her daughter Lady Bute, 11 April 1759

[Montagu]

4 Civility costs nothing and buys everything.
letter to her daughter Lady Bute, 30 May 1756

[Montagu]

5 People wish their enemies dead—but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone!
W. S. Lewis et al. (eds.) Horace Walpole's Correspondence (1973) vol. 35

[Montagu]

Back  -   New Search

Montague, C. E. 1867–1928

1 War hath no fury like a non-combatant.
Disenchantment (1922) ch. 16

Back  -   New Search

Montaigne 1533–92

1 I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but caring little for it, and even less about the imperfections of my garden.
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 1, ch. 20

2 The ceaseless labour of your life is to build the house of death.
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 1, ch. 20

[Montaigne]

3 It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 1, ch. 23

[Montaigne]

4 There is scarcely any less bother in the running of a family than in that of an entire state. And domestic business is no less importunate for being less important.
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 1, ch. 39

[Montaigne]

5 The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself.
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 1, ch. 39

[Montaigne]

6 When I play with my cat, who knows whether she isn't amusing herself with me more than I am with her?
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 2, ch. 12

[Montaigne]

7 Que sais-je?What do I know?
on the position of the sceptic
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 2, ch. 12

[Montaigne]

8 It could be said of me that in this book I have only made up a bunch of other men's flowers, providing of my own only the string that ties them together.
Essais (1580, ed. M. Rat, 1958) bk. 3, ch. 12

[Montaigne]

Back  -   New Search

Montesquieu 1689–1755

1 If the triangles were to make a God they would give him three sides.
Lettres Persanes (1721) no. 59 (tr. J. Ozell, 1722)

2 The English are busy; they don't have time to be polite.
Pensées et fragments inédits… vol. 2 (1901) no. 1428

[Montesquieu]

3 Happy the people whose annals are blank in history-books!
attributed to Montesquieu by Thomas Carlyle in History of Frederick the Great bk. 16, ch. 1

[Montesquieu]

Back  -   New Search

Montgomery, Lord of Alamein 1887–1976

1 Here we will stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. I have ordered that all plans and instructions dealing with further withdrawal are to be burnt, and at once. We will stand and fight here. If we can't stay here alive, then let us stay here dead.
speech in Cairo, 13 August 1942

2 Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow"…[Rule 2] is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China."
speech in the House of Lords, 30 May 1962

[Montgomery]

Back  -   New Search

Montgomery, Robert 1807–55

1
The solitary monk who shook the world.

Luther: a Poem (1842) ch. 3 "Man's Need and God's Supply"

Back  -   New Search

Montrond, Casimir, Comte de 1768–1843

1 Have no truck with first impulses for they are always generous ones.
attributed.

Back  -   New Search

Graham, James Marquess of Montrose 1612–50

1
Let them bestow on every airth a limb.

"Lines written on the Window of his Jail the Night before his Execution"

2
He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That puts it not unto the touch
To win or lose it all.

"My Dear and Only Love" (written c.1642)

[Graham]

Back  -   New Search

Montrose, Percy

1
In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, Forty-niner,
And his daughter, Clementine.
Oh, my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone for ever, dreadful sorry, Clementine.

"Clementine" (1884 song)

Back  -   New Search

Monty Python's Flying Circus 1969–74

1 It's not pining—it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life it rests in peace—if you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! this is an ex–parrot!
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)

2 Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970)

[Monty Python's Flying Circus]

Back  -   New Search

Moore, Clement C. 1779–1863

1
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

"A Visit from St Nicholas" (December 1823)

Back  -   New Search

Moore, Edward 1712–57

1 This is adding insult to injuries.
The Foundling (1748) act 5, sc. 5

2 I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
The Gamester (1753) act 2, sc. 2.

[Moore]

Back  -   New Search

Moore, George 1852–1933

1 All reformers are bachelors.
The Bending of the Bough (1900) act 1

2 A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
The Brook Kerith (1916) ch. 11

[Moore]

Back  -   New Search

Moore, Henry 1898–1986

1 Sculpture in stone should look honestly like stone…to make it look like flesh and blood, hair and dimples is coming down to the level of the stage conjuror.
in Architectural Association Journal May 1930

2 The first hole made through a piece of stone is a revelation.
in Listener 18 August 1937

[Moore]

Back  -   New Search

Moore, Marianne 1887–1972

1
Imaginary gardens with real toads in them.

"Poetry" (1935)

2
My father used to say,
"Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow's grave
or the glass flowers at Harvard."

"Silence" (1935)

[Moore]

3
I am troubled, I'm dissatisfied, I'm Irish.

"Spenser's Ireland" (1941)

[Moore]

Back  -   New Search

Moore, Thomas 1779–1852

1
Though an angel should write, still 'tis devils must print.

The Fudges in England (1835) Letter 3, l. 65

2
Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly today,
Were to change by tomorrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy gifts fading away!

Irish Melodies (1807) "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms"

[Moore]

3
'Twas from Kathleen's eyes he flew,
Eyes of most unholy blue!

Irish Melodies (1807) "By that Lake"

[Moore]

4
The harp that once through Tara's halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
As if that soul were fled.

Irish Melodies (1807) "The harp that once through Tara's halls"

[Moore]

5
No, there's nothing half so sweet in life
As love's young dream.

Irish Melodies (1807) "Love's Young Dream"

[Moore]

6
The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.

Irish Melodies (1807) "The Minstrel Boy"

[Moore]

7
'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.

Irish Melodies (1807) "'Tis the last rose of summer"

[Moore]

8
I never nursed a dear gazelle,
To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well,
And love me, it was sure to die!

Lalla Rookh (1817) "The Fire-Worshippers" pt. 1, l. 283.

[Moore]

9
Oft, in the stilly night,
Ere Slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

National Airs (1815) "Oft in the Stilly Night"

[Moore]

Back  -   New Search

Mordaunt, Thomas Osbert 1730–1809

1
One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.

"A Poem, said to be written by Major Mordaunt during the last German War", in The Bee, or Literary Weekly Intelligencer 12 October 1791

Back  -   New Search

More, Hannah 1745–1833

1
For you'll ne'er mend your fortunes, nor help the just cause,
By breaking of windows, or breaking of laws.

"An Address to the Meeting in Spa Fields" (1817).

2
He liked those literary cooks
Who skim the cream of others' books;
And ruin half an author's graces
By plucking bon-mots from their places.

Florio (1786) pt. 1, l. 123

[More]

Back  -   New Search

More, Thomas 1478–1535

1 Your sheep, that were wont to be so meek and tame, and so small eaters, now, as I hear say, be become so great devourers, and so wild, that they eat up and swallow down the very men themselves.
Utopia (1516) bk. 1

2 If the parties will at my hands call for justice, then, all were it my father stood on the one side, and the Devil on the other, his cause being good, the Devil should have right.
William Roper Life of Sir Thomas More

[More]

3 Is not this house as nigh heaven as my own?
of the Tower of London
William Roper Life of Sir Thomas More

[More]

4 Fare well my dear child and pray for me, and I shall for you and all your friends that we may merrily meet in heaven.
last letter to his daughter Margaret Roper, 5 July 1535, on the eve of his execution

[More]

5 I pray you, master Lieutenant, see me safe up, and my coming down let me shift for my self.
of mounting the scaffold
William Roper Life of Sir Thomas More

[More]

6 This hath not offended the king.
lifting his beard aside after laying his head on the block
Francis Bacon Apophthegms New and Old (1625) no. 22

[More]

Back  -   New Search

Morell, Thomas 1703–84

1
See, the conquering hero comes!
Sound the trumpets, beat the drums!

Judas Maccabeus (1747) "A chorus of youths" and Joshua (1748) pt. 3 (to music by Handel)

Back  -   New Search

Morelly

1 Every citizen will make his own contribution to the activities of the community according to his strength, his talent, and his age: it is on this basis that his duties will be determined, conforming with the distributive laws.
Code de la Nature (1755) pt. 4

Back  -   New Search

Morgan, Robin 1941–

1 Sisterhood is powerful.
title of book (1970)

Back  -   New Search

Morley, Christopher 1890–1957

1 Life is a foreign language: all men mispronounce it.
Thunder on the Left (1925) ch. 14.

Back  -   New Search

Morley, Lord 1838–1923

1 The golden Gospel of Silence is effectively compressed in thirty fine volumes.
on Carlyle's History of Frederick the Great (1858–65), Carlyle having written of his subject as "that strong, silent man"
Critical Miscellanies (1886) "Carlyle"

2 You have not converted a man, because you have silenced him.
On Compromise (1874) ch. 5

[Morley]

Back  -   New Search

Morphy, Countess (Marcelle Azra Forbes) fl. 1930–50

1 The tragedy of English cooking is that "plain" cooking cannot be entrusted to "plain" cooks.
English Recipes (1935)

Back  -   New Search

Morris, Charles 1745–1838

1
But a house is much more to my mind than a tree,
And for groves, O! a good grove of chimneys for me.

"Country and Town" (1840)

Back  -   New Search

Morris, Desmond 1928–

1 The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.
The Human Zoo (1969) introduction

2 There are one hundred and ninety-three living species of monkeys and apes. One hundred and ninety-two of them are covered with hair. The exception is a naked ape self-named Homo sapiens.
The Naked Ape (1967) introduction

[Morris]

Back  -   New Search

Morris, George Pope 1802–64

1
Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now.

"Woodman, Spare That Tree" (1830).

Back  -   New Search

Morris, William 1834–96

1
The idle singer of an empty day.

The Earthly Paradise (1868–70) "An Apology"

2
Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?

The Earthly Paradise (1868–70) "An Apology"

[Morris]

3
Forget the spreading of the hideous town;
Think rather of the pack-horse on the down,
And dream of London, small and white and clean,
The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green.

The Earthly Paradise (1868–70) "Prologue: The Wanderers" l. 3

[Morris]

4 Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
Hopes and Fears for Art (1882) "Making the Best of It"

[Morris]

Back  -   New Search

Morrison, Jim 1943–71

1 C'mon, baby, light my fire.
"Light My Fire" (1967 song, with Robby Krieger)

2
We want the world and we want it now!

"When the Music's Over" (1967 song)

[Morrison]

Back  -   New Search

Morrison, R. F.

1
Just a wee deoch-an-doris,
Just a wee yin, that's a'.
Just a wee deoch-an-doris,
Before we gang awa'.
There's a wee wifie waitin',
In a wee but-an-ben;
If you can say
"It's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht",
Ye're a' richt, ye ken.

"Just a Wee Deoch-an-Doris" (1911 song); popularized by Harry Lauder

Back  -   New Search

Morse, Samuel 1791–1872

1 What hath God wrought.
Samuel Morse, in the first electric telegraph message, 24 May 1844.

Back  -   New Search

Morshead, Owen 1893–1977

1 The House of Hanover, like ducks, produce bad parents—they trample on their young.
as Royal Librarian, in conversation with Harold Nicolson, biographer of George V
Harold Nicolson, letter to Vita Sackville-West, 7 January 1949

Back  -   New Search

Mortimer, John 1923–

1 No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean fingernails.
A Voyage Round My Father (1971) act 1

2 The worst fault of the working classes is telling their children they're not going to succeed, saying: "There is life, but it's not for you."
in Daily Mail 31 May 1988

[Mortimer]

Back  -   New Search

Morton, J. B. ("Beachcomber") 1893–1975

1 One disadvantage of being a hog is that at any moment some blundering fool may try to make a silk purse out of your wife's ear.
By the Way (1931)

2
Hush, hush,
Nobody cares!
Christopher Robin
Has
Fallen
Down-
Stairs.

By the Way (1931).

[Morton]

3 Dr Strabismus (Whom God Preserve) of Utrecht.
Morton's Folly (1933)

[Morton]

Back  -   New Search

Morton, Jelly Roll 1885–1941

1 Jazz music is to be played sweet, soft, plenty rhythm.
Mister Jelly Roll (1950)

Back  -   New Search

Morton, Rogers 1914–79

1 I'm not going to rearrange the furniture on the deck of the Titanic.
having lost five of the last six primaries as President Ford's campaign manager
in Washington Post 16 May 1976

Back  -   New Search

Morton, Thomas c.1764–1838

1 Approbation from Sir Hubert Stanley is praise indeed.
A Cure for the Heartache (1797) act 5, sc. 2

2 Always ding, dinging Dame Grundy into my ears—what will Mrs Grundy zay? What will Mrs Grundy think?
Speed the Plough (1798) act 1, sc. 1.

[Morton]

Back  -   New Search

Moses, Edwin 1955–

1 I don't really see the hurdles. I sense them like a memory.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Motley, John Lothrop 1814–77

1 As long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the streets.
of William of Orange
The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856) pt. 6, ch. 7.

Back  -   New Search

Mountbatten, Lord 1900–79

1 Right, now I understand people think you're the Forgotten Army on the Forgotten Front. I've come here to tell you you're quite wrong. You're not the Forgotten Army on the Forgotten Front. No, make no mistake about it. Nobody's ever heard of you.
encouragement to troops when taking over as Supreme Allied Commander South-East Asia in late 1943
R. Hough Mountbatten (1980)

Back  -   New Search

Mowlam, Marjorie ("Mo") 1949–

1 It takes courage to push things forward.
on her decision to visit Loyalist prisoners in The Maze
in Guardian 8 January 1998

Back  -   New Search

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 1756–91

1 Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpoints to hack post-horses.
remark to Michael Kelly, 1786

Back  -   New Search

Muggeridge, Malcolm 1903–90

1 Something beautiful for God.
title of book (1971); see

Back  -   New Search

Muir, Edwin 1887–1959

1
And without fear the lawless roads
Ran wrong through all the land.

"Hölderlin's Journey" (1937)

Back  -   New Search

Muir, Frank 1920–98

1 The thinking man's crumpet.
of Joan Bakewell
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Mumford, Lewis 1895–1990

1 Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.
in Quote Magazine 8 October 1961

Back  -   New Search

Munch, Edvard 1863–1944

1 You should not paint the chair, but only what someone has felt about it.
written c.1891

Back  -   New Search

Murasaki Shikibu c.978–1031

1 Anything whatsoever may become the subject of a novel, provided only that it happens in this mundane life and not in some fairyland beyond our human ken.
The Tale of Genji

Back  -   New Search

Murdoch, Iris 1919–99

1 Dora Greenfield left her husband because she was afraid of him. She decided six months later to return to him for the same reason.
The Bell (1958) ch. 1

2 One doesn't have to get anywhere in a marriage. It's not a public conveyance.
A Severed Head (1961) ch. 3

[Murdoch]

3 Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.
"The Sublime and the Good" in Chicago Review 13 (1959)

[Murdoch]

Back  -   New Search

Murdoch, Rupert 1931–

1 asked why he had allowed Page 3 to develop:I don't know. The editor did it when I was away.
in Guardian 25 February 1994

Back  -   New Search

Murphy, C. W. and Letters, Will

1
Has anybody here seen Kelly?
Kelly from the Isle of Man?

"Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" (1909 song)

Back  -   New Search

Murray, Fred

1 Ginger, you're balmy!
title of song (1910)

Back  -   New Search

Murray, James Augustus Henry 1837–1915

1 I feel that in many respects I and my assistants are simply pioneers, pushing our way experimentally through an untrodden forest, where no white man's axe has been before us.
"Report on the Philological Society's Dictionary" (1884)

Back  -   New Search

Murrow, Ed 1908–65

1 No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.
of Joseph McCarthy
"See It Now", broadcast, 7 March 1954

2 He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle to steady his fellow countrymen and hearten those Europeans upon whom the long dark night of tyranny had descended.
of Winston Churchill
broadcast, 30 November 1954, in In Search of Light (1967)

[Murrow]

3 Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really understand the situation.
on the Vietnam War
Walter Bryan The Improbable Irish (1969) ch. 1

[Murrow]

Back  -   New Search

Musset, Alfred de 1810–57

1
Malgré moi l'infini me tourmente.
I can't help it, the idea of the infinite torments me.
"L'Espoir en Dieu" (1838)

2
Le seul bien qui me reste au monde
Est d'avoir quelquefois pleuré.
The only good thing left to me is that I have sometimes wept.
"Tristesse" (1841)

[Musset]

Back  -   New Search

Mussolini, Benito 1883–1945

1 We must leave exactly on time…From now on everything must function to perfection.
to a station-master
Giorgio Pini Mussolini (1939) vol. 2, ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

N

Nabokov, Vladimir 1899–1977

1 Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Lolita (1955) ch. 1

2 You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
Lolita (1955) ch. 1

[Nabokov]

Back  -   New Search

Nader, Ralph 1934–

1 Unsafe at any speed.
title of book (1965)

Back  -   New Search

Nairn, Ian 1930–

1 If what is called development is allowed to multiply at the present rate, then by the end of the century Great Britain will consist of isolated oases of preserved monuments in a desert of wire, concrete roads, cosy plots and bungalows…Upon this new Britain the Review bestows a name in the hope that it will stick—subtopia.
in Architectural Review June 1955

Back  -   New Search

Namier, Lewis 1888–1960

1 No number of atrocities however horrible can deprive a nation of its right to independence, nor justify its being put under the heel of its worst enemies and persecutors.
in 1919; Julia Namier Lewis Namier (1971)

Back  -   New Search

Nansen, Fridtjof 1861–1930

1 Never stop because you are afraid—you are never so likely to be wrong. Never keep a line of retreat: it is a wretched invention. The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.
in Listener 14 December 1939

Back  -   New Search

Napoleon I 1769–1821

1 Think of it, soldiers; from the summit of these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you.
before the Battle of the Pyramids
speech to the Army of Egypt on 21 July 1798

2 It [the Channel] is a mere ditch, and will be crossed as soon as someone has the courage to attempt it.
letter to Consul Cambacérès, 16 November 1803

[Napoleon I]

3 I want the whole of Europe to have one currency; it will make trading much easier.
letter to his brother Louis, 6 May 1807

[Napoleon I]

4 There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
to De Pradt, Polish ambassador, after the retreat from Moscow in 1812
D. G. De Pradt Histoire de l'Ambassade dans le grand-duché de Varsovie en 1812 (1815).

[Napoleon I]

5 As to moral courage, I have very rarely met with two o'clock in the morning courage: I mean instantaneous courage.
E. A. de Las Cases Mémorial de Ste-Hélène (1823) vol. 1, pt. 2, 4–5 December 1815.

[Napoleon I]

6 An army marches on its stomach.
attributed, but probably condensed from a long passage in E. A. de Las Cases Mémorial de Ste-Hélène (1823) vol. 4, 14 November 1816; also attributed to Frederick the Great

[Napoleon I]

7 As though he had 200,000 men.
when asked how to deal with the Pope
J. M. Robinson Cardinal Consalvi (1987).

[Napoleon I]

8 La carrière ouverte aux talents.The career open to the talents.
Barry E. O'Meara Napoleon in Exile (1822) vol. 1

[Napoleon I]

9 England is a nation of shopkeepers.
Barry E. O'Meara Napoleon in Exile (1822) vol. 2

[Napoleon I]

10 Not tonight, Josephine.
attributed, but probably apocryphal; the phrase does not appear in contemporary sources, but was current by the early twentieth century

[Napoleon I]

Back  -   New Search

Nash, Ogden 1902–71

1
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.

"Autres Bêtes, Autres Moeurs" (1931)

2
The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.

"The Cow" (1931)

[Nash]

3
Beneath this slab
John Brown is stowed.
He watched the ads,
And not the road.

"Lather as You Go" (1942)

[Nash]

4
Candy
Is dandy
But liquor
Is quicker.

"Reflections on Ice-breaking" (1931)

[Nash]

5
I test my bath before I sit,
And I'm always moved to wonderment
That what chills the finger not a bit
Is so frigid upon the fundament.

"Samson Agonistes" (1942)

[Nash]

6
I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.

"Song of the Open Road" (1933).

[Nash]

7
Sure, deck your lower limbs in pants;
Yours are the limbs, my sweeting.
You look divine as you advance—
Have you seen yourself retreating?

"What's the Use?" (1940)

[Nash]

Back  -   New Search

Nashe, Thomas 1567–1601

1 O, tis a precious apothegmatical Pedant, who will find matter enough to dilate a whole day of the first invention of Fy, fa, fum, I smell the blood of an English-man.
Have with you to Saffron-walden (1596).

2
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen's eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord have mercy on us.

Summer's Last Will and Testament (1600) l. 1590

[Nashe]

3
From winter, plague and pestilence, good lord, deliver us!

Summer's Last Will and Testament (1600) l. 1878

[Nashe]

Back  -   New Search

Naylor, James Ball 1860–1945

1
King David and King Solomon
Led merry, merry lives,
With many, many lady friends,
And many, many wives;
But when old age crept over them—
With many, many qualms!—
King Solomon wrote the Proverbs
And King David wrote the Psalms.

"King David and King Solomon" (1935)

Back  -   New Search

Neale, John Mason 1818–66

1
All glory, laud, and honour
To thee, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

"All glory, laud, and honour" (1851 hymn)

2
Good King Wenceslas looked out,
On the feast of Stephen;
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.

"Good King Wenceslas"

[Neale]

3
Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blessed.

"Jerusalem the golden" (1858 hymn); translated from the Latin of St Bernard of Cluny (b. c.1100)

[Neale]

Back  -   New Search

Nehru, Jawaharlal 1889–1964

1 At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.
immediately prior to Independence
speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly, 14 August 1947

2 The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.
following Gandhi's assassination
broadcast, 30 January 1948; Richard J. Walsh Nehru on Gandhi (1948) ch. 6

[Nehru]

3 There is no easy walk-over to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow again and again before we reach the mountain-tops of our desire.
"From Lucknow to Tripuri" (1939)

[Nehru]

Back  -   New Search

Neill, A. S. 1883–1973

1 If we have to have an exam at 11, let us make it one for humour, sincerity, imagination, character—and where is the examiner who could test such qualities.
letter to Daily Telegraph 1957

Back  -   New Search

Nelson, Horatio, Lord 1758–1805

1 I have only one eye,—I have a right to be blind sometimes…I really do not see the signal!
at the battle of Copenhagen, 1801
Robert Southey Life of Nelson (1813) ch. 7

2 When I came to explain to them the "Nelson touch", it was like an electric shock.
letter to Lady Hamilton, 1 October 1805

[Nelson]

3 England expects that every man will do his duty.
at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
Robert Southey Life of Nelson (1813) ch. 9

[Nelson]

4 This is too warm work, Hardy, to last long.
at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
Robert Southey Life of Nelson (1813) ch. 9

[Nelson]

5 Thank God, I have done my duty.
at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
Robert Southey Life of Nelson (1813) ch. 9

[Nelson]

6 Kiss me, Hardy.
at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
Robert Southey Life of Nelson (1813) ch. 9

[Nelson]

Back  -   New Search

Nero ad 37–68

1 Qualis artifex pereo!What an artist dies with me!
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Nero"

Back  -   New Search

Nerval, Gérard de 1808–55

1
Je suis le ténébreux,—le veuf,—l'inconsolé,
Le prince d'Aquitaine à la tour abolie.
I am the darkly shaded, the bereaved, the inconsolate, the prince of Aquitaine, with the blasted tower.
Les Chimères (1854) "El Desdichado"

Back  -   New Search

Nesbit, Edith 1858–1924

1 It is a curious thing that people only ask if you are enjoying yourself when you aren't.
Five of Us, and Madeline (1925)

Back  -   New Search

Nevins, Allan 1890–1971

1 Offering Germany too little, and offering even that too late, until finally Nazi Germany had become a menace to all mankind.
in Current History (New York) May 1935

Back  -   New Search

Newbolt, Henry 1862–1938

1
"Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore,
Strike et when your powder's runnin' low;
If the Dons sight Devon, I'll quit the port o' Heaven,
An' drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long ago."

"Drake's Drum" (1897)

2
Drake he's in his hammock till the great Armadas come.
(Capten, art tha sleepin' there below?)

"Drake's Drum" (1897)

[Newbolt]

3
Now the sunset breezes shiver,
And she's fading down the river,
But in England's song for ever
She's the Fighting Téméraire.

"The Fighting Téméraire" (1897)

[Newbolt]

4
There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night—
Ten to make and the match to win—
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote—
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"

"Vita Lampada" (1897)

[Newbolt]

Back  -   New Search

Newley, Anthony 1931– and Bricusse, Leslie 1931–

1 Stop the world, I want to get off.
title of musical (1961)

Back  -   New Search

Newman, John Henry 1801–90

1 Two and two only supreme and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator.
Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864) "History of My Religious Opinions to the Year 1833"

2 Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.
Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864) "Position of my Mind since 1845"

[Newman]

3 It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain.
The Idea of a University (1852) "Knowledge and Religious Duty"

[Newman]

4 She [the Catholic Church] holds that it were better for sun and moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions who are upon it to die of starvation in extremest agony, as far as temporal affliction goes, than that one soul, I will not say, should be lost, but should commit one single venial sin.
Lectures on Anglican Difficulties (1852) Lecture 8

[Newman]

5 If I am obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts (which indeed does not seem quite the thing) I shall drink—to the Pope, if you please—still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.
A Letter Addressed to the Duke of Norfolk… (1875) sect. 5

[Newman]

6 May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done! Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.
"Wisdom and Innocence" (19 February 1843)

[Newman]

7
Firmly I believe and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.

The Dream of Gerontius (1865)

[Newman]

8
Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways.

The Dream of Gerontius (1865)

[Newman]

9
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on.

"Lead, kindly Light" (1834)

[Newman]

10 We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.
letter to Mrs William Froude, 27 June 1848

[Newman]

11 Cor ad cor loquitur.Heart speaks to heart.
motto of Newman.

[Newman]

Back  -   New Search

Newton, Huey 1942–

1 I suggested [in 1966] that we use the panther as our symbol and call our political vehicle the Black Panther Party. The panther is a fierce animal, but he will not attack until he is backed into a corner; then he will strike out.
Revolutionary Suicide (1973) ch. 16

Back  -   New Search

Newton, Isaac 1642–1727

1 Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
Principia Mathematica (1687) Laws of Motion 1 (tr. Andrew Motte, 1729)

2 To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.
Principia Mathematica (1687) Laws of Motion 3 (tr. Andrew Motte, 1729)

[Newton]

3 Hypotheses non fingo.I do not feign hypotheses.
Principia Mathematica (1713 ed.) "Scholium Generale"

[Newton]

4 If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
letter to Robert Hooke, 5 February 1676

[Newton]

5 I don't know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Joseph Spence Anecdotes (ed. J. Osborn, 1966) no. 1259

[Newton]

6 O Diamond! Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief done!
to a dog, who knocked over a candle which set fire to some papers and thereby "destroyed the almost finished labours of some years"
Thomas Maude Wensley-Dale…a Poem (1772) st. 23 n.; probably apocryphal

[Newton]

Back  -   New Search

Newton, John 1725–1807

1
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!

Olney Hymns (1779) "Amazing grace"

2
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!

Olney Hymns (1779) "Glorious things of thee are spoken"

[Newton]

3
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!

Olney Hymns (1779) "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds"

[Newton]

Back  -   New Search

Nicholas I 1796–1855

1 Turkey is a dying man. We may endeavour to keep him alive, but we shall not succeed. He will, he must die.
F. Max Müller (ed.) Memoirs of Baron Stockmar (tr. G. A. M. Müller, 1873) vol. 2

2 Russia has two generals in whom she can confide—Generals Janvier [January] and Février [February].
attributed; in Punch 10 March 1855

[Nicholas I]

Back  -   New Search

Nicias c.470 bc

1 For a city consists in men, and not in walls nor in ships empty of men.
speech to the defeated Athenian army at Syracuse, 413 bc
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian Wars bk. 7, sect. 77

Back  -   New Search

Nicolson, Harold 1886–1968

1 Ponderous and uncertain is that relation between pressure and resistance which constitutes the balance of power. The arch of peace is morticed by no iron tendons.
Public Faces (1932) ch. 6

2 To be a good diarist one must have a little snouty, sneaky mind.
of Samuel Pepys
diary, 9 November 1947

[Nicolson]

3 For seventeen years he did nothing at all but kill animals and stick in stamps.
of King George V
diary, 17 August 1949

[Nicolson]

Back  -   New Search

Niebuhr, Reinhold 1892–1971

1 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
Children of Light and Children of Darkness (1944) foreword

Back  -   New Search

Niemöller, Martin 1892–1984

1 When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church—and there was nobody left to be concerned.
often quoted in the form "In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist…" and so on
in Congressional Record 14 October 1968

Back  -   New Search

Nietzsche, Friedrich 1844–1900

1 I teach you the superman. Man is something to be surpassed.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (1883) prologue, sect. 3

2 You are going to women? Do not forget the whip!
Also Sprach Zarathustra (1883) bk. 1 "Von Alten und jungen Weiblein"

[Nietzsche]

3 God is dead: but considering the state the species Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown.
Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882) bk. 3, sect. 108.

[Nietzsche]

4 He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886) ch. 4, no. 146

[Nietzsche]

5 Master-morality and slave-morality.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886) ch. 9, no. 260

[Nietzsche]

6 At the base of all these aristocratic races the predator is not to be mistaken, the splendorous blond beast, avidly rampant for plunder and victory.
Zur Genealogie der Moral (1887) 1st treatise, no. 11

[Nietzsche]

Back  -   New Search

Nightingale, Florence 1820–1910

1 It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm.
Notes on Hospitals (1863 ed.) preface

2 Too kind, too kind.
on the Order of Merit being brought to her at her home, 5 December 1907
E. Cook Life of Florence Nightingale (1913) vol. 2, pt. 7, ch. 9

[Nightingale]

Back  -   New Search

Nixon, Richard Milhous 1913–94

1 There can be no whitewash at the White House.
on Watergate
television speech, 30 April 1973

2 I brought myself down. I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in.
television interview, 19 May 1977

[Nixon]

3 When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.
David Frost I Gave Them a Sword (1978) ch. 8

[Nixon]

Back  -   New Search

Nkrumah, Kwame 1900–72

1 Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them.
speech in Accra, 10 July 1953

Back  -   New Search

Noel, Caroline Maria 1817–77

1
At the name of Jesus
Every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess him
King of glory now.

"At the name of Jesus" (1861 hymn).

Back  -   New Search

Noel, Thomas 1799–1861

1
Rattle his bones over the stones;
He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!

"The Pauper's Drive" (1841)

Back  -   New Search

North, Christopher 1785–1854

1 His Majesty's dominions, on which the sun never sets.
Blackwood's Magazine (April 1829) "Noctes Ambrosianae" no. 42.

Back  -   New Search

Northcliffe, Alfred Harmsworth, Lord 1865–1922

1 The power of the press is very great, but not so great as the power of suppress.
office message, Daily Mail 1918

2 When I want a peerage, I shall buy it like an honest man.
Tom Driberg Swaff (1974) ch. 2

[Northcliffe]

Back  -   New Search

Norton, Caroline 1808–77

1
And all our calm is in that balm—
Not lost but gone before.

"Not Lost but Gone Before"

Back  -   New Search

Norworth, Jack 1879–1959

1
Oh, shine on, shine on, harvest moon
Up in the sky.
I ain't had no lovin'
Since April, January, June, or July.

"Shine On, Harvest Moon" (1908 song)

Back  -   New Search

Novalis 1772–1801

1 I often feel, and ever more deeply I realize, that Fate and character are the same conception.
often quoted as "Character is destiny" or "Character is fate"
Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802) bk. 2

2 A God-intoxicated man.
of Spinoza
attributed

[Novalis]

Back  -   New Search

Noyes, Alfred 1880–1958

1
Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time,
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!).

"The Barrel-Organ" (1904)

2
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

"The Highwayman" (1907)

[Noyes]

Back  -   New Search

Nuffield, Lord 1877–1963

1 on seeing the Morris Minor prototype in 1945:It looks like a poached egg—we can't make that.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Nunn, Sam 1938–

1 Don't ask, don't tell.
summary of the Clinton administration's compromise policy on homosexuals serving in the armed forces, in New York Times 12 May 1993

Back  -   New Search

Nye, Bill 1850–96

1 I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds.
Mark Twain Autobiography (1924) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Nyerere, Julius 1922–99

1 Should we really let our people starve so we can pay our debts?
in Guardian 21 March 1985

Back  -   New Search

O

Oakley, Charles Edward 1832–65

1
Hills of the North, rejoice:
Rivers and mountain-spring,
Hark to the advent voice!
Valley and lowland, sing!

"Hills of the North, rejoice" (1870 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Oates, Lawrence 1880–1912

1 I am just going outside and may be some time.
Robert Falcon Scott diary entry, 16–17 March 1912

Back  -   New Search

O'Brien, Conor Cruise 1917–

1 If I saw Mr Haughey buried at midnight at a crossroads, with a stake driven through his heart—politically speaking—I should continue to wear a clove of garlic round my neck, just in case.
in Observer 10 October 1982

Back  -   New Search

O'Brien, Edna 1932–

1 August is a wicked month.
title of novel (1965)

Back  -   New Search

O'Brien, Flann 1911–66

1 The conclusion of your syllogism, I said lightly, is fallacious, being based upon licensed premises.
At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) ch. 1

2 A pint of plain is your only man.
At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) "The Workman's Friend"

[O'Brien]

Back  -   New Search

O'Casey, Sean 1880–1964

1 I killin' meself workin', an' he sthruttin' about from mornin' till night like a paycock!
Juno and the Paycock (1925) act 1

2 He's an oul' butty o' mine—oh, he's a darlin' man, a daarlin' man.
Juno and the Paycock (1925) act 1

[O'Casey]

3 The whole worl's in a state o' chassis!
Juno and the Paycock (1925) act 1

[O'Casey]

Back  -   New Search

Occam, William of c.1285–1349

1 Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary.
"Occam's Razor", an ancient philosophical principle often attributed to Occam but earlier in origin
not found in this form in his writings, although he frequently used similar expressions.

Back  -   New Search

Ogilvy, David 1911–99

1 The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.
Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Ogilvy, James, Lord Seafield 1664–1730

1 Now there's ane end of ane old song.
as he signed the engrossed exemplification of the Act of Union, 1706
in The Lockhart Papers (1817) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

O'Hara, Theodore 1820–67

1
The bivouac of the dead.
title of poem (1847)

2
Sons of the dark and bloody ground.

"The Bivouac of the Dead" (1847) st. 1

[O'Hara]

Back  -   New Search

O'Keeffe, John 1747–1833

1
Amo, amas, I love a lass,
As a cedar tall and slender;
Sweet cowslip's grace
Is her nom'native case,
And she's of the feminine gender.

The Agreeable Surprise (1781) act 2, sc. 2

2 Fat, fair and forty were all the toasts of the young men.
The Irish Mimic (1795) sc. 2

[O'Keeffe]

Back  -   New Search

O'Kelly, Dennis c.1720–87

1 Eclipse first, the rest nowhere.
comment at Epsom on the occasion of the horse Eclipse's first race, 3 May 1769; the Dictionary of National Biography gives the occasion as the Queen's Plate at Winchester, 1769
in Annals of Sporting vol. 2 (1822)

Back  -   New Search

Okpik, Abraham

1 There are very few Eskimos, but millions of Whites, just like mosquitoes. It is something very special and wonderful to be an Eskimo—they are like the snow geese. If an Eskimo forgets his language and Eskimo ways, he will be nothing but just another mosquito.
attributed, 1966

Back  -   New Search

Oldfield, Bruce 1950–

1 Fashion is more usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas.
in Independent 9 September 1989

Back  -   New Search

Olivier, Laurence 1907–89

1 Shakespeare—the nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.
in Kenneth Harris Talking To (1971) "Sir Laurence Olivier"

2 Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.
in Time 3 July 1978

[Olivier]

Back  -   New Search

O'Malley, Frank Ward

see Elbert Hubbard

Back  -   New Search

Omar c.581–644

1 If these writings of the Greeks agree with the book of God, they are useless and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.
on burning the library of Alexandria, ad c.641
Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) ch. 51

Back  -   New Search

Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy 1929–94

1 If you bungle raising your children I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much.
Theodore C. Sorenson Kennedy (1965)

2 The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse.
Peter Colier and David Horowitz The Kennedys (1984)

[Onassis]

Back  -   New Search

O'Neill, Eugene 1888–1953

1 For de little stealin' dey gits you in jail soon or late. For de big stealin' dey makes you Emperor and puts you in de Hall o' Fame when you croaks.
The Emperor Jones (1921) sc. 1

2 The iceman cometh.
title of play (1946)

[O'Neill]

3 A long day's journey into night.
title of play (written 1940–1)

[O'Neill]

4 Mourning becomes Electra
title of play (1931)

[O'Neill]

Back  -   New Search

Ono, Yoko 1933–

1 Woman is the nigger of the world.
remark made in a 1968 interview for Nova magazine and adopted by her husband John Lennon as the title of a song (1972)

Back  -   New Search

O'Nolan, Brian

see Flann O'Brien

Back  -   New Search

Opie, John 1761–1807

1 I mix them with my brains, sir.
on being asked with what he mixed his colours
Samuel Smiles Self-Help (1859) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Oppenheimer, J. Robert 1904–67

1 I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita…"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."
on the explosion of the first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico, 16 July 1945
Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed The Decision to Drop the Bomb (1965).

2 The physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.
lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 25 November 1947

[Oppenheimer]

Back  -   New Search

Orbach, Susie 1946–

1 Fat is a feminist issue.
title of book (1978)

Back  -   New Search

Orbison, Roy 1936–88 and Melson, Joe

1 Only the lonely (know the way I feel).
title of song (1960)

Back  -   New Search

Orczy, Baroness 1865–1947

1
We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?—Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel?

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) ch. 12

Back  -   New Search

Orred, Meta

1
In the gloaming, Oh my darling!
When the lights are dim and low,
And the quiet shadows falling
Softly come and softly go.

"In the Gloaming" (1877 song)

Back  -   New Search

Ortega y Gasset, José 1883–1955

1 Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia, y si no la salvo a ella no me salvo yo.I am I plus my surroundings, and if I do not preserve the latter I do not preserve myself.
Meditaciones del Quijote (1914)

2 La civilización no es otra cosa que el ensayo de reducir la fuerza a ultima ratio.Civilization is nothing more than the effort to reduce the use of force to the last resort.
La Rebelión de las Masas (1930)

[Ortega y Gasset]

Back  -   New Search

Orton, Joe 1933–67

1 I'd the upbringing a nun would envy…Until I was fifteen I was more familiar with Africa than my own body.
Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964) act 1

2 It's all any reasonable child can expect if the dad is present at the conception.
Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964) act 3

[Orton]

Back  -   New Search

Orwell, George 1903–50

1 Four legs good, two legs bad.
Animal Farm (1945) ch. 3

2 All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
Animal Farm (1945) ch. 10

[Orwell]

3 The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Animal Farm (1945); closing words

[Orwell]

4 Good prose is like a window-pane.
Collected Essays (1968) vol. 1 "Why I Write"

[Orwell]

5 I'm fat, but I'm thin inside. Has it ever struck you that there's a thin man inside every fat man, just as they say there's a statue inside every block of stone?
Coming up For Air (1939) pt. 1, ch. 3.

[Orwell]

6 Down and out in Paris and London.
title of book (1933)

[Orwell]

7 Keep the aspidistra flying.
title of novel (1936)

[Orwell]

8 Old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn mornings…these are not only fragments, but characteristic fragments, of the English scene.
The Lion and the Unicorn (1941) pt. 1 "England Your England".

[Orwell]

9 Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.
The Lion and the Unicorn (1941) pt. 1 "England Your England".

[Orwell]

10 It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) pt. 1, ch. 1

[Orwell]

11 big brother is watching you.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) pt. 1, ch. 1

[Orwell]

12 Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) pt. 1, ch. 7

[Orwell]

13 The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention…It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant…the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) pt. 1, ch. 8

[Orwell]

14 Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) pt. 2, ch. 9

[Orwell]

15 If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) pt. 3, ch. 3

[Orwell]

16 Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Shooting an Elephant (1950) "Politics and the English Language"

[Orwell]

17 Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie…A dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.
in Horizon September 1941 "The Art of Donald McGill"

[Orwell]

18 The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
in Polemic May 1946 "Second Thoughts on James Burnham"

[Orwell]

19 At 50, everyone has the face he deserves.
last words in his notebook, 17 April 1949

[Orwell]

20 Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
attributed

[Orwell]

Back  -   New Search

Osborne, Dorothy 1627–95

1 All letters, methinks, should be free and easy as one's discourse, not studied as an oration, nor made up of hard words like a charm.
letter to William Temple, September 1653

Back  -   New Search

Osborne, John 1929–94

1 Don't clap too hard—it's a very old building.
The Entertainer (1957) no. 7

2 But I have a go, lady, don't I? I 'ave a go. I do.
The Entertainer (1957) no. 7

[Osborne]

3 Look back in anger.
title of play (1956).

[Osborne]

4 They spend their time mostly looking forward to the past.
Look Back in Anger (1956) act 2, sc. 1

[Osborne]

5 Royalty is the gold filling in a mouthful of decay.
"They call it cricket" in T. Maschler (ed.) Declaration (1957)

[Osborne]

6 This is a letter of hate. It is for you my countrymen, I mean those men of my country who have defiled it. The men with manic fingers leading the sightless, feeble, betrayed body of my country to its death…damn you England.
in Tribune 18 August 1961

[Osborne]

Back  -   New Search

O'Shaughnessy, Arthur 1844–81

1
We are the music makers,
We are the dreamers of dreams…
We are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

"Ode" (1874)

2
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

"Ode" (1874)

[O'Shaughnessy]

Back  -   New Search

Osler, William 1849–1919

1 One finger in the throat and one in the rectum makes a good diagnostician.
Aphorisms from his Bedside Teachings (1961)

2 The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals.
H. Cushing Life of Sir William Osler (1925) vol. 1, ch. 14

[Osler]

Back  -   New Search

O'Sullivan, John L. 1813–95

1 The best government is that which governs least.
in United States Magazine and Democratic Review (1837) introduction

2 A torchlight procession marching down your throat.
describing certain kinds of whisky
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 19

[O'Sullivan]

Back  -   New Search

Otis, James 1725–83

1 Taxation without representation is tyranny.

associated with his attack on writs of assistance, 1761, and later a watchword of the American Revolution

Back  -   New Search

Otway, Thomas 1652–85

1
And for an apple damn'd mankind.

The Orphan (1680) act 3

2
No praying, it spoils business.

Venice Preserved (1682) act 2, sc. 1

[Otway]

Back  -   New Search

Ovid 43–17

1
Lente currite noctis equi.
Run slowly, horses of the night.
Amores bk. 1, no. 13, l. 40.

2
Iuppiter ex alto periuria ridet amantum.
Jupiter from on high laughs at lovers' perjuries.
Ars Amatoria bk. 1, l. 633

[Ovid]

3 Expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus.It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are.
Ars Amatoria bk. 1, l. 637.

[Ovid]

4
Gutta cavat lapidem, consumitur anulus usu.
Dripping water hollows out a stone, a ring is worn away by use.
Epistulae Ex Ponto bk. 4, no. 10, l. 5.

[Ovid]

5
Medio tutissimus ibis.
You will go most safely by the middle way.
Metamorphoses bk. 2, l. 137

[Ovid]

6
Video meliora, proboque;
Deteriora sequor.
I see the better things, and approve; I follow the worse.
Metamorphoses bk. 7, l. 20.

[Ovid]

7
Tempus edax rerum.
Time the devourer of everything.
Metamorphoses bk. 15, l. 234

[Ovid]

8
Teque, rebellatrix, tandem, Germania, magni
Triste caput pedibus supposuisse ducis!
How you, rebellious Germany, laid your wretched head beneath the feet of the great general.
Tristia bk. 3, no. 12, l. 47

[Ovid]

Back  -   New Search

Owen, John c.1563–1622

1
God and the doctor we alike adore
But only when in danger, not before;
The danger o'er, both are alike requited,
God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.

Epigrams.

Back  -   New Search

Owen, Robert 1771–1858

1 All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.
to his partner W. Allen, on severing business relations at New Lanark, 1828
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Owen, Wilfred 1893–1918

1
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity.

Preface (written 1918) in Poems (1963)

2
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

[Owen]

3
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

[Owen]

4
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

[Owen]

5
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

"Dulce et Decorum Est" (1963 ed.).

[Owen]

6
Was it for this the clay grew tall?

"Futility" (written 1918)

[Owen]

7
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

8
Let us sleep now.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

Back  -   New Search

Oxenstierna, Count 1583–1654

1 Dost thou not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?
letter to his son, 1648, in J. F. af Lundblad Svensk Plutark (1826) pt. 2; an alternative attribution quotes "a certain Pope" (possibly Julius III, 1487–1555) saying, "Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the whole world!"

Back  -   New Search

P

Packard, Vance 1914–97

1 The hidden persuaders.
title of a study of the advertising industry (1957)

Back  -   New Search

Paget, Lord George 1818–80

1 As far as it engendered excitement the finest run in Leicestershire could hardly bear comparison.
the second-in-command's view of the charge of the Light Brigade
The Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea (1881) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Paglia, Camille 1947–

1 There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.
in International Herald Tribune 26 April 1991

Back  -   New Search

Paine, Thomas 1737–1809

1 The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime, makes the ridiculous; and one step above the ridiculous, makes the sublime again.
The Age of Reason pt. 2 (1795).

2 Though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door against absolute Monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough to put the crown in possession of the key.
Common Sense (1776) ch. 1

[Paine]

3 These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of men and women.
The Crisis (December 1776) introduction

[Paine]

4 The religion of humanity.
The Crisis (November 1778)

[Paine]

5 As he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick.
on Edmund Burke's losing the debate on the French Revolution to Charles James Fox, in the House of Commons
Letter to the Addressers on the late Proclamation (1792)

[Paine]

6 Lay then the axe to the root, and teach governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind.
The Rights of Man (1791)

[Paine]

7 The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet laureate.
The Rights of Man (1791)

[Paine]

8 I compare it to something kept behind a curtain, about which there is a great deal of bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming solemnity; but when, by any accident, the curtain happens to be open, and the company see what it is, they burst into laughter.
of monarchy
The Rights of Man pt. 2 (1792)

[Paine]

9 The Minister, whoever he at any time may be, touches it as with an opium wand, and it sleeps obedience.
of Parliament
The Rights of Man pt. 2 (1792)

[Paine]

10 When, in countries that are called civilized, we see age going to the workhouse and youth to the gallows, something must be wrong in the system of government.
The Rights of Man pt. 2 (1792)

[Paine]

11 My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
The Rights of Man pt. 2 (1792)

[Paine]

12 A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.
Eric Foner Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (1976) ch. 7

[Paine]

Back  -   New Search

Paisley, Ian 1926–

1 The mother of all treachery.
on the Good Friday agreement
in Times 16 April 1998

Back  -   New Search

Palafox, José de 1780–1847

1 Guerra a cuchillo.War to the knife.
on 4 August 1808, at the siege of Saragossa, the French general Verdier sent a one-word suggestion: "Capitulation". Palafox replied "Guerra y cuchillo [War and the knife]", later reported as above; it subsequently appeared, at the behest of Palafox himself, on survivors' medals
José Gòmez de Arteche y Moro Guerra de la Independencia (1875) vol. 2, ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Paley, William 1743–1805

1 Suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be enquired how the watch happened to be in that place…the inference, we think, is inevitable; that the watch must have had a maker, that there must have existed, at some time and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use.
Natural Theology (1802) ch. 1.

2 Who can refute a sneer?
Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785) bk. 5, ch. 9

[Paley]

Back  -   New Search

Pali Tripitaka

1
It is called Nirvana because of the getting rid of craving.

Samyutta-nikya [Kindred Sayings] pt. 1, p. 39

2
The Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of suffering is this: It is simply the Noble Eightfold Path, namely right view; right thought; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right concentration.

First Sermon of the Buddha
Samyutta-nikya [Kindred Sayings] pt. 56, p. 11

[Pali Tripitaka]

3 For hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal.
Dhammapada v. 5

[Pali Tripitaka]

4 Even as rain breaks not through a well-thatched house, passions break not through a well-guarded mind.
Dhammapada v. 14

[Pali Tripitaka]

Back  -   New Search

Palmerston, Lord 1784–1865

1 We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.
speech, House of Commons, 1 March 1848

2 You may call it combination, you may call it the accidental and fortuitous concurrence of atoms.
on a projected Palmerston–Disraeli coalition
speech, House of Commons, 5 March 1857

[Palmerston]

3 Lord Palmerston, with characteristic levity had once said that only three men in Europe had ever understood [the Schleswig-Holstein question], and of these the Prince Consort was dead, a Danish statesman (unnamed) was in an asylum, and he himself had forgotten it.
R. W. Seton-Watson Britain in Europe 1789–1914 (1937) ch. 11

[Palmerston]

4 Die, my dear Doctor, that's the last thing I shall do!
last words; E. Latham Famous Sayings and their Authors (1904)

[Palmerston]

Back  -   New Search

Pankhurst, Christabel 1880–1958

1 Never lose your temper with the Press or the public is a major rule of political life.
Unshackled (1959) ch. 5

2 We are here to claim our right as women, not only to be free, but to fight for freedom. That it is our right as well as our duty.
in Votes for Women 31 March 1911

[Pankhurst]

Back  -   New Search

Pankhurst, Emmeline 1858–1928

1 The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics.
George Dangerfield The Strange Death of Liberal England (1936).

Back  -   New Search

Parish, Mitchell

1
When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls.

"Deep Purple" (1939); words added to music (1934) by Peter de Rose

Back  -   New Search

Parker, Dorothy 1893–1967

1
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.

"Comment" (1937)

2
Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

"Inventory" (1937)

[Parker]

3
Men seldom make passes
At girls who wear glasses.

"News Item" (1937)

[Parker]

4
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

"One Perfect Rose" (1937)

[Parker]

5
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

"Résumé" (1937)

[Parker]

6 Where's the man could ease a heart like a satin gown?
"The Satin Dress" (1937)

[Parker]

7
By the time you say you're his,
Shivering and sighing
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying—
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying.

"Unfortunate Coincidence" (1937)

[Parker]

8 Excuse my dust.
suggested epitaph for herself (1925)
Alexander Woollcott While Rome Burns (1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

[Parker]

9 Sorrow is tranquillity remembered in emotion.
Here Lies (1939) "Sentiment".

[Parker]

10 She ran the whole gamut of the emotions from A to B.
of Katharine Hepburn at a Broadway first night, 1933
attributed

[Parker]

11 Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply callisthenics with words.
in Paris Review Summer 1956

[Parker]

12 How do they know?
on being told that Calvin Coolidge had died
Malcolm Cowley Writers at Work 1st Series (1958)

[Parker]

13 Hollywood money isn't money. It's congealed snow, melts in your hand, and there you are.
Malcolm Cowley Writers at Work 1st Series (1958)

[Parker]

Back  -   New Search

Parker, Martin d. c.1656

1
You gentlemen of England
Who live at home at ease,
How little do you think
On the dangers of the seas.

"The Valiant Sailors"

2
The times will not mend
Till the King enjoys his own again.

"Upon Defacing of Whitehall" (1671)

[Parker]

Back  -   New Search

Parker, Ross 1914–74 and Charles, Hugh 1907–

1
There'll always be an England
While there's a country lane.

"There'll always be an England" (1939 song)

Back  -   New Search

Parkinson, C. Northcote 1909–93

1 Expenditure rises to meet income.
The Law and the Profits (1960) ch. 1

2 Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Parkinson's Law (1958) ch. 1

[Parkinson]

3 Time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.
Parkinson's Law (1958) ch. 3

[Parkinson]

Back  -   New Search

Parnell, Charles Stewart 1846–91

1 My policy is not a policy of conciliation, but a policy of retaliation.
in 1877, on his parliamentary tactics in the House of Commons as leader of the Irish party
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

2 No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country—thus far shalt thou go and no further.
speech at Cork, 21 January 1885

[Parnell]

Back  -   New Search

Parris, Matthew 1949–

1 of Lady Thatcher in the House of Lords:A big cat detained briefly in a poodle parlour, sharpening her claws on the velvet.
Look Behind You! (1993)

2 Being an MP feeds your vanity and starves your self-respect.
in The Times 9 February 1994

[Parris]

Back  -   New Search

Parsons, Tony 1953–

1 I never saw a beggar yet who would recognise guilt if it bit him on his unwashed ass.
Dispatches from the Front Line of Popular Culture (1994)

Back  -   New Search

Pascal, Blaise 1623–62

1 I have made this [letter] longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
Lettres Provinciales (1657) no. 16.

2 When we see a natural style, we are quite surprised and delighted, for we expected to see an author and we find a man.
Pensées (1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 1, no. 29

[Pascal]

3 Had Cleopatra's nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.
Pensées (1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 2, no. 162

[Pascal]

4 The eternal silence of these infinite spaces [the heavens] terrifies me.
Pensées (1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 2, no. 206

[Pascal]

5 The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.
Pensées (1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 4, no. 277

[Pascal]

6 Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
Pensées (1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 6, no. 347

[Pascal]

Back  -   New Search

Pasternak, Boris 1890–1960

1 Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.
Doctor Zhivago (1958) pt. 2, ch. 9, sect. 14 (tr. Max Hayward and Manya Harari)

2
Yet the order of the acts is planned
And the end of the way inescapable.
I am alone; all drowns in the Pharisees' hypocrisy.
To live your life is not as simple as to cross a field.

Doctor Zhivago (1958) "Zhivago's Poems: Hamlet"

[Pasternak]

Back  -   New Search

Pasteur, Louis 1822–95

1 Where observation is concerned, chance favours only the prepared mind.
address given on the inauguration of the Faculty of Science, University of Lille, 7 December 1854

2 There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.
address, 11 September 1872

[Pasteur]

Back  -   New Search

Pater, Walter 1839–94

1 She is older than the rocks among which she sits.
of the Mona Lisa
Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) "Leonardo da Vinci"

2 To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.
Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) "Conclusion"

[Pater]

Back  -   New Search

Paterson, "Banjo" 1864–1941

1
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree;
And he sang as he watched and waited till his "Billy" boiled:
"You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me."

"Waltzing Matilda" (1903 song)

Back  -   New Search

Patmore, Coventry 1823–96

1 The angel in the house.
title of poem (1854–62)

2
Some dish more sharply spiced than this
Milk-soup men call domestic bliss.

"Olympus" l. 15

[Patmore]

Back  -   New Search

Paton, Alan 1903–88

1 Cry, the beloved country.
title of novel (1948)

Back  -   New Search

Patrick, St fl. 5th cent.

1
Christ beside me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ within me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me.

"St Patrick's Breastplate"

Back  -   New Search

Paul, Leslie 1905–85

1 Angry young man.
the phrase was later associated with John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger (1956)
title of book (1951)

Back  -   New Search

Pauli, Wolfgang 1900–58

1 I don't mind your thinking slowly: I mind your publishing faster than you think.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Paxman, Jeremy 1950–

1 No government in history has been as obsessed with public relations as this one…Speaking for myself, if there is a message I want to be off it.
after criticism from Alastair Campbell of interviewing tactics in The World at One and Newsnight
in Daily Telegraph 3 July 1998

Back  -   New Search

Payn, James 1830–98

1
I had never had a piece of toast
Particularly long and wide,
But fell upon the sanded floor,
And always on the buttered side.

in Chambers's Journal 2 February 1884.

Back  -   New Search

Payne, J. H. 1791–1852

1 Home, sweet home.
title of song, from Clari, or, The Maid of Milan (1823 opera)

2
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Clari, or, The Maid of Milan (1823 opera) "Home, Sweet Home"

[Payne]

Back  -   New Search

Peacock, Thomas Love 1785–1866

1 My house has been broken open on the most scientific principles.
Crotchet Castle (1831) ch. 17

2 "I distinguish the picturesque and the beautiful, and I add to them, in the laying out of grounds, a third and distinct character, which I call unexpectedness."
"Pray, sir," said Mr Milestone, "by what name do you distinguish this character, when a person walks round the grounds for the second time?"

Headlong Hall (1816) ch. 4

[Peacock]

3 Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond.
Melincourt (1817) ch. 7

[Peacock]

4 Laughter is pleasant, but the exertion is too much for me.
Nightmare Abbey (1818) ch. 5

[Peacock]

Back  -   New Search

Peale, Norman Vincent 1898–1993

1 The power of positive thinking.
title of book (1952)

Back  -   New Search

Pearse, Patrick 1879–1916

1 The fools, the fools, the fools, they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.
oration over the grave of the Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, 1 August 1915

Back  -   New Search

Pearson, Lester 1897–1972

1 The grim fact is that we prepare for war like precocious giants and for peace like retarded pygmies.
speech in Toronto, 14 March 1955

Back  -   New Search

Peel, Robert 1788–1850

1 All my experience in public life is in favour of the employment of what the world would call young men instead of old ones.
to Wellington in 1829

2 The hasty inordinate demand for peace might be just as dangerous as the clamour for war.
in the House of Commons, 1832

[Peel]

3 I see no dignity in persevering in error.
in the House of Commons, 1833

[Peel]

4 Of all vulgar arts of government, that of solving every difficulty which might arise by thrusting the hand into the public purse is the most delusory and contemptible.
in the House of Commons, 1834

[Peel]

Back  -   New Search

Peele, George c.1556–96

1
When as the rye reach to the chin,
And chopcherry, chopcherry ripe within,
Strawberries swimming in the cream,
And schoolboys playing in the stream,
Then O, then O, then O, my true love said,
Till that time come again,
She could not live a maid.

The Old Wive's Tale (1595) l. 75 "Song"

2
His golden locks time hath to silver turned;
O time too swift, O swiftness never ceasing!

Polyhymnia (1590) "Sonnet"

[Peele]

3
Goddess, allow this aged man his right,
To be your beadsman now that was your knight.

Polyhymnia (1590) "Sonnet"

[Peele]

Back  -   New Search

Péguy, Charles 1873–1914

1 Tyranny is always better organised than freedom.
Basic Verities (1943) "War and Peace"

Back  -   New Search

Pelé 1940–

1 Football? It's the beautiful game.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Pembroke, Lord c.1501–70

1 Out ye whores, to work, to work, ye whores, go spin.
Andrew Clark (ed.) "Brief Lives"…by John Aubrey (1898)

Back  -   New Search

Pembroke, Lord c.1534–1601

1 A parliament can do any thing but make a man a woman, and a woman a man.
quoted by his son, the 4th Earl, in a speech on 11 April 1648, proving himself Chancellor of Oxford
in Harleian Miscellany (1745) vol. 5

Back  -   New Search

Pembroke, Henry Herbert, Lord 1734–94

1 Dr Johnson's sayings would not appear so extraordinary, were it not for his bow-wow way.
James Boswell Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) 27 March 1775.

Back  -   New Search

Peniakoff, Vladimir 1897–1951

1 A message came on the wireless for me. It said: "spread alarm and despondency". So the time had come, I thought, Eighth Army was taking the offensive. The date was, I think, May 18th, 1942.
Private Army (1950) pt. 2, ch. 5; the Army Act (1879) says that anyone who "spreads reports calculated to create unnecessary alarm or despondency" is liable to penal servitude

Back  -   New Search

Penn, William 1644–1718

1 No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
No Cross, No Crown (1669 pamphlet)

2 Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.
Some Fruits of Solitude (1693) pt. 1, no. 85

[Penn]

Back  -   New Search

Penrose, Roger 1931–

1 Consciousness…is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known.
The Emperor's New Mind (1989) ch. 10 "Conclusion"

Back  -   New Search

Pepys, Samuel 1633–1703

1 And so to bed.
Diary 20 April 1660

2 I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition.
Diary 13 October 1660

[Pepys]

3 Pretty witty Nell.
of Nell Gwyn
Diary 3 April 1665

[Pepys]

4 Strange to say what delight we married people have to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition.
Diary 25 December 1665

[Pepys]

5 Music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is.
Diary 9 March 1666

[Pepys]

6 And so I betake myself to that course, which is almost as much as to see myself go into my grave—for which, and all the discomforts that will accompany my being blind, the good God prepare me!
Diary 31 May 1669 closing lines

[Pepys]

7 Memoirs are true and useful stars, whilst studied histories are those stars joined in constellations, according to the fancy of the poet.
J. R. Tanner (ed.) Samuel Pepys's Naval Minutes (1926)

[Pepys]

Back  -   New Search

Perelman, S. J. 1904–79

1 Crazy like a fox.
title of book (1944)

Back  -   New Search

Peres, Shimon 1923–

1 Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
at a Davos meeting, in Financial Times 31 January 1995

Back  -   New Search

Pericles c.495 bc

1 For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War bk. 2

2 Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you.
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War bk. 2

[Pericles]

Back  -   New Search

Perón, Eva 1919–52

1 Keeping books on charity is capitalist nonsense! I just use the money for the poor. I can't stop to count it.
Fleur Cowles Bloody Precedent: the Peron Story (1952)

2 I will return. And I will be millions.
inscription on the tomb of Eva Perón, Buenos Aires

[Perón]

Back  -   New Search

Perrault, Charles 1628–1703

1 Anne, ma sœur Anne, ne vois-tu rien venir?Anne, sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?
Histoires et contes du temps passé (1697) "La barbe bleue"

Back  -   New Search

Perronet, Edward 1726–92

1
All hail the power of Jesus' Name;
Let Angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem
To crown Him Lord of all.

"All hail the power of Jesus' Name" (1780 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Perry, Jimmy

1
Who do you think you are kidding, Mister Hitler?
If you think we're on the run?

"Who do you think you are kidding, Mister Hitler" (theme song of Dad's Army, BBC television, 1968–77)

Back  -   New Search

Persons, Ted

1 Things ain't what they used to be.
title of song (1941)

Back  -   New Search

Pétain, Henri Philippe 1856–1951

1 To write one's memoirs is to speak ill of everybody except oneself.
in Observer 26 May 1946

Back  -   New Search

Peter, Laurence J. 1919–90

1 In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
The Peter Principle (1969) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Petronius Arbiter d. ad 65

1 Cave canem.Beware of the dog.
Satyricon "Cena Trimalchionis" ch. 29

2 Abiit ad plures.He's gone to join the majority.
meaning the dead
Satyricon "Cena Trimalchionis" ch. 42.

[Petronius]

3 Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: respondebat illa: I myself with my own eyes saw the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a flask; and when the boys cried at her: " Sibyl, Sibyl, what do you want?" "I would that I were dead," she used to answer.
Satyricon "Cena Trimalchionis" ch. 48, sect. 8.

[Petronius]

Back  -   New Search

Phelps, Edward John 1822–1900

1 The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.
speech at the Mansion House, London, 24 January 1889

Back  -   New Search

Philby, Kim 1912–88

1 To betray, you must first belong.
in Sunday Times 17 December 1967

Back  -   New Search

Philip, Prince, Duke of Edinburgh 1921–

1 Gentlemen, I think it is about time we "pulled our fingers out"…If we want to be more prosperous we've simply got to get down to it and work for it. The rest of the world does not owe us a living.
speech in London, 17 October 1961

Back  -   New Search

Philip, Jack 1840–1900

1 Don't cheer, men; those poor devils are dying.
at the Battle of Santiago, 4 July 1898
in Dictionary of American Biography vol. 14 (1934) "John Woodward Philip"

Back  -   New Search

Philips, Ambrose c.1675–1749

1
The flowers anew, returning seasons bring;
But beauty faded has no second spring.

The First Pastoral (1708) "Lobbin" l. 47

2
There solid billows of enormous size,
Alps of green ice, in wild disorder rise.

"A Winter-Piece" in The Tatler 7 May 1709

[Philips]

Back  -   New Search

Picasso, Pablo 1881–1973

1 No, painting is not made to decorate apartments. It's an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.
interview with Simone Téry, 24 March 1945, in Alfred H. Barr Picasso (1946)

2 God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.
F. Gilot and C. Lake Life With Picasso (1964) pt. 1

[Picasso]

3 Every positive value has its price in negative terms…The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.
F. Gilot and C. Lake Life With Picasso (1964) pt. 2

[Picasso]

Back  -   New Search

Pilger, John 1939–

1 I used to see Vietnam as a war, rather than a country.
in Sunday Times 1 December 1996

Back  -   New Search

Pimlott, Ben 1945–

1 If you have a Royal Family you have to make the best of whatever personalities the genetic lottery comes up with.
in Independent 13 September 1997 "Quote Unquote"

Back  -   New Search

Pindar 518 bc

1 Water is best. But gold shines like fire blazing in the night, supreme of lordly wealth.
Olympian Odes bk. 1, l. 1

Back  -   New Search

Pinter, Harold 1930–

1 If only I could get down to Sidcup! I've been waiting for the weather to break. He's got my papers, this man I left them with, it's got it all down there, I could prove everything.
The Caretaker (1960) act 1

2 The weasel under the cocktail cabinet.
on being asked what his plays were about
J. Russell Taylor Anger and After (1962)

[Pinter]

Back  -   New Search

Pirandello, Luigi 1867–1936

1 Six characters in search of an author.
title of play (1921)

Back  -   New Search

Pirsig, Robert M. 1928–

1 Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.
title of book (1974)

2 That's the classical mind at work, runs fine inside but looks dingy on the surface.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) pt. 3, ch. 26

[Pirsig]

Back  -   New Search

Pitkin, Walter B. 1878–1953

1 Life begins at forty.
title of book (1932)

Back  -   New Search

Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham 1708–78

1 The atrocious crime of being a young man…I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny.
speech, House of Commons, 2 March 1741

2 Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.
speech, House of Lords, 9 January 1770.

[Pitt]

3 I invoke the genius of the Constitution!
speech, House of Lords, 18 November 1777

[Pitt]

4 The parks are the lungs of London.
quoted by William Windham in the House of Commons, 30 June 1808

[Pitt]

Back  -   New Search

Pitt, William 1759–1806

1 England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example.
replying to a toast in which he had been described as the saviour of his country in the wars with France
R. Coupland War Speeches of William Pitt (1915)

2 Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years.
of a map of Europe, on hearing of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, December 1805
Earl Stanhope Life of the Rt. Hon. William Pitt vol. 4 (1862) ch. 43

[Pitt]

3 Oh, my country! how I leave my country!
also variously reported as "How I love my country"; and "My country! oh, my country!"
Earl Stanhope Life of the Rt. Hon. William Pitt vol. 3 (1879) ch. 43; Earl Stanhope Life of the Rt. Hon. William Pitt (1st ed.), vol. 4 (1862) ch. 43; and G. Rose Diaries and Correspondence (1860) vol. 2, 23 January 1806; oral tradition reports, "I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies"

[Pitt]

Back  -   New Search

Pius VII 1742–1823

1 We are prepared to go to the gates of Hell—but no further.
attempting to reach an agreement with Napoleon, c.1800–1
J. M. Robinson Cardinal Consalvi (1987)

Back  -   New Search

Pius XII 1876–1958

1 One Galileo in two thousand years is enough.
on being asked to proscribe the works of Teilhard de Chardin
attributed; Stafford Beer Platform for Change (1975)

Back  -   New Search

Planck, Max 1858–1947

1 A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
A Scientific Autobiography (1949, translated by F. Gaynor)

Back  -   New Search

Plath, Sylvia 1932–63

1
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

"Daddy" (1963)

2
Dying,
Is an art, like everything else.

"Lady Lazarus" (1963)

[Plath]

3
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.

"Lady Lazarus" (1963)

[Plath]

4
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.

"Morning Song" (1965)

[Plath]

Back  -   New Search

Plato 429 bc

1 Socrates, he says, breaks the law by corrupting young men and not recognizing the gods that the city recognizes, but some other new deities.
Apologia 24b

2 Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods?
Euthyphro 10

[Plato]

3 This was the end, Echekrates, of our friend; a man of whom we may say that of all whom we met at that time he was the wisest and justest and best.
on the death of Socrates
Phaedo 118a

[Plato]

4 Behold! human beings living in a underground den…Like ourselves…they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.
The Republic bk. 7, 515b.

[Plato]

Back  -   New Search

Plautus c.250 bc

1 Dictum sapienti sat est.A sentence is enough for a sensible man.
proverbially: "Verbum sapienti sat est [A word is enough for the wise]", and abbreviated to "verb. sap."
Persa l. 729

Back  -   New Search

Pliny the Elder ad 23–79

1 Semper aliquid novi Africam adferre.Africa always brings [us] something new.
often quoted as "Ex Africa semper aliquid novi [Always something new out of Africa]"
Historia Naturalis bk. 8, sect. 42

2 Addito salis grano.With the addition of a grain of salt.
commonly quoted as "Cum grano salis [With a grain of salt]"
Historia Naturalis bk. 23, sect. 149

[Pliny]

Back  -   New Search

Plomer, William 1903–73

1
Out of that bungled, unwise war
An alp of unforgiveness grew.

"The Boer War" (1960)

2
With first-rate sherry flowing into second-rate whores,
And third-rate conversation without one single pause:
Just like a young couple
Between the wars.

"Father and Son: 1939" (1945)

[Plomer]

Back  -   New Search

Plutarch ad c.46–120

1 For we are told that when a certain man was accusing both of them to him, he [Caesar] said that he had no fear of those fat and long-haired fellows, but rather of those pale and thin ones.
Parallel Lives "Anthony" sect. 11.

2 The man who is thought to have been the first to see beneath the surface of Caesar's public policy and to fear it, as one might fear the smiling surface of the sea.
of Cicero
Parallel Lives "Julius Caesar" sect. 4

[Plutarch]

3 He who cheats with an oath acknowledges that he is afraid of his enemy, but that he thinks little of God.
Parallel Lives "Lysander" ch. 8.

[Plutarch]

Back  -   New Search

Poe, Edgar Allan 1809–49

1
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love which was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee.

"Annabel Lee" (1849)

2
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells.

"The Bells" (1849) st. 1

[Poe]

3
Ghastly, grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!

"The Raven" (1845) st. 8

[Poe]

4
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore".

"The Raven" (1845) st. 17

[Poe]

5
The glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.

"To Helen" (1831)

[Poe]

Back  -   New Search

Poincaré, Henri 1854–1912

1 Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.
Science and Hypothesis (1905) ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Pompadour, Madame de 1721–64

1 Après nous le déluge.After us the deluge.
Madame du Hausset Mémoires (1824)

Back  -   New Search

Pope, Alexander 1688–1744

1
Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale.

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 1, l. 52

2
All crowd, who foremost shall be damned to Fame.

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 3, l. 158

[Pope]

3
A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 4, l. 90

[Pope]

4
The Right Divine of Kings to govern wrong.

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 4, l. 187

[Pope]

5
Stretched on the rack of a too easy chair.

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 4, l. 343

[Pope]

6
Thy truffles, Perigord! thy hams, Bayonne!

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 4, l. 558

[Pope]

7
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.

The Dunciad (1742) bk. 4, l. 653

[Pope]

8
Vital spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!

"The Dying Christian to his Soul" (1730).

[Pope]

9
On all the line a sudden vengeance waits,
And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates.

"Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" (1717) l. 37

[Pope]

10
How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense,
And love th'offender, yet detest th'offence?

"Eloisa to Abelard" (1717) l. 191.

[Pope]

11
You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come:
Knock as you please, there's nobody at home.

"Epigram: You beat your pate" (1732)

[Pope]

12
I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray, tell me sir, whose dog are you?

"Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog which I gave to his Royal Highness" (1738)

[Pope]

13
Sir, I admit your gen'ral rule
That every poet is a fool:
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.

"Epigram from the French" (1732)

[Pope]

14
You think this cruel? take it for a rule,
No creature smarts so little as a fool.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 83

[Pope]

15
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 127

[Pope]

16
The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife,
To help me through this long disease, my life.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 131

[Pope]

17
And he, whose fustian's so sublimely bad,
It is not poetry, but prose run mad.

"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 187

[Pope]

18
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.

of Addison
"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 201.

[Pope]

19
"Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?"

of Lord Hervey
"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 307

[Pope]

20
Unlearn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art,
No language, but the language of the heart.

of his own father
"An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735) l. 398

[Pope]

21
Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside,
A teeming mistress, but a barren bride.

Epistles to Several Persons "To a Lady" (1735) l. 71

[Pope]

22
See how the world its veterans rewards!
A youth of frolics, an old age of cards.

Epistles to Several Persons "To a Lady" (1735) l. 243

[Pope]

23
And mistress of herself, though china fall.

Epistles to Several Persons "To a Lady" (1735) l. 268

[Pope]

24
Who shall decide, when doctors disagree?

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Bathurst" (1733) l. 1

[Pope]

25
Die, and endow a college, or a cat.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Bathurst" (1733) l. 98

[Pope]

26
The ruling passion, be it what it will,
The ruling passion conquers reason still.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Bathurst" (1733) l. 155.

[Pope]

27
Consult the genius of the place in all.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 57.

[Pope]

28
To rest, the cushion and soft Dean invite,
Who never mentions Hell to ears polite.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 149

[Pope]

29
Deep harvests bury all his pride has planned,
And laughing Ceres re-assume the land.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 175

[Pope]

30
'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Burlington" (1731) l. 179

[Pope]

31
Search then the Ruling Passion: There, alone,
The wild are constant, and the cunning known;
The fool consistent, and the false sincere.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Cobham" (1734) l. 174.

[Pope]

32
Odious! in woollen! 'twould a saint provoke!

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Cobham" (1734) l. 242

[Pope]

33
Old politicians chew on wisdom past,
And totter on in business to the last.

Epistles to Several Persons "To Lord Cobham" (1734) l. 248

[Pope]

34
She went, to plain-work, and to purling brooks,
Old-fashioned halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks.

"Epistle to Miss Blount, on her leaving the Town, after the Coronation [of King George I, 1715]" (1717)

[Pope]

35
Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,
Court the slow clock, and dine exact at noon.

"Epistle to Miss Blount, on her leaving the Town, after the Coronation [of King George I, 1715]" (1717)

[Pope]

36
Nature, and Nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

"Epitaph: Intended for Sir Isaac Newton" (1730).

[Pope]

37
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 215.

[Pope]

38
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 232

[Pope]

39
True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 297

[Pope]

40 Expression is the dress of thought.
An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 318

[Pope]

41
As some to church repair,
Not for the doctrine, but the music there.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 342

[Pope]

42
A needless Alexandrine ends the song,
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 356

[Pope]

43
Some praise at morning what they blame at night;
But always think the last opinion right.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 430

[Pope]

44
To err is human; to forgive, divine.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 525

[Pope]

45
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

An Essay on Criticism (1711) l. 625

[Pope]

46
Eye Nature's walks, shoot Folly as it flies,
And catch the Manners living as they rise.
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can;
But vindicate the ways of God to man.

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 13.

[Pope]

47
Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 83

[Pope]

48
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never Is, but always To be blest.

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 95

[Pope]

49
Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 99

[Pope]

50
Why has not man a microscopic eye?
For this plain reason, man is not a fly.

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 193

[Pope]

51
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 217

[Pope]

52
And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,
One truth is clear, "Whatever is, is right."

An Essay on Man Epistle 1 (1733) l. 293

[Pope]

53
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.

An Essay on Man Epistle 2 (1733) l. 1

[Pope]

54
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

An Essay on Man Epistle 2 (1733) l. 15

[Pope]

55
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.

An Essay on Man Epistle 2 (1733) l. 275

[Pope]

56
For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administered is best.

An Essay on Man Epistle 3 (1733) l. 303

[Pope]

57
Thus God and nature linked the gen'ral frame,
And bade self-love and social be the same.

An Essay on Man Epistle 3 (1733) l. 317; An Essay on Man Epistle 4 (1734) l. 396 is similar

[Pope]

58
An honest man's the noblest work of God.

An Essay on Man Epistle 4 (1734) l. 248.

[Pope]

59
All our knowledge is, ourselves to know.

An Essay on Man Epistle 4 (1734) l. 398

[Pope]

60
Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing!

translation of The Iliad (1715) bk. 1, l. 1.

[Pope]

61
For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best,
Welcome the coming, speed the going guest.

Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 2, Satire 2 (1734) l. 159; Pope's translation of The Odyssey (1725–6) bk. 15, l. 84, has "Speed the parting guest"

[Pope]

62
Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace;
If not, by any means get wealth and place.

Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 1, Epistle 1 (1738) l. 103.

[Pope]

63
Not to admire, is all the art I know,
To make men happy, and to keep them so.

Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 1, Epistle 6 (1738) l. 1.

[Pope]

64
The people's voice is odd,
It is, and it is not, the voice of God.

Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 89.

[Pope]

65
But those who cannot write, and those who can,
All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man.
Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 187
[Pope]

66
Ev'n copious Dryden, wanted, or forgot,
The last and greatest art, the art to blot.

Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 280.

[Pope]

67
There still remains, to mortify a wit,
The many-headed monster of the pit.

Imitations of Horace Horace bk. 2, Epistle 1 (1737) l. 304

[Pope]

68
Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.

Imitations of Horace Epilogue to the Satires (1738) Dialogue 1, l. 135

[Pope]

69
Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade,
Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade.

Pastorals (1709) "Summer" l. 73

[Pope]

70
They shift the moving toyshop of their heart.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 1, l. 100

[Pope]

71
Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 2, l. 27

[Pope]

72
Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 2, l. 52

[Pope]

73
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 3, l. 7

[Pope]

74
At ev'ry word a reputation dies.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 3, l. 16.

[Pope]

75
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jury-men may dine.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 3, l. 21

[Pope]

76
Coffee, (which makes the politician wise,
And see thro' all things with his half-shut eyes).

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 3, l. 117

[Pope]

77
Not louder shrieks to pitying heav'n are cast,
When husbands or when lapdogs breathe their last.

The Rape of the Lock (1714) canto 3, l. 157

[Pope]

78 Party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.
letter to Edward Blount, 27 August 1714

[Pope]

79 To endeavour to work upon the vulgar with fine sense, is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.
Miscellanies (1727) vol. 2 "Thoughts on Various Subjects"

[Pope]

80 All gardening is landscape-painting.
Joseph Spence Anecdotes (ed. J. Osborn, 1966) no. 606

[Pope]

81 Here am I, dying of a hundred good symptoms.
to George, Lord Lyttelton, 15 May 1744

[Pope]

Back  -   New Search

Popper, Karl 1902–94

1 We may become the makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets.
The Open Society and its Enemies (1945) introduction

2 Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.
"The Philosophy of Science" in C. A. Mace (ed.) British Philosophy in the Mid-Century (1957)

[Popper]

Back  -   New Search

Porter, Cole 1891–1964

1
But I'm always true to you, darlin', in my fashion.
Yes I'm always true to you, darlin', in my way.

"Always True to You in my Fashion" (1949 song)

2
In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
Now, heaven knows,
Anything goes.

"Anything Goes" (1934 song)

[Porter]

3
When they begin the Beguine.

"Begin the Beguine" (1935 song)

[Porter]

4
I get no kick from champagne,
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all,
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you?

"I Get a Kick Out of You" (1934 song) in Anything Goes

[Porter]

5
Birds do it, bees do it,
Even educated fleas do it.
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

"Let's Do It" (1954 song; words added to the 1928 original)

[Porter]

6 Miss Otis regrets (she's unable to lunch today).
title of song (1934)

[Porter]

7
What a swell party this is.

"Well, Did You Evah?" (1940 song; revived for the film High Society, 1956)

[Porter]

8
You're the top! You're the Coliseum,
You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum,

"You're the Top" (1934 song) in Anything Goes

[Porter]

Back  -   New Search

Porteus, Beilby 1731–1808

1
…One murder made a villain,
Millions a hero.

Death (1759) l. 154.

2
War its thousands slays, Peace its ten thousands.

Death (1759) l. 179.

[Porteus]

Back  -   New Search

Pott, Francis 1832–1909

1
The strife is o'er, the battle done;
Now is the Victor's triumph won;
O let the song of praise be sung:
Alleluia!

"The strife is o'er, the battle done" (1861 hymn); translation of "Finita iam sunt praelia" (c.1695)

Back  -   New Search

Potter, Beatrix 1866–1943

1 It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is "soporific".
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)

2 Don't go into Mr McGregor's garden: your father had an accident there, he was put into a pie by Mrs McGregor.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)

[Potter]

Back  -   New Search

Potter, Dennis 1935–94

1 Below my window…the blossom is out in full now…I see it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomiest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it…The nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous.
on his heightened awareness of things, in the face of his imminent death
interview with Melvyn Bragg on Channel 4, March 1994

2 Religion to me has always been the wound, not the bandage.
interview with Melvyn Bragg on Channel 4, March 1994

[Potter]

Back  -   New Search

Potter, Stephen 1900–69

1 How to be one up—how to make the other man feel that something has gone wrong, however slightly.
Lifemanship (1950)

2 "Yes, but not in the South", with slight adjustments, will do for any argument about any place, if not about any person.
Lifemanship (1950) p. 43

[Potter]

3 A good general rule is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa.
on wine-tasting
One-Upmanship (1952) ch. 14

[Potter]

4 The theory and practice of gamesmanship or The art of winning games without actually cheating.
title of book (1947)

[Potter]

Back  -   New Search

Pound, Ezra 1885–1972

1
Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

"Ancient Music" (1917).

2
Tching prayed on the mountain and
wrote make it new
on his bath tub.

Cantos (1954) no. 53.

[Pound]

3
Hang it all, Robert Browning,
There can be but the one "Sordello".

Draft of XXX Cantos (1930) no. 2

[Pound]

4
And even I can remember
A day when the historians left blanks in their writings,
I mean for things they didn't know.

Draft of XXX Cantos (1930) no. 13

[Pound]

5
Died some, pro patria,
non "dulce" non "et decor"…
walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men's lies, the unbelieving
came home, home to a lie.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) "E. P. Ode…" pt. 4.

[Pound]

6
There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) "E. P. Ode…" pt. 5

[Pound]

7
The ant's a centaur in his dragon world.

Pisan Cantos (1948) no. 81

[Pound]

8
Pull down thy vanity
Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail,
A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,
Half black half white
Nor knowst'ou wing from tail.

Pisan Cantos (1948) no. 81

[Pound]

9 Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.
The ABC of Reading (1934) "Warning"

[Pound]

10 Literature is news that stays news.
The ABC of Reading (1934) ch. 2

[Pound]

11 Poetry must be as well written as prose.
letter to Harriet Monroe, January 1915

[Pound]

Back  -   New Search

Poussin, Nicolas 1594–1665

1 An imitation in lines and colours on any surface of all that is to be found under the sun.
of painting
letter to M. de Chambray, 1665

Back  -   New Search

Powell, Anthony 1905–2000

1 Books do furnish a room.
title of novel (1971).

2 A dance to the music of time.
title of novel sequence (1951–75), after "Le 4 stagioni che ballano al suono del tempo [The four seasons dancing to the sound of time]", title given by Giovanni Pietro Bellori to a painting by Nicolas Poussin

[Powell]

3 He's so wet you could shoot snipe off him.
A Question of Upbringing (1951) ch. 1

[Powell]

4 Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed.
Temporary Kings (1973) ch. 1

[Powell]

Back  -   New Search

Powell, Colin 1937–

1 First, we are going to cut it off, and then, we are going to kill it.
strategy for dealing with the Iraqi Army in the Gulf War
at a press conference, 23 January 1991

Back  -   New Search

Powell, Enoch 1912–98

1 History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen.
speech to the Conservative Party Conference, 19 October 1967

2 As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood".
speech in Birmingham, 20 April 1968.

[Powell]

3 For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea.
in Guardian 3 December 1984

[Powell]

4 All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.
Joseph Chamberlain (1977)

[Powell]

Back  -   New Search

Power, John O'Connor 1848–1919

1 The mules of politics: without pride of ancestry, or hope of posterity.
of the Liberal Unionists
H. H. Asquith Memories and Reflections (1928) vol. 1, ch. 16.

Back  -   New Search

Pratchett, Terry 1948–

1 Most modern fantasy just rearranges the furniture in Tolkien's attic.
Stan Nicholls (ed.) Wordsmiths of Wonder (1993)

Back  -   New Search

Prescott, John 1938–

1 People like me were branded, pigeon-holed, a ceiling put on our ambitions.
on failing his 11-plus
speech at Ruskin College, Oxford, 13 June 1996

2 We did it! Let's wallow in our victory!
on Tony Blair's warning that the Labour Party should not be triumphalist in victory
speech to the Labour Party Conference, 29 September 1997

[Prescott]

Back  -   New Search

Preston, Keith 1884–1927

1
Of all the literary scenes
Saddest this sight to me:
The graves of little magazines
Who died to make verse free.

"The Liberators"

Back  -   New Search

Prévert, Jacques 1900–77

1 C'est tellement simple, l'amour.Love is so simple.
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945 film)

Back  -   New Search

Price, Richard 1723–91

1 Now, methinks, I see the ardour for liberty catching and spreading; a general amendment beginning in human affairs; the dominion of kings changed for the dominion of laws, and the dominion of priests giving way to the dominion of reason and conscience.
A Discourse on the Love of our Country (1790)

Back  -   New Search

Priestley, J. B. 1894–1984

1 First you take their faces from 'em by calling 'em the masses and then you accuse 'em of not having any faces.
Saturn Over the Water (1961) ch. 2

2 Our great-grand-children, when they learn how we began this war by snatching glory out of defeat, and then swept on to victory, may also learn how the little holiday steamers made an excursion to hell and came back glorious.
radio broadcast, 5 June 1940

[Priestley]

Back  -   New Search

Prior, Matthew 1664–1721

1
Be to her virtues very kind;
Be to her faults a little blind;
Let all her ways be unconfined;
And clap your padlock—on her mind.

"An English Padlock" (1705) l. 79

2
Euphelia serves to grace my measure;
But Chloe is my real flame.

"An Ode" (1709)

[Prior]

3
Cured yesterday of my disease,
I died last night of my physician.

"The Remedy Worse than the Disease" (1727)

[Prior]

4
No, no; for my virginity,
When I lose that, says Rose, I'll die:
Behind the elms last night, cried Dick,
Rose, were you not extremely sick?

"A True Maid" (1718)

[Prior]

Back  -   New Search

Pritchett, V. S. 1900–97

1 The principle of procrastinated rape is said to be the ruling one in all the great best-sellers.
The Living Novel (1946) "Clarissa"

Back  -   New Search

Procter, Adelaide Ann 1825–64

1 A lost chord.
title of poem (1858)

2
It may be that Death's bright Angel
Will speak in that chord again
It may be that only in Heaven
I shall hear that grand Amen.

"A Lost Chord" (1858)

[Procter]

Back  -   New Search

Protagoras b. c.485 bc

1 That man is the measure of all things.
Plato Theaetetus 160d

Back  -   New Search

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph 1809–65

1 La propriété c'est le vol.Property is theft.
Qu'est-ce que la propriété? (1840) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Proust, Marcel 1871–1922

Textual translations are those of C. K. Scott-Moncrieff and S. Hudson, revised by T. Kilmartin, 1981 1 And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray…my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane.
Du côté de chez Swann (Swann's Way, 1913) vol. 1

2 I have a horror of sunsets, they're so romantic, so operatic.
Sodome et Gomorrhe (Cities of the Plain, 1922) vol. 1

[Proust]

3 We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.
Albertine disparue (The Sweet Cheat Gone, 1925) ch. 1

[Proust]

4 The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost.
Le Temps retrouvé (Time Regained, 1926) ch. 3

[Proust]

Back  -   New Search

Publilius Syrus

1 A beautiful face is a mute recommendation.
Sententiae no. 199, in J. and A. Duff Minor Latin Poets (Loeb ed., 1934); translated by Thomas Tenison in Baconiana (1679) "Ornamenta Rationalia" no. 12

2 Inopi beneficium bis dat qui dat celeriter.He gives the poor man twice as much good who gives quickly.
proverbially "Bis dat qui cito dat [He gives twice who gives soon]"
Sententiae no. 274, in J. and A. Duff Minor Latin Poets

[Publilius]

3 Necessitas dat legem non ipsa accipit.Necessity gives the law without itself acknowledging one.
proverbially "Necessitas non habet legem [Necessity has no law]"
Sententiae no. 444, in J. and A. Duff Minor Latin Poets

[Publilius]

Back  -   New Search

Pudney, John 1909–77

1
Do not despair
For Johnny-head-in-air;
He sleeps as sound
As Johnny underground.

"For Johnny" (1942).

Back  -   New Search

Pugin, Augustus Welby 1812–52

1 There is nothing worth living for but Christian Architecture and a boat.
in The Builder 1852 vol. 10

2 Nothing can be more dangerous than looking at prints of buildings, and trying to imitate bits of them. These architectural books are as bad as the Scriptures in the hands of the Protestants.
J. Mordaunt Crook Dilemma of Style (1987)

[Pugin]

Back  -   New Search

Pulitzer, Joseph 1847–1911

1 A cynical, mercenary, demagogic, corrupt press will produce in time a people as base as itself.
inscribed on the gateway to the Columbia School of Journalism in New York
W. J. Granberg The World of Joseph Pulitzer (1965)

Back  -   New Search

Pulteney, William, Earl of Bath 1684–1764

1
For Sir Ph—p well knows
That innuendos
Will serve him no longer in verse or in prose,
Since twelve honest men have decided the cause,
And were judges of fact, tho' not judges of laws.

on the unsuccessful prosecution of The Craftsman, 1729 by Philip Yorke, later Lord Hardwicke
"The Honest Jury" (1729) st. 3

Back  -   New Search

Punch 1841–1992

1 Advice to persons about to marry.—"Don't."
4 January 1845.

2 You pays your money and you takes your choice.
3 January 1846

[Punch]

3 Never do to-day what you can put off till to-morrow.
22 December 1849

[Punch]

4 Who's 'im, Bill?
A stranger!
'Eave 'arf a brick at 'im.

25 February 1854

[Punch]

5 What is Matter?—Never mind.
What is Mind?—No matter.

14 July 1855

[Punch]

6 Mun, a had na' been the-erre abune two hours when—bang—went saxpence!!!
5 December 1868

[Punch]

7 Cats is "dogs" and rabbits is "dogs" and so's Parrats, but this 'ere "Tortis" is a insect, and there ain't no charge for it.
6 March 1869

[Punch]

8 Go directly—see what she's doing, and tell her she mustn't.
16 November 1872

[Punch]

9 There was one poor tiger that hadn't got a Christian.
3 April 1875

[Punch]

10 I never read books—I write them.
11 May 1878.

[Punch]

11 wife of two years' standing: Oh yes! I'm sure he's not so fond of me as at first. He's away so much, neglects me dreadfully, and he's so cross when he comes home. What shall I do?
widow: Feed the brute!

31 October 1885

[Punch]

12 I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones.
Oh no, my Lord, I assure you! Parts of it are excellent!

11 May 1895

[Punch]

13 Look here, Steward, if this is coffee, I want tea; but if this is tea, then I wish for coffee.
23 July 1902

[Punch]

14 Sometimes I sits and thinks, and then again I just sits.
24 October 1906

[Punch]

Back  -   New Search

Pushkin, Alexander 1799–1837

1
A tedious season they await
Who hear November at the gate.

Eugene Onegin (1833) ch. 4, st. 40 (translated by Babette Deutsch)

2
Moscow: those syllables can start
A tumult in the Russian heart.

Eugene Onegin (1833) ch. 7, st. 36 (translated by Babette Deutsch)

[Pushkin]

3
A green oak grows by a curving shore;
And round that oak hangs a golden chain.

Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820) "Prologue" (translated by Elisaveta Fen)

[Pushkin]

Back  -   New Search

Putnam, Israel 1718–90

1 Don't one of you fire until you see the white of their eyes.
also attributed to William Prescott (1726–95)
at Bunker Hill, 1775, in R. Frothingham History of the Siege of Boston (1873) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Puzo, Mario 1920–99

1 I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.
The Godfather (1969) ch. 1

2 A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
The Godfather (1969) ch. 1

[Puzo]

Back  -   New Search

Pyrrhus 319 bc

1 One more such victory and we are lost.
on defeating the Romans at Asculum, 279 bc
Plutarch Parallel Lives "Pyrrhus" ch. 21, sect. 9

Back  -   New Search

Q

Quant, Mary 1934–

1 Being young is greatly overestimated…Any failure seems so total. Later on you realize you can have another go.
interview in Observer 5 May 1996

Back  -   New Search

Quarles, Francis 1592–1644

1
Our God and soldiers we alike adore
Ev'n at the brink of danger; not before:
After deliverance, both alike requited,
Our God's forgotten, and our soldiers slighted.

Divine Fancies (1632) "Of Common Devotion".

2
We spend our midday sweat, our midnight oil;
We tire the night in thought, the day in toil.

Emblems (1635) bk. 2, no. 2, l. 33

[Quarles]

3
Man is man's A.B.C. There is none that can
Read God aright, unless he first spell Man.

Hieroglyphics of the Life of Man (1638) no. 1, l. 1

[Quarles]

4
We'll cry both arts and learning down,
And hey! then up go we!

The Shepherd's Oracles (1646) Eclogue 11 "Song of Anarchus"

[Quarles]

Back  -   New Search

Quiller-Couch, Arthur ("Q") 1863–1944

1 The best is the best, though a hundred judges have declared it so.
Oxford Book of English Verse (1900) preface

2 All the old statues of Victory have wings: but Grief has no wings. She is the unwelcome lodger that squats on the hearthstone between us and the fire and will not move or be dislodged.
Armistice Day anniversary sermon, Cambridge, November 1923

[Quiller-Couch]

Back  -   New Search

Quincy, Josiah 1772–1864

1 As it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, definitely to prepare for a separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must.
speech, 14 January 1811.

Back  -   New Search

Quine, W. V. O. 1908–

1 It is the tension between the scientist's laws and his own attempted breaches of them that powers the engines of science and makes it forge ahead.
Quiddities (1987) p. 8 "Anomaly"

Back  -   New Search

Qur'an, The

see The Koran

Back  -   New Search

R

Rabelais, François c.1494–1553

1 The appetite grows by eating.
Gargantua (1534) bk. 1, ch. 5

2 Nature abhors a vacuum.
quoting, in Latin, an article of ancient wisdom
Gargantua (1534) bk. 1, ch. 5

[Rabelais]

3 Fay ce que vouldras.Do what you like.
Gargantua (1534) bk. 1, ch. 57.

[Rabelais]

4 A child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit.
attributed

[Rabelais]

5 I am going to seek a great perhaps…Bring down the curtain, the farce is played out.
last words; attributed, but probably apocryphal

[Rabelais]

Back  -   New Search

Rabin, Yitzhak 1922–95

1 We say to you today in a loud and a clear voice: enough of blood and tears. Enough.
to the Palestinians, at the signing of the Israel–Palestine Declaration
in Washington, 13 September, 1993

Back  -   New Search

Racine, Jean 1639–99

1 I have loved him too much not to feel any hatred for him.
Andromaque (1667) act 2, sc. 1

2 She floats, she hesitates; in a word, she's a woman.
Athalie (1691) act 3, sc. 3

[Racine]

3
C'est Vénus tout entière à sa proie attachée.
It's Venus entire latched onto her prey.
Phèdre (1677) act 1, sc. 3

[Racine]

4 Dans le fond des forêts votre image me suit.Deep in the forest glade your picture chases me.
Phèdre (1677) act 2, sc. 2

[Racine]

Back  -   New Search

Rado, James 1939– and Ragni, Gerome 1942–

1
When the moon is in the seventh house,
And Jupiter aligns with Mars…
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

"Aquarius" (1967 song) in Hair

Back  -   New Search

Rainborowe, Thomas d. 1648

1 The poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he.
during the Army debates at Putney, 29 October 1647

Back  -   New Search

Raine, Kathleen 1908–

1
He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water.

"The Marriage of Psyche" (1952)

Back  -   New Search

Ralegh, Walter c.1552–1618

1
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee, and be thy love.

"Answer to Marlow"

2
Say to the court, it glows
And shines like rotten wood;
Say to the church, it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.

"The Lie" (1608)

[Ralegh]

3
Give me my scallop-shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope's true gage,
And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.

"The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage" (1604)

[Ralegh]

4
But true love is a durable fire,
In the mind ever burning.

"Walsinghame"

[Ralegh]

5
Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.

line written on a window-pane, in Thomas Fuller History of the Worthies of England (1662) "Devonshire".

[Ralegh]

6
Even such is Time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days:
And from which earth, and grave, and dust,
The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.

written the night before his death, and found in his Bible in the Gate-house at Westminster

[Ralegh]

7 O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!…thou hast drawn together all the farstretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hic jacet [Here lies].
The History of the World (1614) bk. 5, ch. 6

[Ralegh]

8 'Tis a sharp remedy, but a sure one for all ills.
on feeling the edge of the axe prior to his execution
D. Hume History of Great Britain (1754) vol. 1, ch. 4

[Ralegh]

9 So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies.
at his execution, on being asked which way he preferred to lay his head
W. Stebbing Sir Walter Raleigh (1891) ch. 30

[Ralegh]

Back  -   New Search

Raleigh, Walter 1861–1922

1 In examinations those who do not wish to know ask questions of those who cannot tell.
Laughter from a Cloud (1923) "Some Thoughts on Examinations"

2
I wish I loved the Human Race;
I wish I loved its silly face.

"Wishes of an Elderly Man" (1923)

[Raleigh]

3 An anthology is like all the plums and orange peel picked out of a cake.
letter to Mrs Robert Bridges, 15 January 1915

[Raleigh]

Back  -   New Search

Randolph, John 1773–1833

1 Never were abilities so much below mediocrity so well rewarded; no, not when Caligula's horse was made Consul.
on the appointment of Richard Rush as US Secretary of the Treasury
speech, 1 February 1828

2 He is a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt. He shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight.
of Edward Livingston
W. Cabell Bruce John Randolph of Roanoke (1923) vol. 2

[Randolph]

Back  -   New Search

Ransome, Arthur 1884–1967

1 better drowned than duffers if not duffers wont drown.
Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons (1930) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Ratner, Gerald 1949–

1 We even sell a pair of earrings for under £1, which is cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencers. But I have to say the earrings probably won't last as long.
speech to the Institute of Directors, Albert Hall, 23 April 1991

Back  -   New Search

Rattigan, Terence 1911–77

1 You can be in the Horseguards and still be common, dear.
Separate Tables (1954) "Table Number Seven" sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Raymond, Derek 1931–94

1 The psychopath is the furnace that gives no heat.
The Hidden Files (1992)

Back  -   New Search

Read, Herbert 1893–1968

1 Art is…pattern informed by sensibility.
The Meaning of Art (1955) ch. 1

2
I saw him stab
And stab again
A well-killed Boche.

This is the happy warrior,
This is he…

Naked Warriors (1919) "The Scene of War, 4. The Happy Warrior".

[Read]

Back  -   New Search

Reade, Charles 1814–84

1 Courage, mon ami, le diable est mort!Take courage, my friend, the devil is dead!
The Cloister and the Hearth (1861) ch. 24, and passim

2 Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
attributed; in Notes and Queries (9th Series) vol. 12, 17 October 1903

[Reade]

Back  -   New Search

Reagan, Nancy 1923–

1 If the President has a bully pulpit, then the First Lady has a white glove pulpit…more refined, restricted, ceremonial, but it's a pulpit all the same.
in New York Times 10 March 1988.

Back  -   New Search

Reagan, Ronald 1911–

1 Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
at a conference in Los Angeles, 2 March 1977.

2 An evil empire.
of the Soviet Union
speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, 8 March 1983

[Reagan]

3 We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
after the loss of the space shuttle Challenger with all its crew
broadcast from the Oval Office, 28 January 1986.

[Reagan]

4 I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life.
statement to the American people revealing that he had Alzheimer's disease
in Daily Telegraph 5 January 1995

[Reagan]

Back  -   New Search

Reaves, Erell

1
Lady of Spain, I adore you.
Right from the night I first saw you,
My heart has been yearning for you,
What else could any heart do?

"Lady of Spain" (1913 song)

Back  -   New Search

Red Cloud 1822–1909

1 You have heard the sound of the white soldier's axe upon the Little Piney. His presence here is…an insult to the spirits of our ancestors. Are we then to give up their sacred graves to be ploughed for corn? Dakotas, I am for war!
speech at council at Fort Laramie, 1866; Charles A. Eastman Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains (1918)

Back  -   New Search

Reed, Henry 1914–86

1
As we get older we do not get any younger.
Seasons return, and today I am fifty-five,
And this time last year I was fifty-four,
And this time next year I shall be sixty-two.

"Chard Whitlow (Mr Eliot's Sunday Evening Postscript)" (1946)

2
Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighbour gardens,
And today we have naming of parts.

"Lessons of the War: 1, Naming of Parts" (1946)

[Reed]

3
They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For today we have naming of parts.

"Lessons of the War: 1, Naming of Parts" (1946)

[Reed]

4 And the sooner the tea's out of the way, the sooner we can get out the gin, eh?
Private Life of Hilda Tablet (1954 radio play) in Hilda Tablet and Others (1971)

[Reed]

5 Modest? My word, no…He was an all-the-lights-on man.
A Very Great Man Indeed (1953 radio play) in Hilda Tablet and Others (1971)

[Reed]

6 I have known her pass the whole evening without mentioning a single book, or in fact anything unpleasant, at all.
A Very Great Man Indeed (1953 radio play) in Hilda Tablet and Others (1971)

[Reed]

Back  -   New Search

Reed, John 1887–1920

1 Ten days that shook the world.
title of book (1919)

Back  -   New Search

Reger, Max 1873–1916

1 I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me.
responding to a savage review by Rudolph Louis in Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, 7 February 1906
Nicolas Slonimsky Lexicon of Musical Invective (1953)

Back  -   New Search

Reid, Keith 1946–

1
Her face, at first…just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (1967 song)

Back  -   New Search

Remarque, Erich Maria 1898–1970

1 All quiet on the western front.
English title of Im Westen nichts Neues (1929 novel)

Back  -   New Search

Rendall, Montague John 1862–1950

1 Nation shall speak peace unto nation.
motto of the BBC.

Back  -   New Search

Renoir, Pierre Auguste 1841–1919

1 I paint with my prick.
perhaps an inversion of "It's with my brush that I make love"
A. André Renoir (1919)

Back  -   New Search

Reuther, Walter 1907–70

1 If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it just may be a duck.
as a test, during the McCarthy era, of Communist affiliations
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Revere, Paul 1735–1818

1 [We agreed] that if the British went out by water, we would show two lanterns in the North Church steeple; and if by land, one as a signal.
signals to be used if the British troops moved out of Boston
arrangements agreed with the Charlestown Committee of Safety on 16 April, 1775

Back  -   New Search

Revson, Charles 1906–75

1 In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope.
A. Tobias Fire and Ice (1976)

Back  -   New Search

Reynolds, Frederic 1764–1841

1 It is better to have written a damned play, than no play at all—it snatches a man from obscurity.
The Dramatist (1789) act 1, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Reynolds, Joshua 1723–92

1 If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency.
Discourses on Art (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 2 (11 December 1769)

2 Genius…is the child of imitation.
Discourses on Art (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 6 (10 December 1774)

[Reynolds]

Back  -   New Search

Reynolds, Malvina 1900–78

1
Little boxes on the hillside…
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

on the tract houses in the hills to the south of San Francisco
"Little Boxes" (1962 song)

Back  -   New Search

Rhodes, Cecil 1853–1902

1 Ask any man what nationality he would prefer to be, and ninety-nine out of a hundred will tell you that they would prefer to be Englishmen.
Gordon Le Sueur Cecil Rhodes (1913)

2 So little done, so much to do.
on the day of his death
Lewis Michell Life of Rhodes (1910) vol. 2, ch. 39.

[Rhodes]

Back  -   New Search

Rhys, Jean c.1890–1979

1 The perpetual hunger to be beautiful and that thirst to be loved which is the real curse of Eve.
The Left Bank (1927) "Illusion"

2 Love was a terrible thing. You poisoned it and stabbed at it and knocked it down into the mud—well down—and it got up and staggered on, bleeding and muddy and awful. Like—like Rasputin.
Quartet (1928)

[Rhys]

3 A doormat in a world of boots.
describing herself
in Guardian 6 December 1990

[Rhys]

Back  -   New Search

Ricardo, David 1772–1823

1 Rent is that portion of the earth, which is paid to the landlord for the use of the original and indestructible powers of the soil.
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Rice, Grantland 1880–1954

1
For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name,
He writes—not that you won or lost—but how you played the Game.

"Alumnus Football" (1941)

2
All wars are planned by old men
In council rooms apart.

"The Two Sides of War" (1955)

[Rice]

Back  -   New Search

Rice, Stephen 1637–1715

1 I will drive a coach and six horses through the Act of Settlement.
W. King State of the Protestants of Ireland (1672) ch. 3, sect. 8

Back  -   New Search

Rice-Davies, Mandy 1944–

1 He would, wouldn't he?
on hearing that Lord Astor denied her allegations, concerning himself and his house parties at Cliveden
at the trial of Stephen Ward, 29 June 1963

Back  -   New Search

Richards, Ann 1933–

1 Poor George, he can't help it—he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.
of George Bush
keynote speech at the Democratic convention, 1988

Back  -   New Search

Richards, Frank (Charles Hamilton) 1876–1961

1 The fat greedy owl of the Remove.
"Billy Bunter" in the Magnet (1909) vol. 3, no. 72 "The Greyfriars Photographer"

Back  -   New Search

Richardson, Samuel 1689–1761

1 Mine is the most plotting heart in the world.
Clarissa (1747–8) vol. 3, letter 76

2 The affair is over. Clarissa lives.
announcement by Lovelace of his successful seduction of Clarissa
Clarissa (1747–8) vol. 5, letter 22

[Richardson]

3 His spurious brat, Tom Jones.
of Fielding
letter to Thomas Edwards, 21 February 1752

[Richardson]

4 Instruction, Madam, is the pill; amusement is the gilding.
letter to Lady Echlin, 22 September 1755

[Richardson]

Back  -   New Search

Richelieu, Duc de 1585–1642

1 If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Richter, Hans 1843–1916

1 Up with your damned nonsense will I put twice, or perhaps once, but sometimes always, by God, never.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Richter, Johann Paul Friedrich ("Jean Paul") 1763–1825

1 Providence has given to the French the empire of the land, to the English that of the sea, and to the Germans that of—the air!
Thomas Carlyle "Jean Paul Friedrich Richter" in Edinburgh Review no. 91 (1827)

Back  -   New Search

Ridley, Nicholas 1929–93

1 of the European community:This is all a German racket, designed to take over the whole of Europe.
in Spectator 14 July 1990

Back  -   New Search

Rig Veda

1
Whence this creation has arisen—perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not—the one who looks down on it, in the highest heaven, only he knows—or perhaps he does not know.

Creation Hymn bk. 10, hymn 129, v. 7

2
When they divided the Man, into how many parts did they apportion him? What did they call his mouth, his two arms and thighs and feet?
His mouth became the Brahman; his arms were made into the Warrior, his thighs the People, and from his feet the Servants were born.

Hymn of Man bk. 10, hymn 190, v. 11

[Rig Veda]

Back  -   New Search

Rilke, Rainer Maria 1875–1926

1
So leben wir und nehmen immer Abschied.

We live our lives, for ever taking leave.

Duineser Elegien (tr. J. B. Leishman and Stephen Spender, 1948) no. 8

2
Wir haben, wo wir lieben, ja nur dies:
einander lassen; denn dass wir uns halten,
das fällt uns leicht und ist nicht erst zu lernen.

We need in love to practise only this:
letting each other go. For holding on
comes easily; we do not need to learn it.

Requiem für eine Freundin ("Requiem for a Friend")

[Rilke]

Back  -   New Search

Rimbaud, Arthur 1854–91

1
…Je me suis baigné dans le Poème
De la Mer.
I have bathed in the Poem of the Sea.
"Le Bâteau ivre" (1883)

2 Je regrette l'Europe aux anciens parapets!I pine for Europe of the ancient parapets!
"Le Bâteau ivre" (1883)

[Rimbaud]

3
Ô saisons, ô châteaux!
Quelle âme est sans défauts?
O seasons, O castles! What soul is without fault?
"Ô saisons, ô châteaux" (1872)

[Rimbaud]

4
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu: voyelles,
Je dirais quelque jour vos naissances latentes.
A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels, some day I will tell of the births that may be yours.
"Voyelles" (1870)

[Rimbaud]

Back  -   New Search

Ritz, César 1850–1918

1 The customer is never wrong.
R. Nevill and C. E. Jerningham Piccadilly to Pall Mall (1908)

Back  -   New Search

Rivarol, Antoine de 1753–1801

1 Ce qui n'est pas clair n'est pas français.What is not clear is not French.
Discours sur l'Universalité de la Langue Française (1784)

Back  -   New Search

Robbins, Lord 1898–1984

1 Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.
Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (1932) ch. 1, sect. 3

Back  -   New Search

Robespierre, Maximilien 1758–94

1 Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.
Déclaration des droits de l'homme 24 April 1793, article 6

2 Any institution which does not suppose the people good, and the magistrate corruptible, is evil.
Déclaration des droits de l'homme 24 April 1793, article 25

[Robespierre]

3 Intimidation without virtue is disastrous; virtue without intimidation is powerless.
J. M. Thompson The French Revolution (1943); attributed

[Robespierre]

Back  -   New Search

Robin, Leo 1900–84

1
A kiss on the hand may be quite continental,
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" (1949 song) from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

2 Thanks for the memory.
title of song (with Ralph Rainger, 1937)

[Robin]

Back  -   New Search

Robins, Elizabeth 1862–1952

1 To say in print what she thinks is the last thing the woman novelist or journalist is so rash as to attempt…Her publishers are not women.
in 1908, as first president of the Women Writers' Suffrage League

Back  -   New Search

Robinson, Edwin Arlington 1869–1935

1
I shall have more to say when I am dead.

"John Brown" (1920)

2
Go to the western gate, Luke Havergal,
There where the vines cling crimson on the wall,
And in the twilight wait for what will come.

"Luke Havergal" (1896)

[Robinson]

3
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

"Richard Cory" (1897)

[Robinson]

Back  -   New Search

Robinson, John 1919–83

1 Honest to God.
title of book (1963)

Back  -   New Search

Robinson, Mary 1758–1800

1
Pavement slippery, people sneezing,
Lords in ermine, beggars freezing;
Titled gluttons dainties carving,
Genius in a garret starving.

"January, 1795"

Back  -   New Search

Robinson, Mary 1944–

1 Instead of rocking the cradle, they rocked the system.
in her victory speech, paying tribute to the women of Ireland
in The Times 10 November 1990.

Back  -   New Search

Roche, Boyle 1743–1807

1 A disorderly set of people whom no king can govern and no God can please.
of the Ulster Protestants
attributed

2 Mr Speaker, I smell a rat; I see him forming in the air and darkening the sky; but I'll nip him in the bud.
attributed

[Roche]

Back  -   New Search

Rochester, Lord 1647–80

1
"Is there then no more?"
She cries. "All this to love and rapture's due;
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?"

"The Imperfect Enjoyment" (1680)

2
Here lies a great and mighty king
Whose promise none relies on;
He never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.

of Charles II; an alternative first line reads: "Here lies our sovereign lord the King"
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester "The King's Epitaph".

[Rochester]

3
Natural freedoms are but just:
There's something generous in mere lust.

"A Ramble in St James' Park" (1680)

[Rochester]

4
Reason, an ignis fatuus of the mind,
Which leaves the light of nature, sense, behind.

"A Satire against Mankind" (1679) l. 11

[Rochester]

5
Then Old Age, and Experience, hand in hand,
Lead him to Death, and make him understand…
Huddled in dirt the reasoning engine lies,
Who was so proud, so witty and so wise.

"A Satire against Mankind" (1679) l. 25

[Rochester]

6
For all men would be cowards if they durst.

"A Satire against Mankind" (1679) l. 158

[Rochester]

7
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.

"A Satire on King Charles II" (1697)

[Rochester]

8
Ancient person, for whom I
All the flattering youth defy,
Long be it ere thou grow old,
Aching, shaking, crazy, cold;
But still continue as thou art,
Ancient person of my heart.

"A Song of a Young Lady to her Ancient Lover" (1691)

[Rochester]

Back  -   New Search

Rockefeller, John D. 1839–1937

1 The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest…The American beauty rose can be produced in the splendour and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it.
W. J. Ghent Our Benevolent Feudalism (1902); "American Beauty Rose" became the title of a 1950 song by Hal David and others

Back  -   New Search

Roddenberry, Gene 1921–91

1 These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission…to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Star Trek (television series, from 1966)

2 Beam us up, Mr Scott.
often misquoted as, "Beam me up, Scotty"
Star Trek (1966 onwards) "Gamesters of Triskelion"

[Roddenberry]

Back  -   New Search

Roddick, Anita 1942–

1 I think that business practices would improve immeasurably if they were guided by "feminine" principles—qualities like love and care and intuition.
Body and Soul (1991)

Back  -   New Search

Roethke, Theodore 1908–63

1
I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils,
Neat in their boxes, dolour of pad and paper-weight,
All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage,
Desolation in immaculate public places.

"Dolour" (1948)

2
O who can be
Both moth and flame? The weak moth blundering by.
Whom do we love? I thought I knew the truth;
Of grief I died, but no one knew my death.

"The Sequel" (1964)

[Roethke]

Back  -   New Search

Rogers, Samuel 1763–1855

1
Think nothing done while aught remains to do.

"Human Life" (1819) l. 49.

2
But there are moments which he calls his own,
Then, never less alone than when alone,
Those whom he loved so long and sees no more,
Loved and still loves—not dead—but gone before,
He gathers round him.

"Human Life" (1819) l. 755

[Rogers]

3 It doesn't much signify whom one marries, for one is sure to find next morning that it was someone else.
Alexander Dyce (ed.) Table Talk of Samuel Rogers (1860)

[Rogers]

Back  -   New Search

Rogers, Will 1879–1935

1 Income Tax has made more Liars out of the American people than Golf.
The Illiterate Digest (1924) "Helping the Girls with their Income Taxes"

2 Everything is funny as long as it is happening to Somebody Else.
The Illiterate Digest (1924) "Warning to Jokers: lay off the prince"

[Rogers]

3 Well, all I know is what I read in the papers.
in New York Times 30 September 1923

[Rogers]

4 You can't say civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.
in New York Times 23 December 1929

[Rogers]

Back  -   New Search

Rohe, Mies van der 1886–1969

1 God is in the details.
in New York Times 19 August 1969

Back  -   New Search

Roland, Mme 1754–93

1 Ô liberté! Ô liberté! que de crimes on commet en ton nom!O liberty! O liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!
before being guillotined
A. de Lamartine Histoire des Girondins (1847) bk. 51, ch. 8

Back  -   New Search

Rolle, Richard de Hampole c.1290–1349

1
When Adam dalfe and Eve spane
Go spire if thou may spede,
Where was than the pride of man
That now merres his mede?

G. G. Perry Religious Pieces (Early English Text Society, Original Series no. 26, revised ed. 1914)

Back  -   New Search

Ronsard, Pierre de 1524–85

1
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir, à la chandelle,
Assise auprès du feu, dévidant et filant,
Direz, chantant mes vers, en vous émerveillant,
Ronsard me célébrait du temps que j'étais belle.
When you are very old, and sit in the candle-light at evening spinning by the fire, you will say, as you murmur my verses, a wonder in your eyes, "Ronsard sang of me in the days when I was fair."
Sonnets pour Hélène (1578) bk. 2, no. 42

Back  -   New Search

Roosevelt, Eleanor 1884–1962

1 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
in Catholic Digest August 1960

Back  -   New Search

Roosevelt, Franklin D. 1882–1945

1 The forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
radio address, 7 April 1932

2 I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.
speech to the Democratic Convention in Chicago, 2 July 1932, accepting the presidential nomination

[Roosevelt]

3 The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
inaugural address, 4 March 1933

[Roosevelt]

4 In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbour.
inaugural address, 4 March 1933

[Roosevelt]

5 I have seen war…I hate war.
speech at Chautauqua, NY, 14 August 1936

[Roosevelt]

6 I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
second inaugural address, 20 January 1937

[Roosevelt]

7 We must be the great arsenal of democracy.
"Fireside Chat" radio broadcast, 29 December 1940

[Roosevelt]

8 We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want…The fourth is freedom from fear.
message to Congress, 6 January 1941

[Roosevelt]

9 Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
address to Congress, 8 December 1941

[Roosevelt]

Back  -   New Search

Roosevelt, Theodore 1858–1919

1 Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.
speech in Chicago, 3 April 1903

2 A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.
speech at the Lincoln Monument, Springfield, Illinois, 4 June 1903

[Roosevelt]

3 The men with the muck-rakes are often indispensable to the well-being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck.
speech in Washington, 14 April 1906.

[Roosevelt]

4 It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.
"Citizenship in a Republic", speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 April 1910

[Roosevelt]

5 There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.
speech in New York, 12 October 1915

[Roosevelt]

6 One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called "weasel words". When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a "weasel word" after another, there is nothing left of the other.
speech in St Louis, 31 May 1916

[Roosevelt]

7 I have got such a bully pulpit!
his personal view of the presidency
in Outlook (New York) 27 February 1909.

[Roosevelt]

Back  -   New Search

Rosebery, Lord 1847–1929

1 I have never known the sweets of place with power, but of place without power, of place with the minimum of power—that is a purgatory, and if not a purgatory it is a hell.
in Spectator 6 July 1895

2 There are two supreme pleasures in life. One is ideal, the other real. The ideal is when a man receives the seals of office from his Sovereign. The real pleasure comes when he hands them back.
Sir Robert Peel (1899)

[Rosebery]

Back  -   New Search

Rosenberg, Ethel 1916–53 and Rosenberg, Julius 1918–53

1 We are innocent…To forsake this truth is to pay too high a price even for the priceless gift of life.
petition for executive clemency, filed 9 January 1953

Back  -   New Search

Rossetti, Christina 1830–94

1
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot.

"A Birthday" (1862)

2
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream.

"Echo" (1862)

[Rossetti]

3
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter,
Long ago.

"Mid-Winter" (1875)

[Rossetti]

4
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

"Remember" (1862)

[Rossetti]

5
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.

"Up-Hill" (1862)

[Rossetti]

6 Our Indian Crown is in great measure the trapping of a splendid misery.
letter to Amelia Heimann, 29 July 1880

[Rossetti]

Back  -   New Search

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel 1828–82

1
The blessed damozel leaned out
From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the depth
Of waters stilled at even;
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven.

"The Blessed Damozel" (1870) st. 1

2
Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been;
I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell.

The House of Life (1881) pt. 2 "A Superscription"

[Rossetti]

3
Sleepless with cold commemorative eyes.

The House of Life (1881) pt. 2 "A Superscription"

[Rossetti]

4
I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

"Sudden Light" (1870)

[Rossetti]

5
"I saw the Sibyl at Cumae"
(One said) "with mine own eye.
She hung in a cage, and read her rune
To all the passers-by.
Said the boys, "What wouldst thou, Sibyl?”
She answered, "I would die.” "

translation of Petronius Satyricon "Cena Trimalchionis" ch. 48, sect. 8.

[Rossetti]

Back  -   New Search

Rossini, Gioacchino 1792–1868

1 Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour.
to Emile Naumann, April 1867, in E. Naumann Italienische Tondichter (1883) vol. 4

Back  -   New Search

Rostand, Edmond 1868–1918

1 A large nose is in fact the sign of an affable man, good, courteous, witty, liberal, courageous, such as I am.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) act 1, sc. 1

2 There is, in spite of you, something which I shall take with me…and it's…My panache!
Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) act 5, sc. 4

[Rostand]

Back  -   New Search

Rostand, Jean 1894–1977

1 The biologist passes, the frog remains.
sometimes quoted as "Theories pass. The frog remains"
Inquiétudes d'un biologiste (1967)

2 Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.
Pensées d'un biologiste (1939) p. 116

[Rostand]

Back  -   New Search

Rosten, Leo 1908–97

1 Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad.
of W. C. Fields, and often attributed to him
speech at Masquers' Club dinner, 16 February 1939

Back  -   New Search

Roth, Philip 1933–

1 A Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy until they die!
Portnoy's Complaint (1967)

2 Doctor, my doctor, what do you say, let's put the id back in yid!
Portnoy's Complaint (1967)

[Roth]

Back  -   New Search

Rothschild, Lord 1910–90

1 The promises and panaceas that gleam like false teeth in the party manifestoes.
Meditations of a Broomstick (1977)

Back  -   New Search

Rouget de Lisle, Claude-Joseph 1760–1836

1
Allons, enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé…
Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos battaillons!
Come, children of our country, the day of glory has arrived…To arms, citizens! Form your battalions!
"La Marseillaise" (25 April 1792)

Back  -   New Search

Roupell, Charles

1 To play billiards well is a sign of an ill-spent youth.
attributed, in D. Duncan Life of Herbert Spencer (1908) ch. 20

Back  -   New Search

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1712–78

1 The social contract.
title of book, Du contrat social (1762)

2 Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
Du Contrat social (1762) ch. 1

[Rousseau]

Back  -   New Search

Routh, Martin Joseph 1755–1854

1 You will find it a very good practice always to verify your references, sir!
John William Burgon Lives of Twelve Good Men (1888 ed.) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Rowbottom, Matthew, Stannard, Richard, and Spice Girls, The

1
Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want
so tell me what you want, what you really really want.

"Wannabe" (1996 song)

Back  -   New Search

Rowe, Nicholas 1674–1718

1 Is this that haughty, gallant, gay Lothario?
The Fair Penitent (1703) act 5, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Rowland, Helen 1875–1950

1 A husband is what is left of a lover, after the nerve has been extracted.
A Guide to Men (1922)

Back  -   New Search

Rowland, Richard c.1881–1947

1 The lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.
on the take-over of United Artists by Charles Chaplin and others
Terry Ramsaye A Million and One Nights (1926) vol. 2, ch. 79

Back  -   New Search

Royden, Maude 1876–1956

1 The Church should go forward along the path of progress and be no longer satisfied only to represent the Conservative Party at prayer.
address at Queen's Hall, London, 16 July 1917

Back  -   New Search

Royde-Smith, Naomi c.1875–1964

1
I know two things about the horse
And one of them is rather coarse.

Weekend Book (1928)

Back  -   New Search

Rubens, Paul Alfred 1875–1917

1
Oh! we don't want to lose you but we think you ought to go
For your King and your Country both need you so.

"Your King and Country Want You" (1914 song).

Back  -   New Search

Rumbold, Richard c.1622–85

1 I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden.
on the scaffold
T. B. Macaulay History of England vol. 1 (1849) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Runcie, Robert 1921–2000

1 People are mourning on both sides of this conflict. In our prayers we shall quite rightly remember those who are bereaved in our own country and the relations of the young Argentinian soldiers who were killed. Common sorrow could do something to reunite those who were engaged in this struggle. A shared anguish can be a bridge of reconciliation. Our neighbours are indeed like us.
service of thanksgiving at the end of the Falklands war, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, 26 July 1982

Back  -   New Search

Runyon, Damon 1884–1946

1 Guys and dolls.
title of book (1931)

2 "My boy," he says, "always try to rub up against money, for if you rub up against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you."
in Cosmopolitan August 1929, "A Very Honourable Guy"

[Runyon]

3 I long ago come to the conclusion that all life is 6 to 5 against.
in Collier's 8 September 1934, "A Nice Price"

[Runyon]

Back  -   New Search

Rushdie, Salman 1947–

1 One of the things a writer is for is to say the unsayable, speak the unspeakable and ask difficult questions.
in Independent on Sunday 10 September 1995 "Quotes of the Week"

2 It means everything—it means freedom.
on the news that the fatwa had effectively been lifted
in Mail on Sunday 27 September 1998

[Rushdie]

Back  -   New Search

Rusk, Dean 1909–94

1 We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked.
on the Cuban missile crisis, 24 October 1962
in Saturday Evening Post 8 December 1962

Back  -   New Search

Ruskin, John 1819–1900

1 I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.
on Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold
Fors Clavigera (1871–84) Letter 79, 18 June 1877.

2 Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.
Lectures on Art (1870) Lecture 3 "The Relation of Art to Morals" sect. 95

[Ruskin]

3 All violent feelings…produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the "Pathetic Fallacy".
Modern Painters (1856) vol. 3, pt. 4, ch. 12

[Ruskin]

4 To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion—all in one.
Modern Painters (1856) vol. 3, pt. 4 "Of Modern Landscape"

[Ruskin]

5 Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.
Modern Painters (1856) vol. 4, pt. 5, ch. 20

[Ruskin]

6 All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.
Sesame and Lilies (1865) "Of Kings' Treasuries"

[Ruskin]

7 How long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it.
Sesame and Lilies (1865) "Of Kings' Treasuries"

[Ruskin]

8 We call ourselves a rich nation, and we are filthy and foolish enough to thumb each other's books out of circulating libraries!
Sesame and Lilies (1865) "Of Kings' Treasuries"

[Ruskin]

9 When we build, let us think that we build for ever.
Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) "The Lamp of Memory" sect. 10

[Ruskin]

10 Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.
Stones of Venice vol. 1 (1851) ch. 2, sect. 17

[Ruskin]

11 Labour without joy is base. Labour without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labour is base. Joy without labour is base.
Time and Tide (1867) Letter 5

[Ruskin]

12 The first duty of a State is to see that every child born therein shall be well housed, clothed, fed and educated, till it attain years of discretion.
Time and Tide (1867) Letter 13

[Ruskin]

Back  -   New Search

Russell, Bertrand 1872–1970

1 One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would bring all kinds of disaster.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 5

2 To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 14

[Russell]

3 Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.
In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1986) title essay (1932)

[Russell]

4 Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
Mysticism and Logic (1918) ch. 4

[Russell]

5 Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.
Philosophical Essays (1910) no. 4

[Russell]

6 It is obvious that "obscenity" is not a term capable of exact legal definition; in the practice of the Courts, it means "anything that shocks the magistrate".
Sceptical Essays (1928) "The Recrudescence of Puritanism"

[Russell]

Back  -   New Search

Russell, George William

seeÆ

Back  -   New Search

Russell, Lord John 1792–1878

1 It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.
reply to an Address from a meeting of 150,000 persons at Birmingham on the defeat of the second Reform Bill, October 1831
S. Walpole Life of Lord John Russell (1889) vol. 1, ch. 7

2 If peace cannot be maintained with honour, it is no longer peace.
speech at Greenock, 19 September 1853

[Russell]

Back  -   New Search

Russell, William Howard 1820–1907

1 They dashed on towards that thin red line tipped with steel.
of the Russians charging the British at the battle of Balaclava, 1854
The British Expedition to the Crimea (1877); Russell's original dispatch read, "That thin red streak topped with a line of steel"

Back  -   New Search

Rutherford, Ernest 1871–1937

1 All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
J. B. Birks Rutherford at Manchester (1962)

2 We haven't got the money, so we've got to think!
in Bulletin of the Institute of Physics (1962) vol. 13 (as recalled by R. V. Jones)

[Rutherford]

Back  -   New Search

Ryle, Gilbert 1900–76

1 Philosophy is the replacement of category-habits by category-disciplines.
The Concept of Mind (1949) introduction

2 The dogma of the Ghost in the Machine.
on the mental-conduct concepts of Descartes
The Concept of Mind (1949) ch. 1

[Ryle]

Back  -   New Search

S

Sackville-West, Vita 1892–1962

1
The greater cats with golden eyes
Stare out between the bars.

The King's Daughter (1929) pt. 2, no. 1

Back  -   New Search

Sadat, Anwar al- 1918–81

1 Peace is much more precious than a piece of land.
speech in Cairo, 8 March 1978

Back  -   New Search

Sagan, Françoise 1935–

1 To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.
La Chamade (1965) ch. 9

Back  -   New Search

Sainte-Beuve, Charles-Augustin 1804–69

1
Et Vigny plus secret,
Comme en sa tour d'ivoire, avant midi rentrait.
And Vigny more discreet, as if in his ivory tower, returned before noon.
Les Pensées d'Août, à M. Villemain (1837)

Back  -   New Search

Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de 1900–44

1 Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
Le Petit Prince (1943) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Saki 1870–1916

1 Waldo is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death.
Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914) "The Feast of Nemesis"

2 The cook was a good cook, as cooks go; and as cooks go, she went.
Reginald (1904) "Reginald on Besetting Sins"

[Saki]

3 I always say beauty is only sin deep.
Reginald (1904) "Reginald's Choir Treat"

[Saki]

4 We all know that Prime Ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other married couples they sometimes live apart.
The Unbearable Bassington (1912) ch. 13

[Saki]

Back  -   New Search

Salinger, J. D. 1919–

1 I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all…I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye.
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 22

Back  -   New Search

Salisbury, Lord (3rd Marquess of Salisbury) 1830–1903

1 Too clever by half.
of Disraeli's amendment on Disestablishment
speech, House of Commons, 30 March 1868.

2 English policy is to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boathook to avoid collisions.
letter to Lord Lytton, 9 March 1877

[Salisbury]

3 We are part of the community of Europe and we must do our duty as such.
speech at Caernarvon, 10 April 1888

[Salisbury]

4 Horny-handed sons of toil.
in Quarterly Review October 1873; later popularized in the US by Denis Kearney (1847–1907).

[Salisbury]

5 By office boys for office boys.
of the Daily Mail
H. Hamilton Fyfe Northcliffe, an Intimate Biography (1930) ch. 4

[Salisbury]

Back  -   New Search

Salisbury, Lord (5th Marquess of Salisbury) 1893–1972

1 Too clever by half.
of Iain Macleod, Colonial Secretary "in his relationship to the white communities of Africa"
in the House of Lords, 7 March 1961.

Back  -   New Search

Sallust 86 bc

1 A venal city ripe to perish, if a buyer can be found.
of Rome
Jugurtha ch. 35

2 Punica fide.With Carthaginian trustworthiness.
meaning treachery
Jugurtha ch. 108, sect. 3

[Sallust]

Back  -   New Search

Samuel, Lord 1870–1963

1 A library is thought in cold storage.
A Book of Quotations (1947)

Back  -   New Search

Samuelson, Paul A. 1915–

1 The consumer, so it is said, is the king…each is a voter who uses his money as votes to get the things done that he wants done.
Economics (8th ed., 1970)

Back  -   New Search

Sand, George 1804–76

1 We cannot tear out a single page of our life, but we can throw the book in the fire.
Mauprat (1837)

2 There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
letter to Lina Calamatta, 31 March 1862

[Sand]

Back  -   New Search

Sandburg, Carl 1878–1967

1
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders.

"Chicago" (1916)

2
The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

"Fog" (1916)

[Sandburg]

3
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all.

"Grass" (1918)

[Sandburg]

4 Little girl…Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come.
The People, Yes (1936).

[Sandburg]

5 Poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.
in Atlantic Monthly March 1923 "Poetry Considered"

[Sandburg]

6 Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work.
in New York Times 13 February 1959

[Sandburg]

Back  -   New Search

Sanders, Henry "Red"

1 Sure, winning isn't everything. It's the only thing.
in Sports Illustrated 26 December 1955; often attributed to Vince Lombardi

Back  -   New Search

Sandwich, Lord 1718–92

1 If any man will draw up his case, and put his name at the foot of the first page, I will give him an immediate reply. Where he compels me to turn over the sheet, he must wait my leisure.
N. W. Wraxall Memoirs (1884) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Sansom, Martha 1690–1736

1
Foolish eyes, thy streams give over,
Wine, not water, binds the lover.

"Song" (written c.1726)

Back  -   New Search

Santayana, George 1863–1952

1 Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.
The Life of Reason (1905) vol. 1, introduction

2 Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
The Life of Reason (1905) vol. 1, ch. 12

[Santayana]

Back  -   New Search

Sappho

1 Just as the sweet-apple reddens on the high branch, high on the highest, and the apple-pickers missed it, or rather did not miss it out, but could not reach it.
describing a girl before her marriage
D. L. Page (ed.) Lyrica Graeca Selecta (1968) no. 224

Back  -   New Search

Sargent, John Singer 1856–1925

1 Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend.
N. Bentley and E. Esar Treasury of Humorous Quotations (1951)

Back  -   New Search

Sarony, Leslie 1897–1985

1 Ain't it grand to be blooming well dead?
title of song (1932)

Back  -   New Search

Sarsfield, Patrick c.1655–93

1 Would to God this wound had been for Ireland.
on being mortally wounded at the battle of Landen, 19 August 1693, while fighting for France
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Sartre, Jean-Paul 1905–80

1 I am condemned to be free.
L'être et le néant (1943) pt. 4, ch. 1

2 Hell is other people.
Huis Clos (1944) sc. 5.

[Sartre]

3 Human life begins on the far side of despair.
Les Mouches (1943) act 3, sc. 2

[Sartre]

4 I hate victims who respect their executioners.
Les Séquestrés d'Altona (1960) act 1, sc. 1

[Sartre]

Back  -   New Search

Sassoon, Siegfried 1886–1967

1
If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.

"Base Details" (1918)

2
Does it matter?—losing your sight?…
There's such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

"Does it Matter?" (1918)

[Sassoon]

3
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom.

"Everyone Sang" (1919)

[Sassoon]

4
"He's a cheery old card," grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

"The General" (1918)

[Sassoon]

5
Here was the world's worst wound. And here with pride
"Their name liveth for ever" the Gateway claims.

"On Passing the New Menin Gate" (1928).

[Sassoon]

Back  -   New Search

Saunders, Cicely 1916–

1 Deception is not as creative as truth. We do best in life if we look at it with clear eyes, and I think that applies to coming up to death as well.
of the Hospice movement
in Time 5 September 1988

Back  -   New Search

Savile, George

seeLord Halifax

Back  -   New Search

Sayers, Dorothy L. 1893–1957

1 I admit it is better fun to punt than to be punted, and that a desire to have all the fun is nine-tenths of the law of chivalry.
Gaudy Night (1935) ch. 14

2 I always have a quotation for everything—it saves original thinking.
Have His Carcase (1932)

[Sayers]

Back  -   New Search

Scarfe, Gerald 1936–

1 I find a particular delight in taking the caricature as far as I can. It satisfies me to stretch the human frame about and recreate it and yet keep a likeness.
Scarfe by Scarfe (1986)

Back  -   New Search

Scargill, Arthur 1938–

1 Parliament itself would not exist in its present form had people not defied the law.
evidence to House of Commons Select Committee on Employment, 2 April 1980

Back  -   New Search

Schelling, Friedrich von 1775–1854

1 Architecture in general is frozen music.
Philosophie der Kunst (1809)

Back  -   New Search

Schiller, Friedrich von 1759–1805

1
Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt.
Joy, beautiful radiance of the gods, daughter of Elysium, we set foot in your heavenly shrine dazzled by your brilliance. Your charms re-unite what common use has harshly divided.
"An die Freude" (1785)

2 The sun does not set in my dominions.
Philip II
Don Carlos (1787) act 1, sc. 6.

[Schiller]

3 With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
The Maid of Orleans (1801) act 3, sc. 6

[Schiller]

4 The world's history is the world's judgement.
"Resignation" (1786) st. 19

[Schiller]

Back  -   New Search

Schlick, Moritz 1882–1936

1 The meaning of a proposition is the method of its verification.
Philosophical Review (1936) vol. 45

Back  -   New Search

Schnabel, Artur 1882–1951

1 The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes—ah, that is where the art resides!
in Chicago Daily News 11 June 1958

Back  -   New Search

Schulberg, Budd 1914–

1 What makes Sammy run?
title of book (1941)

Back  -   New Search

Schumacher, E. F. 1911–77

1 Small is beautiful. A study of economics as if people mattered.
title of book (1973)

Back  -   New Search

Schumann, Robert 1810–56

1 Hats off, gentlemen—a genius!
of Chopin
"An Opus 2" (1831); H. Pleasants (ed.) Schumann on Music (1965)

Back  -   New Search

Schumpeter, J. A. 1883–1950

1 The cold metal of economic theory is in Marx's pages immersed in such a wealth of steaming phrases as to acquire a temperature not naturally its own.
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942)

Back  -   New Search

Schurz, Carl 1829–1906

1 My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right!
speech, US Senate, 29 February 1872.

Back  -   New Search

Schwitters, Kurt 1887–1948

1 I am a painter and I nail my pictures together.
R. Hausmann Am Anfang war Dada (1972)

Back  -   New Search

Scott, C. P. 1846–1932

1 Comment is free, but facts are sacred.
in Manchester Guardian 5 May 1921.

2 Television? The word is half Greek, half Latin. No good can come of it.
Asa Briggs The BBC: the First Fifty Years (1985)

[Scott]

Back  -   New Search

Scott, Robert Falcon 1868–1912

1 Great God! this is an awful place.
of the South Pole
diary, 17 January 1912

2 For God's sake look after our people.
last diary entry, 29 March 1912

[Scott]

Back  -   New Search

Scott, Sir Walter 1771–1832

1
But answer came there none.

The Bridal of Triermain (1813) canto 3, st. 10.

2
Come open the West Port, and let me gang free,
And it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!"

The Doom of Devorgoil (1830) act 2, sc. 2 "Bonny Dundee"

[Scott]

3
Yet seemed that tone, and gesture bland,
Less used to sue than to command.

The Lady of the Lake (1810) canto 1, st. 21.

[Scott]

4
And the stern joy which warriors feel
In foemen worthy of their steel.

The Lady of the Lake (1810) canto 5, st. 10

[Scott]

5
If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight.

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) canto 2, st. 1

[Scott]

6
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) canto 6, st. 1

[Scott]

7
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) canto 6, st. 1

[Scott]

8
O Caledonia! stern and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child!

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) canto 6, st. 2

[Scott]

9
O! many a shaft, at random sent,
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word, at random spoken,
May soothe or wound a heart that's broken.

The Lord of the Isles (1813) canto 5, st. 18

[Scott]

10
Had'st thou but lived, though stripped of power,
A watchman on the lonely tower.

Marmion (1808) introduction to canto 1, st. 8

[Scott]

11
And come he slow, or come he fast,
It is but Death who comes at last.

Marmion (1808) canto 2, st. 30

[Scott]

12
O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best.

Marmion (1808) canto 5, st. 12 ("Lochinvar" st. 1)

[Scott]

13
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.

Marmion (1808) canto 5, st. 12 ("Lochinvar" st. 1)

[Scott]

14
O what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!

Marmion (1808) canto 6, st. 17

[Scott]

15
O Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!

Marmion (1808) canto 6, st. 30.

[Scott]

16
Vacant heart and hand, and eye,—
Easy live and quiet die.

The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) ch. 2

[Scott]

17 Touch not the cat but a glove.
"but" = without
The Fair Maid of Perth (1828) ch. 34

[Scott]

18
And three wild lads were we;
Thou on the land, and I on the sand,
And Jack on the gallows-tree!

Guy Mannering (1815) ch. 34

[Scott]

19 The hour is come, but not the man.
The Heart of Midlothian (1818) ch. 4, title

[Scott]

20
March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale,
All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border.

The Monastery (1820) ch. 25

[Scott]

21 There's a gude time coming.
Rob Roy (1817) ch. 32

[Scott]

22 The play-bill, which is said to have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark being left out.
commonly alluded to as "Hamlet without the Prince"
The Talisman (1825) introduction; W. J. Parke Musical Memories (1830) vol. 1 gives a similar anecdote from 1787

[Scott]

23 The Big Bow-Wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me.
on Jane Austen
W. E. K. Anderson (ed.) Journals of Sir Walter Scott (1972) 14 March 1826.

[Scott]

Back  -   New Search

Scottish Metrical Psalms 1650

1
The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green: he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.

Psalm 23, v. 1.

2
My head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup overflows.

Psalm 23, v. 1.

[Scottish Metrical Psalms]

3
I to the hills will lift mine eyes
from whence doth come mine aid.

Psalm 121, v. 1.

[Scottish Metrical Psalms]

Back  -   New Search

Sears, Edmund Hamilton 1810–76

1
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From Angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold.

The Christian Register (1850) "That Glorious Song of Old"

Back  -   New Search

Sedgwick, John d. 1864

1 They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.
comment of a Union general, immediately prior to being killed by enemy fire at the battle of Spotsylvania in the American Civil War
Robert Denney The Civil War Years (1992)

Back  -   New Search

Sedley, Charles c.1639–1701

1
Phyllis, without frown or smile,
Sat and knotted all the while.

"Phyllis Knotting" (1694)

Back  -   New Search

Seeger, Alan 1888–1916

1
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade.

"I Have a Rendezvous with Death" (1916)

Back  -   New Search

Seeger, Pete 1919–

1 Where have all the flowers gone?
title of song (1961)

Back  -   New Search

Seeley, John 1834–95

1 We [the English] seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind.
The Expansion of England (1883) Lecture 1

Back  -   New Search

Segal, Erich 1937–

1 Love means not ever having to say you're sorry.
Love Story (1970)

Back  -   New Search

Sei Shnagon c.966–1013

1 If writing did not exist, what terrible depressions we should suffer from.
The Pillow Book

Back  -   New Search

Selden, John 1584–1654

1 Scrutamini scripturas [Let us look at the scriptures]. These two words have undone the world.
Table Talk (1689) "Bible Scripture"

2 Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to confute him.
Table Talk (1689) "Law"

[Selden]

3 There never was a merry world since the fairies left off dancing, and the Parson left conjuring.
Table Talk (1689) "Parson"

[Selden]

4 Syllables govern the world.
Table Talk (1689) "Power: State"

[Selden]

Back  -   New Search

Seldon, Arthur 1916–

1 Government of the busy by the bossy for the bully.
on over-government
Capitalism (1990)

Back  -   New Search

Sellar, W. C. 1898–1951 and Yeatman, R. J. 1898–1968

1 1066 and all That
title of book (1930)

2 History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember.
1066 and All That (1930) "Compulsory Preface"

[Sellar]

3 "Honi soie qui mal y pense" ("Honey, your silk stocking's hanging down").
1066 and All That (1930) ch. 24.

[Sellar]

4 The Cavaliers (Wrong but Wromantic) and the Roundheads (Right but Repulsive).
1066 and All That (1930) ch. 35

[Sellar]

5 The National Debt is a very Good Thing and it would be dangerous to pay it off, for fear of Political Economy.
1066 and All That (1930) ch. 38

[Sellar]

6 Gladstone…spent his declining years trying to guess the answer to the Irish Question; unfortunately whenever he was getting warm, the Irish secretly changed the Question.
1066 and All That (1930) ch. 57

[Sellar]

7 america was thus clearly top nation, and History came to a .
1066 and All That (1930) ch. 62

[Sellar]

Back  -   New Search

Seneca ("the Younger") c.4–65

1 Homines dum docent discunt.Even while they teach, men learn.
Epistulae Morales no. 7, sect. 8

2 Anyone can stop a man's life, but no one his death; a thousand doors open on to it.
Phoenissae l. 152

[Seneca]

Back  -   New Search

Sereny, Gitta 1923–

1 to Albert Speer, who having always denied knowledge of the Holocaust had said that he was at fault in having "looked away":You cannot look away from something you don't know. If you looked away, then you knew.
recalled on BBC2 Reputations, 2 May 1996

Back  -   New Search

Service, Robert W. 1874–1958

1
A promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.

"The Cremation of Sam McGee" (1907)

2
Ah! the clock is always slow;
It is later than you think.

"It Is Later Than You Think" (1921)

[Service]

3
This is the law of the Yukon, that only the Strong shall thrive;
That surely the Weak shall perish, and only the Fit survive.

"The Law of the Yukon" (1907)

[Service]

4
When we, the Workers, all demand: "What are we fighting for?"…
Then, then we'll end that stupid crime, that devil's madness—War.

"Michael" (1921)

[Service]

5
Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And watching his luck was his light-o'-love, the lady that's known as Lou.

"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" (1907)

[Service]

Back  -   New Search

Sexby, Edward d. 1658

1 Killing no murder briefly discourst in three questions.
an apology for tyrannicide
title of pamphlet (1657)

Back  -   New Search

Sexton, Anne 1928–74

1 In a dream you are never eighty.
"Old" (1962)

Back  -   New Search

Shadwell, Thomas c.1642–92

1 And wit's the noblest frailty of the mind.
A True Widow (1679) act 2, sc. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Shaftesbury, 1st Lord 1621–83

1 "Men of sense are really but of one religion."…"Pray, my lord, what religion is that which men of sense agree in?" "Madam," says the earl immediately, "men of sense never tell it."
Bishop Gilbert Burnet History of My Own Time (1724) vol. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Shaftesbury, 3rd Lord 1671–1713

1 How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule?
A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm (1708) sect. 2

Back  -   New Search

Shakespeare, William 1564–1616

The line number is given without brackets where the scene is all verse up to the quotation and the line number is certain, and in square brackets where prose makes it variable. All references are to the Oxford Standard Authors edition in one volume
All's Well that Ends Well 1
That I should love a bright particular star
And think to wed it.

All's Well that Ends Well (1603–4) act 1, sc. 1, l. [98]

2 It is like a barber's chair that fits all buttocks.
All's Well that Ends Well (1603–4) act 2, sc. 2, l. [18]

[Shakespeare]

3 A young man married is a man that's marred.
All's Well that Ends Well (1603–4) act 2, sc. 3, l. [315]

[Shakespeare]

Antony and Cleopatra 4
cleopatra: I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved.
antony: Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 1, sc. 1, l. 16

5
Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 1, sc. 1, l. 33

[Shakespeare]

6
A Roman thought hath struck him.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 1, sc. 2, l. [91]

[Shakespeare]

7
Where's my serpent of old Nile?

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 1, sc. 5, l. 24

[Shakespeare]

8
My salad days,
When I was green in judgment.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 1, sc. 5, l. 73

[Shakespeare]

9
The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 2, sc. 2, l. [199].

[Shakespeare]

10
For her own person,
It beggared all description.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 2, sc. 2, l. [205]

[Shakespeare]

11
I saw her once
Hop forty paces through the public street;
And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted
That she did make defect perfection,
And, breathless, power breathe forth.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 2, sc. 2, l. [236]

[Shakespeare]

12
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety; other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 2, sc. 2, l. [243]

[Shakespeare]

13
I' the east my pleasure lies.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 2, sc. 3, l. 40

[Shakespeare]

14
Let's have one other gaudy night: call to me
All my sad captains; fill our bowls once more;
Let's mock the midnight bell.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 3, sc. 11, l. 182

[Shakespeare]

15
O infinite virtue! com'st thou smiling from
The world's great snare uncaught?

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 8, l. 17

[Shakespeare]

16
The hearts
That spanieled me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Caesar.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 10, l. 33

[Shakespeare]

17
Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done,
And we must sleep.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 12, l. 35

[Shakespeare]

18
I am dying, Egypt, dying.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 13, l. 18

[Shakespeare]

19
A Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquished.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 13, l. 57

[Shakespeare]

20
O! withered is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n; young boys and girls
Are level now with men; the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 13, l. 64

[Shakespeare]

21
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 4, sc. 13, l. 87

[Shakespeare]

22
He words me, girls, he words me.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. 190

[Shakespeare]

23
Finish, good lady; the bright day is done,
And we are for the dark.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. 192

[Shakespeare]

24
I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
I' the posture of a whore.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. 218

[Shakespeare]

25 I wish you all joy of the worm.
Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [260]

[Shakespeare]

26
Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
Immortal longings in me.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [282]

[Shakespeare]

27
I am fire and air; my other elements
I give to baser life.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [291]

[Shakespeare]

28
charmian: O eastern star!
cleopatra: Peace! peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [309]

[Shakespeare]

29
Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A lass unparalleled.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [317]

[Shakespeare]

30
She looks like sleep,
As she would catch a second Antony
In her strong toil of grace.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [347]

[Shakespeare]

31
She hath pursued conclusions infinite
Of easy ways to die.

Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7) act 5, sc. 2, l. [356]

[Shakespeare]

As You Like It 32 Fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.
As You Like It (1599) act 1, sc. 1, l. [126]

33
O, how full of briers is this working-day world!

As You Like It (1599) act 1, sc. 3, l. [12]

[Shakespeare]

34
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 1, l. 12.

[Shakespeare]

35 Ay, now am I in Arden; the more fool I. When I was at home I was in a better place; but travellers must be content.
As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 4, l. [16]

[Shakespeare]

36
Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 5, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

37 I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs.
As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 5, l. [12]

[Shakespeare]

38
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour, we rot and rot:
And thereby hangs a tale.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 26

[Shakespeare]

39
A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 34

[Shakespeare]

40
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 139

[Shakespeare]

41
At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 143

[Shakespeare]

42
Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 149

[Shakespeare]

43
The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 157

[Shakespeare]

44
Second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 165

[Shakespeare]

45
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 174

[Shakespeare]

46
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.

As You Like It (1599) act 2, sc. 7, l. 181

[Shakespeare]

47
Run, run, Orlando: carve on every tree
The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she.

As You Like It (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. 9

[Shakespeare]

48 O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping!
As You Like It (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [202]

[Shakespeare]

49
There was no thought of pleasing you when she was christened.

As You Like It (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [284]

[Shakespeare]

50
Thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love.

As You Like It (1599) act 3, sc. 5, l. 58

[Shakespeare]

51 Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.
As You Like It (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [153]

[Shakespeare]

52
It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green cornfield did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

As You Like It (1599) act 5, sc. 3, l. [18]

[Shakespeare]

53 A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own.
As You Like It (1599) act 5, sc. 4, l. [60]

[Shakespeare]

54 The retort courteous…the quip modest…the reply churlish…the reproof valiant…the countercheck quarrelsome…the lie circumstantial…the lie direct.
of the degrees of a lie
As You Like It (1599) act 5, sc. 4, l. [96]

[Shakespeare]

55 Your "if" is the only peace-maker; much virtue in "if".
As You Like It (1599) act 5, sc. 4, l. [108]

[Shakespeare]

56 He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.
As You Like It (1599) act 5, sc. 4, l. [112]

[Shakespeare]

Coriolanus 57
My gracious silence, hail!

Coriolanus (1608) act 2, sc. 1, l. [194]

58
Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you
His absolute "shall"?

Coriolanus (1608) act 3, sc. 1, l. 88

[Shakespeare]

59
What is the city but the people?

Coriolanus (1608) act 3, sc. 1, l. 198

[Shakespeare]

60
There is a world elsewhere.

Coriolanus (1608) act 3, sc. 3, l. 133

[Shakespeare]

61
The beast
With many heads butts me away.

Coriolanus (1608) act 4, sc. 1, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

62
O! a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!

Coriolanus (1608) act 5, sc. 3, l. 44

[Shakespeare]

63
Chaste as the icicle
That's curdied by the frost from purest snow,
And hangs on Dian's temple.

Coriolanus (1608) act 5, sc. 3, l. 65

[Shakespeare]

64
If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there,
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I
Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli:
Alone I did it.

Coriolanus (1608) act 5, sc. 5, l. 114

[Shakespeare]

Cymbeline 65
Boldness be my friend!
Arm me, audacity.

Cymbeline (1609–10) act 1, sc. 6, l. 18

66
Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings.

Cymbeline (1609–10) act 2, sc. 3, l. [22]

[Shakespeare]

67
Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Cymbeline (1609–10) act 4, sc. 2, l. 258

[Shakespeare]

68
Hang there like fruit, my soul,
Till the tree die.

Cymbeline (1609–10) act 5, sc. 5, l. 263

[Shakespeare]

Hamlet 69
You come most carefully upon your hour.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 6

70
For this relief much thanks.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 8

[Shakespeare]

71
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 115

[Shakespeare]

72
And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 148

[Shakespeare]

73
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 158

[Shakespeare]

74
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 166

[Shakespeare]

75
A little more than kin, and less than kind.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 65

[Shakespeare]

76
Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 67

[Shakespeare]

77
O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 129

[Shakespeare]

78
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 133

[Shakespeare]

79
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 139

[Shakespeare]

80
Frailty, thy name is woman!
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears; why she, even she,—
O God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourned longer.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 146

[Shakespeare]

81
No more like my father
Than I to Hercules.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 152

[Shakespeare]

82
It is not, nor it cannot come to good;
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 158

[Shakespeare]

83
Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 180

[Shakespeare]

84
He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 187

[Shakespeare]

85
But answer made it none.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 215

[Shakespeare]

86
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 2, l. 231

[Shakespeare]

87
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 50

[Shakespeare]

88
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 72

[Shakespeare]

89
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 75

[Shakespeare]

90
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 78.

[Shakespeare]

91
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 115

[Shakespeare]

92
It is a nipping and an eager air.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 4, l. 2

[Shakespeare]

93
But to my mind,—though I am native here,
And to the manner born,—it is a custom
More honoured in the breach than the observance.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 4, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

94
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 4, l. 39

[Shakespeare]

95
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 4, l. 90

[Shakespeare]

96
List, list, O, list!

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 13

[Shakespeare]

97
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 15

[Shakespeare]

98
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 27

[Shakespeare]

99
O my prophetic soul!
My uncle!

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 40

[Shakespeare]

100
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 80

[Shakespeare]

101
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables,—meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 106

[Shakespeare]

102
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 166.

[Shakespeare]

103
To put an antic disposition on.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 172

[Shakespeare]

104
Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 182

[Shakespeare]

105
The time is out of joint; O cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!

Hamlet (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 188

[Shakespeare]

106
Brevity is the soul of wit.

Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. 90

[Shakespeare]

107
More matter with less art.

Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. 95

[Shakespeare]

108
polonius: What do you read, my lord?
hamlet: Words, words, words.

Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [195]

[Shakespeare]

109 Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [211]

[Shakespeare]

110 There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [259]

[Shakespeare]

111 O God! I could be bounded in a nut-shell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [263]

[Shakespeare]

112 What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling, you seem to say so.
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [323]

[Shakespeare]

113 I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [405]

[Shakespeare]

114 The play, I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas caviare to the general.
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [465]

[Shakespeare]

115 Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?
Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [561]

[Shakespeare]

116
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.

Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [584]

[Shakespeare]

117
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba
That he should weep for her?

Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [592]

[Shakespeare]

118
The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

Hamlet (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [641]

[Shakespeare]

119
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

[Shakespeare]

120
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay…
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 70

[Shakespeare]

121
Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 89

[Shakespeare]

122 Get thee to a nunnery.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. [124]

[Shakespeare]

123 Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go; farewell.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. [142]

[Shakespeare]

124 I say, we will have no more marriages.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. [156]

[Shakespeare]

125
O! what a noble mind is here o'erthrown:
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion, and the mould of form,
The observèd of all observers, quite, quite, down!

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. [159]

[Shakespeare]

126
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. [166]

[Shakespeare]

127 Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

128 I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

129 Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [20]

[Shakespeare]

130 To hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [25]

[Shakespeare]

131 The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [242]

[Shakespeare]

132
hamlet: No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest; no offence i' the world.
king: What do you call the play?
hamlet: The Mouse-trap.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [247]

[Shakespeare]

133 Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [256]

[Shakespeare]

134
Why, let the stricken deer go weep,
The hart ungallèd play;
For some must watch, while some must sleep:
So runs the world away.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [287].

[Shakespeare]

135 You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [387]

[Shakespeare]

136 Very like a whale.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [406]

[Shakespeare]

137 They fool me to the top of my bent.
Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [408]

[Shakespeare]

138
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [413]

[Shakespeare]

139
Now might I do it pat, now he is praying.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 3, l. 73

[Shakespeare]

140
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 3, l. 97

[Shakespeare]

141
How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 23

[Shakespeare]

142
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 31

[Shakespeare]

143
A king of shreds and patches.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 102.

[Shakespeare]

144
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 160

[Shakespeare]

145
I must be cruel only to be kind.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 178

[Shakespeare]

146
Hoist with his own petar.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 207

[Shakespeare]

147
I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.

Hamlet (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. 212

[Shakespeare]

148
Diseases desperate grown,
By desperate appliances are relieved,
Or not at all.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 2, l. 9.

[Shakespeare]

149
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge!

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 4, l. 32

[Shakespeare]

150
How should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff,
And his sandal shoon.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [23]

[Shakespeare]

151
He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone,
At his head a grass-green turf;
At his heels a stone.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [29]

[Shakespeare]

152 Come, my coach! Good-night, ladies; good-night, sweet ladies; good-night, good-night.
Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [72]

[Shakespeare]

153
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [78]

[Shakespeare]

154
There's such divinity doth hedge a king,
That treason can but peep to what it would.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [123]

[Shakespeare]

155 There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [174]

[Shakespeare]

156 There's rue for you; and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. O! you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy; I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.
Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [179]

[Shakespeare]

157
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 5, l. [218]

[Shakespeare]

158
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 7, l. 167

[Shakespeare]

159
There with fantastic garlands did she come,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 7, l. 169

[Shakespeare]

160
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook.

Hamlet (1601) act 4, sc. 7, l. 173

[Shakespeare]

161 Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest.
Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [201]

[Shakespeare]

162
Imperious Caesar, dead, and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [235]

[Shakespeare]

163
A ministering angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [263].

[Shakespeare]

164
Sweets to the sweet: farewell!

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [265]

[Shakespeare]

165
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. 10

[Shakespeare]

166 Not a whit, we defy augury; there's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.
Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [232]

[Shakespeare]

167 A hit, a very palpable hit.
Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [295]

[Shakespeare]

168
Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric;
I am justly killed with my own treachery.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [320]

[Shakespeare]

169
This fell sergeant, death,
Is swift in his arrest.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [350]

[Shakespeare]

170
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [355]

[Shakespeare]

171
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [361]

[Shakespeare]

172
The rest is silence.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [372]

[Shakespeare]

173
Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [373]

[Shakespeare]

174
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Hamlet (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [385]

[Shakespeare]

Henry IV, Part 1 175 Let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [28]

176 The rusty curb of old father antick, the law.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [68]

[Shakespeare]

177
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,
And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 1, sc. 3, l. 175

[Shakespeare]

178
By heaven methinks it were an easy leap
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 1, sc. 3, l. 201

[Shakespeare]

179 Go hang thyself in thine own heir-apparent garters!
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 2, l. [49]

[Shakespeare]

180 It would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for ever.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 2, l. [104]

[Shakespeare]

181
Falstaff sweats to death
And lards the lean earth as he walks along.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 2, l. [119]

[Shakespeare]

182 Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 3, l. [11]

[Shakespeare]

183 Nay that's past praying for.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [214]

[Shakespeare]

184 That roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [504]

[Shakespeare]

185 Banish not him thy Harry's company: banish plump Jack and banish all the world.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [533]

[Shakespeare]

186 O monstrous! but one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [598]

[Shakespeare]

187
glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 3, sc. 1, l. [53]

[Shakespeare]

188
Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 3, sc. 1, l. [233]

[Shakespeare]

189
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 4, sc. 1, l. 104

[Shakespeare]

190
Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 1, l. 28

[Shakespeare]

191
I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 1, l. [125]

[Shakespeare]

192
Thou owest God a death.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 1, l. [126].

[Shakespeare]

193 What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday.
Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 1, l. [136]

[Shakespeare]

194
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 4, l. 65

[Shakespeare]

195
Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remembered in thy epitaph!

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 4, l. [100]

[Shakespeare]

196
Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spared a better man.

Henry IV, Part 1 (1597) act 5, sc. 4, l. [103]

[Shakespeare]

Henry IV, Part 2197 I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [10]

198 It is the disease of not listening, the malady of not marking, that I am troubled withal.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [139]

[Shakespeare]

199 I am as poor as Job, my lord, but not so patient.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [145]

[Shakespeare]

200
chief justice: God send the prince a better companion!
falstaff: God send the companion a better prince!

Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [227]

[Shakespeare]

201 I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the disease is incurable.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 1, sc. 2, l. [268]

[Shakespeare]

202
Pack-horses,
And hollow pampered jades of Asia,
Which cannot go but thirty miles a day.

Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [176].

[Shakespeare]

203 Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [283]

[Shakespeare]

204
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 3, sc. 1, l. 31

[Shakespeare]

205 Most forcible Feeble.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 3, sc. 2, l. [181]

[Shakespeare]

206 We have heard the chimes at midnight.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 3, sc. 2, l. [231]

[Shakespeare]

207 I care not; a man can die but once; we owe God a death.
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 3, sc. 2, l. [253].

[Shakespeare]

208
Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought.

Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 4, sc. 5, l. 91

[Shakespeare]

209
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry, Harry.

Henry IV, Part 2 (1597) act 5, sc. 2, l. 47

[Shakespeare]

Henry V 210
O! for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention.

Henry V (1599) chorus, l. 1

211
Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?

Henry V (1599) chorus, l. 11

[Shakespeare]

212
Consideration like an angel came,
And whipped the offending Adam out of him.

Henry V (1599) act 1, sc. 1, l. 28

[Shakespeare]

213
When we have matched our rackets to these balls,
We will in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

Henry V (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. 261

[Shakespeare]

214
Now all the youth of England are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies.

Henry V (1599) act 2, chorus, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

215 He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom.
Henry V (1599) act 2, sc. 3, l. [9]

[Shakespeare]

216 His nose was as sharp as a pen, and a' babbled of green fields.
Henry V (1599) act 2, sc. 3, l. [17]

[Shakespeare]

217
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!

Henry V (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

218
The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge
Cry "God for Harry! England and Saint George!"

Henry V (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 32

[Shakespeare]

219
A little touch of Harry in the night.

Henry V (1599) act 4, chorus, l. 47

[Shakespeare]

220
The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold,
A lad of life, an imp of fame,
Of parents good, of fist most valiant:
I kiss his dirty shoe, and from my heart-string
I love the lovely bully.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. 44

[Shakespeare]

221 I think the king is but a man, as I am: the violet smells to him as it doth to me.
Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [106]

[Shakespeare]

222 I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing when blood is their argument?
Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [149]

[Shakespeare]

223 Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own.
Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [189]

[Shakespeare]

224
Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,
Our children, and our sins lay on the king!

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [250]

[Shakespeare]

225
And what have kings that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [258]

[Shakespeare]

226
O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. [309]

[Shakespeare]

227
If we are marked to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 20

[Shakespeare]

228
He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 35

[Shakespeare]

229
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 40

[Shakespeare]

230
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 47

[Shakespeare]

231
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 60

[Shakespeare]

Henry VI, Part 1 232
Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days.

Henry VI, Part 1 (1592) act 1, sc. 2, l. 131

233
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.

Plantagenet
Henry VI, Part 1 (1592) act 2, sc. 4, l. 30

[Shakespeare]

234
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.

Somerset
Henry VI, Part 1 (1592) act 2, sc. 4, l. 33

[Shakespeare]

Henry VI, Part 2 235
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.

Henry VI, Part 2 (1592) act 3, sc. 2, l. 233

236
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

Henry VI, Part 2 (1592) act 4, sc. 2, l. [86]

[Shakespeare]

237 And Adam was a gardener.
Henry VI, Part 2 (1592) act 4, sc. 2, l. [146]

[Shakespeare]

238 Away with him! away with him! he speaks Latin.
Henry VI, Part 2 (1592) act 4, sc. 7, l. [62]

[Shakespeare]

Henry VI, Part 3 239
O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide!

Henry VI, Part 3 (1592) act 1, sc. 4, l. 137

Henry VIII 240
As the long divorce of steel falls on me,
Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice,
And lift my soul to heaven.

Henry VIII (1613) act 2, sc. 1, l. 76

241
Heaven will one day open
The king's eyes, that so long have slept upon
This bold bad man.

Henry VIII (1613) act 2, sc. 2, l. [42]

[Shakespeare]

242
Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain-tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing.

Henry VIII (1613) act 3, sc. 1, l. 3

[Shakespeare]

243
Farewell! a long farewell, to all my greatness!

Henry VIII (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 352

[Shakespeare]

244
When he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.

Henry VIII (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 372

[Shakespeare]

245
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels.

Henry VIII (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 441

[Shakespeare]

246
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

Henry VIII (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 456.

[Shakespeare]

247
Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
We write in water.

Henry VIII (1613) act 4, sc. 2, l. 45.

[Shakespeare]

Julius Caesar 248
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey?

Julius Caesar (1599) act 1, sc. 1, l. [40]

249
Beware the ides of March.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. 18

[Shakespeare]

250
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. 134

[Shakespeare]

251
Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights;
Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. 191.

[Shakespeare]

252 'Tis very like: he hath the falling sickness.
Julius Caesar (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. [255]

[Shakespeare]

253
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 2, sc. 1, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

254
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 2, sc. 1, l. 173

[Shakespeare]

255
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 2, sc. 2, l. 30

[Shakespeare]

256
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 2, sc. 2, l. 32

[Shakespeare]

257
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 60

[Shakespeare]

258 Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!
Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 77

[Shakespeare]

259
Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die:
No place will please me so, no mean of death,
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 159

[Shakespeare]

260
O! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 254

[Shakespeare]

261
Cry, "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 273

[Shakespeare]

262 Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.
Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [22]

[Shakespeare]

263 As he was valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.
Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [27]

[Shakespeare]

264 Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended…I pause for a reply.
Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [31]

[Shakespeare]

265
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interrèd with their bones.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [79]

[Shakespeare]

266
For Brutus is an honourable man.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [88]

[Shakespeare]

267
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [91]

[Shakespeare]

268
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [97]

[Shakespeare]

269
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [174]

[Shakespeare]

270
This was the most unkindest cut of all.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [188]

[Shakespeare]

271
O! what a fall was there, my countrymen.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [195]

[Shakespeare]

272
I am no orator, as Brutus is;
But, as you know me all, a plain, blunt man.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [221]

[Shakespeare]

273
But were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Caesar, that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [230]

[Shakespeare]

274
Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [257]

[Shakespeare]

275
Now let it work; mischief, thou art afoot.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [265]

[Shakespeare]

276 Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.
Julius Caesar (1599) act 3, sc. 3, l. [34]

[Shakespeare]

277
He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 4, sc. 1, l. 6

[Shakespeare]

278
Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemned to have an itching palm.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 7

[Shakespeare]

279
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 217

[Shakespeare]

280
O Julius Caesar! thou art mighty yet!
Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords
In our own proper entrails.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 5, sc. 3, l. 94

[Shakespeare]

281
Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 5, sc. 5, l. 46

[Shakespeare]

282
This was the noblest Roman of them all.

Julius Caesar (1599) act 5, sc. 5, l. 68

[Shakespeare]

283
Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man!"

Julius Caesar (1599) act 5, sc. 5, l. 74

[Shakespeare]

King John 284
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me.

King John (1591–8) act 3, sc. 4, l. 93

285
To gild refinèd gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

King John (1591–8) act 4, sc. 2, l. 11

[Shakespeare]

286
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones!

King John (1591–8) act 4, sc. 3, l. 10

[Shakespeare]

287
Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them: nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest but true.

King John (1591–8) act 5, sc. 7, l. 116

[Shakespeare]

King Lear 288
Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 1, l. [92]

289
lear: So young, and so untender?
cordelia: So young, my lord, and true.

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 1, l. [108]

[Shakespeare]

290
I want that glib and oily art
To speak and purpose not.

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 1, l. [227]

[Shakespeare]

291
Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue?

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 2, l. 6

[Shakespeare]

292
I grow, I prosper;
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 2, l. 21

[Shakespeare]

293 This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune,—often the surfeit of our own behaviour,— we make guilty of our own disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence.
King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 2, l. [132]

[Shakespeare]

294
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 4, l. [312]

[Shakespeare]

295
O! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven;
Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!

King Lear (1605–6) act 1, sc. 5, l. [51]

[Shakespeare]

296 Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter!
King Lear (1605–6) act 2, sc. 2, l. [68]

[Shakespeare]

297
O, sir! you are old;
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of her confine.

King Lear (1605–6) act 2, sc. 4, l. [148]

[Shakespeare]

298
O reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.

King Lear (1605–6) act 2, sc. 4, l. 264

[Shakespeare]

299
I will do such things,—
What they are yet I know not,—but they shall be
The terrors of the earth.

King Lear (1605–6) act 2, sc. 4, l. [283]

[Shakespeare]

300
Contending with the fretful elements;
Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea,
Or swell the curlèd waters 'bove the main,
That things might change or cease.

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 1, l. 4

[Shakespeare]

301
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head!

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

302
Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness.

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 2, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

303
I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 2, l. [59]

[Shakespeare]

304
O! that way madness lies; let me shun that.

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. 21

[Shakespeare]

305
Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel.

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. 33

[Shakespeare]

306 Thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art.
King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. [109]

[Shakespeare]

307 This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock.
King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. [118]

[Shakespeare]

308 The green mantle of the standing pool.
King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. [136]

[Shakespeare]

309 The prince of darkness is a gentleman.
King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. [148]

[Shakespeare]

310 Poor Tom's a-cold.
King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. [151]

[Shakespeare]

311
Child Roland to the dark tower came,
His word was still, Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man.

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 4, l. [185]

[Shakespeare]

312
Out, vile jelly!
Where is thy lustre now?

King Lear (1605–6) act 3, sc. 7, l. [83]

[Shakespeare]

313
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;
They kill us for their sport.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 1, l. 36

[Shakespeare]

314
gloucester: Is't not the king?
lear: Ay, every inch a king.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 6, l. [110]

[Shakespeare]

315
Die: die for adultery! No:
The wren goes to't, and the small gilded fly
Does lecher in my sight.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 6, l. [115]

[Shakespeare]

316
Get thee glass eyes;
And, like a scurvy politician, seem
To see the things thou dost not.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 6, l. [175]

[Shakespeare]

317
When we are born we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 6, l. [187]

[Shakespeare]

318
Mine enemy's dog,
Though he had bit me, should have stood that night
Against my fire.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 7, l. 36

[Shakespeare]

319
Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 7, l. 46

[Shakespeare]

320
I am a very foolish, fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, not an hour more or less;
And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind.

King Lear (1605–6) act 4, sc. 7, l. 60

[Shakespeare]

321
Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither:
Ripeness is all.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 2, l. 9

[Shakespeare]

322
Come, let's away to prison;
We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. 8.

[Shakespeare]

323
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [172]

[Shakespeare]

324
The wheel is come full circle.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [176]

[Shakespeare]

325
Howl, howl, howl, howl! O! you are men of stones:
Had I your tongue and eyes, I'd use them so
That heaven's vaults should crack. She's gone for ever!

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [259]

[Shakespeare]

326
Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [274]

[Shakespeare]

327
And my poor fool is hanged! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [307]

[Shakespeare]

328
Vex not his ghost: O! let him pass; he hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [314]

[Shakespeare]

329
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young,
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

King Lear (1605–6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [327]

[Shakespeare]

Love's Labour's Lost 330
Cormorant devouring Time.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 4

331
A wightly wanton with a velvet brow,
With two pitch balls stuck in her face for eyes.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [206]

[Shakespeare]

332
From women's eyes this doctrine I derive:
They are the ground, the books, the academes,
From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 4, sc. 3, l. [302]

[Shakespeare]

333
Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. 407

[Shakespeare]

334
Henceforth my wooing mind shall be expressed
In russet yeas and honest kersey noes.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. 413

[Shakespeare]

335
When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. [902]

[Shakespeare]

336
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd, blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipped and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-who;
Tu-whit, tu-who—a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. [920]

[Shakespeare]

337 The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo.
Love's Labour's Lost (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. [938]

[Shakespeare]

Macbeth 338
first witch: When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
second witch: When the hurly-burly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 1, l. 1

339
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 1, l. 11

[Shakespeare]

340
What bloody man is that?

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

341
And munched, and munched, and munched: "Give me," quoth I:
"Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 6

[Shakespeare]

342
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary se'nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 19

[Shakespeare]

343
The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 32

[Shakespeare]

344
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 38

[Shakespeare]

345
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 58

[Shakespeare]

346
Say, from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting?

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 72

[Shakespeare]

347
What! can the devil speak true?

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 107

[Shakespeare]

348
Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 127

[Shakespeare]

349
Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 137

[Shakespeare]

350
Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 146

[Shakespeare]

351
malcolm: Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 4, l. 7

[Shakespeare]

352
There's no art
To find the mind's construction in the face.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 4, l. 11

[Shakespeare]

353
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet I do fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way; thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition; but without
The illness should attend it; what thou wouldst highly,
That thou wouldst holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [16]

[Shakespeare]

354
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [38]

[Shakespeare]

355
Unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
Of direst cruelty.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [38]

[Shakespeare]

356
Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [47]

[Shakespeare]

357
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [63]

[Shakespeare]

358
Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [66]

[Shakespeare]

359
This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 6, l. 3

[Shakespeare]

360
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

361
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return,
To plague the inventor.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 9

[Shakespeare]

362
Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 16

[Shakespeare]

363
I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on the other.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 25

[Shakespeare]

364
He hath honoured me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 32

[Shakespeare]

365
Was the hope drunk,
Wherein you dressed yourself?

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 35

[Shakespeare]

366
Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"
Like the poor cat i' the adage?

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 44

[Shakespeare]

367
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 46

[Shakespeare]

368
lady macbeth: I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
macbeth: If we should fail,—
lady macbeth: We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 54

[Shakespeare]

369
Bring forth men-children only.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 72

[Shakespeare]

370
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 82

[Shakespeare]

371
There's husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 4

[Shakespeare]

372
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 33

[Shakespeare]

373
The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 62

[Shakespeare]

374
It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good-night.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 4

[Shakespeare]

375
Had he not resembled
My father as he slept I had done't.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

376
Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep," the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 36

[Shakespeare]

377
Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 43

[Shakespeare]

378
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 55

[Shakespeare]

379
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 61

[Shakespeare]

380
A little water clears us of this deed.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 68

[Shakespeare]

381
Drink, sir, is a great provoker…Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [28]

[Shakespeare]

382
The labour we delight in physics pain.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [56]

[Shakespeare]

383
Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [72]

[Shakespeare]

384
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself!

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [83]

[Shakespeare]

385
macduff: Our royal master's murdered!
lady macbeth: Woe, alas!
What! in our house?

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [95]

[Shakespeare]

386
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [98]

[Shakespeare]

387
There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [147]

[Shakespeare]

388
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 4, l. 12

[Shakespeare]

389
banquo: Go not my horse the better,
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or twain.
macbeth: Fail not our feast.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 1, l. 26

[Shakespeare]

390
We have scotched the snake, not killed it.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 2, l. 13

[Shakespeare]

391
Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 2, l. 22

[Shakespeare]

392
Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand,
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale!

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 2, l. 46

[Shakespeare]

393
Now spurs the lated traveller apace
To gain the timely inn.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 3, l. 6

[Shakespeare]

394
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 24

[Shakespeare]

395
Now good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 38

[Shakespeare]

396
Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
Thy gory locks at me.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 50

[Shakespeare]

397
Stand not upon the order of your going.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 119

[Shakespeare]

398
It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 122

[Shakespeare]

399
I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 136

[Shakespeare]

400
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 10

[Shakespeare]

401
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

402
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 44

[Shakespeare]

403
How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 48

[Shakespeare]

404
Be bloody, bold, and resolute.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 79

[Shakespeare]

405
But yet, I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 83

[Shakespeare]

406
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 92

[Shakespeare]

407
Stands Scotland where it did?

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 3, l. 164

[Shakespeare]

408
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 3, l. 209

[Shakespeare]

409
He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What! all my pretty chickens and their dam,
At one fell swoop?

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 3, l. 216

[Shakespeare]

410 Out, damned spot!
Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [38]

[Shakespeare]

411 Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?
Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [42]

[Shakespeare]

412 The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?
Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [46]

[Shakespeare]

413 All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [56]

[Shakespeare]

414 What's done cannot be undone.
Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [74]

[Shakespeare]

415
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!
Where gott'st thou that goose look?

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 11

[Shakespeare]

416
I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf.

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 22.

[Shakespeare]

417
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 37

[Shakespeare]

418
Throw physic to the dogs; I'll none of it.

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 47

[Shakespeare]

419
I have supped full with horrors.

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 5, l. 13

[Shakespeare]

420
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word,
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 5, l. 16

[Shakespeare]

421
Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripped.

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 7, l. 44

[Shakespeare]

422
Lay on, Macduff;
And damned be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!"

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 7, l. 62

[Shakespeare]

Measure for Measure 423
And liberty plucks justice by the nose.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 1, sc. 3, l. 29

424
A man whose blood
Is very snow-broth.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 1, sc. 4, l. 57

[Shakespeare]

425
O! it is excellent
To have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 107

[Shakespeare]

426
Man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 117

[Shakespeare]

427
Be absolute for death; either death or life
Shall thereby be the sweeter.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 3, sc. 1, l. 5

[Shakespeare]

428
If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 3, sc. 1, l. 81

[Shakespeare]

429
claudio: Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot.

Measure for Measure (1604) act 3, sc. 1, l. 116

[Shakespeare]

430 There, at the moated grange, resides this dejected Mariana.
Measure for Measure (1604) act 3, sc. 1, l. [279].

[Shakespeare]

The Merchant of Venice 431 God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 1, sc. 2, l. [59]

432 I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto?
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [36]

[Shakespeare]

433
If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [47]

[Shakespeare]

434
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [99]

[Shakespeare]

435
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [110]

[Shakespeare]

436
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gabardine.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [112]

[Shakespeare]

437 It is a wise father that knows his own child.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 2, sc. 2, l. [83]

[Shakespeare]

438 Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 2, sc. 2, l. [86]

[Shakespeare]

439
My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 2, sc. 8, l. 15

[Shakespeare]

440
The portrait of a blinking idiot.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 2, sc. 9, l. 54

[Shakespeare]

441 Let him look to his bond.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 3, sc. 1, l. [51]

[Shakespeare]

442 If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 3, sc. 1, l. [69]

[Shakespeare]

443 The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 3, sc. 1, l. [76]

[Shakespeare]

444
He makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 3, sc. 2, l. 44

[Shakespeare]

445
Tell me where is fancy bred.
Or in the heart or in the head?

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 3, sc. 2, l. 63

[Shakespeare]

446
…An unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 3, sc. 2, l. 160

[Shakespeare]

447
I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. 114

[Shakespeare]

448 I never knew so young a body with so old a head.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [163]

[Shakespeare]

449
The quality of mercy is not strained,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [182]

[Shakespeare]

450
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [197]

[Shakespeare]

451
Wrest once the law to your authority:
To do a great right, do a little wrong.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [215]

[Shakespeare]

452
A Daniel come to judgement! yea, a Daniel!

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [223]

[Shakespeare]

453
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [301]

[Shakespeare]

454
He is well paid that is well satisfied.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [416]

[Shakespeare]

455
The moon shines bright: in such a night as this…
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls,
And sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents,
Where Cressid lay that night.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 5, sc. 1, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

456
In such a night
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waft her love
To come again to Carthage.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 5, sc. 1, l. 9

[Shakespeare]

457
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 5, sc. 1, l. 54

[Shakespeare]

458
Look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 5, sc. 1, l. 58

[Shakespeare]

459
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

The Merchant of Venice (1596–8) act 5, sc. 1, l. 90

[Shakespeare]

The Merry Wives of Windsor 460
Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open.

The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597) act 2, sc. 2, l. 2

461 There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance or death.
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597) act 5, sc. 1, l. 3

[Shakespeare]

A Midsummer Night's Dream 462
The course of true love never did run smooth.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 1, sc. 1, l. 134

463
So quick bright things come to confusion.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 1, sc. 1, l. 149

[Shakespeare]

464
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 1, sc. 1, l. 234

[Shakespeare]

465 I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 1, sc. 2, l. [31]

[Shakespeare]

466 I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you as 'twere any nightingale.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 1, sc. 2, l. [85]

[Shakespeare]

467 Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 1, sc. 2, l. [89]

[Shakespeare]

468
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 2

[Shakespeare]

469
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 14

[Shakespeare]

470
Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 60

[Shakespeare]

471
The nine men's morris is filled up with mud.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 98

[Shakespeare]

472
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 107

[Shakespeare]

473
I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 175

[Shakespeare]

474
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 249

[Shakespeare]

475
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 2, l. 9

[Shakespeare]

476
Weaving spiders come not here;
Hence you long-legged spinners, hence!

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 2, sc. 2, l. 20

[Shakespeare]

477 Look in the almanack; find out moonshine, find out moonshine.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 3, sc. 1, l. [55]

[Shakespeare]

478
What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 3, sc. 1, l. [82]

[Shakespeare]

479
Lord, what fools these mortals be!

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 3, sc. 2, l. 115

[Shakespeare]

480
She was a vixen when she went to school:
And though she be but little, she is fierce.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 3, sc. 2, l. 324

[Shakespeare]

481
Ghosts, wandering here and there,
Troop home to churchyards.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 3, sc. 2, l. 381

[Shakespeare]

482 Let us have the tongs and the bones.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 4, sc. 1, l. [33]

[Shakespeare]

483
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,
Are of imagination all compact.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 5, sc. 1, l. 7

[Shakespeare]

484
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 5, sc. 1, l. 12

[Shakespeare]

485 The best in this kind are but shadows, and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 5, sc. 1, l. [215]

[Shakespeare]

486
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve;
Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 5, sc. 1, l. [372]

[Shakespeare]

487
Not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595–6) act 5, sc. 2, l. 17

[Shakespeare]

Much Ado About Nothing 488 He is a very valiant trencher-man.
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 1, sc. 1, l. [52]

489
There was a star danced, and under that was I born.

Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 2, sc. 1, l. [351]

[Shakespeare]

490
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever.

Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 2, sc. 3, l. [65]

[Shakespeare]

491 Sits the wind in that corner?
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 2, sc. 3, l. [108]

[Shakespeare]

492 Comparisons are odorous.
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 3, sc. 5, l. [18]

[Shakespeare]

493 You have stayed me in a happy hour.

Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 4, sc. 1, l. [283]

[Shakespeare]

494 O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place.
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 4, sc. 1, l. [311]

[Shakespeare]

495 No, I was not born under a rhyming planet.
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–9) act 5, sc. 2, l. [40]

[Shakespeare]

Othello 496
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 1, l. 64

497
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 1, l. 88

[Shakespeare]

498 Your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.
Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 1, l. [117]

[Shakespeare]

499
Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 2, l. 59

[Shakespeare]

500
I will a round unvarnished tale deliver.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 3, l. 90

[Shakespeare]

501
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 3, l. 143

[Shakespeare]

502
She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 3, l. 167

[Shakespeare]

503
I do perceive here a divided duty.

Othello (1602–4) act 1, sc. 3, l. 181

[Shakespeare]

504
Our great captain's captain.

Othello (1602–4) act 2, sc. 1, l. 74

[Shakespeare]

505
To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.

Othello (1602–4) act 2, sc. 1, l. 163

[Shakespeare]

506 O! I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.
Othello (1602–4) act 2, sc. 3, l. [264]

[Shakespeare]

507 O! thereby hangs a tail.
Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 1, l. [8]

[Shakespeare]

508
Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul
But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,
Chaos is come again.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 90

[Shakespeare]

509
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 157

[Shakespeare]

510
O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 165

[Shakespeare]

511
If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,
I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 260

[Shakespeare]

512
I had rather be a toad,
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon,
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others' uses.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 270

[Shakespeare]

513
Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 323

[Shakespeare]

514
Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content!
Farewell the plumèd troop and the big wars
That make ambition virtue!

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 349

[Shakespeare]

515
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 355

[Shakespeare]

516
Othello's occupation's gone!

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 358

[Shakespeare]

517
That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 4, l. 56

[Shakespeare]

518
A sibyl, that had numbered in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sewed the work;
The worms were hallowed that did breed the silk.

Othello (1602–4) act 3, sc. 4, l. 71

[Shakespeare]

519 But yet the pity of it, Iago! O! Iago, the pity of it, Iago!
Othello (1602–4) act 4, sc. 1, l. [205]

[Shakespeare]

520
Those that do teach young babes
Do it with gentle means and easy tasks;
He might have chid me so; for, in good faith,
I am a child to chiding.

Othello (1602–4) act 4, sc. 2, l. 111

[Shakespeare]

521
The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
Sing all a green willow;
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
Sing willow, willow, willow.

Othello (1602–4) act 4, sc. 3, l. [41]

[Shakespeare]

522
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul;
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!
It is the cause.

Othello (1602–4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

523
Put out the light, and then put out the light.

Othello (1602–4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 7

[Shakespeare]

524
Murder's out of tune,
And sweet revenge grows harsh.

Othello (1602–4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 113

[Shakespeare]

525
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.

Othello (1602–4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 266

[Shakespeare]

526
I have done the state some service, and they know 't;
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then, must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe.

Othello (1602–4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 338

[Shakespeare]

527
I kissed thee ere I killed thee, no way but this,
Killing myself to die upon a kiss.

Othello (1602–4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 357

[Shakespeare]

Richard II 528
Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster.

Richard II (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 1

529
The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.

Richard II (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 177

[Shakespeare]

530
We were not born to sue, but to command.

Richard II (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 196.

[Shakespeare]

531
How long a time lies in one little word!
Four lagging winters and four wanton springs
End in a word; such is the breath of kings.

Richard II (1595) act 1, sc. 3, l. 213

[Shakespeare]

532
There is no virtue like necessity.

Richard II (1595) act 1, sc. 3, l. 278

[Shakespeare]

533
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
Writ in remembrance more than things long past.

Richard II (1595) act 2, sc. 1, l. 13

[Shakespeare]

534
This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea.

Richard II (1595) act 2, sc. 1, l. 40

[Shakespeare]

535
This blessèd plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

Richard II (1595) act 2, sc. 1, l. 50

[Shakespeare]

536
Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.

Richard II (1595) act 2, sc. 3, l. 87

[Shakespeare]

537
The caterpillars of the commonwealth.

Richard II (1595) act 2, sc. 3, l. 166

[Shakespeare]

538
Things past redress are now with me past care.

Richard II (1595) act 2, sc. 3, l. 171

[Shakespeare]

539
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed king.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 54

[Shakespeare]

540
O! call back yesterday, bid time return.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 69

[Shakespeare]

541
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.
Let's choose executors, and talk of wills.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 145

[Shakespeare]

542
For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 155

[Shakespeare]

543
Within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 160

[Shakespeare]

544
What must the king do now? Must he submit?
The king shall do it: must he be deposed?
The king shall be contented.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 3, l. 143

[Shakespeare]

545
I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman's gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,
My sceptre for a palmer's walking staff.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 3, l. 147

[Shakespeare]

546
Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 4, l. 29

[Shakespeare]

547
Here, in this place,
I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace.

Richard II (1595) act 3, sc. 4, l. 104

[Shakespeare]

548
God save the king! Will no man say, amen?

Richard II (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 172

[Shakespeare]

549
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown.

Richard II (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 207

[Shakespeare]

550
That were some love but little policy.

Richard II (1595) act 5, sc. 1, l. 84

[Shakespeare]

551
Who are the violets now
That strew the green lap of the new come spring?

Richard II (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. 46

[Shakespeare]

552
How sour sweet music is,
When time is broke, and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men's lives.

Richard II (1595) act 5, sc. 5, l. 42

[Shakespeare]

553
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.

Richard II (1595) act 5, sc. 5, l. 49

[Shakespeare]

Richard III 554
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.

Richard III (1591) act 1, sc. 1, l. 1

555
This weak piping time of peace.

Richard III (1591) act 1, sc. 1, l. 24

[Shakespeare]

556
Was ever woman in this humour wooed?
Was ever woman in this humour won?

Richard III (1591) act 1, sc. 2, l. 229

[Shakespeare]

557
Clarence is come,—false, fleeting, perjured Clarence.

Richard III (1591) act 1, sc. 4, l. 55

[Shakespeare]

558
Woe to the land that's governed by a child!

Richard III (1591) act 2, sc. 3, l. 11.

[Shakespeare]

559
So wise so young, they say, do never live long.

Richard III (1591) act 3, sc. 1, l. 79

[Shakespeare]

560
Talk'st thou to me of "ifs"? Thou art a traitor:
Off with his head!

Richard III (1591) act 3, sc. 4, l. 74.

[Shakespeare]

561
I am not in the giving vein to-day.

Richard III (1591) act 4, sc. 2, l. 115

[Shakespeare]

562
Harp not on that string.

Richard III (1591) act 4, sc. 4, l. 365

[Shakespeare]

563
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

Richard III (1591) act 5, sc. 2, l. 23

[Shakespeare]

564
The king's name is a tower of strength.

Richard III (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 12

[Shakespeare]

565
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

Richard III (1591) act 5, sc. 4, l. 7

[Shakespeare]

Romeo and Juliet 566
A pair of star-crossed lovers.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) prologue

567
Younger than she are happy mothers made.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 1, sc. 2, l. 12

[Shakespeare]

568
O! then, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you…
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 1, sc. 4, l. 53

[Shakespeare]

569
You and I are past our dancing days.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [35]

[Shakespeare]

570
O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [48]

[Shakespeare]

571
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [142]

[Shakespeare]

572
He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

573
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 33

[Shakespeare]

574
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 43

[Shakespeare]

575
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 118

[Shakespeare]

576
O! for a falconer's voice,
To lure this tassel-gentle back again.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 158

[Shakespeare]

577
Good-night, good-night! parting is such sweet sorrow.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 184

[Shakespeare]

578 I am the very pink of courtesy.
Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 2, sc. 4, l. [63]

[Shakespeare]

579 No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [100]

[Shakespeare]

580
A plague o' both your houses!

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [112]

[Shakespeare]

581
O! I am Fortune's fool.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [142]

[Shakespeare]

582
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

583
Give me my Romeo: and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 21

[Shakespeare]

584
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 3, l. 54

[Shakespeare]

585
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 5, l. 2

[Shakespeare]

586
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 5, l. 9

[Shakespeare]

587
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 3, sc. 5, l. 153

[Shakespeare]

588
Death lies on her like an untimely frost.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 4, sc. 5, l. 28

[Shakespeare]

589
Tempt not a desperate man.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 5, sc. 3, l. 59

[Shakespeare]

590
How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death.

Romeo and Juliet (1595) act 5, sc. 3, l. 88

[Shakespeare]

The Taming of the Shrew 591
Kiss me Kate, we will be married o' Sunday.

The Taming of the Shrew (1592) act 2, sc. 1, l. 318

592
This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.

The Taming of the Shrew (1592) act 4, sc. 1, l. [211]

[Shakespeare]

593
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty.

The Taming of the Shrew (1592) act 5, sc. 2, l. 143

[Shakespeare]

The Tempest 594 He hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows.
The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 1, l. [33]

595
What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?

The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 49

[Shakespeare]

596
My library
Was dukedom large enough.

The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 109

[Shakespeare]

597
The still-vexed Bermoothes.

The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 229

[Shakespeare]

598
You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse.

The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 363

[Shakespeare]

599
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.

The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 375

[Shakespeare]

600
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.

The Tempest (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 394

[Shakespeare]

601 What's past is prologue.
The Tempest (1611) act 2, sc. 1, l. [261]

[Shakespeare]

602 A very ancient and fish-like smell.
The Tempest (1611) act 2, sc. 2, l. [27]

[Shakespeare]

603 Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
The Tempest (1611) act 2, sc. 2, l. [42]

[Shakespeare]

604
'Ban, 'Ban, Ca-Caliban,
Has a new master—Get a new man.

The Tempest (1611) act 2, sc. 2, l. [197]

[Shakespeare]

605 Thou deboshed fish thou.
The Tempest (1611) act 3, sc. 2, l. [30]

[Shakespeare]

606 He that dies pays all debts.
The Tempest (1611) act 3, sc. 2, l. [143]

[Shakespeare]

607
Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.

The Tempest (1611) act 3, sc. 2, l. [147]

[Shakespeare]

608
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

The Tempest (1611) act 4, sc. 1, l. 148

[Shakespeare]

609 I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
The Tempest (1611) act 4, sc. 1, l. [221]

[Shakespeare]

610
But this rough magic
I here abjure.

The Tempest (1611) act 5, sc. 1, l. 50

[Shakespeare]

611
I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.

The Tempest (1611) act 5, sc. 1, l. 54

[Shakespeare]

612
Where the bee sucks, there suck I
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily:
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

The Tempest (1611) act 5, sc. 1, l. 88

[Shakespeare]

613
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.

The Tempest (1611) act 5, sc. 1, l. 183

[Shakespeare]

Timon of Athens 614
Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

Timon of Athens (c.1607) act 1, sc. 2, l. [152]

615
You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time's flies.

Timon of Athens (c.1607) act 3, sc. 6, l. [107]

[Shakespeare]

616
We have seen better days.

Timon of Athens (c.1607) act 4, sc. 2, l. 27

[Shakespeare]

617
The moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.

Timon of Athens (c.1607) act 4, sc. 3, l. 437

[Shakespeare]

618
Timon hath made his everlasting mansion
Upon the beachèd verge of the salt flood.

Timon of Athens (c.1607) act 5, sc. 1, l. [220]

[Shakespeare]

Titus Andronicus 619
She is a woman, therefore may be wooed;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;

Titus Andronicus (1590) act 2, sc. 1, l. 82

620
Come, and take choice of all my library,
And so beguile thy sorrow.

Titus Andronicus (1590) act 4, sc. 1, l. 34

[Shakespeare]

Troilus and Cressida 621
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And, hark! what discord follows.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 1, sc. 3, l. 109

622
To be wise, and love,
Exceeds man's might.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 3, sc. 2, l. [163]

[Shakespeare]

623
Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 3, sc. 3, l. 145

[Shakespeare]

624
Perseverance, dear my lord,
Keeps honour bright.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 3, sc. 3, l. 150

[Shakespeare]

625
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 3, sc. 3, l. 175

[Shakespeare]

626
There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
At every joint and motive of her body.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 4, sc. 5, l. 55

[Shakespeare]

627
The end crowns all,
And that old common arbitrator, Time,
Will one day end it.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 4, sc. 5, l. 223

[Shakespeare]

628
Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.

Troilus and Cressida (1602) act 5, sc. 3, l. [109]

[Shakespeare]

Twelfth Night 629
If music be the food of love, play on.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 1

630
That strain again! it had a dying fall.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 4

[Shakespeare]

631 I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. [92]

[Shakespeare]

632 I would I had bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in fencing, dancing, and bear-baiting. O! had I but followed the arts!
Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. [99]

[Shakespeare]

633 Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. [20]

[Shakespeare]

634 A plague o' these pickle herring!
Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. [127]

[Shakespeare]

635 He is very well-favoured, and he speaks very shrewishly: one would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. [170]

[Shakespeare]

636
Make me a willow cabin at your gate.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. [289]

[Shakespeare]

637
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. [293]

[Shakespeare]

638 Not to be a-bed after midnight is to be up betimes.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

639
O mistress mine! where are you roaming?
O! stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [42]

[Shakespeare]

640
What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [50]

[Shakespeare]

641 He does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [91]

[Shakespeare]

642 Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [124]

[Shakespeare]

643 My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [184]

[Shakespeare]

644 I was adored once too.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [200]

[Shakespeare]

645
Let still the woman take
An elder than herself, so wears she to him,
So sways she level in her husband's heart.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 4, l. 29

[Shakespeare]

646
Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 4, l. 51

[Shakespeare]

647 Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 4, l. [74]

[Shakespeare]

648
She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought;
And with a green and yellow melancholy,
She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 4, l. [112]

[Shakespeare]

649
I am all the daughters of my father's house,
And all the brothers too.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 4, l. [122]

[Shakespeare]

650 But be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 5, l. [158].

[Shakespeare]

651 Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 2, sc. 5, l. [168]

[Shakespeare]

652
In the south suburbs, at the Elephant,
Is best to lodge.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 3, sc. 3, l. 39

[Shakespeare]

653 I think we do know the sweet Roman hand.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. [31]

[Shakespeare]

654 Why, this is very midsummer madness.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. [62]

[Shakespeare]

655 If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. [142]

[Shakespeare]

656 More matter for a May morning.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. [158]

[Shakespeare]

657 Still you keep o' the windy side of the law.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 3, sc. 4, l. [183]

[Shakespeare]

658 Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [388]

[Shakespeare]

659 I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.
Twelfth Night (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [390]

[Shakespeare]

660
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

Twelfth Night (1601) act 5, sc. 1, l. [401]

[Shakespeare]

The Two Gentlemen of Verona 661
O! how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1592–3) act 1, sc. 3, l. 84

662
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1592–3) act 4, sc. 2, l. 40

[Shakespeare]

The Winter's Tale 663
A sad tale's best for winter.
I have one of sprites and goblins.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 2, sc. 1, l. 24

664
I have drunk, and seen the spider.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 2, sc. 1, l. 45

[Shakespeare]

665
What's gone and what's past help
Should be past grief.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 3, sc. 2, l. [223]

[Shakespeare]

666 Exit, pursued by a bear.
stage direction
The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 3, sc. 3

[Shakespeare]

667
When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh! the doxy, over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 2, l. 1

[Shakespeare]

668
While we lie tumbling in the hay.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 2, l. 12

[Shakespeare]

669 My father named me Autolycus; who being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.
The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 2, l. [24]

[Shakespeare]

670
Jog on, jog on the foot-path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 2, l. [133]

[Shakespeare]

671
For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. 74

[Shakespeare]

672
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun,
And with him rises weeping.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. 105

[Shakespeare]

673
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. 121

[Shakespeare]

674
Pale prime-roses,
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength,.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. 122

[Shakespeare]

675
The queen of curds and cream.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. 161

[Shakespeare]

676 Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.
The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. [734]

[Shakespeare]

677
Stars, stars!
And all eyes else dead coals.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 5, sc. 1, l. 67

[Shakespeare]

678
O! she's warm.
If this be magic, let it be an art
Lawful as eating.

The Winter's Tale (1610–11) act 5, sc. 3, l. 109

[Shakespeare]

The Passionate Pilgrim (attribution doubtful) 679
Crabbed age and youth cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care.

The Passionate Pilgrim (1599) no. 12

680
Age, I do abhor thee, youth, I do adore thee.

The Passionate Pilgrim (1599) no. 12

[Shakespeare]

The Rape of Lucrece 681
Beauty itself doth of itself persuade
The eyes of men without an orator.

The Rape of Lucrece (1594) l. 29

682
And now this pale swan in her watery nest
Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending.

The Rape of Lucrece (1594) l. 1611

[Shakespeare]

Sonnets 683 To the onlie begetter of these insuing sonnets, Mr. W. H.
also attributed to Thomas Thorpe, the publisher
Sonnets (1609) dedication

684
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die.

Sonnet 1

[Shakespeare]

685
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sonnet 18

[Shakespeare]

686
But thy eternal summer shall not fade.

Sonnet 18

[Shakespeare]

687
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least.

Sonnet 29

[Shakespeare]

688
Haply I think on thee,—and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate.

Sonnet 29

[Shakespeare]

689
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past.

Sonnet 30

[Shakespeare]

690
Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye.

Sonnet 33

[Shakespeare]

691
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme.

Sonnet 55

[Shakespeare]

692
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end.

Sonnet 60

[Shakespeare]

693
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

Sonnet 73

[Shakespeare]

694
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent.

Sonnet 76

[Shakespeare]

695
Time's thievish progress to eternity.

Sonnet 77

[Shakespeare]

696
Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing.

Sonnet 87

[Shakespeare]

697
Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,
In sleep a king, but, waking, no such matter.

Sonnet 87

[Shakespeare]

698
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

Sonnet 94

[Shakespeare]

699
When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights.

Sonnet 106

[Shakespeare]

700
For we, which now behold these present days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.

Sonnet 106

[Shakespeare]

701
Alas! 'tis true I have gone here and there,
And made myself a motley to the view,

Sonnet 110

[Shakespeare]

702
My nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand.

Sonnet 111

[Shakespeare]

703
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds.

Sonnet 116

[Shakespeare]

704
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Sonnet 116

[Shakespeare]

705
The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action.

Sonnet 129

[Shakespeare]

706
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

Sonnet 130

[Shakespeare]

707
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
And Will to boot, and Will in over-plus.

Sonnet 135

[Shakespeare]

708
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman, coloured ill.

Sonnet 144

[Shakespeare]

709
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

Sonnet 147

[Shakespeare]

Venus and Adonis 710
Love is a spirit all compact of fire,
Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire.

Venus and Adonis (1593) l. 145

711
Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.

Venus and Adonis (1593) l. 799

[Shakespeare]

712
For he being dead, with him is beauty slain,
And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again.

Venus and Adonis (1593) l. 1019

[Shakespeare]

713 Item, I give unto my wife my second best bed, with the furniture.
will, 1616; E. K. Chambers William Shakespeare (1930) vol. 2

[Shakespeare]

714
Good friend, for Jesu's sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

insciption on his grave, Stratford upon Avon, probably composed by himself

[Shakespeare]

Back  -   New Search

Shammai c.1–st century ad

1 Say little and do much. Receive all men with a cheerful countenance.
in Talmud Mishnah "Pirqei Avot" 1:15

Back  -   New Search

Shankly, Bill 1914–81

1 Some people think football is a matter of life and death…I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
in Sunday Times 4 October 1981

Back  -   New Search

Shapiro, Robert 1942–

1 Not only did we play the race card, we played it from the bottom of the deck.
on the defence team's change of strategy at the trial of O. J. Simpson
in The Times 5 October 1995.

Back  -   New Search

Shaw, George Bernard 1856–1950

1 All great truths begin as blasphemies.
Annajanska (1919)

2 Oh, you are a very poor soldier—a chocolate cream soldier!
Arms and the Man (1898) act 1

[Shaw]

3 I'm only a beer teetotaller, not a champagne teetotaller.
Candida (1898) act 3

[Shaw]

4 The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office.
The Devil's Disciple (1901) act 3

[Shaw]

5 Stimulate the phagocytes.
The Doctor's Dilemma (1911) act 1

[Shaw]

6 All professions are conspiracies against the laity.
The Doctor's Dilemma (1911) act 1

[Shaw]

7 The one point on which all women are in furious secret rebellion against the existing law is the saddling of the right to a child with the obligation to become the servant of a man.
Getting Married (1911) preface "The Right to Motherhood"

[Shaw]

8 A man who has no office to go to—I don't care who he is—is a trial of which you can have no conception.
The Irrational Knot (1905) ch. 18

[Shaw]

9 John Bull's other island.
title of play (1907)

[Shaw]

10 There are only two qualities in the world: efficiency and inefficiency, and only two sorts of people: the efficient and the inefficient.
John Bull's Other Island (1907) act 4

[Shaw]

11 The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.
Major Barbara (1907) preface

[Shaw]

12 I am a Millionaire. That is my religion.
Major Barbara (1907) act 2

[Shaw]

13 I can't talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes.
Major Barbara (1907) act 2

[Shaw]

14 Alcohol is a very necessary article…It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.
Major Barbara (1907) act 2

[Shaw]

15 He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
Major Barbara (1907) act 3

[Shaw]

16 Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
Major Barbara (1907) act 3

[Shaw]

17 But a lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
Man and Superman (1903) act 1

[Shaw]

18 The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.
Man and Superman (1903) act 1

[Shaw]

19 Of all human struggles there is none so treacherous and remorseless as the struggle between the artist man and the mother woman.
Man and Superman (1903) act 1

[Shaw]

20 You think that you are Ann's suitor; that you are the pursuer and she the pursued…Fool: it is you who are the pursued, the marked down quarry, the destined prey.
Man and Superman (1903) act 2

[Shaw]

21 Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.
Man and Superman (1903) act 3

[Shaw]

22 Englishmen never will be slaves: they are free to do whatever the Government and public opinion allow them to do.
Man and Superman (1903) act 3

[Shaw]

23 When the military man approaches, the world locks up its spoons and packs off its womankind.
Man and Superman (1903) act 3.

[Shaw]

24 What is virtue but the Trade Unionism of the married?
Man and Superman (1903) act 3

[Shaw]

25 Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Liberty and Equality"

[Shaw]

26 He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Education"

[Shaw]

27 Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Marriage"

[Shaw]

28 If you strike a child take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: How to Beat Children"

[Shaw]

29 Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Stray Sayings"

[Shaw]

30 Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Stray Sayings"

[Shaw]

31 Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Stray Sayings"

[Shaw]

32 You will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He…supports his king on loyal principles and cuts off his king's head on republican principles.
The Man of Destiny (1898)

[Shaw]

33 Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you.
Misalliance (1914)

[Shaw]

34 A great devotee of the Gospel of Getting On.
Mrs Warren's Profession (1898) act 4

[Shaw]

35 You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
O'Flaherty V.C. (1919)

[Shaw]

36 A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell.
Parents and Children (1914) "Children's Happiness"

[Shaw]

37 There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.
Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant (1898) vol. 2, preface

[Shaw]

38 It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.
Pygmalion (1916) preface

[Shaw]

39 I don't want to talk grammar, I want to talk like a lady.
Pygmalion (1916) act 2

[Shaw]

40 Gin was mother's milk to her.
Pygmalion (1916) act 3

[Shaw]

41 Walk! Not bloody likely.
Pygmalion (1916) act 3

[Shaw]

42 No Englishman is ever fairly beaten.
Saint Joan (1924) sc. 4

[Shaw]

43 Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?
Saint Joan (1924) epilogue

[Shaw]

44 Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet (1911) "Limits to Toleration"

[Shaw]

45 The younger generation is knocking at the door, and as I open it there steps spritely in the incomparable Max.
on handing over the theatre review column to Max Beerbohm
in Saturday Review 21 May 1898 "Valedictory"

[Shaw]

46 The photographer is like the cod which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.
introduction to the catalogue for Alvin Langdon Coburn's exhibition at the Royal Photographic Society, 1906

[Shaw]

47 The trouble, Mr Goldwyn, is that you are only interested in art and I am only interested in money.
telegraphed version of the outcome of a conversation between Shaw and Sam Goldwyn
Alva Johnson The Great Goldwyn (1937) ch. 3

[Shaw]

48 [Dancing is] a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.
in New Statesman 23 March 1962

[Shaw]

49 England and America are two countries divided by a common language.
attributed in this and other forms to George Bernard Shaw, but not found in Shaw's published writings.

[Shaw]

Back  -   New Search

Shawcross, Hartley 1902–

1 "But," said Alice, "the question is whether you can make a word mean different things." "Not so," said Humpty-Dumpty, "the question is which is to be the master. That's all." We are the masters at the moment, and not only at the moment, but for a very long time to come.
often quoted as, "We are the masters now"
speech in the House of Commons, 2 April 1946.

Back  -   New Search

Shaw-Lefevre, Charles 1794–1888

1 What is that fat gentleman in such a passion about?
as a child, on hearing Charles James Fox speak in Parliament
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 11

Back  -   New Search

Shaw-Stewart, Patrick 1888–1917

1
I saw a man this morning
Who did not wish to die.

poem (1916)

2
Stand in the trench, Achilles,
Flame-capped, and shout for me.

poem (1916)

[Shaw-Stewart]

Back  -   New Search

Shelley, Mary 1797–1851

1 I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created.
Frankenstein (1818) ch. 5

2 Teach him to think for himself? Oh, my God, teach him rather to think like other people!
on her son's education
Matthew Arnold Essays in Criticism Second Series (1888) "Shelley"

[Shelley]

Back  -   New Search

Shelley, Percy Bysshe 1792–1822

1 The cemetery is an open space among the ruins, covered in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with death, to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place.
Adonais (1821) preface

2
I weep for Adonais—he is dead!

Adonais (1821) st. 1

[Shelley]

3
Winter is come and gone,
But grief returns with the revolving year.

Adonais (1821) st. 18

[Shelley]

4
Alas! that all we loved of him should be,
But for our grief, as if it had not been,
And grief itself be mortal!

Adonais (1821) st. 21

[Shelley]

5
A pardlike Spirit, beautiful and swift.

Adonais (1821) st. 32

[Shelley]

6
He has out-soared the shadow of our night;
Envy and calumny and hate and pain,
And that unrest which men miscall delight,
Can touch him not and torture not again;
From the contagion of the world's slow stain
He is secure.

Adonais (1821) st. 40

[Shelley]

7
He is a portion of the loveliness
Which once he made more lovely.

Adonais (1821) st. 43

[Shelley]

8
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity.

Adonais (1821) st. 52

[Shelley]

9
A widow bird sat mourning for her love
Upon a wintry bough.

Charles the First (1822) sc. 5, l. 9

[Shelley]

10
That orbèd maiden, with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon.

"The Cloud" (1819)

[Shelley]

11
I never was attached to that great sect,
Whose doctrine is that each one should select
Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend,
And all the rest, though fair and wise, commend
To cold oblivion.

"Epipsychidion" (1821) l. 149

[Shelley]

12
Let there be light! said Liberty,
And like sunrise from the sea,
Athens arose!

Hellas (1822) l. 682

[Shelley]

13
The world's great age begins anew,
The golden years return.

Hellas (1822) l. 1060

[Shelley]

14
Thou Paradise of exiles, Italy!

"Julian and Maddalo" (1818) l. 57

[Shelley]

15
Most wretched men
Are cradled into poetry by wrong:
They learn in suffering what they teach in song.

"Julian and Maddalo" (1818) l. 544

[Shelley]

16
A cloud-encircled meteor of the air,
A hooded eagle among blinking owls.

of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Letter to Maria Gisborne" (1820) l. 207

[Shelley]

17
When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead—
When the cloud is scattered
The rainbow's glory is shed.

"Lines: When the lamp" (1824)

[Shelley]

18
Beneath is spread like a green sea
The waveless plain of Lombardy.

"Lines written amongst the Euganean Hills" (1818) l. 90

[Shelley]

19
Sun-girt city, thou hast been
Ocean's child, and then his queen.

of Venice
"Lines written amongst the Euganean Hills" (1818) l. 115

[Shelley]

20
I met Murder on the way—
He had a mask like Castlereagh—
Very smooth he looked, yet grim,
Seven bloodhounds followed him.

"The Mask of Anarchy" (1819) st. 2

[Shelley]

21
His big tears, for he wept well,
Turned to mill-stones as they fell.

of "Fraud" [Lord Eldon]
"The Mask of Anarchy" (1819) st. 4

[Shelley]

22
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes.

"Ode to the West Wind" (1819) l. 1

[Shelley]

23
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

"Ode to the West Wind" (1819) l. 53

[Shelley]

24
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is.

"Ode to the West Wind" (1819) l. 57

[Shelley]

25
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

"Ode to the West Wind" (1819) l. 70

[Shelley]

26
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.

"Ozymandias" (1819)

[Shelley]

27
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

"Ozymandias" (1819)

[Shelley]

28
Hell is a city much like London.

"Peter Bell the Third" (1819) pt. 3, st. 1

[Shelley]

29
Ere Babylon was dust,
The Magus Zoroaster, my dead child,
Met his own image walking in the garden.

Prometheus Unbound (1819) act 1, l. 191

[Shelley]

30
Grief for awhile is blind, and so was mine.

Prometheus Unbound (1820) act 1, l. 304

[Shelley]

31
The dust of creeds outworn.

Prometheus Unbound (1820) act 1, l. 697

[Shelley]

32
He gave man speech, and speech created thought,
Which is the measure of the universe.

Prometheus Unbound (1820) act 2, sc. 4, l. 72

[Shelley]

33
My soul is an enchanted boat,
Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float
Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing.

Prometheus Unbound (1820) act 2, sc. 5, l. 72

[Shelley]

34
A traveller from the cradle to the grave
Through the dim night of this immortal day.

Prometheus Unbound (1820) act 4, l. 551

[Shelley]

35
How wonderful is Death,
Death and his brother Sleep!

Queen Mab (1813) canto 1, l. 1

[Shelley]

36
Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth,
The constellated flower that never sets.

"The Question" (1822)

[Shelley]

37
A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew.

"The Sensitive Plant" (1820) pt. 1, l. 1

[Shelley]

38
And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose,
The sweetest flower for scent that blows.

"The Sensitive Plant" (1820) pt. 1, l. 37

[Shelley]

39
Rarely, rarely, comest thou,
Spirit of Delight!

"Song" (1824); epigraph to Elgar's Second Symphony

[Shelley]

40
Men of England, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?

"Song to the Men of England" (written 1819)

[Shelley]

41
An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king.

of George III
"Sonnet: England in 1819" (written 1819)

[Shelley]

42
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory—
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

"To—: Music, when soft voices die" (1824)

[Shelley]

43
The desire of the moth for the star,
Of the night for the morrow,
The devotion to something afar
From the sphere of our sorrow.

"To—: One word is too often profaned" (1824)

[Shelley]

44
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert.

"To a Skylark" (1819)

[Shelley]

45
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

"To a Skylark" (1819)

[Shelley]

46
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight.

"To a Skylark" (1819)

[Shelley]

47
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

"To a Skylark" (1819)

[Shelley]

48
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then—as I am listening now.

"To a Skylark" (1819)

[Shelley]

49
Swiftly walk o'er the western wave,
Spirit of Night!

"To Night" (1824)

[Shelley]

50
And like a dying lady, lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapped in a gauzy veil.

"The Waning Moon" (1824)

[Shelley]

51
A lovely lady, garmented in light
From her own beauty.

"The Witch of Atlas" (written 1820) st. 5

[Shelley]

52 Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.
A Defence of Poetry (written 1821)

[Shelley]

53 Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.
A Defence of Poetry (written 1821).

[Shelley]

54 Monarchy is only the string that ties the robber's bundle.
A Philosophical View of Reform (written 1819–20) ch. 2

[Shelley]

Back  -   New Search

Shenstone, William 1714–63

1 The world may be divided into people that read, people that write, people that think, and fox-hunters.
Works… (1764) vol. 2 "On Writing and Books"

Back  -   New Search

Sheridan, Philip Henry 1831–88

1 The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.
in response to the Comanche chief Toch-a-way, who described himself as a "good Indian"
at Fort Cobb, January 1869; attributed but denied by Sheridan

Back  -   New Search

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley 1751–1816

1 O Lord, Sir—when a heroine goes mad she always goes into white satin.
The Critic (1779) act 3, sc. 1

2 Illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.
The Rivals (1775) act 1, sc. 2

[Sheridan]

3 Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge.
The Rivals (1775) act 1, sc. 2

[Sheridan]

4 He is the very pineapple of politeness!
The Rivals (1775) act 3, sc. 3

[Sheridan]

5 If I reprehend any thing in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!
The Rivals (1775) act 3, sc. 3

[Sheridan]

6 She's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.
The Rivals (1775) act 3, sc. 3

[Sheridan]

7 No caparisons, Miss, if you please!—Caparisons don't become a young woman.
The Rivals (1775) act 4, sc. 2

[Sheridan]

8 You shall see them on a beautiful quarto page where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.
The School for Scandal (1777) act 1, sc. 1

[Sheridan]

9 Here is the whole set! a character dead at every word.
The School for Scandal (1777) act 2, sc. 2.

[Sheridan]

10
Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen
Here's to the widow of fifty
Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean;
And here's to the housewife that's thrifty.

The School for Scandal (1777) act 3, sc. 3

[Sheridan]

11 An unforgiving eye, and a damned disinheriting countenance!
The School for Scandal (1777) act 4, sc. 1

[Sheridan]

12 There is no trusting appearances.
The School for Scandal (1777) act 5, sc. 2

[Sheridan]

13
You write with ease, to show your breeding,
But easy writing's vile hard reading.

"Clio's Protest" (written 1771, published 1819)

[Sheridan]

14 A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.
on being encountered drinking a glass of wine in the street, while watching his theatre, the Drury Lane, burn down
T. Moore Life of Sheridan (1825) vol. 2

[Sheridan]

Back  -   New Search

Sherman, Sidney 1805–73

1 Remember the Alamo!
battle cry at San Jacinto, 21 April 1836, traditionally attributed to General Sherman

Back  -   New Search

Sherman, William Tecumsah 1820–91

1 Hold out. Relief is coming.
usually quoted as "Hold the fort! I am coming!"
flag signal from Kennesaw Mountain to General John Murray Corse at Allatoona Pass, 5 October 1864.

2 There is many a boy here to-day who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
speech at Columbus, Ohio, 11 August 1880, in Lloyd Lewis Sherman, Fighting Prophet (1932)

[Sherman]

Back  -   New Search

Shirley, James 1596–1666

1
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings.

The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses (1659) act 1, sc. 3

2
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.

The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses (1659) act 1, sc. 3

[Shirley]

Back  -   New Search

Sholokhov, Mikhail 1905–84

1 And quiet flows the Don.
title of novel (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Short, Clare 1946–

1 contrasting political advisers with elected politicians:I sometimes call them the people who live in the dark. Everything they do is in hiding…Everything we do is in the light. They live in the dark.
in New Statesman 9 August 1996

2 It will be golden elephants next.
suggesting that the government of Montserrat was "talking mad money" in claiming assistance for evacuating the island
in Observer 24 August 1997

[Short]

Back  -   New Search

Shorter Catechism, The (1647)

1
"What is the chief end of man?"
"To glorify God and to enjoy him for ever".

Back  -   New Search

Siddur, The

1 Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
The Shema.

Back  -   New Search

Sidney, Algernon 1622–83

1 'Tis not necessary to light a candle to the sun.
Discourses concerning Government (1698) ch. 2, sect. 23

2 The law is established, which no passion can disturb. 'Tis void of desire and fear, lust and anger…'Tis deaf, inexorable, inflexible.
Discourses concerning Government (1698) ch. 3, sect. 15

[Sidney]

Back  -   New Search

Sidney, Philip 1554–86

1
My true love hath my heart and I have his,
By just exchange one for the other giv'n.

Arcadia ("Old Arcadia", completed 1581) bk. 3

2
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
"Fool," said my Muse to me; "look in thy heart and write."

Astrophil and Stella (1591) sonnet 1

[Sidney]

3
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies;
How silently, and with how wan a face.

Astrophil and Stella (1591) sonnet 31

[Sidney]

4
Dumb swans, not chattering pies, do lovers prove;
They love indeed who quake to say they love.

Astrophil and Stella (1591) sonnet 54

[Sidney]

5
I am no pick-purse of another's wit.

Astrophil and Stella (1591) sonnet 74

[Sidney]

6 Poetry…A speaking picture, with this end: to teach and delight.
The Defence of Poetry (1595)

[Sidney]

7 [The poet] cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner.
The Defence of Poetry (1595)

[Sidney]

8 Comedy is an imitation of the common errors of our life.
The Defence of Poetry (1595)

[Sidney]

9 Delight hath a joy in it either permanent or present. Laughter hath only a scornful tickling.
The Defence of Poetry (1595)

[Sidney]

10 Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.
on giving his water-bottle to a dying soldier on the battle-field of Zutphen, 1586; commonly quoted as "thy need is greater than mine"
Fulke Greville Life of Sir Philip Sidney (1652) ch. 12

[Sidney]

Back  -   New Search

Sieyès, Emmanuel Joseph 1748–1836

1 J'ai vécu.I survived.
when asked what he had done during the French Revolution
F. A. M. Mignet Notice historique sur la vie et les travaux de M. le Comte de Sieyès (1836)

Back  -   New Search

Sigler, Maurice 1901–61 and Hoffman, Al 1902–60

1 Little man, you've had a busy day.
title of song (1934)

Back  -   New Search

Sikh Scriptures

translated by W. H. McLeod, 1984 1 The light which shone from each of the ten Masters shines now from the sacred pages of the Guru Granth Sahib. Turn your thoughts to its message and call on God, saying, Vahiguru!
Ardas

2 You must always wear the Five Ks. These are uncut hair [kes], a sword or dagger [kirpan], a pair of shorts [kachh], a comb [kangha], and a steel bangle [kara].
Sikh Rahit Maryada

Top

3 After three days and three nights had passed he [Guru Nanak] emerged from the stream, and having done so he declared: "There is neither Hindu nor Muslim"
Mahima Prakas Varatak

Top

Back  -   New Search

Sillitoe, Alan 1928–

1 The loneliness of the long-distance runner.
title of novel (1959)

Back  -   New Search

Simenon, Georges 1903–89

1 Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.
interview in Paris Review Summer 1955

Back  -   New Search

Simon, Paul 1942–

1
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

"Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970 song)

2
And here's to you, Mrs Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know.

"Mrs Robinson" (1967 song, from the film The Graduate)

[Simon]

3 Improvisation is too good to leave to chance.
in International Herald Tribune 12 October 1990

[Simon]

Back  -   New Search

Simonides c.556 bc

1
Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by,
That here obedient to their laws we lie.

epitaph for the 300 Spartans killed at Thermopylae, 480 bc
Herodotus Histories bk. 7; attributed

2 Painting is silent poetry, poetry is eloquent painting.
Plutarch Moralia "De Gloria Atheniensium" sect. 3

[Simonides]

Back  -   New Search

Simpson, Harold

1
Down in the forest something stirred:
It was only the note of a bird.

"Down in the Forest" (1906 song)

Back  -   New Search

Simpson, John 1944–

1 I'm sick to death of the "I'm going to tell you everything about me and what I think" school of journalism. You don't watch the BBC for polemic.
interview in Radio Times 9 August 1997

Back  -   New Search

Simpson, Kirke 1881–1972

1 [Warren] Harding of Ohio was chosen by a group of men in a smoke-filled room early today as Republican candidate for President.
often attributed to Harry Daugherty, one of Harding's supporters, who appears merely to have concurred with this version of events, when pressed for comment by Simpson
news report, filed 12 June 1920; William Safire New Language of Politics (1968)

Back  -   New Search

Sims, George R. 1847–1922

1
It is Christmas Day in the Workhouse.

"In the Workhouse—Christmas Day" (1879)

Back  -   New Search

Sisson, C. H. 1914–

1
Here lies a civil servant. He was civil
To everyone, and servant to the devil.

The London Zoo (1961)

Back  -   New Search

Sitting Bull c.1831–90

1 What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red, because I am Sioux, because I was born where my fathers lived, because I would die for my people and my country?
to Major Brotherton, recorded July 1881

2 The Black Hills belong to me. If the whites try to take them, I will fight.
Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) ch. 12

[Sitting Bull]

Back  -   New Search

Sitwell, Edith 1887–1964

1
Jane, Jane,
Tall as a crane,
The morning light creaks down again.

Façade (1923) "Aubade"

2
The fire was furry as a bear.

Façade (1923) "Dark Song"

[Sitwell]

3 I enjoyed talking to her, but thought nothing of her writing. I considered her "a beautiful little knitter".
of Virginia Woolf
letter to Geoffrey Singleton, 11 July 1955

[Sitwell]

Back  -   New Search

Sitwell, Osbert 1892–1969

1
In reality, killing time
Is only the name for another of the multifarious ways
By which Time kills us.

"Milordo Inglese" (1958).

2
On the coast of Coromandel
Dance they to the tunes of Handel.

"On the Coast of Coromandel" (1943)

[Sitwell]

Back  -   New Search

Skelton, John c.1460–1529

1
Far may be sought
Erst that ye can find
So courteous, so kind,
As Merry Margaret,
This midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.

The Garland of Laurel (1523) "To Mistress Margaret Hussey"

2
With margerain gentle,
The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
Is of your maidenhead.

The Garland of Laurel (1523) "To Mistress Margery Wentworth"

[Skelton]

Back  -   New Search

Skelton, Noel 1880–1935

1 To state as clearly as may be what means lie ready to develop a property-owning democracy, to bring the industrial and economic status of the wage-earner abreast of his political and educational, to make democracy stable and four-square.
in The Spectator 19 May 1923

Back  -   New Search

Skinner, B. F. 1904–90

1 The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do.
Contingencies of Reinforcement (1969) ch. 9

2 Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
New Scientist 21 May 1964

[Skinner]

Back  -   New Search

Slovo, Gillian 1952–

1 In most families it is the children who leave home. In mine it was the parents.
of her anti-apartheid activist parents, Joe Slovo and Ruth First
Every Secret Thing (1997)

Back  -   New Search

Smart, Christopher 1722–71

1
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffrey.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.

Jubilate Agno (c.1758–63) Fragment B, l. 695

2
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.

Jubilate Agno (c.1758–63) Fragment B, l. 721

[Smart]

3
Beauteous the garden's umbrage mild,
Walk, water, meditated wild,
And all the bloomy beds.

A Song to David (1763) st. 81

[Smart]

4
Glorious the northern lights astream;
Glorious the song, when God's the theme;
Glorious the thunder's roar.

A Song to David (1763) st. 85

[Smart]

5
And now the matchless deed's achieved,
Determined, dared, and done.

A Song to David (1763) st. 95

[Smart]

Back  -   New Search

Smiles, Samuel 1812–1904

1 We each day dig our graves with our teeth.
Duty (1880) ch. 16

2 The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.
Self-Help (1859) ch. 1

[Smiles]

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Adam 1723–90

1 People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 1, ch. 10, pt. 2

2 The chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 1, ch. 11

[Smith]

3 To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 4, ch. 7, pt. 3

[Smith]

4 Consumption is the sole end and purpose of production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 4, ch. 8

[Smith]

5 There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 5, ch. 2

[Smith]

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Alfred Emanuel 1873–1944

1 All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
speech in Albany, 27 June 1933, in New York Times 28 June 1933

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Delia

1 Football and cookery are the two most important subjects in the country.
having been appointed a director of Norwich City football club
in Observer 23 February 1997 "Said and Done"

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Dodie 1896–1990

1 The family—that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape.
Dear Octopus (1938)

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Edgar 1857–1938

1
You may tempt the upper classes
With your villainous demi-tasses,
But; Heaven will protect a working-girl!

"Heaven Will Protect the Working-Girl" (1909 song)

Back  -   New Search

Smith, F. E., Lord Birkenhead 1872–1930

1 The world continues to offer glittering prizes to those who have stout hearts and sharp swords.
rectorial address, Glasgow University, 7 November 1923

2 judge: You are extremely offensive, young man.
smith: As a matter of fact, we both are, and the only difference between us is that I am trying to be, and you can't help it.

2nd Earl of Birkenhead Earl of Birkenhead (1933) vol. 1, ch. 9

[Smith]

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Godfrey 1926–

1 In a world full of audio visual marvels, may words matter to you and be full of magic.
letter to a new grandchild, in Sunday Times 5 July 1987

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Ian 1919–

1 I don't believe in black majority rule in Rhodesia—not in a thousand years.
broadcast speech, 20 March 1976

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Logan Pearsall 1865–1946

1 There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Age and Death"

2 A best-seller is the gilded tomb of a mediocre talent.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Art and Letters"

[Smith]

3 People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Myself"

[Smith]

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Samuel Francis 1808–95

1
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side
Let freedom ring.

"America" (1831)

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Stevie 1902–71

1
Oh I am a cat that likes to
Gallop about doing good.

"The Galloping Cat" (1972)

2 A good time was had by all.
title of book (1937)

[Smith]

3
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

"Not Waving but Drowning" (1957)

[Smith]

4
This Englishwoman is so refined
She has no bosom and no behind.

"This Englishwoman" (1937)

[Smith]

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Sydney 1771–1845

1 A Curate—there is something which excites compassion in the very name of a Curate!!!
"Persecuting Bishops" in Edinburgh Review (1822)

2 I have no relish for the country; it is a kind of healthy grave.
letter to Miss G. Harcourt, 1838

[Smith]

3 That knuckle-end of England—that land of Calvin, oat-cakes, and sulphur.
of Scotland
Lady Holland Memoir (1855) vol. 1, ch. 2

[Smith]

4 Take short views, hope for the best, and trust in God.
Lady Holland Memoir (1855) vol. 1, ch. 6

[Smith]

5 No furniture so charming as books.
Lady Holland Memoir (1855) vol. 1, ch. 9.

[Smith]

6 My definition of marriage…it resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.
Lady Holland Memoir (1855) vol. 1, ch. 11

[Smith]

7 Deserves to be preached to death by wild curates.
Lady Holland Memoir (1855) vol. 1, ch. 11

[Smith]

8 Brighton Pavilion looks as if St Paul's had slipped down to Brighton and pupped.
attributed; Alan Bell (ed.) The Sayings of Sydney Smith (1993)

[Smith]

9 I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices a man so.
H. Pearson The Smith of Smiths (1934) ch. 3

[Smith]

10 My idea of heaven is, eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.
view ascribed by Smith to his friend Henry Luttrell
H. Pearson The Smith of Smiths (1934) ch. 10.

[Smith]

Back  -   New Search

Smith, Walter Chalmers 1824–1908

1
Immortal, invisible, God only wise.

"God, All in All" (1867 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Smollett, Tobias 1721–71

1 That great Cham of literature, Samuel Johnson.
letter to John Wilkes, 16 March 1759

Back  -   New Search

Smuts, Jan Christiaan 1870–1950

1 Mankind is once more on the move. The very foundations have been shaken and loosened, and things are again fluid. The tents have been struck, and the great caravan of humanity is once more on the march.
on the setting up of the League of Nations, in the wake of the First World War
W. K. Hancock Smuts (1968)

Back  -   New Search

Snow, C. P. 1905–80

1 The official world, the corridors of power.
Homecomings (1956) ch. 22

2 The two cultures and the scientific revolution.
title of The Rede Lecture (1959)

[Snow]

Back  -   New Search

Socrates 469 bc

1 How many things I can do without!
on looking at a multitude of goods exposed for sale
Diogenes Laertius Lives of the Philosophers bk. 2, ch. 25

2 I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
Diogenes Laertius Lives of the Philosophers bk. 2, sect. 32.

[Socrates]

3 It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return.
Plato Crito 49d

[Socrates]

4 But, my dearest Agathon, it is truth which you cannot contradict; you can without any difficulty contradict Socrates.
Plato Symposium 201d

[Socrates]

5 Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; please pay it and don't forget it.
last words; Plato Phaedo 118

[Socrates]

Back  -   New Search

Solon c.640 bc

1 I grow old ever learning many things.
Theodor Bergk (ed.) Poetae Lyrici Graeci (1843) no. 18

2 Call no man happy before he dies, he is at best but fortunate.
Herodotus Histories bk. 1, ch. 32.

[Solon]

Back  -   New Search

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander 1918–

1 You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power — he's free again.
The First Circle (1968) ch. 17

2 The Gulag archipelago.
title of book (1973–5)

[Solzhenitsyn]

3 The Iron Curtain did not reach the ground and under it flowed liquid manure from the West.
speaking at Far Eastern Technical University, Vladivostok, 30 May 1994.

[Solzhenitsyn]

Back  -   New Search

Somerville, William 1675–1742

1
The chase, the sport of kings;
Image of war, without its guilt.

The Chase (1735) bk. 1, l. 14.

Back  -   New Search

Somoza, Anastasio 1925–80

1 You won the elections, but I won the count.
replying to an accusation of ballot-rigging
in Guardian 17 June 1977.

Back  -   New Search

Sondheim, Stephen 1930–

1
I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!

"America" (1957 song) in West Side Story

2 Everything's coming up roses.
title of song (1959) in Gypsy

[Sondheim]

3
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.

"Send in the Clowns" (1973 song) in A Little Night Music

[Sondheim]

Back  -   New Search

Sontag, Susan 1933–

1 Societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to its "victims".
AIDS and its Metaphors (1989)

2 What pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death.
in Partisan Review Spring 1967

[Sontag]

Back  -   New Search

Soper, Donald 1903–98

1 It is, I think, good evidence of life after death.
on the quality of debate in the House of Lords
in Listener 17 August 1978

Back  -   New Search

Sophocles c.496 bc

1 There are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man.
Antigone l. 333

2 Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.
Oedipus Coloneus l. 1225 (translation by R. C. Jebb)

[Sophocles]

3 Someone asked Sophocles, "How is your sex-life now? Are you still able to have a woman?" He replied, "Hush, man; most gladly indeed am I rid of it all, as though I had escaped from a mad and savage master."
Plato Republic bk. 1, 329b

[Sophocles]

Back  -   New Search

Southey, Robert 1774–1843

1
Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for.

"The Battle of Blenheim" (1800)

2
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell," said he,
"But 'twas a famous victory."

"The Battle of Blenheim" (1800)

[Southey]

3
And then they knew the perilous rock,
And blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothock.

"The Inchcape Rock" (1802)

[Southey]

4
My name is Death: the last best friend am I.

"The Lay of the Laureate" (1816) st. 87

[Southey]

5
You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

"The Old Man's Comforts" (1799).

[Southey]

6 The arts babblative and scribblative.
Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society (1829) no. 10, pt. 2

[Southey]

7 Men started at the intelligence, and turned pale, as if they had heard of the loss of a dear friend.
on the death of Nelson
The Life of Nelson (1813) ch. 9

[Southey]

8 She has made me in love with a cold climate, and frost and snow, with a northern moonlight.
on Mary Wollstonecraft's letters from Sweden and Norway
letter to his brother Thomas, 28 April 1797.

[Southey]

9 Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life: and it ought not to be.
letter to Charlotte Brontë, 12 March 1837

[Southey]

Back  -   New Search

Southwell, Robert c.1561–95

1
As I in hoary winter night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised was I with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near
A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear.

"The Burning Babe" (c.1590)

Back  -   New Search

Spark, Muriel 1918–

1 I am a hoarder of two things: documents and trusted friends.
Curriculum Vitae (1992)

2 I am putting old heads on your young shoulders…all my pupils are the crème de la crème.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) ch. 1

[Spark]

3 One's prime is elusive. You little girls, when you grow up, must be on the alert to recognise your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) ch. 1

[Spark]

Back  -   New Search

Sparrow, John 1906–92

1 That indefatigable and unsavoury engine of pollution, the dog.
letter to The Times 30 September 1975

Back  -   New Search

Spencer, Herbert 1820–1903

1 Science is organized knowledge.
Education (1861) ch. 2

2 People are beginning to see that the first requisite to success in life is to be a good animal.
Education (1861) ch. 2

[Spencer]

3 Absolute morality is the regulation of conduct in such a way that pain shall not be inflicted.
Essays (1891) vol. 3 "Prison Ethics"

[Spencer]

4 This survival of the fittest which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr Darwin has called "natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.
Principles of Biology (1865) pt. 3, ch. 12.

[Spencer]

5 A clever theft was praiseworthy amongst the Spartans; and it is equally so amongst Christians, provided it be on a sufficiently large scale.
Social Statics (1850) pt. 2, ch. 16, sect. 3

[Spencer]

Back  -   New Search

Spencer, Lord 1964–

1 Every proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her…has blood on their hands today.
on the death of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash while being pursued by photographers, 31 August 1997
in Daily Telegraph 1 September 1997

2 She needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.
tribute at the funeral of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, 7 September 1997
in Guardian 8 September 1997

[Spencer]

Back  -   New Search

Spencer, Raine, Countess 1929–

1 Alas, for our towns and cities. Monstrous carbuncles of concrete have erupted in gentle Georgian Squares.
The Spencers on Spas (1983) p. 14.

Back  -   New Search

Spencer, Stanley 1891–1959

1 Painting is saying "Ta" to God.
letter from Spencer's daughter Shirin, in Observer 7 February 1988

Back  -   New Search

Spender, Stephen 1909–95

1 I think continually of those who were truly great.
"I think continually of those who were truly great" (1933)

2
Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

"I think continually of those who were truly great" (1933)

[Spender]

3
Pylons, those pillars
Bare like nude, giant girls that have no secret.

"The Pylons" (1933)

[Spender]

Back  -   New Search

Spenser, Edmund c.1552–99

1
Ah! when will this long weary day have end,
And lend me leave to come unto my love?

"Epithalamion" (1595) l. 278

2
A gentle knight was pricking on the plain.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 1, canto 1, st. 1

[Spenser]

3
Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas,
Ease after war, death after life does greatly please.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 1, canto 9, st. 40

[Spenser]

4 And with rich metal loaded every rift.
The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 2, canto 7, st. 28.

[Spenser]

5
And all for love, and nothing for reward.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 2, canto 8, st. 2

[Spenser]

6
Be bold, be bold, and everywhere Be bold…
Be not too bold.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 3, canto 11, st. 54

[Spenser]

7
Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 4, canto 2, st. 32

[Spenser]

8
Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 5, canto 2, st. 43

[Spenser]

9
O sacred hunger of ambitious minds.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 5, canto 12, st. 1

[Spenser]

10
A monster, which the Blatant beast men call.

The Faerie Queen (1596) bk. 5, canto 12, st. 37

[Spenser]

11
Of such deep learning little had he need,
Ne yet of Latin, ne of Greek that breed
Doubts 'mongst Divines, and difference of texts,
From whence arise diversity of sects,
And hateful heresies.

"Prosopopoia or Mother Hubbard's Tale" (1591) l. 385

[Spenser]

12
With that, I saw two swans of goodly hue,
Come softly swimming down along the Lee.

Prothalamion (1596) l. 37

[Spenser]

13
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.

Prothalamion (1596) l. 54

[Spenser]

14 Uncouth unkist, said the old famous poet Chaucer.
The Shepherd's Calendar (1579) "Letter to Gabriel Harvey"

[Spenser]

15 So now they have made our English tongue a gallimaufry or hodgepodge of all other speeches.
The Shepherd's Calendar (1579) "Letter to Gabriel Harvey"

[Spenser]

Back  -   New Search

Spinoza, Baruch 1632–77

1 There is no hope without fear, and no fear without hope.
Ethics (1677) pt. 2, para. 178

Back  -   New Search

Spock, Benjamin 1903–98

1 You know more than you think you do.
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946)

Back  -   New Search

Spooner, William Archibald 1844–1930

1 You will find as you grow older that the weight of rages will press harder and harder upon the employer.
William Hayter Spooner (1977) ch. 6

2 Her late husband, you know, a very sad death—eaten by missionaries—poor soul!
William Hayter Spooner (1977) ch. 6

[Spooner]

Back  -   New Search

Spring-Rice, Cecil 1859–1918

1
I vow to thee, my country—all earthly things above—
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love,
The love that asks no question: the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best:
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

"I Vow to Thee, My Country" (written on the eve of his departure from Washington, 12 January 1918)

Back  -   New Search

Springsteen, Bruce 1949–

1 Born in the USA.
title of song (1984)

2
We gotta get out while we're young,
'Cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to run.

"Born to Run" (1974 song)

[Springsteen]

Back  -   New Search

Spurgeon, C. H. 1834–92

1 If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly: it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, "a lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on".
Gems from Spurgeon (1859)

Back  -   New Search

Squire, J. C. 1884–1958

1 But I'm not so think as you drunk I am.
"Ballade of Soporific Absorption" (1931)

2
It did not last: the Devil howling "Ho!
Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo.

"In continuation of Pope on Newton" (1926); see

[Squire]

Back  -   New Search

Staël, Mme de 1766–1817

1 Tout comprendre rend très indulgent.To be totally understanding makes one very indulgent.
Corinne (1807) bk. 18, ch. 5

2 A man can brave opinion, a woman must submit to it.
Delphine (1802) epigraph

[Staël]

3 Speech happens not to be his language.
on being asked what she found to talk about with her new lover, a hussar
attributed

[Staël]

Back  -   New Search

Stalin, Joseph 1879–1953

1 There are various forms of production: artillery, automobiles, lorries. You also produce "commodities", "works", "products". Such things are highly necessary. Engineering things. For people's souls. "Products" are highly necessary too. "Products" are very important for people's souls. You are engineers of human souls.
speech to writers at Gorky's house, 26 October 1932.

2 The Pope! How many divisions has he got?
on being asked to encourage Catholicism in Russia by way of conciliating the Pope, 13 May 1935
W. S. Churchill The Gathering Storm (1948) ch. 8.

[Stalin]

3 There is one eternally true legend—that of Judas.
at the trial of Radek in 1937
Robert Payne The Rise and Fall of Stalin (1966)

[Stalin]

4 One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.
attributed

[Stalin]

Back  -   New Search

Stanley, Henry Morton 1841–1904

1 Dr Livingstone, I presume?
How I found Livingstone (1872) ch. 11

Back  -   New Search

Stanton, Charles E. 1859–1933

1 Lafayette, nous voilà!Lafayette, we are here.
at the tomb of Lafayette in Paris, 4 July 1917; in New York Tribune 6 September 1917

Back  -   New Search

Stanton, Edwin Mcmasters 1814–69

1 Now he belongs to the ages.
of Abraham Lincoln, following his assassination, 15 April 1865
I. M. Tarbell Life of Abraham Lincoln (1900) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady 1815–1902

1 Woman's degradation is in man's idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws, customs, are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man.
letter to Susan B. Anthony, 14 June 1860

Back  -   New Search

Stanton, Frank L. 1857–1927

1
Sweetes' li'l' feller,
Everybody knows;
Dunno what to call him,
But he's mighty lak' a rose!

"Mighty Lak' a Rose" (1901 song)

Back  -   New Search

Stark, John 1728–1822

1 We beat them to-day or Molly Stark's a widow.
before the Battle of Bennington, 16 August 1777

Back  -   New Search

Stead, Christina 1902–83

1 A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
House of All Nations (1938) "Credo"

Back  -   New Search

Steel, David 1938–

1 I have the good fortune to be the first Liberal leader for over half a century who is able to say to you at the end of our annual assembly: go back to your constituencies and prepare for government.
speech to the Liberal Party Assembly, 18 September 1981

Back  -   New Search

Steele, Richard 1672–1729

1 A woman seldom writes her mind but in her postscript.
in The Spectator no. 79 (31 May 1711).

2 To love her is a liberal education.
of Lady Elizabeth Hastings
in The Tatler no. 49 (2 August 1709)

[Steele]

3 It was very prettily said, that we may learn the little value of fortune by the persons on whom heaven is pleased to bestow it.
in The Tatler no. 203 (27 July 1710)

[Steele]

Back  -   New Search

Steffens, Lincoln 1866–1936

1 I have seen the future; and it works.
following a visit to the Soviet Union in 1919
letter to Marie Howe, 3 April 1919

Back  -   New Search

Steichen, Edward 1879–1973

1 The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each man to himself.
Cornell Capa (ed.) The Concerned Photographer (1972)

Back  -   New Search

Stein, Gertrude 1874–1946

1 Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose, is a rose.
Sacred Emily (1913)

2 You are all a lost generation.
of the young who served in the First World War
subsequently taken by Ernest Hemingway as his epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926)

[Stein]

3 "What is the answer?" No answer came. She laughed and said, "In that case what is the question?"
last words; Donald Sutherland Gertrude Stein, A Biography of her Work (1951)

[Stein]

Back  -   New Search

Steinbeck, John 1902–68

1 Okie use' ta mean you was from Oklahoma. Now it means you're a dirty son-of-a-bitch. Okie means you're scum. Don't mean nothing itself, it's the way they say it.
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) ch. 18

Back  -   New Search

Steinem, Gloria 1934–

1 We are becoming the men we wanted to marry.
in Ms July/August 1982

2 A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.
attributed

[Steinem]

Back  -   New Search

Stendhal 1783–1842

1 A novel is a mirror which passes over a highway. Sometimes it reflects to your eyes the blue of the skies, at others the churned-up mud of the road.
Le Rouge et le noir (1830) bk. 2, ch. 19

2 I know of only one rule: style cannot be too clear, too simple.
letter to Balzac, 30 October 1840

[Stendhal]

Back  -   New Search

Stephen, J. K. 1859–92

1
When the Rudyards cease from kipling
And the Haggards ride no more.

"To R.K." (1891)

Back  -   New Search

Stephen, Leslie 1832–1904

1 The editor of such a work must, by the necessity of the case, be autocratic. He will do his best to be a considerate autocrat.
of the compilation of a dictionary of national biography
in Athenaeum 23 December 1882

Back  -   New Search

Stephens, James 1882–1950

1
Finality is death. Perfection is finality.
Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.

The Crock of Gold (1912) bk. 1, ch. 4

2
I hear a sudden cry of pain!
There is a rabbit in a snare:
Now I hear the cry again,
But I cannot tell from where…
Little one! Oh, little one!
I am searching everywhere.

"The Snare" (1915)

[Stephens]

Back  -   New Search

Sterne, Laurence 1713–68

1 They order, said I, this matter better in France.
A Sentimental Journey (1768) opening words

2 "Pray, my dear," quoth my mother, "have you not forgot to wind up the clock?"—"Good G—!" cried my father, making an exclamation, but taking care to moderate his voice at the same time,—"Did ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?"
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 1, ch. 1

[Sterne]

3 I should have no objection to this method, but that I think it must smell too strong of the lamp.
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 1, ch. 23

[Sterne]

4 'Tis better in battle than in bed", said my uncle Toby.
of death
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 5, ch. 3

[Sterne]

5 There is a North-west passage to the intellectual World.
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 5, ch. 42

[Sterne]

6 "The poor soul will die:—" "He shall not die, by G—", cried my uncle Toby.—The Accusing Spirit, which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in;—and the Recording Angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 6, ch. 8

[Sterne]

7 "A soldier," cried my Uncle Toby, interrupting the corporal, "is no more exempt from saying a foolish thing, Trim, than a man of letters."—"But not so often, an' please your honour," replied the corporal.
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 8, ch. 19

[Sterne]

8 —d! said my mother, "what is all this story about?"— "A Cock and a Bull," said Yorick.
Tristram Shandy (1759–67) bk. 9, ch. 33

[Sterne]

Back  -   New Search

Stevens, Brooks 1911–

1 Our whole economy is based on planned obsolescence.
Vance Packard The Waste Makers (1960) ch. 6

Back  -   New Search

Stevens, Wallace 1879–1955

1
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" (1923)

2 Frogs Eat Butterflies. Snakes Eat Frogs. Hogs Eat Snakes. Men Eat Hogs.
title of poem (1923)

[Stevens]

3 Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
"A High-Toned old Christian Woman" (1923)

[Stevens]

4
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."

The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."

"The Man with the Blue Guitar" (1937)

[Stevens]

5
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" (1923)

[Stevens]

Back  -   New Search

Stevenson, Adlai 1900–65

1 I suppose flattery hurts no one, that is, if he doesn't inhale.
television broadcast, 30 March 1952

2 Let's talk sense to the American people. Let's tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains.
speech of acceptance at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, 26 July 1952

[Stevenson]

3 In America any boy may become President and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes!
speech in Indianapolis, 26 September 1952

[Stevenson]

4 The young man who asks you to set him one heart-beat from the Presidency of the United States.
of Richard Nixon as Vice-Presidential nominee
speech at Cleveland, Ohio, 23 October 1952

[Stevenson]

5 We hear the Secretary of State boasting of his brinkmanship—the art of bringing us to the edge of the abyss.
speech in Hartford, Connecticut, 25 February 1956; see

[Stevenson]

6 She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world.
of Eleanor Roosevelt
in New York Times 8 November 1962

[Stevenson]

Back  -   New Search

Stevenson, Anne 1933–

1
Blackbirds are the cellos of the deep farms.

"Green Mountain, Black Mountain" (1982)

Back  -   New Search

Stevenson, Robert Louis 1850–94

1 Am I no a bonny fighter?
Kidnapped (1886) ch. 10

2 I've a grand memory for forgetting, David.
Kidnapped (1886) ch. 18

[Stevenson]

3 I have thus played the sedulous ape to Hazlitt, to Lamb, to Wordsworth, to Sir Thomas Browne, to Defoe, to Hawthorne, to Montaigne, to Baudelaire and to Obermann.
Memories and Portraits (1887) ch. 4 "A College Magazine"

[Stevenson]

4 The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
title of novel, 1886

[Stevenson]

5 I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.
Travels with a Donkey (1879) "Cheylard and Luc"

[Stevenson]

6 If landscapes were sold, like the sheets of characters of my boyhood, one penny plain and twopence coloured, I should go the length of twopence every day of my life.
Travels with a Donkey (1879) "Father Apollinaris"

[Stevenson]

7
Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Treasure Island (1883) ch. 1

[Stevenson]

8 Tip me the black spot.
Treasure Island (1883) ch. 3

[Stevenson]

9 Pieces of eight, pieces of eight, pieces of eight!
Treasure Island (1883) ch. 10

[Stevenson]

10 Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese—toasted, mostly.
Treasure Island (1883) ch. 15

[Stevenson]

11 To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.
Virginibus Puerisque (1881) "El Dorado"

[Stevenson]

12 What hangs people…is the unfortunate circumstance of guilt.
The Wrong Box (with Lloyd Osbourne, 1889) ch. 7

[Stevenson]

13 If you are going to make a book end badly, it must end badly from the beginning.
letter to J. M. Barrie, November 1892

[Stevenson]

14
The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) "Happy Thought"

[Stevenson]

15
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.

A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) "The Land of Counterpane"

[Stevenson]

16
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me.

A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) "My Shadow"

[Stevenson]

17
I will make you brooches and toys for your delight
Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.

Songs of Travel (1896) "I will make you brooches and toys for your delight"

[Stevenson]

18
Trusty, dusky, vivid, true,
With eyes of gold and bramble-dew,
Steel-true and blade-straight,
The great artificer
Made my mate.

Songs of Travel (1896) "My Wife"

[Stevenson]

19
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.

Songs of Travel (1896) "Sing me a song of a lad that is gone"

[Stevenson]

20
Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.

Songs of Travel (1896) "The Vagabond"

[Stevenson]

21
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Songs of Travel (1896) "The Vagabond"

[Stevenson]

22
Go, little book, and wish to all
Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall,
A bin of wine, a spice of wit,
A house with lawns enclosing it.

Underwoods (1887) "Envoy".

[Stevenson]

23
Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie.

Underwoods (1887) "Requiem"

[Stevenson]

24
This be the verse you grave for me:
"Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."

Underwoods (1887) "Requiem"

[Stevenson]

Back  -   New Search

Stewart, Ian 1945–

1 Genes are not like engineering blueprints; they are more like recipes in a cookbook. They tell us what ingredients to use, in what quantities, and in what order—but they do not provide a complete, accurate plan of the final result.
Life's Other Secret (1998) preface

Back  -   New Search

Sting 1951–

1 If I were a Brazilian without land or money or the means to feed my children, I would be burning the rain forest too.
in International Herald Tribune 14 April 1989

Back  -   New Search

Stinnett, Caskie 1911–

1 A diplomat…is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
Out of the Red (1960) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Stone, Samuel John 1839–1900

1
The Church's one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the word.

Lyra Fidelium (1866) "The Church's one foundation"

Back  -   New Search

Stopes, Marie 1880–1958

1 An impersonal and scientific knowledge of the structure of our bodies is the surest safeguard against prurient curiosity and lascivious gloating.
Married Love (1918) ch. 5

Back  -   New Search

Stoppard, Tom 1937–

1 It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.
Jumpers (1972) act 1.

2 The House of Lords, an illusion to which I have never been able to subscribe—responsibility without power, the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages.
Lord Malquist and Mr Moon (1966) pt. 6.

[Stoppard]

3 I'm with you on the free press. It's the newspapers I can't stand.
Night and Day (1978) act 1

[Stoppard]

4 Comment is free but facts are on expenses.
Night and Day (1978) act 2.

[Stoppard]

5 The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967) act 2.

[Stoppard]

Back  -   New Search

Stoughton, William 1631–1701

1 God hath sifted a nation that he might send choice grain into this wilderness.
sermon in Boston, 29 April 1669

Back  -   New Search

Stowe, Harriet Beecher 1811–96

1 I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me.
Topsy
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) ch. 20

Back  -   New Search

Stowell, William Scott, Lord 1745–1836

1 The elegant simplicity of the three per cents.
Lord Campbell Lives of the Lord Chancellors (1857).

2 A precedent embalms a principle.
an opinion, while Advocate-General, 1788

[Stowell]

Back  -   New Search

Strachey, Lytton 1880–1932

1 Francis Bacon…was no striped frieze; he was shot silk.
Elizabeth and Essex (1928) ch. 5

2 chairman of military tribunal: What would you do if you saw a German soldier trying to violate your sister?
strachey: I would try to get between them.

otherwise rendered as, "I should interpose my body"
Robert Graves Good-bye to All That (1929) ch. 23

[Strachey]

3 Discretion is not the better part of biography.
Michael Holroyd Lytton Strachey vol. 1 (1967) preface

[Strachey]

4 If this is dying, then I don't think much of it.
on his deathbed
Michael Holroyd Lytton Strachey vol. 2 (1968) pt. 2, ch. 6

[Strachey]

Back  -   New Search

Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Lord 1593–1641

1 The authority of a King is the keystone which closeth up the arch of order and government which, once shaken, all the frame falls together in a confused heap of foundation and battlement.
Hugh Trevor-Roper Historical Essays (1952) "The Outbreak of the Great Rebellion"

Back  -   New Search

Strauss, William L. and Cave, A. J. E.

1 Notwithstanding, if he could be reincarnated and placed in a New York subway—provided that he were bathed, shaved, and dressed in modern clothing—it is doubtful whether he would attract any more attention than some of its other denizens.
of Neanderthal man
in Quarterly Review of Biology Winter 1957

Back  -   New Search

Straw, Jack 1946–

1 It's not because ageing wrinklies have tried to stop people having fun. It's because…these so-called soft drugs are potentially very dangerous.
asserting his opposition to the legalization of cannabis
on Breakfast with Frost, BBC1 TV, 4 January 1998

Back  -   New Search

Street-Porter, Janet 1946–

1 A terminal blight has hit the TV industry nipping fun in the bud and stunting our growth. This blight is management—the dreaded Four M's: male, middle class, middle-aged and mediocre.
MacTaggart Lecture, Edinburgh Television Festival, 25 August 1995

Back  -   New Search

Strindberg, August 1849–1912

1 Family!…the home of all social evil, a charitable institution for comfortable women, an anchorage for house-fathers, and a hell for children.
The Son of a Servant (1886)

Back  -   New Search

Struther, Jan 1901–53

1
Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
Whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy,
Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

"All Day Hymn" (1931 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Studdert Kennedy, G. A. 1883–1929

1
When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by,
They never hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die.

Peace Rhymes of a Padre (1921) "Indifference"

Back  -   New Search

Suckling, John 1609–42

1
Why so pale and wan, fond lover?
Prithee, why so pale?

Aglaura (1637) act 4, sc. 1 "Song"

2
Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice, stole in and out.

"A Ballad upon a Wedding" (1646) st. 8

[Suckling]

3
Love is the fart
Of every heart:
It pains a man when 'tis kept close,
And others doth offend, when 'tis let loose.

"Love's Offence" (1646)

[Suckling]

4
Out upon it, I have loved
Three whole days together.

"A Poem with the Answer" (1659)

[Suckling]

Back  -   New Search

Sullivan, Annie 1866–1936

1 Language grows out of life, out of its needs and experiences…Language and knowledge are indissolubly connected; they are interdependent. Good work in language presupposes and depends on a real knowledge of things
speech to the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, July 1894

Back  -   New Search

Sullivan, Louis Henri 1856–1924

1 Form follows function.
The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered (1896)

Back  -   New Search

Sullivan, Terry

1
She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.

"She Sells Sea-Shells" (1908 song)

Back  -   New Search

Sullivan, Timothy Daniel 1827–1914

1
"God save Ireland!" said the heroes;
"God save Ireland", say they all:
Whether on the scaffold high
Or the battlefield we die,
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall.

"God Save Ireland" (1867)

Back  -   New Search

Sully, Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de 1559–1641

1 Tilling and grazing are the two breasts by which France is fed.
Mémoires (1638) pt. 1, ch. 15

2 The English take their pleasures sadly after the fashion of their country.
attributed

[Sully]

Back  -   New Search

Sulzberger, Arthur Hays 1891–1968

1 We tell the public which way the cat is jumping. The public will take care of the cat.
on journalism
in Time 8 May 1950

Back  -   New Search

Summerskill, Edith 1901–80

1 Nagging is the repetition of unpalatable truths.
speech to the Married Women's Association, House of Commons, 14 July 1960

Back  -   New Search

Sumner, Charles 1811–74

1 Where Slavery is, there Liberty cannot be; and where Liberty is, there Slavery cannot be.
"Slavery and the Rebellion"; speech at Cooper Institute 5 November 1864

2 There is the national flag. He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country.
Are We a Nation? 19 November 1867

[Sumner]

Back  -   New Search

Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of c.1517–47

1
So cruel prison how could betide, alas,
As proud Windsor? Where I in lust and joy
With a king's son my childish years did pass
In greater feast than Priam's sons of Troy.

"So cruel prison" (1557)

2
Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest;
Whose heavenly gifts increased by disdain,
And virtue sank the deeper in his breast;
Such profit he of envy could obtain.

"Wyatt resteth here" (1557)

[Surrey]

Back  -   New Search

Surtees, R. S. 1805–64

1 'Unting is all that's worth living for…it's the sport of kings, the image of war without its guilt, and only five-and-twenty per cent of its danger.
Handley Cross (1843) ch. 7.

2 It ar'n't that I loves the fox less, but that I loves the 'ound more.
Handley Cross (1843) ch. 16

[Surtees]

3 Life would be very pleasant if it were not for its enjoyments.
Mr Facey Romford's Hounds (1865) ch. 32.

[Surtees]

4 Everyone knows that the real business of a ball is either to look out for a wife, to look after a wife, or to look after somebody else's wife.
Mr Facey Romford's Hounds (1865) ch. 56

[Surtees]

5 He was a gentleman who was generally spoken of as having nothing a-year, paid quarterly.
Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour (1853) ch. 24

[Surtees]

Back  -   New Search

Swaffer, Hannen 1879–1962

1 Freedom of the press in Britain means freedom to print such of the proprietor's prejudices as the advertisers don't object to.
Tom Driberg Swaff (1974) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Swift, Jonathan 1667–1745

1 Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.
The Battle of the Books (1704) preface

2 Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.
The Battle of the Books (1704)

[Swift]

3 It is the folly of too many, to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom.
The Conduct of the Allies (1711)

[Swift]

4 Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.
A Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind (1709).

[Swift]

5 I have heard of a man who had a mind to sell his house, and therefore carried a piece of brick in his pocket, which he shewed as a pattern to encourage purchasers.
The Drapier's Letters (1724) no. 2

[Swift]

6 And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together.
Gulliver's Travels (1726) "A Voyage to Brobdingnag" ch. 7

[Swift]

7 He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sun-beams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers.
Gulliver's Travels (1726) "A Voyage to Laputa, etc." ch. 5

[Swift]

8 Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.
Letter to a Young Gentleman lately entered into Holy Orders (9 January 1720)

[Swift]

9 Not die here in a rage, like a poisoned rat in a hole.
letter to Bolingbroke, 21 March 1730

[Swift]

10 I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.
A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Ireland from being a Burden to their Parents or Country (1729)

[Swift]

11 We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

[Swift]

12 When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

[Swift]

13 The stoical scheme of supplying our wants, by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

[Swift]

14 Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1727 ed.)

[Swift]

15
How haughtily he lifts his nose,
To tell what every schoolboy knows.

"The Journal" (1727) l. 81

[Swift]

16
Hail, fellow, well met,
All dirty and wet:
Find out, if you can,
Who's master, who's man.

"My Lady's Lamentation" (written 1728) l. 165

[Swift]

17
Philosophy! the lumber of the schools.

"Ode to Sir W. Temple" (written 1692)

[Swift]

18
As learned commentators view
In Homer more than Homer knew.

"On Poetry" (1733) l. 103

[Swift]

19
So geographers, in Afric-maps,
With savage-pictures fill their gaps;
And o'er unhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns.

"On Poetry" (1733) l. 177

[Swift]

20
Hobbes clearly proves, that every creature
Lives in a state of war by nature.

"On Poetry" (1733) l. 319

[Swift]

21
So, naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller fleas to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum.

"On Poetry" (1733) l. 337

[Swift]

22 Good God! what a genius I had when I wrote that book.
of A Tale of a Tub
Sir Walter Scott (ed.) Works of Swift (1814) vol. 1

[Swift]

23 I shall be like that tree, I shall die at the top.
Sir Walter Scott (ed.) Works of Swift (1814) vol. 1

[Swift]

24 A stick and a string, with a fly at one end and a fool at the other.
description of angling; the remark has also been attributed to Samuel Johnson, in the form "a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other"
in The Indicator 27 October 1819

[Swift]

25 Ubi saeva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit.Where fierce indignation can no longer tear his heart.
epitaph; Shane Leslie The Skull of Swift (1928) ch. 15.

[Swift]

Back  -   New Search

Swinburne, Algernon Charles 1837–1909

1
Maiden, and mistress of the months and stars
Now folded in the flowerless fields of heaven.

Atalanta in Calydon (1865) l. 1

2
When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces,
The mother of months in meadow or plain
Fills the shadows and windy places
With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain.

Atalanta in Calydon (1865) chorus "When the hounds of spring"

[Swinburne]

3
For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Atalanta in Calydon (1865) chorus "When the hounds of spring"

[Swinburne]

4
Villon, our sad bad glad mad brother's name.

"Ballad of François Villon" (1878)

[Swinburne]

5
We shift and bedeck and bedrape us,
Thou art noble and nude and antique.

"Dolores" (1866) st. 7

[Swinburne]

6
Change in a trice
The lilies and languors of virtue
For the raptures and roses of vice.

"Dolores" (1866) st. 9

[Swinburne]

7
O splendid and sterile Dolores,
Our Lady of Pain.

"Dolores" (1866) st. 9

[Swinburne]

8
As a god self-slain on his own strange altar,
Death lies dead.

"A Forsaken Garden" (1878)

[Swinburne]

9
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no man lives forever,
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.

"The Garden of Proserpine" (1866)

[Swinburne]

10
Even love, the beloved Republic, that feeds upon freedom lives.

"Hertha" (1871).

[Swinburne]

11
Yea, is not even Apollo, with hair and harpstring of gold,
A bitter God to follow, a beautiful God to behold?

"Hymn to Proserpine" (1866)

[Swinburne]

12
Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from Thy breath.

"Hymn to Proserpine" (1866).

[Swinburne]

13
Swallow, my sister, O sister swallow,
How can thine heart be full of the spring?
A thousand summers are over and dead.
What hast thou found in the spring to follow?

"Itylus" (1864)

[Swinburne]

14
O sister, sister, thy first-begotten!
The hands that cling and the feet that follow,
The voice of the child's blood crying yet
Who hath remembered me? Who hath forgotten?
Thou hast forgotten, O summer swallow,
But the world shall end when I forget.

"Itylus" (1864)

[Swinburne]

15
Apples of gold for the king's daughter.

"The King's Daughter"

[Swinburne]

16
If love were what the rose is,
And I were like the leaf,
Our lives would grow together
In sad or singing weather,
Blown fields or flowerful closes,
Green pleasure or grey grief.

"A Match" (1866)

[Swinburne]

Back  -   New Search

Sydenham, Thomas 1624–89

1 Almighty God hath not bestowed on mankind a remedy of so universal an extent and so efficacious in curing divers maladies as opiates.
manuscript version of published text, Observationes Medicae (1676, G. G. Meynell (ed.) 1991)

Back  -   New Search

Synge, John Millington 1871–1909

1 But we do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.
The Aran Islands (1907) pt. 2

2 Oh my grief, I've lost him surely. I've lost the only Playboy of the Western World.
The Playboy of the Western World (1907) act 3

[Synge]

Back  -   New Search

Szasz, Thomas 1920–

1 Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly often attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.
The Second Sin (1973) "Emotions"

2 If you talk to God, you are praying; if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; if God talks to you, you are a schizophrenic.
The Second Sin (1973) "Schizophrenia"

[Szasz]

3 Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.
The Second Sin (1973) "Science and Scientism"

[Szasz]

Back  -   New Search

Szent-Györgyi, Albert von 1893–1986

1 Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
Irving Good (ed.) The Scientist Speculates (1962)

Back  -   New Search

T

Tacitus ad c.56–117

1 He [Nerva] has united things long incompatible, the principate and liberty.
Agricola ch. 3

2 They make a wilderness and call it peace.
Agricola ch. 30

[Tacitus]

3 It is part of human nature to hate the man you have hurt.
Agricola ch. 42

[Tacitus]

4
Sine ira et studio.

With neither anger nor partiality.

Annals bk. 1, ch. 1

[Tacitus]

5 Elegantiae arbiter.The arbiter of taste.
of Petronius
Annals bk. 16, ch. 18

[Tacitus]

6 He seemed much greater than a private citizen while he still was a private citizen, and by everyone's consent capable of reigning if only he had not reigned.
of the Emperor Galba
Histories bk. 1, ch. 49

[Tacitus]

7 Deos fortioribus adesse.The gods are on the side of the stronger.
Histories bk. 4, ch. 17.

[Tacitus]

8 Experientia docuit.Experience has taught.
commonly quoted as "Experientia docet [experience teaches]"
The Histories bk. 5, ch. 6

[Tacitus]

Back  -   New Search

Tagore, Rabindranath 1861–1941

1
Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand
With a grip that kills it.

Fireflies (1928)

2
Touch my life with the magic of thy fire.

sung at the funeral of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, 13 September 1997
"The Magic of thy Fire"

[Tagore]

Back  -   New Search

Talbot, Nellie

1 Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.
title of hymn (1921) in CSSM Choruses No. 1

Back  -   New Search

Talleyrand, Charles-Maurice de 1754–1838

1 This is the beginning of the end.
on the announcement of Napoleon's Pyrrhic victory at Borodino, 1812
attributed; Sainte-Beuve M. de Talleyrand (1870) ch. 3

2 It is not an event, it is an item of news.
on hearing of the death of Napoleon in 1821
Philip Henry Stanhope Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington (1888) 1 November 1831

[Talleyrand]

3 Surtout, Messieurs, point de zèle.Above all, gentlemen, not the slightest zeal.
P. Chasles Voyages d'un critique à travers la vie et les livres (1868) vol. 2

[Talleyrand]

4 Ils n'ont rien appris, ni rien oublié.They have learnt nothing, and forgotten nothing.
of the Bourbons in exile
oral tradition, attributed to Talleyrand by the Chevalier de Panat.

[Talleyrand]

5 That, Sire, is a question of dates.
often quoted as, "treason is a matter of dates"; replying to the Tsar's criticism of those who "betrayed the cause of Europe"
Duff Cooper Talleyrand (1932)

[Talleyrand]

Back  -   New Search

Talmud, The

Mishnah 1 The tradition is a fence around the Law.
Mishnah Pirqei Avot 3:14

2 Turn it [Torah] and turn it again, for everything is in it.
Mishnah Pirqei Avot 5:22

Top

Gemara 3 Even an iron partition cannot interpose between Israel and their Father in Heaven.
Babylonian Talmud Pesahim 85b

4 He shall live by them [the laws of the Torah], but he shall not die because of them.
Babylonian Talmud Yoma 85b

Top

5 If the soft [water] can wear away the hard [stone], how much more can the words of the Torah, which are hard like iron, carve a way into my heart which is of flesh and blood!
Babylonian Talmud Avot de Rabbi Nathan 20b

Top

Back  -   New Search

Tantric Buddhist texts

1
By the enjoyment of all desires, to which one devotes oneself just as one pleases, it is by such practice as this that one may speedily gain Buddhahood.
With the enjoyment of all desires, to which one devotes oneself just as one pleases, in union with one's chosen divinity, one worships oneself, the Supreme One.

Guhyasamja Tantra v. 7

Back  -   New Search

Tarkington, Booth 1869–1946

1 There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink.
Penrod (1914) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Tate, Nahum 1652–1715

1
As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase.

New Version of the Psalms (1696) Psalm 42 (with Nicholas Brady).

2
Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.

New Version of the Psalms (1696) Psalm 34 (with Nicholas Brady)

[Tate]

3
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms (1700) "While Shepherds Watched"

[Tate]

Back  -   New Search

Tawney, R. H. 1880–1962

1 Militarism…is fetish worship. It is the prostration of men's souls and the laceration of their bodies to appease an idol.
The Acquisitive Society (1921) ch. 4

2 Freedom for the pike is death for the minnows.
Equality (ed. 4, rev. ed., 1938) ch. 5, sect. 2

[Tawney]

3 Private property is a necessary institution, at least in a fallen world; men work more and dispute less when goods are private than when they are common. But it is to be tolerated as a concession to human frailty, not applauded as desirable in itself.
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926) ch. 1, sect. 1

[Tawney]

4 What harm have I ever done to the Labour Party?
declining the offer of a peerage
in Evening Standard 18 January 1962

[Tawney]

Back  -   New Search

Taylor, A. J. P. 1906–90

1 History gets thicker as it approaches recent times.
English History 1914–45 (1965); bibliography

2 The First World War had begun—imposed on the statesmen of Europe by railway timetables. It was an unexpected climax to the railway age.
The First World War (1963) ch. 1

[Taylor]

Back  -   New Search

Taylor, Ann 1782–1866 and Taylor, Jane 1783–1824

1
Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My Mother.

Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804) "My Mother"

2
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

Rhymes for the Nursery (1806) "The Star".

[Taylor]

Back  -   New Search

Taylor, Bayard 1825–78

1
Till the sun grows cold,
And the stars are old,
And the leaves of the Judgement Book unfold.

"Bedouin Song"

Back  -   New Search

Taylor, Jeremy 1613–67

1 This thing…that can be understood and not expressed, may take a neuter gender;—and every schoolboy knows it.
The Real Presence… (1654) sect. 5.

2 The union of hands and hearts.
XXV Sermons Preached at Golden Grove (1653) "The Marriage Ring" pt. 1

[Taylor]

Back  -   New Search

Taylor, Tom 1817–80

1 Hawkshaw, the detective.
usually quoted as "I am Hawkshaw, the detective"
The Ticket-of-leave Man (1863) act 4, sc. 1

Back  -   New Search

Tebbit, Norman 1931–

1 I grew up in the Thirties with our unemployed father. He did not riot, he got on his bike and looked for work.
speech at Conservative Party Conference, 15 October 1981, in Daily Telegraph 16 October 1981

2 The cricket test—which side do they cheer for?…Are you still looking back to where you came from or where you are?
on the loyalties of Britain's immigrant population
interview in Los Angeles Times, reported in Daily Telegraph 20 April 1990

[Tebbit]

Back  -   New Search

Tecumseh 1768–1813

1 Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white man, as snow before the summer sun.
Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre 1881–1955

1 The history of the living world can be summarised as the elaboration of ever more perfect eyes within a cosmos in which there is always something more to be seen.
The Phenomenon of Man (1959)

Back  -   New Search

Temple, William 1881–1944

1 It is a mistake to suppose that God is only, or even chiefly, concerned with religion.
R. V. C. Bodley In Search of Serenity (1955) ch. 12

2 Personally, I have always looked on cricket as organized loafing.
attributed

[Temple]

Back  -   New Search

Tenniel, John 1820–1914

1 Dropping the pilot.
on Bismarck's departure from office
cartoon caption, and title of poem, in Punch 29 March 1890

Back  -   New Search

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord 1809–92

1
Break, break, break,
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.

"Break, Break, Break" (1842)

2
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

"Break, Break, Break" (1842)

[Tennyson]

3
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

"The Brook" (1855) l. 23

[Tennyson]

4
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

"The Brook" (1855) l. 33

[Tennyson]

5
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854)

[Tennyson]

6
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854)

[Tennyson]

7
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854)

[Tennyson]

8
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.

"Crossing the Bar" (1889)

[Tennyson]

9
For though from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

"Crossing the Bar" (1889)

[Tennyson]

10 A dream of fair women.
title of poem (1832)

[Tennyson]

11
A daughter of the gods, divinely tall,
And most divinely fair.

"A Dream of Fair Women" (1832) l. 87

[Tennyson]

12
He clasps the crag with crookèd hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

"The Eagle" (1851)

[Tennyson]

13
And when they buried him the little port
Had seldom seen a costlier funeral.

"Enoch Arden" (1864)

[Tennyson]

14
More black than ashbuds in the front of March.

"The Gardener's Daughter" (1842) l. 28

[Tennyson]

15
I waited for the train at Coventry.

"Godiva" (1842) l. 1

[Tennyson]

16
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life,
Before a thousand peering littlenesses,
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne,
And blackens every blot.

of Prince Albert
Idylls of the King (1862 ed.) dedication l. 24

[Tennyson]

17
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.

Idylls of the King "The Coming of Arthur" (1869) l. 284; "The Passing of Arthur" (1869) l. 199

[Tennyson]

18
From the great deep to the great deep he goes.

Idylls of the King "The Coming of Arthur" (1869) l. 410

[Tennyson]

19
We needs must love the highest when we see it.

Idylls of the King "Guinevere" (1859) l. 655

[Tennyson]

20
Elaine the fair, Elaine the loveable,
Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat.

Idylls of the King "Lancelot and Elaine" (1859) l. 1

[Tennyson]

21
His honour rooted in dishonour stood,
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

Idylls of the King "Lancelot and Elaine" (1859) l. 871

[Tennyson]

22
It is the little rift within the lute,
That by and by will make the music mute.

Idylls of the King "Merlin and Vivien" (1859) l. 388

[Tennyson]

23
And trust me not at all or all in all.

Idylls of the King "Merlin and Vivien" (1859) l. 396

[Tennyson]

24
Man dreams of fame while woman wakes to love.

Idylls of the King "Merlin and Vivien" (1859) l. 458

[Tennyson]

25
So all day long the noise of battle rolled
Among the mountains by the winter sea.

Idylls of the King "The Passing of Arthur" (1869) l. 170

[Tennyson]

26
Authority forgets a dying king.

Idylls of the King "The Passing of Arthur" (1869) l. 289

[Tennyson]

27
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

Idylls of the King "The Passing of Arthur" (1869) l. 408

[Tennyson]

28
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.

Idylls of the King "The Passing of Arthur" (1869) l. 415

[Tennyson]

29
To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns.

Idylls of the King "The Passing of Arthur" (1869) l. 427

[Tennyson]

30
The last red leaf is whirled away,
The rooks are blown about the skies.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 15

[Tennyson]

31
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 27.

[Tennyson]

32
But what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 54

[Tennyson]

33
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life.

of Nature
In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 55

[Tennyson]

34
Nature, red in tooth and claw.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 56

[Tennyson]

35
So many worlds, so much to do,
So little done, such things to be.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 73.

[Tennyson]

36
Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 83

[Tennyson]

37
Fresh from brawling courts
And dusty purlieus of the law.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 89.

[Tennyson]

38
You tell me, doubt is Devil-born.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 96

[Tennyson]

39
There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 96

[Tennyson]

40
Their meetings made December June,
Their every parting was to die.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 97

[Tennyson]

41
He seems so near and yet so far.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 97

[Tennyson]

42
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 106

[Tennyson]

43
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 106

[Tennyson]

44
Ring out the darkness of the land;
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 106

[Tennyson]

45
Not the schoolboy heat,
The blind hysterics of the Celt.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 109

[Tennyson]

46
And drowned in yonder living blue
The lark becomes a sightless song.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 115

[Tennyson]

47
Wearing all that weight
Of learning lightly like a flower.

In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850) canto 131

[Tennyson]

48
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep.

"The Kraken" (1830)

[Tennyson]

49
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood.

"Lady Clara Vere de Vere" (1842) st. 7

[Tennyson]

50
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot.

"The Lady of Shalott" (1832, revised 1842) pt. 1

[Tennyson]

51
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver.

"The Lady of Shalott" (1832, revised 1842) pt. 1

[Tennyson]

52
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.

"The Lady of Shalott" (1832, revised 1842) pt. 2

[Tennyson]

53
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

"The Lady of Shalott" (1832, revised 1842) pt. 3

[Tennyson]

54
Airy, fairy Lilian.

"Lilian" (1830)

[Tennyson]

55
In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove;
In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 19

[Tennyson]

56
He will hold thee, when his passion shall have spent its novel force,
Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 49

[Tennyson]

57
Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new:
That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do:

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 117

[Tennyson]

58
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 122

[Tennyson]

59
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 123

[Tennyson]

60
Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 127

[Tennyson]

61
Science moves, but slowly slowly, creeping on from point to point.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 134

[Tennyson]

62
I the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 178

[Tennyson]

63
Forward, forward let us range,
Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 181

[Tennyson]

64
Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.

"Locksley Hall" (1842) l. 184

[Tennyson]

65
Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.

"The Lotos-Eaters" (1832) Choric Song, st. 1

[Tennyson]

66
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"

"Mariana" (1830) st. 1.

[Tennyson]

67
I hate that dreadful hollow behind the little wood.

Maud (1855) pt. 1, sect. 1

[Tennyson]

68
Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null,
Dead perfection, no more.

Maud (1855) pt. 1, sect. 2

[Tennyson]

69
Come into the garden, Maud,
For the black bat, night, has flown,
Come into the garden, Maud,
I am here at the gate alone.
And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad,
And the musk of the rose is blown.

Maud (1855) pt. 1, sect. 22, st. 1

[Tennyson]

70
Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls.

Maud (1855) pt. 1, sect. 22, st. 9

[Tennyson]

71
She is coming, my dove, my dear;
She is coming, my life, my fate;
The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;"
And the white rose weeps, "She is late."

Maud (1855) pt. 1, sect. 22, st. 10

[Tennyson]

72
She is coming, my own, my sweet;
Were it ever so airy a tread,
My heart would hear her and beat,
Were it earth in an earthy bed.

Maud (1855) pt. 1, sect. 22, st. 11

[Tennyson]

73
You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;
Tomorrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day;
For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

"The May Queen" (1832)

[Tennyson]

74
After it, follow it,
Follow The Gleam.

"Merlin and The Gleam" (1889) st. 9

[Tennyson]

75
God-gifted organ-voice of England,
Milton, a name to resound for ages.

"Milton: Alcaics" (1863)

[Tennyson]

76
The last great Englishman is low.

"Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" (1852) st. 3

[Tennyson]

77
That world-earthquake, Waterloo!

"Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" (1852) st. 6

[Tennyson]

78
Who never sold the truth to serve the hour,
Nor paltered with Eternal God for power.

"Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" (1852) st. 7

[Tennyson]

79
With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans,
And sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair.

The Princess (1847) "Prologue" l. 141

[Tennyson]

80
And blessings on the falling out
That all the more endears,
When we fall out with those we love
And kiss again with tears!

The Princess (1847) pt. 2, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

81
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!

The Princess (1847) pt. 3, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

82
The splendour falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story:
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

The Princess (1847) pt. 4, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

83
O sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!

The Princess (1847) pt. 4, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

84
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

The Princess (1847) pt. 4, l. 21, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

85
Dear as remembered kisses after death.

The Princess (1847) pt. 4, l. 36, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

86
O tell her, Swallow, thou that knowest each,
That bright and fierce and fickle is the South,
And dark and true and tender is the North.

The Princess (1847) pt. 4, l. 78, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

87
Man is the hunter; woman is his game.

The Princess (1847) pt. 5, l. 147

[Tennyson]

88
Home they brought her warrior dead.
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching said,
"She must weep or she will die."

The Princess (1847) pt. 6, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

89
Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee.

The Princess (1847) pt. 6, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

90
Like summer tempest came her tears.

The Princess (1847) pt. 6, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

91
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk.

The Princess (1847) pt. 7, l. 161, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

92
Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.

The Princess (1847) pt. 7, l. 167, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

93
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake:
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.

The Princess (1847) pt. 7, l. 171, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

94
Come down, O maid, from yonder mountain height:
What pleasure lives in height?

The Princess (1847) pt. 7, l. 177, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

95
For Love is of the valley, come thou down
And find him.

The Princess (1847) pt. 7, l. 184, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

96
The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.

The Princess (1847) pt. 7, l. 206, song (added 1850)

[Tennyson]

97
No little lily-handed baronet he.

The Princess (1847) "Conclusion" l. 84

[Tennyson]

98
At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay.

"The Revenge" (1878) st. 1

[Tennyson]

99
And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over the summer sea,
But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty-three.

"The Revenge" (1878) st. 9

[Tennyson]

100
Sink me the ship, Master Gunner—sink her, split her in twain!
Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!

"The Revenge" (1878) st. 11

[Tennyson]

101
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.

"Sir Galahad" (1842)

[Tennyson]

102
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

"Song—The Owl" (1830)

[Tennyson]

103
The gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.

"Tithonus" (1860, revised 1864) l. 52

[Tennyson]

104
All the charm of all the Muses
often flowering in a lonely word.

"To Virgil" (1882) st. 3

[Tennyson]

105
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an agèd wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race.

"Ulysses" (1842) l. 1

[Tennyson]

106
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honoured of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

"Ulysses" (1842) l. 18

[Tennyson]

107
This is my son, mine own Telemachus.

"Ulysses" (1842) l. 33

[Tennyson]

108
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

"Ulysses" (1842) l. 58

[Tennyson]

109
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

"Ulysses" (1842) l. 69

[Tennyson]

110
That which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

"Ulysses" (1842) l. 74

[Tennyson]

111
Every moment dies a man,
Every moment one is born.

"The Vision of Sin" (1842) pt. 4, st. 9.

[Tennyson]

112 In the end I accepted the honour, because during dinner Venables told me, that, if I became Poet Laureate, I should always when I dined out be offered the liver-wing of a fowl.
on being made Poet Laureate in 1850
in Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by his Son (1897) vol. 1

[Tennyson]

113 It is the height of luxury to sit in a hot bath and read about little birds.
having had running hot water installed in his new house
Hallam Tennyson Tennyson and his Friends (1911)

[Tennyson]

114 A louse in the locks of literature.
of Churton Collins
Evan Charteris Life and Letters of Sir Edmund Gosse (1931) ch. 14

[Tennyson]

Back  -   New Search

Terence c.190 bc

1 Hinc illae lacrimae.Hence those tears.
Andria l. 126

2 I am a man, I count nothing human foreign to me.
Heauton Timorumenos l. 77

[Terence]

3 Fortis fortuna adiuvat.Fortune assists the brave.
Phormio l. 203.

[Terence]

4 Quot homines tot sententiae: suus cuique mos.There are as many opinions as there are people: each has his own correct way.
Phormio l. 454

[Terence]

Back  -   New Search

Teresa, Mother 1910–97

1 Now let us do something beautiful for God.
letter to Malcolm Muggeridge before making a BBC TV programme about the Missionaries of Charity, 1971.

2 The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody.
in The Observer 3 October 1971

[Teresa]

Back  -   New Search

Teresa, St of Ávila 1512–82

1 Alas, O Lord, to what a state dost Thou bring those who love Thee!
Interior Castle Mansion 6, ch. 11, para. 6 (tr. the Benedictines of Stanbrook, 1921)

Back  -   New Search

Teresa, St of Lisieux 1873–97

1 I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.
T. N. Taylor (ed.) Soeur Thérèse of Lisieux (1912) epilogue

2 After my death I will let fall a shower of roses.
T. N. Taylor (ed.) Soeur Thérèse of Lisieux (1912) epilogue

[Teresa]

Back  -   New Search

Tertullian ad c.160–225

1 As often as we are mown down by you, the more we grow in numbers; the blood of Christians is the seed.
traditionally "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church"
Apologeticus ch. 50, sect. 13

2 Certum est quia impossibile est.It is certain because it is impossible.
often quoted as "Credo quia impossibile"
De Carne Christi ch. 5

[Tertullian]

Back  -   New Search

Tessimond, A. S. J. 1902–62

1
Cats, no less liquid than their shadows,
Offer no angles to the wind.

Cats (1934) p. 20

Back  -   New Search

Thackeray, William Makepeace 1811–63

1 Business first; pleasure afterwards.
The Rose and the Ring (1855) ch. 1

2 A woman with fair opportunities and without a positive hump, may marry whom she likes.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 4

[Thackeray]

3 Whenever he met a great man he grovelled before him, and my-lorded him as only a free-born Briton can do.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 13

[Thackeray]

4 If a man's character is to be abused, say what you will, there's nobody like a relation to do the business.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 19

[Thackeray]

5 Them's my sentiments!
Fred Bullock
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 21

[Thackeray]

6 Darkness came down on the field and city: and Amelia was praying for George, who was lying on his face, dead, with a bullet through his heart.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 32

[Thackeray]

7 How to live well on nothing a year.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 36 (title)

[Thackeray]

8 I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 36

[Thackeray]

9 Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.
Vanity Fair (1847–8) ch. 67

[Thackeray]

10
Werther had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.

"Sorrows of Werther" (1855)

[Thackeray]

11
Charlotte, having seen his body
Borne before her on a shutter,
Like a well-conducted person
Went on cutting bread and butter.

"Sorrows of Werther" (1855)

[Thackeray]

Back  -   New Search

Thatcher, Margaret 1925–

1 No woman in my time will be Prime Minister or Chancellor or Foreign Secretary—not the top jobs. Anyway I wouldn't want to be Prime Minister. You have to give yourself 100%.
on her appointment as Shadow Education Spokesman
in Sunday Telegraph 26 October 1969

2 In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.
in People (New York) 15 September 1975

[Thatcher]

3 I stand before you tonight in my red chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved…the Iron Lady of the Western World! Me? A cold war warrior? Well, yes—if that is how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life.
speech at Finchley, 31 January 1976; "The Iron Lady" was the name given to her by the Soviet defence ministry newspaper Red Star, which accused her of trying to revive the cold war

[Thatcher]

4 No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well.
television interview, 6 January 1980

[Thatcher]

5 To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only this to say. "You turn if you want; the lady's not for turning."
speech at Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, 10 October 1980.

[Thatcher]

6 Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our armed forces and the Marines. Rejoice!
on the recapture of South Georgia, usually quoted as, "Rejoice, rejoice!"
to newsmen outside 10 Downing Street, 25 April 1982

[Thatcher]

7 I was asked whether I was trying to restore Victorian values. I said straight out I was. And I am.
speech to the British Jewish Community, 21 July 1983, referring to an interview earlier that year

[Thatcher]

8 Now it must be business as usual.
on the steps of Brighton police station a few hours after the bombing of the Grand Hotel, Brighton; often quoted as "We shall carry on as usual"
in The Times 13 October 1984

[Thatcher]

9 We can do business together.
of Mikhail Gorbachev
in The Times 18 December 1984

[Thatcher]

10 We must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.
speech to American Bar Association in London, 15 July 1985

[Thatcher]

11 There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.
in Woman's Own 31 October 1987

[Thatcher]

12 We have become a grandmother.
in The Times 4 March 1989

[Thatcher]

13 I am naturally very sorry to see you go, but understand…your wish to be able to spend more time with your family.
reply to Norman Fowler's resignation letter
in Guardian 4 January 1990.

[Thatcher]

14 No! No! No!
making clear her opposition to a single European currency, and more centralized controls from Brussels
in the House of Commons, 30 October 1990

[Thatcher]

Back  -   New Search

Thayer, William Roscoe 1859–1923

1 Log-cabin to White House.
title of biography (1910) of James Garfield

Back  -   New Search

Themistocles c.528 bc

1 The wooden wall is your ships.
interpreting the words of the Delphic oracle to the Athenians, before the battle of Salamis in 480 bc, "That the wooden wall only shall not fall, but help you and your children"
Plutarch Parallel Lives "Themistocles" bk. 2, ch. 1

Back  -   New Search

Thomas à Kempis c.1380–1471

1 O quam cito transit gloria mundi.Oh how quickly the glory of the world passes away!
De Imitatione Christi bk. 1, ch. 3, sect. 6.

2 For man proposes, but God disposes.
De Imitatione Christi bk. 1, ch. 19, sect. 2

[Thomas à Kempis]

3 Would that we had spent one whole day well in this world!
De Imitatione Christi bk. 1, ch. 23, sect. 2

[Thomas à Kempis]

4 If you bear the cross gladly, it will bear you.
De Imitatione Christi bk. 2, ch. 12, sect. 5

[Thomas à Kempis]

Back  -   New Search

Thomas Aquinas, St c.1225–74

1
Pange, lingua, gloriosi
Corporis mysterium.

Now, my tongue, the mystery telling
Of the glorious Body sing.

"Pange Lingua Gloriosi" (Corpus Christi hymn, tr. J. M. Neale, E. Caswall, and others).

2
Tantum ergo sacramentum
Veneremur cernui;
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui.

Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here.

"Pange Lingua Gloriosi" (Corpus Christi hymn, tr. J. M. Neale, E. Caswall, and others)

[Thomas Aquinas]

3 Moral science is better occupied when treating of friendship than of justice.
Exposition of Aristotle's Ethics (c.1271) bk. 8, lecture 1

[Thomas Aquinas]

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, Brandon 1856–1914

1 I'm Charley's aunt from Brazil—where the nuts come from.
Charley's Aunt (1892) act 1

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, Dylan 1914–53

1
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

"And death shall have no dominion" (1936).

2
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" (1952)

[Thomas]

3
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age.

"The force that through the green fuse drives the flower" (1934)

[Thomas]

4
The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.

"The hand that signed the paper felled a city" (1936)

[Thomas]

5
It was my thirtieth year to heaven.

"Poem in October" (1946)

[Thomas]

6
After the first death, there is no other.

"A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" (1946)

[Thomas]

7 Books that told me everything about the wasp, except why.
A Child's Christmas in Wales (1954)

[Thomas]

8 To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black.
Under Milk Wood (1954)

[Thomas]

9 I want, above all, to work like a fiend, a good fiend.
letter to Edith Sitwell, 11 April 1947

[Thomas]

10 The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.
of Wales
in Adam December 1953.

[Thomas]

11 A man you don't like who drinks as much as you do.
definition of an alcoholic
Constantine Fitzgibbon Life of Dylan Thomas (1965) ch. 6

[Thomas]

12 Poetry is not the most important thing in life…I'd much rather lie in a hot bath reading Agatha Christie and sucking sweets.
Joan Wyndham Love is Blue (1986) 6 July 1943

[Thomas]

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, Edward 1878–1917

1
Yes; I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

"Adlestrop" (1917)

2
I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way.

"Lights Out" (1917)

[Thomas]

3
I see and hear nothing;
Yet seem, too, to be listening, lying in wait
For what I should, yet never can, remember.

"Old Man" (1917)

[Thomas]

4
Out in the dark over the snow
The fallow fawns invisible go.

"Out in the dark" (1917)

[Thomas]

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, Elizabeth 1675–1731

1
From marrying in haste, and repenting at leisure;
Not liking the person, yet liking his treasure:
Libera nos.

"A New Litany, occasioned by an invitation to a wedding" (1722)

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, Gwyn 1913–81

1 There are still parts of Wales where the only concession to gaiety is a striped shroud.
in Punch 18 June 1958

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, Irene 1919–2001

1 Protestant women may take the pill. Roman Catholic women must keep taking The Tablet.
in Guardian 28 December 1990

Back  -   New Search

Thomas, R. S. 1913–2000

1
Doctors in verse
Being scarce now, most poets
Are their own patients.

"The Cure" (1958)

2
There is no love
For such, only a willed
gentleness.

"They" (1968)

[Thomas]

3
Hate takes a long time
To grow in, and mine
Has increased from birth;
Not for the brute earth…
…I find
This hate's for my own kind…

"Those Others" (1961)

[Thomas]

4
There is no present in Wales,
And no future;
There is only the past,
Brittle with relics…
And an impotent people,
Sick with inbreeding,
Worrying the carcase of an old song.

"Welsh Landscape" (1955)

[Thomas]

Back  -   New Search

Thompson, Francis 1859–1907

1
As the run-stealers flicker to and fro,
To and fro:—
O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago!

"At Lord's" (1913)

2
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

"The Hound of Heaven" (1913) pt. 1

[Thompson]

3
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!"

"The Hound of Heaven" (1913) pt. 5

[Thompson]

4
'Tis ye, 'tis your estrangèd faces,
That miss the many-splendoured thing.

"The Kingdom of God" (1913)

[Thompson]

5
Upon thy so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob's ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.

"The Kingdom of God" (1913)

[Thompson]

6
And lo, Christ walking on the water
Not of Gennesareth, but Thames!

"The Kingdom of God" (1913)

[Thompson]

7 Look for me in the nurseries of heaven.
"To My Godchild Francis M.W.M." (1913)

[Thompson]

8
Insculped and embossed,
With His hammer of wind,
And His graver of frost.

"To a Snowflake" (1913)

[Thompson]

Back  -   New Search

Thompson, Julian 1934–

1 You don't mind dying for Queen and country, but you certainly don't want to die for politicians.
"The Falklands War—the Untold Story" (Yorkshire Television) 1 April 1987

Back  -   New Search

Thomson, James 1700–48

1
When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sung this strain:
"Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves."

Alfred: a Masque (1740) act 2

2
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.

The Seasons (1746) "Spring" l. 1152

[Thomson]

3
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books.

The Seasons (1746) "Spring" l. 1161

[Thomson]

4
Sighed and looked unutterable things.

The Seasons (1746) "Summer" l. 1188

[Thomson]

Back  -   New Search

Thomson, James 1834–82

1 The city of dreadful night.
title of poem, written 1870–3

2
As we rush, as we rush in the train,
The trees and the houses go wheeling back,
But the starry heavens above that plain
Come flying on our track.

"Sunday at Hampstead" (written 1863–5) st. 10

[Thomson]

3
Give a man a horse he can ride,
Give a man a boat he can sail.

"Sunday up the River" (written 1865) st. 15

[Thomson]

Back  -   New Search

Thomson, Roy 1894–1976

1 Like having your own licence to print money.
on the profitability of commercial television in Britain
R. Braddon Roy Thomson (1965) ch. 32

Back  -   New Search

Thoreau, Henry David 1817–62

1 Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.
Journal 11 November 1850

2 Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.
letter to Harrison Blake, 16 November 1857.

[Thoreau]

3 I have travelled a good deal in Concord.
Walden (1854) "Economy"

[Thoreau]

4 The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Walden (1854) "Economy"

[Thoreau]

5 The three-o'-clock in the morning courage, which Bonaparte thought was the rarest.
Walden (1854) "Sounds".

[Thoreau]

6 It is not worthwhile to go around the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.
Walden (1854) "Conclusion"

[Thoreau]

7 If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Walden (1854) "Conclusion"

[Thoreau]

Back  -   New Search

Thorne, Robert d. 1527

1 There is no land unhabitable nor sea innavigable.
Richard Hakluyt The Principal Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589)

Back  -   New Search

Thorpe, Jeremy 1929–

1 Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.
on Harold Macmillan's sacking seven of his Cabinet on 13 July 1962
D. E. Butler and Anthony King The General Election of 1964 (1965) ch. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Thucydides c.455 bc

1 Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War bk. 2, ch. 4, sect. 43 (tr. Rex Warner)

Back  -   New Search

Thurber, James 1894–1961

1 Her own mother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.
My Life and Hard Times (1933) ch. 2

2 It's a nave domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.
cartoon caption in New Yorker 27 March 1937

[Thurber]

3 Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
cartoon caption in New Yorker 5 June 1937

[Thurber]

4 It's our own story exactly! He bold as a hawk, she soft as the dawn.
cartoon caption in New Yorker 25 February 1939.

[Thurber]

Back  -   New Search

Thurlow, Edward, Lord 1731–1806

1 Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned, they therefore do as they like.
usually quoted as "Did you ever expect a corporation to have a conscience, when it has no soul to be damned, and no body to be kicked?"
John Poynder Literary Extracts (1844) vol. 1.

Back  -   New Search

Tichborne, Chidiock c.1558–86

1
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares;
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain;
My crop of corn is but a field of tares;
And all my good is but vain hope of gain.
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

"Elegy" (composed in the Tower of London prior to his execution)

Back  -   New Search

Tickell, Thomas 1686–1740

1
There taught us how to live; and (oh! too high
The price for knowledge) taught us how to die.

"To the Earl of Warwick. On the Death of Mr Addison" (1721) l. 76

Back  -   New Search

Tiger, Lionel 1937–

1 Male bonding.
Men in Groups (1969)

Back  -   New Search

Tillich, Paul 1886–1965

1 Neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being.
The Courage To Be (1952) pt. 2, ch. 3

Back  -   New Search

Tipu Sultan c.1750–99

1 In this world I would rather live two days like a tiger, than two hundred years like a sheep.
Alexander Beatson A View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultan (1800) ch. 10

Back  -   New Search

Titus ad 39–81

1 Amici, diem perdidi.Friends, I have lost a day.
on reflecting that he had done nothing to help anybody all day
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Titus" ch. 8, sect. 1

Back  -   New Search

Tocqueville, Alexis de 1805–59

1 Despots themselves do not deny that freedom is excellent; only they desire it for themselves alone, and they maintain that everyone else is altogether unworthy of it.
L'Ancien régime (1856)

2 History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
L'Ancien régime (1856)

[Tocqueville]

3 What is understood by republican government in the United States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself.
De la Démocratie en Amérique (1835–40) vol. 1

[Tocqueville]

Back  -   New Search

Toffler, Alvin 1928–

1 Culture shock is relatively mild in comparison with a much more serious malady that might be called "future shock". Future shock is the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future.
in Horizon Summer 1965; the book Future Shock was published 1970

Back  -   New Search

Tolkien, J. R. R. 1892–1973

1
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) epigraph

2 In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
The Hobbit (1937)

[Tolkien]

Back  -   New Search

Tolstoy, Leo 1828–1910

1 All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Anna Karenina (1875–7) pt. 1, ch. 1 (tr. A. and L. Maude)

2 Our body is a machine for living. It is organized for that, it is its nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it defend itself, it will do more than if you paralyse it by encumbering it with remedies.
War and Peace (1865–9) bk. 10, ch. 29 (tr. A. and L. Maude).

[Tolstoy]

3 All newspaper and journalistic activity is an intellectual brothel from which there is no retreat.
letter to Prince V. P. Meshchersky, 22 August 1871

[Tolstoy]

Back  -   New Search

Tone, Wolfe 1763–98

1 I find, then, I am but a bad anatomist.
Wolfe Tone (1763–98), who in trying to cut his throat in prison severed his windpipe instead of his jugular, and lingered for several days
Oliver Knox Rebels and Informers (1998)

Back  -   New Search

Toplady, Augustus Montague 1740–78

1
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me" (1776 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Tourneur, Cyril

see Thomas Middleton

Back  -   New Search

Townshend, Pete 1945–

1
Hope I die before I get old.

"My Generation" (1965 song)

Back  -   New Search

Toynbee, Polly 1946–

1 It is Stupidvision…It patronises. It talks to the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine and the microwave without much contact with the human brain.
of daytime television
in Radio Times 11 May 1996

Back  -   New Search

Traherne, Thomas c.1637–74

1 The corn was orient and immortal wheat, which never should be reaped, nor was ever sown. I thought it had stood from everlasting to everlasting.
Centuries of Meditations "Third Century" sect. 3

2 O what venerable creatures did the aged seem! Immortal cherubims! And young men glittering and sparkling angels, and maids strange seraphic pieces of life and beauty!
Centuries of Meditations "Third Century" sect. 3

[Traherne]

Back  -   New Search

Trapp, Joseph 1679–1747

1
The King, observing with judicious eyes
The state of both his universities,
To Oxford sent a troop of horse, and why?
That learned body wanted loyalty;
To Cambridge books, as very well discerning
How much that loyal body wanted learning.

lines written on George I's donation of the Bishop of Ely's Library to Cambridge University
John Nichols Literary Anecdotes (1812–16) vol. 3.

Back  -   New Search

Travis, Merle 1917–83

1
Sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Say brother, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store.

"Sixteen Tons" (1947 song)

Back  -   New Search

Trevelyan, G. M. 1876–1962

1 Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization.
English Social History (1942) introduction

2 If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.
English Social History (1942) ch. 8

[Trevelyan]

3 [Education] has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading, an easy prey to sensations and cheap appeals.
English Social History (1942) ch. 18

[Trevelyan]

Back  -   New Search

Trillin, Calvin 1935–

1 The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yoghurt.
in Sunday Times 9 June 1991; attributed

Back  -   New Search

Trimble, David 1944–

1 We are not here to negotiate with them, but to confront them.
on entering the Mitchell talks on Northern Ireland with Sinn Feinn
in Guardian 18 September 1997

2 The fundamental Act of Union is there, intact.
of the Northern Ireland settlement
in Daily Telegraph 11 April 1998

[Trimble]

Back  -   New Search

Trinder, Tommy 1909–89

1 Overpaid, overfed, oversexed, and over here.
of American troops in Britain during the Second World War
associated with Trinder, but probably not his invention

Back  -   New Search

Trollope, Anthony 1815–82

1 Three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write.
Autobiography (1883) ch. 15

2 The end of a novel, like the end of a children's dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums.
Barchester Towers (1857) ch. 53

[Trollope]

3 When taken in the refreshing waters of office any…pill can be swallowed.
The Bertrams (1859) ch. 16

[Trollope]

4 There is no road to wealth so easy and respectable as that of matrimony.
Doctor Thorne (1858) ch. 16

[Trollope]

5 She knew how to allure by denying, and to make the gift rich by delaying it.
Phineas Finn (1869) ch. 57

[Trollope]

6 Newspaper editors sport daily with the names of men of whom they do not hesitate to publish almost the severest words that can be uttered; but let an editor be himself attacked, even without his name, and he thinks that the thunderbolt of heaven should fall upon the offender.
Phineas Redux (1874) ch. 27

[Trollope]

7 The tenth Muse, who now governs the periodical press.
The Warden (1855) ch. 14

[Trollope]

8 Love is like any other luxury. You have no right to it unless you can afford it.
The Way We Live Now (1875) ch. 84

[Trollope]

Back  -   New Search

Trollope, Frances 1780–1863

1 I draw from life—but I always pulp my acquaintance before serving them up. You would never recognize a pig in a sausage.
remark, c.1848; S. Baring-Gould Early Reminiscences 1834-1864 (1923)

Back  -   New Search

Trotsky, Leon 1879–1940

1 Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.
Diary in Exile (1959) 8 May 1935

2 Civilization has made the peasantry its pack animal. The bourgeoisie in the long run only changed the form of the pack.
History of the Russian Revolution (1933) vol. 3, ch. 1

[Trotsky]

3 You [the Mensheviks] are pitiful isolated individuals; you are bankrupts; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on — into the dustbin of history!
History of the Russian Revolution (1933) vol. 3, ch. 10.

[Trotsky]

Back  -   New Search

Trudeau, Pierre 1919–

1 The state has no place in the nation's bedrooms.
interview, Ottawa, 22 December 1967

2 Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.
on relations between Canada and the US
speech at National Press Club, Washington D. C., 25 March 1969

[Trudeau]

Back  -   New Search

Truman, Harry S. 1884–1972

1 If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
associated with Truman, but attributed by him to Harry Vaughan, his "military jester"; in Time 28 April 1952

2 I never give them [the public] hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell.
in Look 3 April 1956

[Truman]

3 A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.
in New York World Telegram and Sun 12 April 1958

[Truman]

4 It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.
in Observer 13 April 1958

[Truman]

5 The buck stops here.
unattributed motto on Truman's desk

[Truman]

Back  -   New Search

Trump, Donald 1946–

1 Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.
Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz The Art of the Deal (1987)

Back  -   New Search

Truth, Sojourner c.1797–1883

1 That man…says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches…Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place, and aren't I a woman?…I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me—and aren't I a woman?
speech at Women's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, 1851

Back  -   New Search

Tuchman, Barbara W. 1912–89

1 For one August in its history Paris was French—and silent.
August 1914 (1962) ch. 20

Back  -   New Search

Tucker, Sophie 1884–1966

1 From birth to 18 a girl needs good parents. From 18 to 35, she needs good looks. From 35 to 55, good personality. From 55 on, she needs good cash.
Michael Freedland Sophie (1978)

Back  -   New Search

Turgenev, Ivan 1818–83

1 Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man's the workman in it.
Fathers and Sons (1862) ch. 9 (tr. Rosemary Edmonds)

2 Just try and set death aside. It sets you aside, and that's the end of it!
Fathers and Sons (1862) ch. 27 (tr. Rosemary Edmonds)

[Turgenev]

3 Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four.
Poems in Prose (1881) "Prayer"

[Turgenev]

Back  -   New Search

Turgot, A. R. J. 1727–81

1 Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis.He snatched the lightning shaft from heaven, and the sceptre from tyrants.
inscription for a bust of Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning conductor.

Back  -   New Search

Turing, Alan 1912–54

1 We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge.
A. P. Hodges Alan Turing: the Enigma (1983)

Back  -   New Search

Turner, Charles Tennyson 1808–79

1
Bright over Europe fell her golden hair.

"Letty's Globe" (1880)

Back  -   New Search

Turner, J. M. W. 1775–1851

1 He sees more in my pictures than I ever painted!
of John Ruskin
Mary Lloyd Sunny Memories (1879) vol. 1

2 If I could find anything blacker than black, I'd use it.
when a friend complained of the blackness of the sails in "Peace—Burial at Sea" (1844)
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Turner]

Back  -   New Search

Turner, Walter James Redfern 1889–1946

1
When I was but thirteen or so
I went into a golden land,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
Took me by the hand.

"Romance" (1916)

Back  -   New Search

Tusa, John 1936–

1 Management that wants to change an institution must first show it loves that institution.
in Observer 27 February 1994 "Sayings of the Week"

Back  -   New Search

Twain, Mark 1835–1910

1 There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) ch. 1

2 Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? and ain't that a big enough majority in any town?
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) ch. 26

[Twain]

3 Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.
A Curious Dream (1872) "Facts concerning the Recent Resignation"

[Twain]

4 Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.
Following the Equator (1897) ch. 7.

[Twain]

5 It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.
Following the Equator (1897) ch. 45

[Twain]

6 The innocents abroad.
title of book (1869)

[Twain]

7 There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press.
"License of the Press" (1873)

[Twain]

8 What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.
Notebooks (1935)

[Twain]

9 Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) ch. 5

[Twain]

10 When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.
Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) ch. 10

[Twain]

11 As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.
Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) ch. 11

[Twain]

12 The report of my death was an exaggeration.
usually quoted as "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"
in New York Journal 2 June 1897

[Twain]

Back  -   New Search

Tynan, Kenneth 1927–80

1 A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car.
in New York Times Magazine 9 January 1966

2 "Sergeant Pepper"—a decisive moment in the history of Western Civilization.
in 1967; Howard Elson McCartney (1986)

[Tynan]

3 A neurosis is a secret you don't know you're keeping.
Kathleen Tynan Life of Kenneth Tynan (1987) ch. 19

[Tynan]

Back  -   New Search

Tyndale, William c.1494–1536

1 If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou doest!
to an opponent
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

2 Lord, open the King of England's eyes!
at the stake
John Foxe Actes and Monuments (1570)

[Tyndale]

Back  -   New Search

U

Ulpian d. 228

1 Nulla iniuria est, quae in volentem fiat.No injustice is done to someone who wants that thing done.
usually quoted as "Volenti non fit iniuria"
Corpus Iuris Civilis Digests bk. 47, ch. 10, sect. 1, subsect. 5 (usually quoted "Volenti non fit iniuria")

Back  -   New Search

Unamuno, Miguel de 1864–1937

1 La vida es duda,
y la fe sin la duda es sólo muerte.

Life is doubt,
And faith without doubt is nothing but death.

Poesías (1907) "Salmo II"

Back  -   New Search

Upanishads, The

1
From delusion lead me to Truth.
From darkness lead me to Light.
from death lead me to immortality.

Brihadranyaka Upanishad ch. 1, pt. 3, v. 28.

2 Shantih, shantih, shantih.Peace! Peace! Peace!
Taittirya Upanishad ch. 1, pt. 1, mantra.

[Upanishads]

3
Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither, like blind led by the blind.

Katha Upanishad ch. 2, v. 5.

[Upanishads]

4
If any man thinks he slays, and if another thinks he is slain, neither knows the ways of truth. The Eternal in man cannot kill: the Eternal in man cannot die.

Katha Upanishad ch. 2, v. 19

[Upanishads]

Back  -   New Search

Updike, John 1932–

1 A soggy little island huffing and puffing to keep up with Western Europe.
of England
Picked Up Pieces (1976) "London Life" (written 1969)

2 America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.
Problems (1980) "How to love America and Leave it at the Same Time"

[Updike]

3 Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.
Self-Consciousness: Memoirs (1989)

[Updike]

Back  -   New Search

Ustinov, Peter 1921–

1 Laughter…the most civilized music in the world.
Dear Me (1977) ch. 3

2 I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.
Dear Me (1977) ch. 5

[Ustinov]

3 At the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords we're all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it.
Romanoff and Juliet (1956) act 1

[Ustinov]

Back  -   New Search

V

Valéry, Paul 1871–1945

1 Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. The rest is literature.
Moralités (1932) p. 41.

2 God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly.
Tel Quel 1 (1941) "Moralités"

[Valéry]

3 Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
Tel Quel 2 (1943) "Rhumbs"

[Valéry]

Back  -   New Search

Vanbrugh, John 1664–1726

1
belinda: Ay, but you know we must return good for evil.
lady brute: That may be a mistake in the translation.

The Provoked Wife (1697) act 1, sc. 1

2 So, now I am in for Hobbes's voyage, a great leap in the dark.
"Heartfree" on marriage
The Provoked Wife (1697) act 5, sc. 5.

[Vanbrugh]

3 When once a woman has given you her heart, you can never get rid of the rest of her body.
The Relapse (1696) act 3, sc. 1

[Vanbrugh]

Back  -   New Search

van Damm, Vivian c.1889–1960

1 We never closed.
of the Windmill Theatre, London, during the Second World War
Tonight and Every Night (1952) ch. 18

Back  -   New Search

Vanderbilt, William Henry 1821–85

1 The public be damned!
on whether the public should be consulted about luxury trains
letter from A. W. Cole to New York Times 25 August 1918

Back  -   New Search

van der Post, Laurens 1906–96

1 Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.
Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)

2 I don't think a man who has watched the sun going down could walk away and commit a murder.
in Daily Telegraph 17 December 1996; obituary

[van der Post]

Back  -   New Search

Van Dyke, Henry 1852–1933

1
Time is
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love,
Time is eternity.

"Time is too slow for those who wait" (1905), read at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; Nigel Rees in "Quote…Unquote" October 1997 notes that the original form of the last line is "Time is not"

Back  -   New Search

Van Gogh, Vincent 1853–90

1 I cannot help it that my pictures do not sell. Nevertheless the time will come when people will see that they are worth more than the price of the paint.
letter to his brother Theo, 20 October 1888

Back  -   New Search

Vanzetti, Bartolomeo 1888–1927

1 Sacco's name will live in the hearts of the people and in their gratitude when Katzmann's and yours bones will be dispersed by time, when your name, his name, your laws, institutions, and your false god are but a deem rememoring of a cursed past in which man was wolf to the man.
statement disallowed at his trial, with Nicola Sacco, for murder and robbery; both were sentenced to death on 9 April 1927, and executed on 23 August 1927
M. D. Frankfurter and G. Jackson Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti (1928)

Back  -   New Search

Vaucaire, Michel

1
Non! rien de rien,
Non! je ne regrette rien.

No, no regrets,
No, we will have no regrets.

"Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960 song); sung by Edith Piaf

Back  -   New Search

Vaughan, Henry 1622–95

1
Wise Nicodemus saw such light
As made him know his God by night.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "The Night"

2
My soul, there is a country
Far beyond the stars,
Where stands a wingèd sentry
All skilful in the wars.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "Peace"

[Vaughan]

3
Happy those early days, when I
Shined in my angel-infancy.
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race,
Or taught my soul to fancy aught
But a white, celestial thought.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "The Retreat"

[Vaughan]

4
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "The Retreat"

[Vaughan]

5
They are all gone into the world of light,
And I alone sit lingering here.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "They are all gone"

[Vaughan]

6
Dear, beauteous death! the jewel of the just,
Shining nowhere but in the dark.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "They are all gone"

[Vaughan]

7
I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright.

Silex Scintillans (1650–5) "The World"

[Vaughan]

Back  -   New Search

Vaughan, Janet-Maria 1899–1993

1 I am here—trying to do science in hell.
working as a doctor in Belsen at the end of the war
letter to a friend, 12 May 1945

Back  -   New Search

Vaux, Thomas, Lord 1510–56

1
For age with stealing steps
Hath clawed me with his clutch.

"The Aged Lover Renounceth Love" (1557); a garbled version is sung by the gravedigger in Hamlet

Back  -   New Search

Veblen, Thorstein 1857–1929

1 Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.
Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Vegetius fl. ad 379–95

1 Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.
usually quoted as "Si vis pacem, para bellum [If you want peace, prepare for war]"
Epitoma Rei Militaris bk. 3, prologue.

Back  -   New Search

Venturi, Robert 1925–

1 Less is a bore.
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Vergniaud, Pierre 1753–93

1 There was reason to fear that the Revolution, like Saturn, might devour in turn each one of her children.
Alphonse de Lamartine Histoire des Girondins (1847) bk. 38, ch. 20

Back  -   New Search

Verlaine, Paul 1844–96

1
Et tout le reste est littérature.
All the rest is mere fine writing.
"Art poétique" (1882).

2
Et, Ô ces voix d'enfants chantants dans la coupole!
And oh those children's voices, singing beneath the dome!
"Parsifal" A Jules Tellier (1886)

[Verlaine]

3
Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville.
Tears are shed in my heart like the rain on the town.
Romances sans paroles (1874) "Ariettes oubliées" no. 3

[Verlaine]

Back  -   New Search

Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch 1901–66

1 It is abundantly clear that unplanned education creates many problems, disrupts the communal life of the Bantu and endangers the communal life of the European.
speech in South African Senate, 7 June 1954

Back  -   New Search

Vespasian ad 9–79

1 Pecunia non olet.Money has no smell.
upon Titus's objecting to his tax on public lavatories, Vespasian held a coin to Titus's nose; on being told it didn't smell, he replied, "Atque e lotio est [Yes, that's made from urine]"
traditional summary of Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Vespasian" sect. 23

2 Vae, puto deus fio.Woe is me, I think I am becoming a god.
when fatally ill
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Vespasian" sect. 23, subsect. 4

[Vespasian]

3 An emperor ought to die standing.
Vespasian (ad 9–79)
Suetonius Lives of the Caesars "Vespasian" sect. 24

[Vespasian]

Back  -   New Search

Victoria, Queen 1819–1901

1 I will be good.
on being shown a chart of the line of succession, 11 March 1830
Theodore Martin The Prince Consort (1875) vol. 1, ch. 2

2 It was with some emotion…that I beheld Albert—who is beautiful.
of her first meeting with Prince Albert, c. 1838
attributed; Stanley Weintraub Albert: Uncrowned King (1997)

[Victoria]

3 He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting.
of Gladstone
G. W. E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 14

[Victoria]

4 We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.
on the Boer War during "Black Week", December 1899
Lady Gwendolen Cecil Life of Robert, Marquis of Salisbury (1931) vol. 3, ch. 6

[Victoria]

5 We are not amused.
attributed, in Caroline Holland Notebooks of a Spinster Lady (1919) ch. 21, 2 January 1900

[Victoria]

Back  -   New Search

Vidal, Gore 1925–

1 Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.
in Sunday Times Magazine 16 September 1973

Back  -   New Search

Viera Gallo, José Antonio 1943–

1 Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.
Ivan Illich Energy and Equity (1974) epigraph

Back  -   New Search

Vigny, Alfred de 1797–1863

1 J'aime le son du cor, le soir, au fond des bois.I love the sound of the horn, at night, in the depth of the woods.
"Le Cor" (1826)

2
Seul le silence est grand; tout le reste est faiblesse.
Silence alone is great; all else is feebleness.
"La mort du loup" (1843) pt. 3

[Vigny]

Back  -   New Search

Villiers, Philippe-Auguste de L'Isle-Adam 1838–89

1 Living? The servants will do that for us.
Axël (1890) pt. 4, sect. 2

Back  -   New Search

Villon, François b. 1431

1 Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?But where are the snows of yesteryear?
Le Grand Testament (1461) "Ballade des dames du temps jadis" (tr. D. G. Rossetti)

2 En cette foi je veux vivre et mourir.In this faith I wish to live and to die.
Le Grand Testament (1461) "Ballade pour prier Nostre Dame"

[Villon]

Back  -   New Search

Vincent, St of Lerins d. ad c.450

1 Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est.What is everywhere, what is always, what is by all people believed.
Commonitorium Primum sect. 2

Back  -   New Search

Virgil 70 bc

1
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit
Litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
Vi superum, saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram.
I sing of arms and the man who first from the shores of Troy came destined an exile to Italy and the Lavinian beaches, a man much buffeted on land and on the deep by force of the gods because of fierce Juno's never-forgetting anger.
Aeneid bk. 1, l. 1.

2
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
Maybe one day it will be cheering to remember even these things.
Aeneid bk. 1, l. 203

[Virgil]

3
Et vera incessu patuit dea.
And her true godhead was evident from her walk.
Aeneid bk. 1, l. 408

[Virgil]

4
Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.
There are tears shed for things even here and mortality touches the heart.
Aeneid bk. 1, l. 463

[Virgil]

5
Equo ne credite, Teucri.
Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.
Aeneid bk. 2, l. 48

[Virgil]

6
Dis aliter visum.
The gods thought otherwise.
Aeneid bk. 2, l. 428

[Virgil]

7
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,
Auri sacra fames!
To what do you not drive human hearts, cursed craving for gold!
Aeneid bk. 3, l. 56

[Virgil]

8
Varium et mutabile semper
Femina.
Fickle and changeable always is woman.
Aeneid bk. 4, l. 569; see below

[Virgil]

9
Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
Rise up from my dead bones, avenger!
Aeneid bk. 4, l. 625 (translation by C. Day-Lewis)

[Virgil]

10
Hos successus alit: possunt, quia posse videntur.
These success encourages: they can because they think they can.
Aeneid bk. 5, l. 231

[Virgil]

11
Bella, horrida bella,
Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno.
I see wars, horrible wars, and the Tiber foaming with much blood.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 86.

[Virgil]

12
Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Easy is the way down to the Underworld: by night and by day dark Hades' door stands open; but to retrace one's steps and to make a way out to the upper air, that's the task, that is the labour.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 126

[Virgil]

13
Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte.
Darkling they went under the lonely night.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 268

[Virgil]

14
Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum
Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.
They stood begging to be the first to make the voyage over and they reached out their hands in longing for the further shore.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 313

[Virgil]

15
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento
(Hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem,
Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.
You, Roman, make your task to rule nations by your government (these shall be your skills), to impose ordered ways upon a state of peace, to spare those who have submitted and to subdue the arrogant.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 851

[Virgil]

16
Manibus date lilia plenis.
Give me lilies in armfuls.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 884

[Virgil]

17
Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur
Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris,
Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto,
Sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes.
There are two gates of Sleep, one of which it is held is made of horn and by it easy egress is given to real ghosts; the other shining, fashioned of gleaming white ivory, but the shades send deceptive visions that way to the light.
Aeneid bk. 6, l. 893

[Virgil]

18
Geniumque loci primamque deorum
Tellurem Nymphasque et adhuc ignota precatur
Flumina.
He prays to the spirit of the place and to Earth, the first of the gods, and to the Nymphs and as yet unknown rivers.
Aeneid bk. 7, l. 136.

[Virgil]

19
Macte nova virtute, puer, sic itur ad astra.
Blessings on your young courage, boy; that's the way to the stars.
Aeneid bk. 9, l. 641

[Virgil]

20
Audentis Fortuna iuvat.
Fortune assists the bold.
often quoted as "Fortune favours the brave"
Aeneid bk. 10, l. 284.

[Virgil]

21
Et dulcis moriens reminiscitur Argos.
And dying remembers his sweet Argos.
Aeneid bk. 10, l. 782

[Virgil]

22
Experto credite.
Trust one who has gone through it.
Aeneid bk. 11, l. 283

[Virgil]

23
Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi
Silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena.
Tityrus, you who lie under cover of the spreading beech-tree, you are practising your pastoral music on a thin stalk.
Eclogues no. 1, l. 1

[Virgil]

24
Latet anguis in herba.
There's a snake hidden in the grass.
Eclogues no. 3, l. 93

[Virgil]

25
Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas;
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
Iam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,
Iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.
Now has come the last age according to the oracle at Cumae; the great series of lifetimes starts anew. Now too the virgin goddess returns, the golden days of Saturn's reign return, now a new race is sent down from high heaven.
Eclogues no. 4, l. 4

[Virgil]

26
Ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo,
Et cantare pares et respondere parati.
Both in the flower of their youth, Arcadians both, and matched and ready alike to start a song and to respond.
Eclogues no. 7, l. 4

[Virgil]

27
Non omnia possumus omnes.
We can't all do everything.
Eclogues no. 8, l. 63.

[Virgil]

28
Nam neque adhuc Vario videor nec dicere Cinna
Digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores.
For I don't seem yet to write things as good either as Varius or as Cinna, but to be a goose honking amongst tuneful swans.
Eclogues no. 9, l. 32

[Virgil]

29
Omnia vincit Amor: et nos cedamus Amori.
Love conquers all things: let us too give in to Love.
Eclogues no. 10, l. 69.

[Virgil]

30
Ultima Thule.
Farthest Thule.
Georgics no. 1, l. 30

[Virgil]

31
Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam
Scilicet atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum;
Ter pater exstructos disiecit fulmine montis.
Three times they endeavoured to pile Ossa on Pelion, no less, and to roll leafy Olympus on top of Ossa; three times our Father broke up the towering mountains with a thunderbolt.
Georgics no. 1, l. 281

[Virgil]

32
O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint,
Agricolas!
O farmers excessively fortunate if only they recognized their blessings!
Georgics no. 2, l. 458

[Virgil]

33
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
Lucky is he who has been able to understand the causes of things.
of Lucretius
Georgics no. 2, l. 490

[Virgil]

34
Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus.
But meanwhile it is flying, irretrievable time is flying.
usually quoted as "tempus fugit [time flies]"
Georgics no. 3, l. 284

[Virgil]

Back  -   New Search

Voltaire 1694–1778

1 Dans ce meilleur des mondes possibles…tout est au mieux.In this best of possible worlds…all is for the best.
usually quoted "All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds"
Candide (1759) ch. 1

2 These two nations have been at war over a few acres of snow near Canada, and…they are spending on this fine struggle more than Canada itself is worth.
of the struggle between the French and the British for the control of colonial north Canada
Candide (1759) ch. 23

[Voltaire]

3 Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.In this country [England] it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
referring to the contentious execution of Admiral Byng (1704–57) for neglect of duty in failing to relieve Minorca
Candide (1759) ch. 23.

[Voltaire]

4 Il faut cultiver notre jardin.We must cultivate our garden.
Candide (1759) ch. 30

[Voltaire]

5 [Men] use thought only to justify their injustices, and speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Dialogues (1763) "Le Chapon et la poularde"

[Voltaire]

6 Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.The best is the enemy of the good.
Contes (1772) "La Begueule" l. 2; though often attributed to Voltaire, the notion in fact derives from an Italian proverb quoted in his Dictionnaire philosophique (1770 ed.) "Art Dramatique": "Le meglio è l'inimico del bene"

[Voltaire]

7 Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
Dictionnaire philosophique (1764) "Superstition"

[Voltaire]

8 Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
Épîtres no. 96 "A l'Auteur du livre des trois imposteurs".

[Voltaire]

9 This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.
Essai sur l'histoire générale et sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations (1756) ch. 70

[Voltaire]

10 History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
L'Ingénu (1767) ch. 10.

[Voltaire]

11 Governments need both shepherds and butchers.
"The Piccini Notebooks" (c.1735–50) in T. Besterman (ed.) Voltaire's Notebooks (2nd ed., 1968) vol. 2

[Voltaire]

12 God is on the side not of the heavy battalions, but of the best shots.
"The Piccini Notebooks" (c.1735–50) in T. Besterman (ed.) Voltaire's Notebooks (2nd ed., 1968) vol. 2

[Voltaire]

13 We owe respect to the living; to the dead we owe only truth.
"Première Lettre sur Oedipe" in Oeuvres (1785) vol. 1

[Voltaire]

14 The composition of a tragedy requires testicles.
on being asked why no woman had ever written "a tolerable tragedy"
letter from Byron to John Murray, 2 April 1817

[Voltaire]

15 The English plays are like their English puddings: nobody has any taste for them but themselves.
Joseph Spence Anecdotes (ed. J. M. Osborn, 1966) no. 1033

[Voltaire]

16 I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
to Helvétius, following the burning of De l'esprit in 1759
attributed to Voltaire, but in fact a later summary of his attitude by S. G. Tallentyre in The Friends of Voltaire (1907).

[Voltaire]

17 What a fuss about an omelette!
what Voltaire apparently said on the burning of De l'esprit
James Parton Life of Voltaire (1881) vol. 2, ch. 25

[Voltaire]

18 This is no time for making new enemies.
on being asked to renounce the Devil, on his deathbed
attributed

[Voltaire]

Back  -   New Search

W

Walcott, Derek 1930–

1
I who have cursed
The drunken officer of British rule, how choose
Between this Africa and the English tongue I love?

"A Far Cry From Africa" (1962)

2 I come from a backward place: your duty is supplied by life around you. One guy plants bananas; another plants cocoa; I'm a writer, I plant lines. There's the same clarity of occupation, and the sense of devotion.
in Guardian 12 July 1997

[Walcott]

Back  -   New Search

Wasa, Lech 1943–

1 You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of faith or direction. You have so many computers, why don't you use them in the search for love?
in Paris, on his first journey outside the Soviet area, in Daily Telegraph 14 December 1988

Back  -   New Search

Walker, Alice 1944–

1 Did this happen to your mother? Did your sister throw up a lot?
title of poem (1979)

2
Expect nothing. Live frugally
on surprise.

"Expect nothing" (1973)

[Walker]

3
The quietly pacifist peaceful
always die
to make room for men
who shout.

"The QPP" (1973)

[Walker]

4 I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.
The Colour Purple (1982)

[Walker]

Back  -   New Search

Walker, Felix fl. 1820

1 I'm talking to Buncombe ["bunkum"].
excusing a long, dull, irrelevant speech in the House of Representatives, c.1820 (Buncombe being his constituency)
W. Safire New Language of Politics (2nd ed., 1972).

Back  -   New Search

Wallace, George 1919–98

1 Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever!
inaugural speech as Governor of Alabama, January 1963, in Birmingham World 19 January 1963

Back  -   New Search

Wallace, Henry 1888–1965

1 The century on which we are entering—the century which will come out of this war—can be and must be the century of the common man.
speech, 8 May 1942

Back  -   New Search

Wallace, William Ross d. 1881

1
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

"What rules the world" (1865).

Back  -   New Search

Wallas, Graham 1858–1932

1 The little girl had the making of a poet in her who, being told to be sure of her meaning before she spoke, said, "How can I know what I think till I see what I say?"
The Art of Thought (1926) ch. 4

Back  -   New Search

Waller, Edmund 1606–87

1
Go, lovely rose!
Tell her, that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

"Go, lovely rose!" (1645)

Back  -   New Search

Walpole, Horace 1717–97

1 Our supreme governors, the mob.
letter to Horace Mann, 7 September 1743

2 [Strawberry Hill] is a little plaything-house that I got out of Mrs Chenevix's shop, and is the prettiest bauble you ever saw. It is set in enamelled meadows, with filigree hedges.
letter to Hon. Henry Conway, 8 June 1747

[Walpole]

3 Every drop of ink in my pen ran cold.
letter to George Montagu, 30 July 1752

[Walpole]

4 One of the greatest geniuses that ever existed, Shakespeare, undoubtedly wanted taste.
letter to Christopher Wren, 9 August 1764

[Walpole]

5 It is charming to totter into vogue.
letter to George Selwyn, 2 December 1765

[Walpole]

6 The way to ensure summer in England is to have it framed and glazed in a comfortable room.
letter to Revd William Cole, 28 May 1774

[Walpole]

7 The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul's, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.
letter to Horace Mann, 24 November 1774.

[Walpole]

8 This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
letter to Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory, 16 August 1776

[Walpole]

9 It is the story of a mountebank and his zany.
of Boswell's Tour of the Hebrides
letter to Hon. Henry Conway, 6 October 1785

[Walpole]

10 All his own geese are swans, as the swans of others are geese.
of Joshua Reynolds
letter to Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory, 1 December 1786

[Walpole]

11 How should such a fellow as Sheridan, who has no diamonds to bestow, fascinate all the world?—yet witchcraft, no doubt there has been, for when did simple eloquence ever convince a majority?
letter to Lady Ossory, 9 February 1787

[Walpole]

12 That hyena in petticoats, Mrs Wollstonecraft.
letter to Hannah More, 26 January 1795

[Walpole]

13 While he felt like a victim, he acted like a hero.
of Admiral Byng, on the day of his execution
Memoirs of the Reign of King George II (ed. Lord Holland, 1846) vol. 2, 1757.

[Walpole]

Back  -   New Search

Walpole, Robert, Lord Orford 1676–1745

1 They now ring the bells, but they will soon wring their hands.
on the declaration of war with Spain, 1739
W. Coxe Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole (1798) vol. 1

2 All those men have their price.
of fellow parliamentarians
W. Coxe Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole (1798) vol. 1

[Walpole]

3 Madam, there are fifty thousand men slain this year in Europe, and not one Englishman.
to Queen Caroline, 1734, on the war of the Polish succession, in which the English had refused to participate
John Hervey Memoirs (written 1734–43, published 1848) vol. 1

[Walpole]

4 We must muzzle this terrible young cornet of horse.
of the elder William Pitt, who had held a cornetcy before his election to Parliament, c.1736
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Walpole]

5 [Gratitude of place-expectants] is a lively sense of future favours.
W. Hazlitt Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819) "On Wit and Humour".

[Walpole]

Back  -   New Search

Walsh, William 1663–1708

1
I can endure my own despair,
But not another's hope.

"Song: Of All the Torments"

Back  -   New Search

Walton, Izaak 1593–1683

1 As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.
The Compleat Angler (1653) "Epistle to the Reader"

2 I am, Sir, a Brother of the Angle.
The Compleat Angler (1653) pt. 1, ch. 1

[Walton]

3 I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning.
The Compleat Angler (1653) pt. 1, ch. 5

[Walton]

4 I love any discourse of rivers, and fish and fishing.
The Compleat Angler (1653) pt. 1, ch. 18

[Walton]

5 But God, who is able to prevail, wrestled with him, as the Angel did with Jacob, and marked him; marked him for his own.
Life of Donne (1670 ed.)

[Walton]

6 The great Secretary of Nature and all learning, Sir Francis Bacon.
Life of Herbert (1670 ed.)

[Walton]

Back  -   New Search

Warburton, William 1698–1779

1 Orthodoxy is my doxy; heterodoxy is another man's doxy.
to Lord Sandwich, in Joseph Priestley Memoirs (1807) vol. 1

Back  -   New Search

Ward, Artemus 1834–67

1 Let us all be happy, and live within our means, even if we have to borrer the money to do it with.
Artemus Ward in London (1867) ch. 7

2 Why is this thus? What is the reason of this thusness?
Artemus Ward's Lecture (1869) "Heber C. Kimball's Harem"

[Ward]

Back  -   New Search

Ward, Barbara 1914–81

1 We cannot cheat on DNA. We cannot get round photosynthesis. We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that "we choose death".
Only One Earth (1972)

Back  -   New Search

Warhol, Andy 1927–87

1 In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.
Andy Warhol (1968) (volume released to mark his exhibition in Stockholm, February–March, 1968)

2 Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.
Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) (1975)

[Warhol]

Back  -   New Search

Warner, Sylvia Townsend 1893–1978

1 One need not write in a diary what one is to remember for ever.
diary, 22 October 1930

2 Total grief is like a minefield. No knowing when one will touch the tripwire.
diary, 11 December 1969

[Warner]

Back  -   New Search

Warren, Earl 1891–1974

1 In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.
in New York Times 12 November 1962

Back  -   New Search

Washington, Booker T. 1856–1915

1 No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
Up from Slavery (1901)

2 You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.
attributed

[Washington]

Back  -   New Search

Washington, George 1732–99

1 Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
letter, 17 August 1779

2 'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign world.
President's Address…retiring from Public Life 17 September 1796

[Washington]

3 Let me…warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.
President's Address… 17 September 1796

[Washington]

4 I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.
M. L. Weems Life of George Washington (10th ed., 1810) ch. 2

[Washington]

5 Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
attributed

[Washington]

Back  -   New Search

Washington, Ned 1901–76

1 Hi diddle dee dee (an actor's life for me).
title of song (1940) from the film Pinocchio

2
The night is like a lovely tune,
Beware my foolish heart!

"My Foolish Heart" (1949 song)

[Washington]

Back  -   New Search

Watson, James Dewey 1928–

1 No good model ever accounted for all the facts, since some data was bound to be misleading if not plain wrong.
Francis Crick Some Mad Pursuit (1988)

2 Some day a child is going to sue its parents for being born. They will say, my life is so awful with these terrible genetic defects and you just callously didn't find out.
on the question of genetic screening of foetuses
interview in Sunday Telegraph 16 February 1997

[Watson]

Back  -   New Search

Watson, Thomas Snr. 1874–1956

1 You cannot be a success in any business without believing that it is the greatest business in the world…You have to put your heart in the business and the business in your heart.
Robert Sobel IBM: Colossus in Transition (1981)

Back  -   New Search

Watson, William c.1559–1603

1 Fiat justitia et ruant coeli.Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
A Decacordon of Ten Quodlibeticall Questions Concerning Religion and State (1602), being the first citation in an English work of a famous maxim.

Back  -   New Search

Watson, William 1858–1936

1
April, April,
Laugh thy girlish laughter.

"April"

2
My hand will miss the insinuated nose,
Mine eyes the tail that wagged contempt at Fate.

"An Epitaph"

[Watson]

Back  -   New Search

Watts, Isaac 1674–1748

1
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour.

Divine Songs for Children (1715) "Against Idleness and Mischief".

2
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

Divine Songs for Children (1715) "Against Idleness and Mischief"

[Watts]

3
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God hath made them so.

Divine Songs for Children (1715) "Against Quarrelling"

[Watts]

4
Birds in their little nests agree.

Divine Songs for Children (1715) "Love between Brothers and Sisters"

[Watts]

5
Come, let us join our cheerful songs
With angels round the throne;
Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
But all their joys are one.

Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) "Come, let us join our cheerful songs"

[Watts]

6
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) "Crucifixion to the World, by the Cross of Christ"

[Watts]

7
There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign.

Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707) "A Prospect of Heaven makes Death easy"

[Watts]

8
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

The Psalms of David Imitated (1719) Psalm 72

[Watts]

9
Our God, our help in ages past
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

"Our God" altered to "O God" by John Wesley, 1738
The Psalms of David Imitated (1719) Psalm 90

[Watts]

10
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The Psalms of David Imitated (1719) Psalm 90

[Watts]

11
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away.

The Psalms of David Imitated (1719) Psalm 90

[Watts]

Back  -   New Search

Waugh, Evelyn 1903–66

1 I am not I: thou art not he or she: they are not they.
Brideshead Revisited (1945) "Author's Note"

2 The sound of English county families baying for broken glass.
Decline and Fall (1928) "Prelude".

[Waugh]

3 I expect you'll be becoming a schoolmaster, sir. That's what most of the gentlemen does, sir, that gets sent down for indecent behaviour.
Decline and Fall (1928) "Prelude"

[Waugh]

4 Any one who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison. It is the people brought up in the gay intimacy of the slums, Paul learned, who find prison so soul-destroying.
Decline and Fall (1928) pt. 3, ch. 4

[Waugh]

5 The Beast stands for strong mutually antagonistic governments everywhere…Self-sufficiency at home, self-assertion abroad.
Scoop (1938) bk. 1, ch. 1

[Waugh]

6 Up to a point, Lord Copper.
Scoop (1938) bk. 1, ch. 1

[Waugh]

7 "Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole"…"Yes," said the Managing Editor. "That must be good style."
Scoop (1938) bk. 1, ch. 1

[Waugh]

8 To see him fumbling with our rich and delicate language is to experience all the horror of seeing a Sèvres vase in the hands of a chimpanzee.
of Stephen Spender
in The Tablet 5 May 1951

[Waugh]

9 A typical triumph of modern science to find the only part of Randolph that was not malignant and remove it.
on hearing that Randolph Churchill's lung, when removed, proved non-malignant
Michael Davie (ed.) Diaries of Evelyn Waugh (1976) "Irregular Notes 1960–65", March 1964

[Waugh]

Back  -   New Search

Weatherly, Frederick 1848–1929

1
Where are the boys of the old Brigade,
Who fought with us side by side?

"The Old Brigade" (1886 song)

2
Roses are flowering in Picardy,
But there's never a rose like you.

"Roses of Picardy" (1916 song)

[Weatherly]

Back  -   New Search

Webb, Sidney 1859–1947

1 The inevitability of gradualness.
presidential address to the annual conference of the Labour Party, 26 June 1923

Back  -   New Search

Weber, Max 1864–1920

1 The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft Sozialpolitik vol. 20 (1904–5) (title of article)

2 The concept of the "official secret" is its [bureaucracy's] specific invention.
"Politik als Beruf" (1919)

[Weber]

Back  -   New Search

Webster, Daniel 1782–1852

1 It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it!
argument in the case of the Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 10 March 1818

2 The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.
second speech in the Senate on Foote's Resolution, 26 January 1830.

[Webster]

3 Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!
second speech in the Senate on Foote's Resolution, 26 January 1830

[Webster]

4 There is always room at the top.
on being advised against joining the overcrowded legal profession
attributed

[Webster]

Back  -   New Search

Webster, John c.1580–1625

1
Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things,
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind.

The Devil's Law-Case (1623) act 5, sc. 4

2
O, that it were possible,
We might but hold some two days' conference
With the dead!

The Duchess of Malfi (1623) act 4, sc. 2

[Webster]

3
I am Duchess of Malfi still.

The Duchess of Malfi (1623) act 4, sc. 2

[Webster]

4
I know death hath ten thousand several doors
For men to take their exits.

The Duchess of Malfi (1623) act 4, sc. 2. ,

[Webster]

5
Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle: she died young.

The Duchess of Malfi (1623) act 4, sc. 2

[Webster]

6
Strangling is a very quiet death.

The Duchess of Malfi (1623) act 5, sc. 4

[Webster]

7
We are merely the stars' tennis-balls, struck and bandied
Which way please them.

The Duchess of Malfi (1623) act 5, sc. 4

[Webster]

8 'Tis just like a summer birdcage in a garden; the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair, and are in a consumption, for fear they shall never get out.
The White Devil (1612) act 1, sc. 2

[Webster]

9
A mere tale of a tub, my words are idle.

The White Devil (1612) act 2, sc. 1

[Webster]

10
Call for the robin-red-breast and the wren,
Since o'er shady groves they hover,
And with leaves and flowers do cover
The friendless bodies of unburied men.

The White Devil (1612) act 5, sc. 4

[Webster]

11
We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.

The White Devil (1612) act 5, sc. 4

[Webster]

12
My soul, like to a ship in a black storm,
Is driven, I know not whither.

The White Devil (1612) act 5, sc. 6

[Webster]

13
I have caught
An everlasting cold; I have lost my voice
Most irrecoverably.

The White Devil (1612) act 5, sc. 6

[Webster]

Back  -   New Search

Wedgwood, Josiah 1730–95

1 Am I not a man and a brother.
legend on Wedgwood cameo, depicting a kneeling Negro slave in chains
reproduced in facsimile in E. Darwin The Botanic Garden pt. 1 (1791)

Back  -   New Search

Weil, Simone 1909–43

1 All sins are attempts to fill voids.
La Pesanteur et la grâce (1948)

2 What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war.
W. H. Auden A Certain World (1971)

[Weil]

Back  -   New Search

Weisskopf, Victor 1908–2002

1 It was absolutely marvellous working for Pauli. You could ask him anything. There was no worry that he would think a particular question was stupid, since he thought all questions were stupid.
in American Journal of Physics 1977

Back  -   New Search

Weissmuller, Johnny 1904–84

1 Me Tarzan, you Jane.
summing up his role in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932 film)
in Photoplay Magazine June 1932; the words do not occur in the film or in the original novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Back  -   New Search

Weizmann, Chaim 1874–1952

1 Something had been done for us which, after two thousand years of hope and yearning, would at last give us a resting-place in this terrible world.
of the Balfour declaration
speech in Jerusalem, 25 November 1936.

Back  -   New Search

Welby, Thomas Earle 1881–1933

1 "Turbot, Sir," said the waiter, placing before me two fishbones, two eyeballs, and a bit of black mackintosh.
The Dinner Knell (1932) "Birmingham or Crewe?"

Back  -   New Search

Weldon, Fay 1931–

1 The life and loves of a she-devil.
title of novel (1984)

2 Every time you open your wardrobe, you look at your clothes and you wonder what you are going to wear. What you are really saying is "Who am I going to be today?"
in New Yorker 26 June 1995

[Weldon]

Back  -   New Search

Welles, Orson 1915–85

1 The biggest electric train set any boy ever had!
of the RKO studios
Peter Noble The Fabulous Orson Welles (1956) ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Wellington, Duke of 1769–1852

1 As Lord Chesterfield said of the generals of his day, "I only hope that when the enemy reads the list of their names, he trembles as I do."
usually quoted as, "I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me"
letter, 29 August 1810, in Supplementary Despatches… (1860) vol. 6

2 Up Guards and at them!
letter from an officer in the Guards, 22 June 1815, in The Battle of Waterloo by a Near Observer [J. Booth] (1815); later denied by Wellington

[Wellington]

3 Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.
in Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley 1787–1817 (ed. R. Edgcumbe, 1912) vol. 1

[Wellington]

4 Publish and be damned.
replying to a blackmail threat prior to the publication of Harriette Wilson's Memoirs (1825)
attributed; Elizabeth Longford Wellington: The Years of the Sword (1969) ch. 10

[Wellington]

5 I used to say of him that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.
of Napoleon
Philip Henry Stanhope Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington (1888) 2 November 1831

[Wellington]

6 Ours is composed of the scum of the earth—the mere scum of the earth.
of the army
Philip Henry Stanhope Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington (1888) 4 November 1831

[Wellington]

7 I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life.
on seeing the first Reformed Parliament, 1832
William Fraser Words on Wellington (1889)

[Wellington]

8 The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.
oral tradition, but probably apocryphal; the earliest reference is a remark said to have been made when revisiting Eton.

[Wellington]

9 An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.
of his first Cabinet meeting as Prime Minister
attributed; Peter Hennessy Whitehall (1990)

[Wellington]

Back  -   New Search

Wells, H. G. 1866–1946

1 He had read Shakespeare and found him weak in chemistry.
Complete Short Stories (1927) "Lord of the Dynamos"

2 "Sesquippledan," he would say. "Sesquippledan verboojuice."
The History of Mr Polly (1909) ch. 1, pt. 5.

[Wells]

3 The Social Contract is nothing more or less than a vast conspiracy of human beings to lie to and humbug themselves and one another for the general Good. Lies are the mortar that bind the savage individual man into the social masonry.
Love and Mr Lewisham (1900) ch. 23

[Wells]

4 The shape of things to come.
title of book (1933)

[Wells]

5 The war that will end war.
title of book (1914).

[Wells]

6 God damn you all: I told you so.
suggestion for his own epitaph, in conversation with Ernest Barker, 1939
Ernest Barker Age and Youth (1953)

[Wells]

Back  -   New Search

Wesker, Arnold 1932–

1 Chips with every damn thing. You breed babies and you eat chips with everything.
Chips with Everything (1962) act 1, sc. 2

2 The Khomeini cry for the execution of Rushdie is an infantile cry. From the beginning of time we have seen that. To murder the thinker does not murder the thought.
in Weekend Guardian 3 June 1989.

[Wesker]

Back  -   New Search

Wesley, Charles 1707–88

1
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

"And can it be" (1738 hymn)

2
Hark! how all the welkin rings,
Glory to the King of kings.
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.

Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) "Hymn for Christmas"; the first two lines altered to "Hark! the herald-angels sing Glory to the new born King" in George Whitefield Hymns for Social Worship (1753)

[Wesley]

3
O for a thousand tongues to sing.

Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740) "For the Anniversary Day of one's Conversion"

[Wesley]

4
Jesu, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly.

Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740) "In Temptation"

[Wesley]

5
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav'n, to earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown.

Hymns for those that seek…Redemption (1747) "Love divine", based on Dryden.

[Wesley]

6
Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain.

Hymns of Intercession for all Mankind (1758) "Lo! He comes"

[Wesley]

Back  -   New Search

Wesley, John 1703–91

1 The Gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.
Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) Preface

2 I design plain truth for plain people.
Sermons on Several Occasions (1746)

[Wesley]

3 I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh, who shall convert me?
Journal (ed. N. Curnock) 24 January 1738

[Wesley]

4 I look upon all the world as my parish.
Journal (ed. N. Curnock) 11 June 1739

[Wesley]

5 Time has shaken me by the hand and death is not far behind.
letter to Ezekiel Cooper, 1 February 1791

[Wesley]

Back  -   New Search

Wesley, Mary 1912–

1 In my day, I would only have sex with a man if I found him extremely attractive. These days, girls seem to choose them in much the same way as they might choose to suck on a boiled sweet.
in Independent 18 October 1997 "Quote Unquote"

Back  -   New Search

Wesley, Samuel 1662–1735

1
Style is the dress of thought; a modest dress,
Neat, but not gaudy, will true critics please.

"An Epistle to a Friend concerning Poetry" (1700)

Back  -   New Search

West, Mae 1892–1980

1 I always say, keep a diary and some day it'll keep you.
Every Day's a Holiday (1937 film)

2 Beulah, peel me a grape.
I'm No Angel (1933 film)

[West]

3 It's not the men in my life that counts—it's the life in my men.
I'm No Angel (1933 film)

[West]

4 "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!"
"Goodness had nothing to do with it."

Night After Night (1932 film)

[West]

5 Why don't you come up sometime, and see me?
often altered to, "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?"
She Done Him Wrong (1933 film)

[West]

6 Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?
usually quoted as "Is that a pistol in your pocket…"
Joseph Weintraub Peel Me a Grape (1975)

[West]

Back  -   New Search

West, Rebecca 1892–1983

1 Having watched the form of our traitors for a number of years, I cannot think that espionage can be recommended as a technique for building an impressive civilization. It's a lout's game.
The Meaning of Treason (1982 ed.), introduction

2 I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
in The Clarion 14 November 1913

[West]

3 People would rather be led to perdition by a man, than to victory by a woman.
in conversation in 1979, just before Margaret Thatcher's first election victory
in Sunday Telegraph 17 January 1988

[West]

Back  -   New Search

Westmorland, John Fane, Lord 1759–1841

1 Merit, indeed!…We are come to a pretty pass if they talk of merit for a bishopric.
noted in Lady Salisbury's diary, 9 December 1835

Back  -   New Search

Weston, R. P. 1878–1936 and Lee, Bert 1880–1947

1
Good-bye-ee!—Good-bye-ee!
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee.

"Good-bye-ee!" (c.1915 song)

Back  -   New Search

Wetherell, Charles 1770–1846

1 Then there is my noble and biographical friend who has added a new terror to death.
of Lord Campbell
Lord St Leonards Misrepresentations in Campbell's Lives of Lyndhurst and Brougham (1869).

Back  -   New Search

Wharton, Edith 1862–1937

1 An unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.
The Age of Innocence (1920) bk. 1, ch. 1

2 Mrs Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet it alone.
Xingu and Other Stories (1916) "Xingu"

[Wharton]

Back  -   New Search

Wharton, Thomas, Lord 1648–1715

1
Ara! but why does King James stay behind?
Lilli burlero bullen a la
Ho! by my shoul 'tis a Protestant wind.

"A New Song" (written 1687)

2 I sang a king out of three kingdoms.
said to have been Wharton's boast after "A New Song" became an propaganda weapon against James II
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Wharton]

Back  -   New Search

Whately, Richard 1787–1863

1 It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them; but on the contrary, men dive for them because they fetch a high price.
Introductory Lectures on Political Economy (1832) p. 253

Back  -   New Search

Whewell, William 1794–1866

1 Hence no force however great can stretch a cord however fine into an horizontal line which is accurately straight: there will always be a bending downwards.
often cited as an example of accidental metre and rhyme, and changed in later editions
Elementary Treatise on Mechanics (1819) ch. 4, problem 2

Back  -   New Search

Whistler, James McNeill 1834–1903

1 I maintain that two and two would continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five.
Whistler v. Ruskin. Art and Art Critics (1878)

2 No, I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime.
in his case against Ruskin, replying to the question: "For two days' labour, you ask two hundred guineas?"
D. C. Seitz Whistler Stories (1913)

[Whistler]

3 oscar wilde: How I wish I had said that.
whistler: You will, Oscar, you will.

R. Ellman Oscar Wilde (1987) pt. 2, ch. 5

[Whistler]

Back  -   New Search

White, E. B. 1899–1985

1
Commuter—one who spends his life
In riding to and from his wife;
A man who shaves and takes a train,
And then rides back to shave again.

"The Commuter" (1982)

2 mother: It's broccoli, dear.
child: I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it.

cartoon caption in New Yorker 8 December 1928

[White]

Back  -   New Search

White, H. Kirke 1785–1806

1
Oft in danger, oft in woe,
Onward, Christians, onward go.

"Oft in danger, oft in woe" (1812 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

White, Patrick 1912–90

1 Conversation is imperative if gaps are to be filled, and old age, it is the last gap but one.
The Tree of Man (1955) ch. 22

2 So that, in the end, there was no end.
The Tree of Man (1955); closing words

[White]

Back  -   New Search

White, Theodore H. 1915–86

1 The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.
in Time 19 November 1984

Back  -   New Search

Whitehead, Alfred North 1861–1947

1 There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.
Dialogues (1954) prologue

2 Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended.
Dialogues (1954) 15 December 1939

[Whitehead]

3 Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.
Introduction to Mathematics (1911) ch. 5

[Whitehead]

Back  -   New Search

Whitehorn, Katharine 1928–

1 I wouldn't say when you've seen one Western you've seen the lot; but when you've seen the lot you get the feeling you've seen one.
Sunday Best (1976) "Decoding the West"

Back  -   New Search

Whiting, George

1 When you're all dressed up and have no place to go.
title of song (1912)

Back  -   New Search

Whiting, William 1825–78

1
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to thee,
For those in peril on the sea.

"Eternal Father, Strong to Save" (1869 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Whitman, Walt 1819–92

1 I sing the body electric.
title of poem (1855)

2
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won.

"O Captain! My Captain!" (1871)

[Whitman]

3
Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread
Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

"O Captain! My Captain!" (1871)

[Whitman]

4
Pioneers! O pioneers!

title of poem (1881)

[Whitman]

5
Camerado, this is no book,
Who touches this touches a man.

"So Long!" (1881)

[Whitman]

6
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.

"Song of Myself" (written 1855) pt. 32

[Whitman]

7
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

"Song of Myself" (written 1855) pt. 51

[Whitman]

8
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed,
And the great star early drooped in the western sky in the night,
I mourned, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

"When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed" (1881) st. 1

[Whitman]

9 The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.
Leaves of Grass (1855) preface

[Whitman]

Back  -   New Search

Whittier, John Greenleaf 1807–92

1
"Shoot, if you must, this old grey head,
But spare your country's flag," she said.

"Barbara Frietchie" (1863)

2
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Re-clothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence praise.

"The Brewing of Soma" (1872)

[Whittier]

3
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"

"Maud Muller" (1854).

[Whittier]

Back  -   New Search

Whittington, Robert

1 As time requireth, a man of marvellous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity, as who say: a man for all seasons.
of Sir Thomas More
Vulgaria (1521) pt. 2 "De constructione nominum"; Erasmus had applied the idea earlier in the prefatory letter to In Praise of Folly (1509), saying that More played "Omnium horarum hominem [A man of all hours]"

Back  -   New Search

Whitton, Charlotte 1896–1975

1 Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.
in Canada Month June 1963

Back  -   New Search

Whur, Cornelius

1
While lasting joys the man attend
Who has a faithful female friend.

"The Female Friend" (1837)

Back  -   New Search

Whyte, William H. 1917–

1 The organization man.
title of book (1956)

Back  -   New Search

Whyte-Melville, George John 1821–78

1
But I freely admit that the best of my fun
I owe it to horse and hound.

"The Good Grey Mare" (1933)

Back  -   New Search

Widdecombe, Ann 1947–

1 He has something of the night in him.
of Michael Howard as a contender for the Conservative leadership
in Sunday Times 11 May 1997 (electronic edition)

Back  -   New Search

Wiesel, Elie 1928–

1 Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
accepting the Nobel Peace Prize
in New York Times 11 December 1986

2 God of forgiveness, do not forgive those murderers of Jewish children here.
at Auschwitz
in The Times 27 January 1995

[Wiesel]

Back  -   New Search

Wilberforce, Samuel 1805–73

1
If I were a cassowary
On the plains of Timbuctoo,
I would eat a missionary,
Cassock, band, and hymn-book too.

impromptu verse (attributed)

2 Was it through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey?
addressed to T. H. Huxley at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Oxford, June 1860.

[Wilberforce]

Back  -   New Search

Wilbur, Richard 1921–

1
There is a poignancy in all things clear,
In the stare of the deer, in the ring of a hammer in the morning.

"Clearness" (1950)

2
We milk the cow of the world, and as we do
We whisper in her ear, "You are not true."

"Epistemology" (1950)

[Wilbur]

3
The good grey guardians of art
Patrol the halls on spongy shoes.

"Museum Piece" (1950)

[Wilbur]

Back  -   New Search

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler 1855–1919

1
Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.

"Solitude"

Back  -   New Search

Wilde, Oscar 1854–1900

1 We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
The Canterville Ghost (1887)

2 The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 1

[Wilde]

3 In married life three is company and two none.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 1

[Wilde]

4 To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 1

[Wilde]

5 lady bracknell: A handbag?

The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 1

[Wilde]

6 All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 1

[Wilde]

7 The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 2.

[Wilde]

8 I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) act 2

[Wilde]

9 Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.
Intentions (1891) "The Critic as Artist" pt. 1

[Wilde]

10 I can resist everything except temptation.
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) act 1

[Wilde]

11 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) act 3

[Wilde]

12 A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
definition of a cynic
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) act 3

[Wilde]

13 There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) preface

[Wilde]

14 A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
The Portrait of Mr W. H. (1901)

[Wilde]

15 mrs allonby: They say, Lady Hunstanton, that when good Americans die they go to Paris.
lady hunstanton: Indeed? And when bad Americans die, where do they go to?
lord illingworth: Oh, they go to America.

A Woman of No Importance (1893) act 1.

[Wilde]

16 The English country gentleman galloping after a fox—the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.
A Woman of No Importance (1893) act 1

[Wilde]

17 lord illingworth: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
mrs allonby: It ends with Revelations.

A Woman of No Importance (1893) act 1

[Wilde]

18 Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
A Woman of No Importance (1893) act 2

[Wilde]

19 You should study the Peerage, Gerald…It is the best thing in fiction the English have ever done.
A Woman of No Importance (1893) act 3

[Wilde]

20
I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) pt. 1, st. 3

[Wilde]

21
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) pt. 1, st. 7

[Wilde]

22
For he who lives more lives than one
More deaths than one must die.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) pt. 3, st. 37

[Wilde]

23
And alien tears will fill for him
Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.

inscribed on Wilde's tomb in Père Lachaise cemetery
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) pt. 4, st. 23

[Wilde]

24 When I ask for a watercress sandwich, I do not mean a loaf with a field in the middle of it.
to a waiter
Max Beerbohm, letter to Reggie Turner, 15 April 1893

[Wilde]

25 Ah, well, then, I suppose that I shall have to die beyond my means.
at the mention of a huge fee for a surgical operation
R. H. Sherard Life of Oscar Wilde (1906) ch. 18

[Wilde]

26 Shaw has not an enemy in the world; and none of his friends like him.
letter from Bernard Shaw to Archibald Henderson, 22 February 1911

[Wilde]

27 I have nothing to declare except my genius.
at the New York Custom House
Frank Harris Oscar Wilde (1918)

[Wilde]

28 One of us must go.
of the wallpaper in the room where he was dying
attributed, probably apocryphal

[Wilde]

Back  -   New Search

Wilder, Billy 1906–2002

1 Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
J. R. Columbo Wit and Wisdom of the Moviemakers (1979) ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Wilder, Thornton 1897–1975

1 Literature is the orchestration of platitudes.
in Time 12 January 1953

Back  -   New Search

Wilensky, Robert 1951–

1 We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.
in Mail on Sunday 16 February 1997 "Quotes of the Week".

Back  -   New Search

Wilhelm II ("Kaiser Bill") 1859–1941

1 We have…fought for our place in the sun and have won it. It will be my business to see that we retain this place in the sun unchallenged, so that the rays of that sun may exert a fructifying influence upon our foreign trade and traffic.
speech in Hamburg, 18 June 1901; in The Times 20 June 1901.

Back  -   New Search

Wilkes, John 1727–97

1 earl of sandwich: 'Pon my soul, Wilkes, I don't know whether you'll die upon the gallows or of the pox.
wilkes: That depends, my Lord, whether I first embrace your Lordship's principles, or your Lordship's mistresses.

Charles Petrie The Four Georges (1935); probably apocryphal

Back  -   New Search

Willard, Emma Hart 1787–1870

1 Rocked in the cradle of the deep.
title of song (1840), inspired by a prospect of the Bristol Channel

Back  -   New Search

William III (William of Orange) 1650–1702

1 "Do you not see your country is lost?" asked the Duke of Buckingham. "There is one way never to see it lost" replied William, "and that is to die in the last ditch."
Bishop Gilbert Burnet History of My Own Time (1838 ed.)

2 Every bullet has its billet.
John Wesley Journal (1827) 6 June 1765

[William III]

Back  -   New Search

Williams, Isaac 1802–65

1 Be thou my Guardian and my Guide.
title of hymn (1842)

Back  -   New Search

Williams, Peter

1
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more.

first line frequently in the form "O thou great Redeemer"
"Praying for Strength" (1771); translation of "Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch" (1745) by William Williams (1717–91)

Back  -   New Search

Williams, Shirley 1930–

1 No test tube can breed love and affection. No frozen packet of semen ever read a story to a sleepy child.
in Daily Mirror 2 March 1978

Back  -   New Search

Williams, Tennessee 1911–83

1 What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?—I wish I knew…Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) act 1

2 I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) sc. 11

[Williams]

Back  -   New Search

Williams, William Carlos 1883–1963

1
Minds like beds always made up,
(more stony than a shore)
unwilling or unable.

Paterson (1946) bk. 1, preface

Back  -   New Search

Williamson, Marianne 1953–

1 Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
A Return to Love (1992) ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Williamson, Roy 1936–90

1
O flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again,
that fought and died for your bit hill and glen
and stood against him, proud Edward's army,
and sent him homeward tae think again.

unofficial Scottish Nationalist anthem
"O Flower of Scotland" (1968)

Back  -   New Search

Willis, Love Maria 1824–1908

1
Father, hear the prayer we offer:
Not for ease that prayer shall be.

"Father, hear the prayer we offer" (1864 hymn)

Back  -   New Search

Willkie, Wendell 1892–1944

1 The constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.
An American Programme (1944) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Wilson, Angus 1913–91

1 Once a Catholic always a Catholic.
The Wrong Set (1949) p. 168

Back  -   New Search

Wilson, Charles E. 1890–1961

1 For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country.
testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on his proposed nomination for Secretary of Defence, 15 January 1953

Back  -   New Search

Wilson, Harold 1916–95

1 The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry.
often quoted as, "the white heat of technology"
speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1963

2 A week is a long time in politics.
probably first said at the time of the 1964 sterling crisis
Nigel Rees Sayings of the Century (1984)

[Wilson]

3 From now the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.
often quoted as "the pound in your pocket"
ministerial broadcast, 19 November 1967

[Wilson]

4 Get your tanks off my lawn, Hughie.
to the trade union leader Hugh Scanlon, at Chequers in June 1969
Peter Jenkins The Battle of Downing Street (1970)

[Wilson]

Back  -   New Search

Wilson, Harriette 1789–1846

1 I shall not say why and how I became, at the age of fifteen, the mistress of the Earl of Craven.
Memoirs (1825) opening words

Back  -   New Search

Wilson, Sandy 1924–

1
We've got to have
We plot to have
For it's so dreary not to have
That certain thing called the Boy Friend.

The Boyfriend (1954) title song

Back  -   New Search

Wilson, Woodrow 1856–1924

1 It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.
on seeing D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation
at the White House, 18 February 1915

2 No nation is fit to sit in judgement upon any other nation.
speech in New York, 20 April 1915

[Wilson]

3 There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight.
speech in Philadelphia, 10 May 1915

[Wilson]

4 We have stood apart, studiously neutral.
speech to Congress, 7 December 1915

[Wilson]

5 It must be a peace without victory…Only a peace between equals can last.
speech to US Senate, 22 January 1917

[Wilson]

6 The world must be made safe for democracy.
speech to Congress, 2 April 1917

[Wilson]

Back  -   New Search

Winchilsea, Anne Finch, Lady 1661–1720

1
Poetry's the feverish fit,
Th' o'erflowing of unbounded wit.

"Enquiry after Peace" (1713) l. 42

2
Now the jonquil o'ercomes the feeble brain;
We faint beneath the aromatic pain.

"The Spleen" (1701)

[Winchilsea]

3
My hand delights to trace unusual things,
And deviates from the known and common way;
Nor will in fading silks compose
Faintly the inimitable rose.

"The Spleen" (1701) l. 82

[Winchilsea]

Back  -   New Search

Windsor, Duchess of (Wallis Simpson) 1896–1986

1 You can never be too rich or too thin.
attributed

Back  -   New Search

Windsor, Duke of

seeEdward VIII

Back  -   New Search

Winkworth, Catherine 1827–78

1
Now thank we all our God,
With heart and hands and voices.

Lyra Germanica (1858) "Now thank we all our God" (translation of Martin Rinkart's "Nun danket alle Gott", c.1636)

2 Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!
title of hymn (1863); translated from the German of Joachim Neander (1650–80)

[Winkworth]

3 Peccavi—I have Sindh.
of Sir Charles Napier's conquest of Sindh, 1843, supposedly sent by Napier to Lord Ellenborough; "peccavi" = I have sinned
in Punch 18 May 1844; attributed

[Winkworth]

Back  -   New Search

Winthrop, John 1588–1649

1 We must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are on us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
Christian Charity, A Model Hereof (sermon, 1630)

Back  -   New Search

Winthrop, Robert Charles 1809–94

1 A Star for every State, and a State for every Star.
speech on Boston Common, 27 August 1862, in Addresses and Speeches vol. 2 (1867)

Back  -   New Search

Wister, Owen 1860–1938

1 When you call me that, smile!
"that" being "you son-of-a—"
The Virginian (1902) ch. 2

Back  -   New Search

Wither, George 1588–1667

1
I loved a lass, a fair one,
As fair as e'er was seen;
She was indeed a rare one,
Another Sheba queen.

A Description of Love (1620) "I loved a lass, a fair one"

Back  -   New Search

Wittgenstein, Ludwig 1889–1951

1 What is your aim in philosophy?—To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.
Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953) pt. 1, sect. 309

2 What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) preface

[Wittgenstein]

3 The world is everything that is the case.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

[Wittgenstein]

4 The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

[Wittgenstein]

5 Tell them I've had a wonderful life.
to his doctor's wife, before losing consciousness, 28 April 1951
Ray Monk Ludwig Wittgenstein (1990)

[Wittgenstein]

Back  -   New Search

Wodehouse, P. G. 1881–1975

1 Chumps always make the best husbands…All the unhappy marriages come from the husbands having brains.
The Adventures of Sally (1920) ch. 10

2 He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.
The Code of the Woosters (1938) ch. 1

[Wodehouse]

3 It is no use telling me that there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof.
The Code of the Woosters (1938) ch. 2

[Wodehouse]

4 I turned to Aunt Agatha, whose demeanour was now rather like that of one who, picking daisies on the railway, has just caught the down express in the small of the back.
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) ch. 4

[Wodehouse]

5 When Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps.
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) ch. 16

[Wodehouse]

6 It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of medical thought.
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) ch. 16

[Wodehouse]

7 What with excellent browsing and sluicing and cheery conversation and what-not, the afternoon passed quite happily.
My Man Jeeves (1919) "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"

[Wodehouse]

8 Ice formed on the butler's upper slopes.
Pigs Have Wings (1952) ch. 5

[Wodehouse]

Back  -   New Search

Wogan, Terry 1938–

1 Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it.
in Observer 30 December 1984 "Sayings of the Year"

Back  -   New Search

Wolf, Naomi 1962–

1 To ask women to become unnaturally thin is to ask them to relinquish their sexuality.
The Beauty Myth (1990)

Back  -   New Search

Wolfe, Charles 1791–1823

1
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried.

"The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna" (1817)

2
We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning.

"The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna" (1817)

[Wolfe]

3
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone—
But we left him alone with his glory.

"The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna" (1817)

[Wolfe]

Back  -   New Search

Wolfe, Humbert 1886–1940

1
You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.

But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.

"Over the Fire" (1930)

Back  -   New Search

Wolfe, James 1727–59

1 The General…repeated nearly the whole of Gray's Elegy…adding, as he concluded, that he would prefer being the author of that poem to the glory of beating the French to-morrow.
J. Playfair Biographical Account of J. Robinson in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh vol. 7 (1815)

2 Now God be praised, I will die in peace.
J. Knox Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America (ed. A. G. Doughty, 1914) vol. 2

[Wolfe]

Back  -   New Search

Wolfe, Thomas 1900–38

1 Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?
foreword to Look Homeward, Angel (1929)

2 You can't go home again.
title of book, 1940

[Wolfe]

Back  -   New Search

Wolfe, Tom 1931–

1 The bonfire of the vanities.
title of novel (1987); deriving from Savonarola's "burning of the vanities" in Florence, 1497

2 A liberal is a conservative who has been arrested.
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) ch. 24

[Wolfe]

3 Electric Kool-Aid Acid test.
title of novel on hippy culture (1968)

[Wolfe]

4 Radical Chic…is only radical in Style; in its heart it is part of Society and its tradition—Politics, like Rock, Pop, and Camp, has its uses.
in New York 8 June 1970

[Wolfe]

Back  -   New Search

Wollstonecraft, Mary 1759–97

1 To give a sex to mind was not very consistent with the principles of a man [Rousseau] who argued so warmly, and so well, for the immortality of the soul.
often quoted as, "Mind has no sex"
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) ch. 3

2 I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) ch. 4

[Wollstonecraft]

3 A slavish bondage to parents cramps every faculty of the mind.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) ch. 11

[Wollstonecraft]

Back  -   New Search

Wolsey, Thomas c.1475–1530

1 Father Abbot, I am come to lay my bones amongst you.
George Cavendish Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey (1641)

2 Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.
George Cavendish Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey (1641).

[Wolsey]

Back  -   New Search

Wolstenholme, Kenneth 1920–2002

1 They think it's all over—it is now.
television commentary in closing moments of the World Cup Final, 30 July 1966

Back  -   New Search

Wood, Mrs Henry 1814–87

1 Dead! and…never called me mother.
East Lynne (dramatized by T. A. Palmer, 1874, the words do not occur in the novel of 1861)

Back  -   New Search

Woodcock, George 1912–95

1 Canadians do not like heroes, and so they do not have them.
Canada and the Canadians (1970)

Back  -   New Search

Woodrooffe, Thomas 1899–1978

1 At the present moment, the whole Fleet's lit up. When I say "lit up", I mean lit up by fairy lamps.
live outside broadcast, Spithead Review, 20 May 1937
Asa Briggs History of Broadcasting in the UK (1965) vol. 2

Back  -   New Search

Woods, Harry

1
Oh we ain't got a barrel of money,
Maybe we're ragged and funny,
But we'll travel along
Singin' a song,
Side by side.

"Side by Side" (1927 song)

Back  -   New Search

Woolf, Virginia 1882–1941

1 Examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day.
The Common Reader (1925) "Modern Fiction"

2 A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.
A Room of One's Own (1929) ch. 1

[Woolf]

3 This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing-room.
A Room of One's Own (1929) ch. 4

[Woolf]

4 The scratching of pimples on the body of the bootboy at Claridges.
of James Joyce's Ulysses
letter to Lytton Strachey, 24 April 1922

[Woolf]

5 I read the book of Job last night. I don't think God comes well out of it.
letter to Lady Robert Cecil, 12 November 1922

[Woolf]

6 As an experience, madness is terrific…and in its lava I still find most of the things I write about.
letter to Ethel Smyth, 22 June 1930

[Woolf]

Back  -   New Search

Woollcott, Alexander 1887–1943

1 She was like a sinking ship firing on the rescuers.
of Mrs Patrick Campbell
While Rome Burns (1944) "The First Mrs Tanqueray"

2 All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.
R. E. Drennan Wit's End (1973)

[Woollcott]

Back  -   New Search

Wordsworth, Dorothy 1771–1855

1 A beautiful evening, very starry, the horned moon.
"Alfoxden Journal" 23 March 1798.

2 I never saw daffodils so beautiful. They grew among the mossy stones about and about them; some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness; and the rest tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake.
"Grasmere Journal" 15 April 1802.

[Wordsworth]

Back  -   New Search

Wordsworth, Elizabeth 1840–1932

1
If all the good people were clever,
And all clever people were good,
The world would be nicer than ever
We thought that it possibly could.
But somehow, 'tis seldom or never
The two hit it off as they should;
The good are so harsh to the clever,
The clever so rude to the good!

"Good and Clever"

Back  -   New Search

Wordsworth, William 1770–1850

1
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
Whom every man in arms should wish to be?

"Character of the Happy Warrior" (1807).

2
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning.

"Composed upon Westminster Bridge" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

3
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

"Composed upon Westminster Bridge" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

4
The light that never was, on sea or land,
The consecration, and the Poet's dream.

on a picture of Peele Castle in a storm
"Elegiac Stanzas" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

5
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!

"The French Revolution, as it Appeared to Enthusiasts" (1809); also The Prelude (1850) bk. 9, l. 108

[Wordsworth]

6
The moving accident is not my trade;
To freeze the blood I have no ready arts.

"Hart-Leap Well" (1800) pt. 2, l. 1

[Wordsworth]

7
All shod with steel
We hissed along the polished ice.

"Influence of Natural Objects" (1809); also The Prelude (1850) bk. 1, l. 414

[Wordsworth]

8
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free.

"It is a beauteous evening, calm and free" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

9
We must be free or die, who speak the tongue
That Shakespeare spake.

"It is not to be thought of that the Flood" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

10
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud" (1815 ed.).

[Wordsworth]

11
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud" (1815 ed.)

[Wordsworth]

12
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.

"Lines composed…above Tintern Abbey" (1798) l. 91

[Wordsworth]

13
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters.

"Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

14
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:

"My heart leaps up when I behold" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

15
The Child is father of the Man.

"My heart leaps up when I behold" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

16
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 1

[Wordsworth]

17
The rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the rose.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 2

[Wordsworth]

18
Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 4

[Wordsworth]

19
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing boy.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 5

[Wordsworth]

20
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 5

[Wordsworth]

21
But for those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things,
Fallings from us, vanishings;
Blank misgivings of a creature
Moving about in worlds not realised,
High instincts before which our mortal nature
Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 9

[Wordsworth]

22
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 10

[Wordsworth]

23
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

"Ode. Intimations of Immortality" (1807) st. 11

[Wordsworth]

24
Stern daughter of the voice of God!

"Ode to Duty" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

25
Plain living and high thinking are no more:
The homely beauty of the good old cause
Is gone.

"O friend! I know not which way I must look" (1807).

[Wordsworth]

26
Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee,
And was the safeguard of the West.

"On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

27
Some sipping punch, some sipping tea,
But as you by their faces see
All silent, and all damned?

Peter Bell pt. 1, l. 543 in 1819 MS (subsequently deleted so as "not to offend the pious")

[Wordsworth]

28
A reasoning, self-sufficing thing,
An intellectual All-in-all!

"A Poet's Epitaph" (1800)

[Wordsworth]

29
In common things that round us lie
Some random truths he can impart,—
The harvest of a quiet eye
That broods and sleeps on his own heart.

"A Poet's Epitaph" (1800)

[Wordsworth]

30
Unprofitably travelling toward the grave.

The Prelude (1850) bk. 1, l. 267

[Wordsworth]

31
Made one long bathing of a summer's day.

The Prelude (1850) bk. 1, l. 290

[Wordsworth]

32
All things have second birth;
The earthquake is not satisfied at once.

The Prelude (1850) bk. 10, l. 83

[Wordsworth]

33
There is
One great society alone on earth,
The noble Living, and the noble Dead.

The Prelude (1850) bk. 11, l. 393

[Wordsworth]

34
I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy,
The sleepless soul that perished in its pride.

"Resolution and Independence" (1807) st. 7

[Wordsworth]

35
We poets in our youth begin in gladness;
But thereof comes in the end despondency and madness.

"Resolution and Independence" (1807) st. 7

[Wordsworth]

36
Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
The Form remains, the Function never dies.

"The River Duddon" (1820) no. 34 "After-Thought"

[Wordsworth]

37
We feel that we are greater than we know.

"The River Duddon" (1820) no. 34 "After-Thought"

[Wordsworth]

38
Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned,
Mindless of its just honours; with this key
Shakespeare unlocked his heart.

"Scorn not the Sonnet" (1827).

[Wordsworth]

39
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways" (1800)

[Wordsworth]

40
A violet by a mossy stone.

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways" (1800)

[Wordsworth]

41
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways" (1800)

[Wordsworth]

42 She was a phantom of delight.
title of poem (1807)

[Wordsworth]

43
A perfect woman; nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command.

"She was a phantom of delight" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

44
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

"A slumber did my spirit seal" (1800)

[Wordsworth]

45
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland lass!

"The Solitary Reaper" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

46
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago.

"The Solitary Reaper" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

47
What, you are stepping westward?

"Stepping Westward" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

48
Surprised by joy—impatient as the wind.

"Surprised by joy—impatient as the wind" (1815)

[Wordsworth]

49
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.

"The Tables Turned" (1798)

[Wordsworth]

50
Two Voices are there; one is of the sea,
One of the mountains; each a mighty Voice:
In both from age to age thou didst rejoice,
They were thy chosen music, Liberty!

"Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

51
O Cuckoo! Shall I call thee bird,
Or but a wandering voice?

"To the Cuckoo" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

52
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind.

"To Toussaint L'Ouverture" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

53 We are seven.
title of poem (1798)

[Wordsworth]

54
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

"The world is too much with us" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

55
Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

"The world is too much with us" (1807)

[Wordsworth]

56 Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.
Lyrical Ballads (2nd ed., 1802) preface.

[Wordsworth]

57 Never forget what I believe was observed to you by Coleridge, that every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.
letter to Lady Beaumont, 21 May 1807

[Wordsworth]

Back  -   New Search

Wotton, Henry 1568–1639

1
You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly satisfy our eyes,
More by your number, than your light;
You common people of the skies,
What are you when the moon shall rise?

"On His Mistress, the Queen of Bohemia" (1624)

2
He first deceased; she for a little tried
To live without him: liked it not, and died.

"Upon the Death of Sir Albertus Moreton's Wife" (1651)

[Wotton]

3 Well building hath three conditions. Commodity, firmness, and delight.
Elements of Architecture (1624) pt. 1

[Wotton]

4 An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.
written in the album of Christopher Fleckmore in 1604

[Wotton]

Back  -   New Search

Wright, Frank Lloyd 1867–1959

1 The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines—so they should go as far as possible from home to build their first buildings.
in New York Times 4 October 1953, sect. 6

Back  -   New Search

Wroth, Lady Mary c.1586–1652

1
Love, a child, is ever crying:
Please him and he straight is flying,
Give him, he the more is craving,
Never satisfied with having.

"Love, a child, is ever crying" (1621)

Back  -   New Search

Wu, Harry 1937–

1 I want to see the word laogai in every dictionary in every language in the world. I want to see the laogai ended. Before 1974, the word "gulag" did not appear in any dictionary. Today, this single word conveys the meaning of Soviet political violence and its labour camp system. "Laogai" also deserves a place in our dictionaries.
the laogai are Chinese labour camps
in Washington Post 26 May 1996

Back  -   New Search

Wyatt, Thomas c.1503–42

1
They flee from me, that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.

"They flee from me" (1557)

2
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small;
Therewith all sweetly did me kiss,
And softly said, "Dear heart, how like you this?"

"They flee from me" (1557)

[Wyatt]

Back  -   New Search

Wycherley, William c.1640–1716

1 Go to your business, I say, pleasure, whilst I go to my pleasure, business.
The Country Wife (1675) act 2

2
And with faint praises one another damn.

of drama critics
The Plain Dealer (1677) prologue.

[Wycherley]

3 A man without money needs no more fear a crowd of lawyers than a crowd of pickpockets.
The Plain Dealer (1677) act 3, sc. 1

[Wycherley]

Back  -   New Search

Wynette, Tammy 1942–98 and Sherrill, Billy c.1938–

1 Stand by your man.
title of song (1968)

Back  -   New Search

X

Xenophon c.428 bc

1 The sea! the sea!
Anabasis bk. 4, ch. 7, sect. 24

Back  -   New Search

Ximénèz, Augustin, Marquis de 1726–1817

1
Attaquons dans ses eaux
La perfide Albion!
Let us attack in her own waters perfidious Albion!
"L'Ère des Français" (October 1793).

Back  -   New Search

Y

Yancey, William 1814–63

1 The man and the hour have met.
of Jefferson Davis, President-elect of the Confederacy, in 1861
Shelby Foote The Civil War: Fort Sumter to Perryville (1991)

Back  -   New Search

Yeames, W. F. 1835–1918

1 And when did you last see your father?
a Roundhead officer addressing the child of a Cavalier family
title of painting (1878), now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Back  -   New Search

Yeats, W. B. 1865–1939

1
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

"Among School Children" (1928)

2
Tell me of that lady
The poet stubborn with his passion sang us
When age might well have chilled his blood."

"Broken Dreams" (1914)

[Yeats]

3
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.

"Byzantium" (1933)

[Yeats]

4
I must lie down where all the ladders start,
In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.

"The Circus Animals' Desertion" (1939) pt. 3

[Yeats]

5
We were the last romantics.

"Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931" (1933)

[Yeats]

6
The years like great black oxen tread the world.

The Countess Cathleen (1895) act 4

[Yeats]

7
Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent.

"Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop" (1932)

[Yeats]

8
Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

"Down by the Salley Gardens" (1889)

[Yeats]

9
I have met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words.

"Easter, 1916" (1921)

[Yeats]

10
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

"Easter, 1916" (1921)

[Yeats]

11
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.

"Easter, 1916" (1921)

[Yeats]

12
I write it out in a verse—
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

"Easter, 1916" (1921)

[Yeats]

13
The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.

"The Fascination of What's Difficult" (1910)

[Yeats]

14
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say;
Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day.

"From Oedipus at Colonus" (1928).

[Yeats]

15
The ghost of Roger Casement
Is beating on the door.

"The Ghost of Roger Casement" (1939)

[Yeats]

16
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" (1899)

[Yeats]

17
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.

"In Memory of Eva Gore Booth and Con Markiewicz" (1933)

[Yeats]

18
My country is Kiltartan Cross;
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor.

"An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" (1919)

[Yeats]

19
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds.

"An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" (1919)

[Yeats]

20
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (1893)

[Yeats]

21
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore…
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (1893)

[Yeats]

22
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.

"Leda and the Swan" (1928)

[Yeats]

23
Did that play of mine send out
Certain men the English shot?

"The Man and the Echo" (1939)

[Yeats]

24
We had fed the heart on fantasies,
The heart's grown brutal from the fare.

"Meditations in Time of Civil War" no. 6 "The Stare's Nest by my Window" (1928)

[Yeats]

25
And say my glory was I had such friends.

"The Municipal Gallery Re-visited" (1939)

[Yeats]

26
Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
Was there another Troy for her to burn?

"No Second Troy" (1910)

[Yeats]

27
I think it better that at times like these
A poet's mouth be silent, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right.

"On being asked for a War Poem" (1919)

[Yeats]

28
A pity beyond all telling,
Is hid in the heart of love.

"The Pity of Love" (1893)

[Yeats]

29
Out of Ireland have we come.
Great hatred, little room,
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother's womb
A fanatic heart.

"Remorse for Intemperate Speech" (1933)

[Yeats]

30
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas.

"Sailing to Byzantium" (1928)

[Yeats]

31
An aged man is but a paltry thing.

"Sailing to Byzantium" (1928)

[Yeats]

32
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

"Sailing to Byzantium" (1928)

[Yeats]

33
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

"The Second Coming" (1921)

[Yeats]

34
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

"The Second Coming" (1921)

[Yeats]

35
Far-off, most secret and inviolate Rose.

"The Secret Rose" (1899)

[Yeats]

36
A woman of so shining loveliness
That men threshed corn at midnight by a tress,
A little stolen tress.

"The Secret Rose" (1899)

[Yeats]

37
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

"September, 1913" (1914)

[Yeats]

38
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

"Song of Wandering Aengus" (1899)

[Yeats]

39
Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast.

"Swift's Epitaph" (1933).

[Yeats]

40
But was there ever dog that praised his fleas?

"To a Poet, Who would have Me Praise certain bad Poets, Imitators of His and of Mine" (1910)

[Yeats]

41
Michael Angelo left a proof
On the Sistine Chapel roof,
Where but half-awakened Adam
Can disturb globe-trotting Madam.

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939) pt. 4

[Yeats]

42
Irish poets, learn your trade,
Sing whatever is well made.

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939) pt. 5

[Yeats]

43
Cast your mind on other days
That we in coming days may be
Still the indomitable Irishry.

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939) pt. 5

[Yeats]

44
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939) pt. 6

[Yeats]

45
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read.

"When You Are Old" (1893)

[Yeats]

46 We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.
Essays (1924) "Anima Hominis" sect. 5

[Yeats]

47 of the Anglo-Irish:We…are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. We have created most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence.
speech in the Irish Senate, 11 June 1925

[Yeats]

Back  -   New Search

Yeltsin, Boris 1931–

1 You can make a throne of bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.
from the top of a tank, during the attempted military coup against Gorbachev
in Independent 24 August 1991.

2 Today is the last day of an era past.
at a Berlin ceremony to end the Soviet military presence
in Guardian 1 September 1994

[Yeltsin]

Back  -   New Search

Yevtushenko, Yevgeny 1933–

1
Over Babiy Yar
There are no memorials.
The steep hillside like a rough inscription.

"Babiy Yar" (1961) (tr. Robin Milner-Gulland)

2 Life is a rainbow which also includes black.
in Guardian 11 August 1987

[Yevtushenko]

Back  -   New Search

Yokoi, Shoichi 1915–97

1 It is a terrible shame for me—I came back, still alive, without having won the war.
on returning to Japan after surviving for 28 years in the jungles of Guam before surrendering to the Americans in 1972
in Independent 26 September 1997

Back  -   New Search

Young, Andrew 1932–

1 Nothing is illegal if one hundred well-placed business men decide to do it.
Morris K. Udall Too Funny to be President (1988)

Back  -   New Search

Young, Edward 1683–1765

1
Be wise with speed;
A fool at forty is a fool indeed.

The Love of Fame (1725–8) Satire 2, l. 282

2
Hot, envious, noisy, proud, the scribbling fry
Burn, hiss, and bounce, waste paper, stink, and die.

The Love of Fame (1725–8) Satire 3, l. 65

[Young]

3
One to destroy, is murder by the law;
And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe;
To murder thousands, takes a specious name,
"War's glorious art", and gives immortal fame.

The Love of Fame (1725–8) Satire 7, l. 55

[Young]

4
How science dwindles, and how volumes swell,
How commentators each dark passage shun,
And hold their farthing candle to the sun.

The Love of Fame (1725–8) Satire 7, l. 96

[Young]

5
Procrastination is the thief of time.

Night Thoughts (1742–5) "Night 1" l. 393

[Young]

6
At thirty a man suspects himself a fool;
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan.

Night Thoughts (1742–5) "Night 1" l. 417

[Young]

7
By night an atheist half believes a God.

Night Thoughts (1742–5) "Night 5" l. 176

[Young]

8
[The senses] Take in at once the landscape of the world,
At a small inlet, which a grain might close,
And half create the wondrous world they see.

Night Thoughts (1742–5) "Night 6" l. 425

[Young]

9
To know the world, not love her, is thy point,
She gives but little, nor that little, long.

Night Thoughts (1742–5) "Night 8" l. 1276.

[Young]

10
Life is the desert, life the solitude;
Death joins us to the great majority.

The Revenge (1721) act 4.

[Young]

Back  -   New Search

Young, George W. 1846–1919

1
The lips that touch liquor must never touch mine.

title of poem (c..1870); also attributed, in a different form, to Harriet A. Glazebrook, 1874

Back  -   New Search

Young, Neil 1945– and Blackburn, Jeff

1
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away.

quoted by Kurt Cobain in his suicide note, 8 April 1994
"My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" (1978 song)

Back  -   New Search

Z

Zamyatin, Yevgeny 1884–1937

1 Heretics are the only bitter remedy against the entropy of human thought.
"Literature, Revolution and Entropy" quoted in The Dragon and other Stories (1967, tr. M. Ginsberg) introduction

Back  -   New Search

Zangwill, Israel 1864–1926

1 America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming!
The Melting Pot (1908) act 1

Back  -   New Search

Zapata, Emiliano 1879–1919

1 Many of them, so as to curry favour with tyrants, for a fistful of coins, or through bribery or corruption, are shedding the blood of their brothers.
on the maderistas who, in Zapata's view, had betrayed the revolutionary cause
Plan de Ayala 28 November 1911, para. 10

Back  -   New Search

Zappa, Frank 1940–93

1 Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read.
Linda Botts Loose Talk (1980).

Back  -   New Search

Zeno of Citium c.335 bc

1 The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.
to a youth who was talking nonsense
Diogenes Laertius Lives of the Philosophers "Zeno" ch. 7

Back  -   New Search

Zhuangzi

seeChuang Tzu

Back  -   New Search

Ziegler, Ronald L. 1939–

1 [Mr Nixon's latest statement] is the Operative White House Position…and all previous statements are inoperative.
in Boston Globe 18 April 1973

Back  -   New Search

Zinoviev, Grigori 1883–1936

1 Armed warfare must be preceded by a struggle against the inclinations to compromise which are embedded among the majority of British workmen, against the ideas of evolution and peaceful extermination of capitalism. Only then will it be possible to count upon complete success of an armed insurrection.
letter to the British Communist Party, 15 September 1924, in The Times 25 October 1924; the "Zinoviev Letter", later shown to be a forgery

Back  -   New Search

Zobel, Hiller B.

1 Asking the ignorant to use the incomprehensible to decide the unknowable.
"The Jury on Trial" in American Heritage July–August 1995

2 Judges must follow their oaths and do their duty, heedless of editorials, letters, telegrams, threats, petitions, panellists and talk shows.
judicial ruling reducing the conviction of Louise Woodward from murder to manslaughter, 10 November 1997

[Zobel]

Back  -   New Search

Zola, Émile 1840–1902

1 One forges one's style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines.
Le Figaro 1881

2 J'accuse.I accuse.
title of an open letter to the President of the French Republic, in connection with the Dreyfus affair
in L'Aurore 13 January 1898

[Zola]

Back  -   New Search

Zoroastrian Scriptures

translations by M. Boyce, 1984 1 We worship Mithra of wide pastures, possessing a thousand ears, possessing ten thousand eyes, the divinity worshipped with spoken name.
The Yashts yasht 10: Avestan Hymn to Mithra, v.1

2 Truly there are two primal Spirits, twins renowned to be in conflict. In thought and word, in act they are two: the better and the bad. And those who act well have chosen rightly between these two, not so the evildoers.
The Gathas yasna 30, v. 3

[Zoroastrian]

3 I am Zarathustra, Were I able, I should be a true foe to the Deceiver, but a strong support to the Just One.
The Gathas yasna 43, v. 8

[Zoroastrian]

Back  -   New Search

OXFORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

Acknowledgements The book of course builds on the efforts of editors of earlier editions of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and due tribute must be paid to them. Particular thanks are due to Susan Ratcliffe, Associate Editor for Oxford Quotations Dictionaries, and members of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Project Team. Proof-reading has been expertly carried out by Kim Allen, Fabia Claris, Carolyn Garwes, and Penny Trumble.
ELIZABETH KNOWLES
Oxford 2000

Edited by Elizabeth Knowles
Over 9,000 entries from nearly 2,000 authors
Offering all the authority and accuracy of the acclaimed Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, this indispensable source of reference has extensive coverage of literary and historical quotations and new material on slogans, catchphrases, sayings of the 1990s, and popular misquotations.
Elizabeth Knowles is the editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

ISBN 198605994

Fourth Edition, 2001

E-book copyright © 2003.

© Oxford University Press 1993, 1997, 2001, 2002