ENThe Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century QuotationsOxford University PressOxford University Press

The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations

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Quote of the day

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A

Abbott, Diane 1953– British Labour politician

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

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Abbott, George 1887–1995 American director, producer, and dramatist

1 If you want to be adored by your peers and have standing ovations wherever you go—live to be over ninety.
in The Times 2 February 1995; obituary

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Abse, Dannie 1923– Welsh-born doctor and poet

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)

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Abzug, Bella 1920– American politician

1 Richard Nixon impeached himself. He gave us Gerald Ford as his revenge.
in Rolling Stone; Linda Botts Loose Talk (1980)

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Ace, Goodman 1899–1982 American humorist

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)

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Achebe, Chinua 1930– Nigerian novelist

1 In such a regime, I say, you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murderer in the chest—without asking to be paid.
A Man of the People (1966)

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Acheson, Dean 1893–1971 American statesman, Secretary of State 1949–53

1 I will undoubtedly have to seek what is happily known as gainful employment, which I am glad to say does not describe holding public office.
in Time 22 December 1952

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

[Acheson]

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

[Acheson]

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Adami, Giuseppe 1878–1946 and Simoni, Renato 1875–1952

1
Nessun dorma.
None shall sleep.
Turandot (1926 opera, music by Puccini) closing lines (after Gozzi's drama, 1762)

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Adams, Douglas 1952–2001 English science fiction writer

1 Don't panic.
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) preface

2 The Answer to the Great Question Of…Life, the Universe and Everything… Forty-two.
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

[Adams]

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Adams, Franklin P. 1881–1960 American journalist and humorist

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]

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Adams, Gerry 1948– Northern Irish politician; President of Sinn Fein

1 It might or might not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary.
view of the protagonist in a short story; Before the Dawn (1996)

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Adamson, Harold 1906–1980 American songwriter

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

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Adler, Alfred 1870–1937 Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist

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)

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Adler, Polly 1900–1962 American writer

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

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Adorno, Theodor 1903–1969 German philosopher, sociologist, and musicologist

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

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Advertising slogans

1 Access—your flexible friend.
Access credit card, 1981 onwards

2 An ace caff with quite a nice museum attached.
the Victoria and Albert Museum, February 1989

[Advertising slogans]

3 All human life is there.
the News of the World; used by Maurice Smelt in the late 1950s; see below
Cats and monkeys—monkeys and cats—all human life is there!
Henry James The Madonna of the Future (1879)

[Advertising slogans]

4 American Express?…That'll do nicely, sir.
American Express credit card, 1970s

[Advertising slogans]

5 And all because the lady loves Milk Tray.
Cadbury's Milk Tray chocolates, 1968 onwards

[Advertising slogans]

6 Australians wouldn't give a XXXX for anything else.
Castlemaine lager, 1986 onwards

[Advertising slogans]

7 Beanz meanz Heinz.
Heinz baked beans, c.1967; coined by Maurice Drake

[Advertising slogans]

8 Bovril…Prevents that sinking feeling.
Bovril, 1920; coined by H. H. Harris (1920)

[Advertising slogans]

9 …But I know a man who can.
Automobile Association, 1980s

[Advertising slogans]

10 Can you tell Stork from butter?
Stork margarine, from c.1956

[Advertising slogans]

11 Cool as a mountain stream.
Consulate menthol cigarettes, early 1960s onwards

[Advertising slogans]

12 A diamond is forever.
De Beers Consolidated Mines, 1940s onwards; coined by Frances Gerety.

[Advertising slogans]

13 Does she…or doesn't she?
Clairol hair colouring, 1950s

[Advertising slogans]

14 Don't be vague, ask for Haig.
Haig whisky, c.1936

[Advertising slogans]

15 Don't forget the fruit gums, Mum.
Rowntree's Fruit gums, 1958–61

[Advertising slogans]

16 Drinka Pinta Milka Day.
National Diary Council, 1958; coined by Bertrand Whitehead

[Advertising slogans]

17 Even your closest friends won't tell you.
Listerine mouthwash, US, in Woman's Home Companion November 1923

[Advertising slogans]

18 Full of Eastern promise.
Fry's Turkish Delight, 1950s onwards

[Advertising slogans]

19 Go to work on an egg.
British Egg Marketing Board, from 1957; perhaps written by Fay Weldon or Mary Gowing

[Advertising slogans]

20 Guinness is good for you.reply universally given to researchers asking people why they drank Guinness
adopted by Oswald Greene, c.1929.

[Advertising slogans]

21 Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.
Hamlet cigars.

[Advertising slogans]

22 Have a break, have a Kit-Kat.
Rowntree's Kit-Kat, from c.1955

[Advertising slogans]

23 Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach.
Heineken lager, 1975 onwards; coined by Terry Lovelock

[Advertising slogans]

24 Horlicks guards against night starvation.
Horlicks malted milk drink, 1930s

[Advertising slogans]

25 If you want to get ahead, get a hat.
the Hat Council, 1965

[Advertising slogans]

26 I'm only here for the beer.
Double Diamond beer, 1971 onwards; coined by Ros Levenstein

[Advertising slogans]

27 It beats as it sweeps as it cleans.
Hoover vacuum cleaners, devised in 1919 by Gerald Page-Wood

[Advertising slogans]

28 It's finger lickin' good.
Kentucky fried chicken, from 1958

[Advertising slogans]

29 It's good to listen.
British Telecom, from 1997.

[Advertising slogans]

30 It's good to talk.
British Telecom, from 1994.

[Advertising slogans]

31 It's tingling fresh. It's fresh as ice.
Gibbs toothpaste; the first advertising slogan heard on British television, 22 September 1955

[Advertising slogans]

32 I was a seven-stone weakling.
Charles Atlas body-building, originally in US

[Advertising slogans]

33 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
publicity for Jaws 2 (1978 film)

[Advertising slogans]

34 Keep that schoolgirl complexion.
Palmolive soap,from 1917; coined by Charles S. Pearce

[Advertising slogans]

35 Kills all known germs.
Domestos bleach, 1959

[Advertising slogans]

36 Let the train take the strain.
British Rail, 1970 onwards

[Advertising slogans]

37 Let your fingers do the walking.
Bell system Telephone Directory Yellow Pages, 1960s

[Advertising slogans]

38 A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play.
Mars bar, c.1960 onwards; coined by Norman Gaff (d. 1988)

[Advertising slogans]

39 The mint with the hole.
Life-Savers, US, 1920; and Rowntree's Polo mints, UK, from 1947

[Advertising slogans]

40 My Goodness, My Guinness.
Guinness stout, 1935; coined by Dicky Richards.

[Advertising slogans]

41 Never knowingly undersold.
motto of the John Lewis Partnership, from c.1920; coined by John Lewis (1885–1963)

[Advertising slogans]

42 Nice one, Cyril.taken up by supporters of Cyril Knowles, Tottenham Hotspur footballer; the Spurs team later made a record featuring the line
Wonderloaf, 1972

[Advertising slogans]

43 No manager ever got fired for buying IBM.
IBM

[Advertising slogans]

44 Oxo gives a meal man-appeal.
Oxo beef extract, c. 1960

[Advertising slogans]

45 Persil washes whiter—and it shows.
Persil washing powder, 1970s

[Advertising slogans]

46 Put a tiger in your tank.
Esso petrol, 1964

[Advertising slogans]

47 Say it with flowers.
Society of American Florists, 1917; coined by Patrick O'Keefe (1872–1934)

[Advertising slogans]

48 Sch…you know who.
Schweppes mineral drinks, 1960s

[Advertising slogans]

49 Someone, somewhere, wants a letter from you.
British Post Office, 1960s

[Advertising slogans]

50 Stop me and buy one.
Wall's ice cream, from spring 1922; coined by Cecil Rodd

[Advertising slogans]

51 Tell Sid.
privatization of British Gas, 1986

[Advertising slogans]

52 Things go better with Coke.
Coca-Cola, 1963

[Advertising slogans]

53 Top people take The Times.
The Times newspaper, from January 1959

[Advertising slogans]

54 Vorsprung durch Technik.Progress through technology.
Audi cars, from 1986

[Advertising slogans]

55
We are the Ovaltineys,
Little girls and boys.

"We are the Ovaltineys" (song from c.1935); Ovaltine drink

[Advertising slogans]

56 We're number two. We try harder.
Avis car rentals

[Advertising slogans]

57 We won't make a drama out of a crisis.
Commercial Union insurance

[Advertising slogans]

58 Where's the beef?
Wendy's Hamburgers, from January 1984; coined by Cliff Freeman.

[Advertising slogans]

59 You're never alone with a Strand.
Strand cigarettes, 1960; coined by John May

[Advertising slogans]

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Æ (George William Russell) 1867–1935 Irish poet and essayist

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)

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Agar, Herbert 1897–1980 American poet and writer

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); see below

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Bible St John

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Agate, James 1877–1947 British drama critic and novelist

1 Shaw's plays are the price we pay for Shaw's prefaces.
diary, 10 March 1933

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

[Agate]

3 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]

4 Diary-writing isn't wholly good for one…It leads to living for one's diary instead of living for the fun of living as ordinary people do.
letter, 7 December 1946

[Agate]

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Agnew, Spiro T. 1918–1996 American Republican politician

1 I didn't say I wouldn't go into ghetto areas. I've been in many of them and to some extent I would have to say this: If you've seen one city slum you've seen them all.
in Detroit Free Press 19 October 1968; see below
See one promontory (said Socrates of old), one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all.
Robert Burton (1577–1640) The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621–51)

2 In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism.
speech in San Diego, 11 September 1970

[Agnew]

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Akhmatova, Anna 1889–1966 Russian poet

1
It was a time when only the dead smiled, happy in their peace.

Requiem (1935–40)

2
Stars of death stood over us,
and innocent Russia squirmed
under the bloody boots,
under the wheels of black Marias.

Requiem (1935–40)

[Akhmatova]

3
They took you away at dawn,
I walked after you as though you were being borne out,
the children were crying in the dark room,
the candle swam by the ikon-stand.
The cold of the ikon on your lips.
Death sweat on your brow…Do not forget!
I will howl by the Kremlin towers
like the wives of the Streltsy.
on the arrest of her friend N. N. Punin during the Stalinist purges
Requiem (1935–40)

[Akhmatova]

4
In the young century's cool nursery,
In its chequered silence, I was born.

"Willow" (1940)

[Akhmatova]

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Akins, Zoë 1886–1958

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

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Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier) 1868–1951 French poet and philosopher

1 Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
Propos sur la religion (1938)

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Albee, Edward 1928– American dramatist

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

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Aldington, Richard 1892–1962 English poet, novelist, and biographer

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

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Aldiss, Brian 1925– English science fiction writer

1 Science Fiction is no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts.
introduction to Penguin Science Fiction (1962)

2
Keep violence in the mind
Where it belongs.

Barefoot in the Head (1969) "Charteris"

[Aldiss]

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Algren, Nelson 1909– American novelist

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]

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Ali, Muhammad (Cassius Clay) 1942– American boxer

1 I'm the greatest.
catch-phrase used from 1962, in Louisville Times 16 November 1962

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

[Ali]

3
I ain't got no quarrel with the Viet Cong.
refusing to be drafted to fight in Vietnam
at a press conference in Miami, Florida, February 1966

[Ali]

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Allen, Fred 1894–1956 American humorist

1 California is a fine place to live—if you happen to be an orange.
in American Magazine December 1945

2 A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.
Laurence J. Peter (ed.) Quotations for our Time (1977)

[Allen]

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

[Allen]

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Allen, Woody 1935– American film director, writer, and actor

1 That was the most fun I ever had without laughing.
Annie Hall (1977 film, with Marshall Brickman)

2 Don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.
Annie Hall (1977 film, with Marshall Brickman)

[Allen]

3 Is sex dirty? Only if it's done right.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (1972 film)

[Allen]

4 My brain? It's my second favourite organ.
Sleeper (1973 film, with Marshall Brickman)

[Allen]

5 Take the money and run.
title of film (1968)

[Allen]

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

[Allen]

7 More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
Side Effects (1980) "My Speech to the Graduates"

[Allen]

8 A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said "no".
at a nightclub in Chicago, March 1964, recorded on Woody Allen Volume Two

[Allen]

9 Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
in New Yorker 27 December 1969 "My Philosophy"

[Allen]

10 If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.
"Selections from the Allen Notebooks" in New Yorker 5 November 1973

[Allen]

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

[Allen]

12 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)

[Allen]

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

[Allen]

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Alliluyeva, Svetlana 1925– daughter of Joseph Stalin

1 He is gone, but his shadow still stands over all of us. It still dictates to us and we, very often, obey.of her father, Joseph Stalin
Twenty Letters to a Friend (1967)

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Altman, Robert 1922– American film director

1 What's a cult? It just means not enough people to make a minority.
in Guardian 11 April 1981

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Altrincham, Lord

seeJohn Grigg

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Alvarez, Luis Walter 1911–1988 American physicist

1 There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi.
D. S. Greenberg The Politics of Pure Science (1969)

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Amery, Leo 1873–1955 British Conservative politician

1 For twenty years he has held a season-ticket on the line of least resistance and has gone wherever the train of events has carried him, lucidly justifying his position at whatever point he has happened to find himself.on Herbert Asquith
in Quarterly Review July 1914

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

[Amery]

3 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; see below
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!
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) addressing the Rump Parliament, 20 April 1653, oral tradition

[Amery]

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Amies, Hardy 1909– English couturier

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

2 She is only 5ft 4in, and to make someone that height look regal is difficult. Fortunately she holds herself very well.of the Queen
interview in Sunday Telegraph 9 February 1997

[Amies]

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Amis, Kingsley 1922–1995 English novelist and poet

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

2 Alun's life was coming to consist more and more exclusively of being told at dictation speed what he knew.
The Old Devils (1986)

[Amis]

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

[Amis]

4
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); see below

Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,
'Tis woman's whole existence.

Lord Byron (1788–1824) Don Juan (1819–24)

[Amis]

5
Women are really much nicer than men:
No wonder we like them.

"A Bookshop Idyll" (1956)

[Amis]

6
Death has got something to be said for it:
There's no need to get out of bed for it.

"Delivery Guaranteed" (1979)

[Amis]

7
The women of that ever-fresh terrain,
The night after tonight.

"A Dream of Fair Women" (1956)

[Amis]

8 The delusion that there are thousands of young people about who are capable of benefiting from university training, but have somehow failed to find their way there, is…a necessary component of the expansionist case…More will mean worse.
in Encounter July 1960

[Amis]

9 If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing.
in Radio Times 1 May 1971

[Amis]

10 A bad review may spoil your breakfast but you shouldn't allow it to spoil your lunch.
Giles Gordon Aren't We Due a Royalty Statement? (1993); attributed

[Amis]

11 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]

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Amis, Martin 1949– English novelist

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

2 You are living in a land you no longer recognize. You don't know the language.on his "cataclysmic mid-life crisis"
in Times 21 August 1997

[Amis]

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Anderson, Maxwell 1888–1959 American dramatist

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)

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

1 What price glory?
title of play (1924)

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Anderson, Robert 1917– American dramatist

1 Tea and sympathy.
title of play (1957)

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Angelou, Maya 1928– American novelist and poet

1 In all my work what I try to say is that as human beings we are more alike than we are unalike.
interview in New York Times 20 January 1993

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Annan, Noel 1916–2000 English historian and writer

1 The day of the jewelled epigram is passed and, whether one likes it or not, one is moving into the stern puritanical era of the four-letter word.
in the House of Lords, 1966; George Greenfield Scribblers for Bread (1989)

2 The cardinal virtue was no longer to love one's country. It was to feel compassion for one's fellow men and women.of his own generation
Our Age (1990)

[Annan]

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Anonymous

1 An abomination unto the Lord, but a very present help in time of trouble.definition of a lie
an amalgamation of the Bible Proverbs 12.22 and Psalms 46.1, often attributed to Adlai Stevenson

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

[Anonymous]

3 Anyone here been raped and speaks English?shouted by a British TV reporter in a crowd of Belgian civilians waiting to be airlifted out of the Belgian Congo, c.1960
Edward Behr Anyone Here been Raped and Speaks English? (1981)

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

5 The best defence against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off.
contributor to British Army Journal, in Observer 20 February 1949

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

7 A bigger bang for a buck.
description of Charles E. Wilson's defence policy, in Newsweek 22 March 1954

[Anonymous]

8 Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances.studio official's comment on Fred Astaire
Bob Thomas Astaire (1985)

[Anonymous]

9 Cathedral time is five minutes later than standard time.
order of service leaflet, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, 1990s

[Anonymous]

10 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]

11
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 gentle autumn's rain.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
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]

12 Expletive deleted.frequent editorial amendment of transcripts of Richard Nixon during the Watergate inquiry
Submission of Recorded Presidential Conversations…by President Richard M. Nixon 30 April 1974

[Anonymous]

13 Exterminate…the treacherous English, walk over General French's contemptible little army.annexe to British Expeditionary Force Routine Orders, 24 September 1914 (allegedly quoting Kaiser Wilhelm II but probably fabricated by the British)
A. Ponsonby Falsehood in Wartime (1928)

[Anonymous]

14 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!…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]

15 God is not dead but alive and working on a much less ambitious project.
graffito quoted in Guardian 26 November 1975.

[Anonymous]

16
Hark the herald angels sing
Mrs Simpson's pinched our king.

children's rhyme at the time of the Abdication in 1936, quoted in letter from Clement Attlee, 26 December 1938; see below

Hark! the herald-angels sing
Glory to the new born king.

alteration, in George Whitefield's Hymns for Social Worship (1753), of Charles Wesley's "Hymn for Christmas" (1739)

[Anonymous]

17 Here we go, here we go, here we go.
song sung especially by football supporters, 1980s

[Anonymous]

18
I don't like the family Stein!
There is Gert, there is Ep, there is Ein.
Gert's writings are punk,
Ep's statues are junk,
Nor can anyone understand Ein.

1920s rhyme; R. Graves and A. Hodge The Long Weekend (1940)

[Anonymous]

19
If I should die and leave you here awhile,
Be not like others, sore undone, who keep
Long vigils by the silent dust, and weep.
For my sake—turn again to life and smile,
Nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do
Something to comfort other hearts than thine.
Complete those dear unfinished tasks of mine
And I, perchance, may therein comfort you.

read at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; variously attributed (origins discussed in Nigel Rees "Quote…Unquote" Newsletter October 1997)

[Anonymous]

20 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]

21 The iron lady.name given to Margaret Thatcher, then Leader of the Opposition, by the Soviet defence ministry newspaper Red Star, which accused her of trying to revive the cold war
in Sunday Times 25 January 1976

[Anonymous]

22 It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.
statement issued by US Army, referring to Ben Tre in Vietnam; in New York Times 8 February 1968

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

24 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]

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

[Anonymous]

26 Kilroy was here.
graffito popularized by American servicemen in the Second World War

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

28 Life is a sexually transmitted disease.
graffito found on the London Underground; D. J. Enright (ed.) Faber Book of Fevers and Frets (1989)

[Anonymous]

29
Lloyd George knew my father,
My father knew Lloyd George.

sung to the tune of "Onward, Christian Soldiers"; possibly by Tommy Rhys Roberts (1910–75)

[Anonymous]

30
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]

31 The noise, my dear! And the people!of the retreat from Dunkirk, May 1940
A. Rhodes Sword of Bone (1942)

[Anonymous]

32
No more Latin, no more French,
No more sitting on a hard board bench.
No more beetles in my tea
Making googly eyes at me;
No more spiders in my bath
Trying hard to make me laugh.

children's rhyme for the end of school term, in Iona and Peter Opie Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959); variants include "No more Latin, no more Greek, / No more cares to make me squeak"

[Anonymous]

33 Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
graffito, taken as title of book by Simone Signoret, 1978

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

35
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" sung by British soldiers during the First World War; see below

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Bible I Corinthians

[Anonymous]

36 Once again we stop the mighty roar of London's traffic.
In Town Tonight (BBC radio series, 1933–60) preamble

[Anonymous]

37 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
used by keyboarders to ensure that all letters of the alphabet are functioning; R. H. Templeton Jr. The Quick Brown Fox (1945)

[Anonymous]

38
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]

39 Science finds, industry applies, man conforms.
subtitle of guidebook to 1933 Chicago World's Fair

[Anonymous]

40
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]

41
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]

42 The singer not the song.
from a West Indian calypso; title of a novel (1959) by Audrey Erskine Lindop

[Anonymous]

43 Some television programmes are so much chewing gum for the eyes.John Mason Brown quoting a friend of his young son, interview, 28 July 1955
J. B. Simpson Best Quotes (1957)

[Anonymous]

44
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 E. W. Hoch (1849–1945) on the grounds of it having appeared in his Kansas publication, the Marion Record, though in fact disclaimed by him ("behoves" sometimes substituted for "becomes")

[Anonymous]

45
There was a young lady of Riga
Who went for a ride on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And a smile on the face of the tiger.

R. L. Green (ed.) A Century of Humorous Verse (1959)

[Anonymous]

46 is so cryptic as to be almost meaningless. If there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable.banning Jean Cocteau's film The Seashell and the Clergyman (1929)
The British Board of Film Censors, in J. C. Robertson Hidden Cinema (1989)

[Anonymous]

47 This is a rotten argument, but it should be good enough for their lordships on a hot summer afternoon.annotation to a ministerial brief, said to have been read out inadvertently in the House of Lords
Lord Home The Way the Wind Blows (1976)

[Anonymous]

48 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)

[Anonymous]

49 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]

50 We do not need a loose cannon like her.an unidentified junior minister commenting on the intervention into the campaign against landmines by Diana, Princess of Wales
in Times 15 January 1997

[Anonymous]

51
We're here
Because
We're here.

sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" by British soldiers in the First World War

[Anonymous]

52
When cult is added to power
even the chairman makes mistakes
Xiaoping suffered criticism (in the Cultural Revolution)
and the people raised him up.
Now he represents bureaucracy
and official corruption.
The country does not want him,
the people do not want him.
poem put up in the Forbidden City in 1989, shortly before the tanks moved into Tiananmen Square
quoted in obituary of Deng Xiaoping, in Guardian 20 February 1997

[Anonymous]

53 Winston is back.Board of Admiralty signal to the Fleet on Winston Churchill's reappointment as First Sea Lord, 3 September 1939
Martin Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1976)

[Anonymous]

54 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]

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Anouilh, Jean 1910–1987 French dramatist

1 The spring is wound up tight. It will uncoil of itself. That is what is so convenient in tragedy. The least little turn of the wrist will do the job. Anything will set it going.
Antigone (1944, tr. L. Galantiere, 1957)

2 Tragedy is clean, it is restful, it is flawless.
Antigone (1944, tr. L. Galantiere, 1957)

[Anouilh]

3 Dying is nothing. So start by living. It's less fun and it lasts longer.
Roméo et Jeannette (1946)

[Anouilh]

4 There will always be a lost dog somewhere that will prevent me from being happy.
La Sauvage (1938)

[Anouilh]

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Apollinaire, Guillaume 1880–1918 French poet

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 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]

3 One can't carry one's father's corpse about everywhere.
Les peintres cubistes (1965)

[Apollinaire]

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Aragon, Louis 1897–1982 French poet, essayist, and novelist

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)

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Arbus, Diane 1923–1971 American photographer

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)

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Ardrey, Robert 1908–1980 American dramatist and evolutionist

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

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Arendt, Hannah 1906–1975 American political philosopher

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.
Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963)

2 The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.
in New Yorker 12 September 1970

[Arendt]

3 Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.
W. H. Auden A Certain World (1970)

[Arendt]

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Armstrong, Louis 1901–1971 American singer and jazz musician

1 All music is folk music, I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.
in New York Times 7 July 1971

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Armstrong, Neil 1930– American astronaut; first man on the moon

1 That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.landing on the moon
in New York Times 21 July 1969; interference in transmission obliterated "a"

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Armstrong, Robert 1927– British civil servant, Head of the Civil Service, 1981–7

1 It contains a misleading impression, not a lie. It was being economical with the truth.referring to a letter during the "Spycatcher" trial, Supreme Court, New South Wales; the expression "over-economical with the truth" had been applied to Harold Wilson by the Earl of Dalkeith in the House of Commons, 4 July 1968
in Daily Telegraph 19 November 1986; see below.
Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth.
Edmund Burke (1729–97) Two letters on Proposals for Peace (1796)

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Armstrong, William 1915–1980 British civil servant, Head of the Civil Service 1968–74

1 The business of the Civil Service is the orderly management of decline.
in 1973: Peter Hennessy Whitehall (1990)

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Arnold, Roseanne 1953– American comedian

1 I used to think I was an interesting person, but I must tell you how sobering a thought it is to realize your life's story fills about thirty-five pages and you have, actually, not much to say.
Roseanne (1990)

2 If I were Her what would really piss me off the worst is that they cannot even get My gender right for Christsakes.
Roseanne (1990)

[Arnold]

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Artsimovich, L. A. 1909–1973

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

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Asaf, George 1880–1951 British songwriter

1
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)

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Asimov, Isaac 1920–1992 Russian-born biochemist and science fiction writer

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"

2 A public that does not understand how science works can all too easily fall prey to those ignoramuses like Senator Proxmire who make fun of what they do not understand, or to the sloganeers who proclaim scientists to be the mercenary warriors of today, and the tools of the military.
in Nature 10 November 1963

[Asimov]

3 Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.
"How Easy to See the Future" in Natural History April 1975

[Asimov]

4 When, however, the lay public rallies around an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervour and emotion—the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.corollary to Arthur C. Clarke's law
Arthur C. Clarke "Asimov's Corollary" in K. Frazier (ed.) Paranormal Borderlands of Science (1981)

[Asimov]

5 The first law of dietetics seems to be: if it tastes good, it's bad for you.
attributed

[Asimov]

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Asquith, Cynthia 1887–1960 English writer

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

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Asquith, Herbert Henry 1852–1928 British Liberal statesman; Prime Minister, 1908–16; husband of Margot Asquith

1 We had better wait and see.referring, in 1910, 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 Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
in Observer 15 April 1923

[Asquith]

3 It is fitting that we should have buried the Unknown Prime Minister by the side of the Unknown Soldier.
R. Blake The Unknown Prime Minister (1955)

[Asquith]

4 one to mislead the public, another to mislead the Cabinet, and the third to mislead itself.
A. Horne Price of Glory (1962)

[Asquith]

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Asquith, Margot 1864–1945 British political hostess; wife of Herbert Asquith

1 I may be wrong, but I have never found deserting friends conciliates enemies.
Lay Sermons (1927)

2 Kitchener is a great poster.
More Memories (1933)

[Asquith]

3 I always knew the living talked rot, but it's nothing to the rot the dead talk.on spiritualism
Henry "Chips" Channon, diary, 20 December 1937

[Asquith]

4 He can't see a belt without hitting below it.of Lloyd George
in Listener 11 June 1953

[Asquith]

5 She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake.of Lady Desborough
in Listener 11 June 1953

[Asquith]

6 The t is silent, as in Harlow.to Jean Harlow, who had mispronounced her name
T. S. Matthews Great Tom (1973)

[Asquith]

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Astor, Nancy 1879–1964 American-born British Conservative politician

1 One reason why I don't drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.
in Christian Herald June 1960

2 I married beneath me, all women do.
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Astor]

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Atkinson, Brooks 1894–1984 American journalist and critic

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

2 In every age "the good old days" were a myth. No one ever thought they were good at the time. For every age has consisted of crises that seemed intolerable to the people who lived through them.
Once Around the Sun (1951) 8 February

[Atkinson]

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Attenborough, David 1926– English naturalist and broadcaster

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

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Attlee, Clement 1883–1967 British Labour statesman; Prime Minister, 1945–51

1 I must remind the Right Honourable Gentleman that a monologue is not a decision.to Winston Churchill, who had complained that a matter had been raised several times in Cabinet, c.1945
Francis Williams A Prime Minister Remembers (1961)

2 The voice we heard was that of Mr Churchill but the mind was that of Lord Beaverbrook.on Churchill's accusing the Labour Party of planning to set up a Gestapo
speech on radio, 5 June 1945

[Attlee]

3 You have no right whatever to speak on behalf of the Government. Foreign Affairs are in the capable hands of Ernest Bevin…I can assure you there is widespread resentment in the Party at your activities and a period of silence on your part would be welcome.
letter to Harold Laski, 20 August 1945

[Attlee]

4 I should be a sad subject for any publicity expert. I have none of the qualities which create publicity.
Harold Nicolson diary, 14 January 1949

[Attlee]

5
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
letter to Tom Attlee, 8 April 1956

[Attlee]

6 the illegitimate child of Karl Marx and Catherine the Great.
speech at Aarhus University, 11 April 1956

[Attlee]

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

[Attlee]

8 Often the "experts" make the worst possible Ministers in their own fields. In this country we prefer rule by amateurs.
speech at Oxford, 14 June 1957

[Attlee]

9 If the King asks you to form a Government you say "Yes" or "No", not "I'll let you know later!"
Kenneth Harris Attlee (1982)

[Attlee]

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Auden, W. H. 1907–1973 English poet

1
Sob, heavy world,
Sob as you spin
Mantled in mist, remote from the happy.

The Age of Anxiety (1947) pt. 4 "The Dirge"

2
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.

Anthem for St Cecilia's Day (1941) pt. 1; set to music by Benjamin Britten, to whom it was dedicated, as Hymn to St Cecilia op. 27 (1942)

[Auden]

3
I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

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)

[Auden]

4
The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

"As I Walked Out One Evening" (1940)

[Auden]

5
At the far end of the enormous room
An orchestra is playing to the rich.

"At the far end of the enormous room" (1933)

[Auden]

6
The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews
Not to be born is the best for man.

"Death's Echo" (1937); see below
Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.
Sophocles (c.496–406 bc) Oedipus Coloneus (translation by R. C. Jebb).

[Auden]

7
Happy the hare at morning, for she cannot read
The Hunter's waking thoughts.

Dog beneath the Skin (with Christopher Isherwood, 1935)

[Auden]

8
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]

9
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

"Epitaph on a Tyrant" (1940); see below
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; John Lothrop Motley (1814–77) The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856)

[Auden]

10
Altogether elsewhere, vast
Herds of reindeer move across
Miles and miles of golden moss,
Silently and very fast.

"The Fall of Rome" (1951)

[Auden]

11
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]

12
To us he is no more a person
now but a whole climate of opinion.

"In Memory of Sigmund Freud" (1940)

[Auden]

13
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)

[Auden]

14
For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives
In the valley of its saying where executives
Would never want to tamper.

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

[Auden]

15
Earth, receive an honoured guest:
William Yeats is laid to rest.
Let the Irish vessel lie
Emptied of its poetry.

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

[Auden]

16
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;

Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye.

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

[Auden]

17
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)

[Auden]

18
Look, stranger, at this island now.

title of poem (1936)

[Auden]

19
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm.

"Lullaby" (1940)

[Auden]

20
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.

"Lullaby" (1940)

[Auden]

21
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along.

"Musée des Beaux Arts" (1940)

[Auden]

22
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]

23
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)

[Auden]

24
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)

[Auden]

25
And make us as Newton was, who in his garden watching
The apple falling towards England, became aware
Between himself and her of an eternal tie.

"O Love, the interest itself" (1936)

[Auden]

26
Private faces in public places
Are wiser and nicer
Than public faces in private places.

Orators (1932) dedication

[Auden]

27
Out on the lawn I lie in bed,
Vega conspicuous overhead.

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

[Auden]

28
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)

[Auden]

29
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

"September 1, 1939" (1940)

[Auden]

30
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
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]

31 A shilling life will give you all the facts.
title of poem (1936)

[Auden]

32
Each year brings new problems of Form and Content,
new foes to tug with: at Twenty I tried to
vex my elders, past Sixty it's the young whom
I hope to bother.

"Shorts I" (1969)

[Auden]

33
A poet's hope: to be,
like some valley cheese,
local, but prized elsewhere.

"Shorts II" (1976)

[Auden]

34 Sir, no man's enemy.
title of poem (1930)

[Auden]

35
Harrow the house of the dead; look shining at
New styles of architecture, a change of heart.

"Sir, No Man's Enemy" (1930)

[Auden]

36
To-morrow for the young the poets exploding like bombs,
The walks by the lake, the weeks of perfect communion;
To-morrow the bicycle races
Through the suburbs on summer evenings: but to-day the struggle.

"Spain 1937" (1937)

[Auden]

37
History to the defeated
May say Alas but cannot help or pardon.

"Spain 1937" (1937)

[Auden]

38
To ask the hard question is simple.

title of poem (1933)

[Auden]

39
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

"The Unknown Citizen" (1940)

[Auden]

40 Of course, Behaviourism "works". So does torture. Give me a no-nonsense, down-to-earth behaviourist, a few drugs, and simple electrical appliances, and in six months I will have him reciting the Athanasian Creed in public.
A Certain World (1970) "Behaviourism"

[Auden]

41 It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practising it.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) foreword

[Auden]

42 Man is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) "D. H. Lawrence"

[Auden]

43 Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) "Hic et Ille"

[Auden]

44 When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) "The Poet and the City"

[Auden]

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

[Auden]

46 One cannot review a bad book without showing off.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) "Reading"

[Auden]

47 It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose, a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
The Dyer's Hand (1963) "Writing"

[Auden]

48 Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.
"The Life of That-There Poet" (1958)

[Auden]

49 What do you think about England, this country of ours where nobody is well?
The Orators (1932) "Address for a Prize-Day"

[Auden]

50 Art is born of humiliation.
Stephen Spender World Within World (1951)

[Auden]

51 Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do.
Dag Hammarskjöld Markings (1964) foreword

[Auden]

52 LSD? Nothing much happened, but I did get the distinct impression that some birds were trying to communicate with me.
George Plimpton (ed.) The Writer's Chapbook (1989)

[Auden]

53 My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.
Humphrey Carpenter W. H. Auden (1981)

[Auden]

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

[Auden]

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Augarten, Stan

1 Computers are composed of nothing more than logic gates stretched out to the horizon in a vast numerical irrigation system.
State of the Art: A Photographic History of the Integrated Circuit (1983)

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Aung San Suu Kyi 1945– Burmese political leader

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]

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Austin, George 1931– British Anglican clergyman, Archdeacon of York

1 We're now paying the price for the Eighties and Lord Runcie's kind of effete, liberal elitism amongst bishops which also spread into the theological colleges. There is now a big gap between the faith of those in the pulpit and those in the pews.
in Guardian 7 February 1997

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Awdry, Revd W. 1911–1997 English writer of children's books

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 "Obituaries" 22 March 1997

[Awdry]

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Ayckbourn, Alan 1939– English dramatist

1 My mother used to say, Delia, if s-e-x ever rears its ugly head, close your eyes before you see the rest of it.
Bedroom Farce (1978)

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

[Ayckbourn]

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Ayer, A. J. 1910–1989 English philosopher

1 No moral system can rest solely on authority.
Humanist Outlook (1968) introduction

2 It seems that I have spent my entire time trying to make life more rational and that it was all wasted effort.
in Observer 17 August 1986

[Ayer]

3 If I had been someone not very clever, I would have done an easier job like publishing. That's the easiest job I can think of.
attributed

[Ayer]

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

[Ayer]

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Ayres, Pam 1947– English writer of humorous verse

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)

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B

Babel, Isaac 1894–1940 Russian short-story writer

1 A phrase is born into the world both good and bad at the same time. The secret lies in a slight, an almost invisible twist. The lever should rest in your hand, getting warm, and you can only turn it once, not twice.
Guy de Maupassant (1932)

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

[Babel]

3 Now a man talks frankly only with his wife, at night, with the blanket over his head.
remark c.1937; Solomon Volkov St Petersburg (1996)

[Babel]

4 They didn't let me finish.
to his wife, on the day of his arrest by the NKVD, 16 May 1939

[Babel]

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Bacall, Lauren 1924– American actress

1 I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.
in Daily Telegraph 2 March 1988

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Baden-Powell, Lord 1857–1941 English soldier; founder of the Boy Scouts, 1908

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

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Bailey, David 1938– English photographer

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

2 I never cared for fashion much. Amusing little seams and witty little pleats. It was the girls I liked.
in Independent 5 November 1990

[Bailey]

3 Women love scallywags, but some marry them and then try to make them wear a blazer.
in Mail on Sunday 16 February 1997 "Quotes of the Week"

[Bailey]

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Bainbridge, Beryl 1933– English novelist

1 Nobody ever, unless he is very wicked, deliberately tries to hurt anybody. It's just that men cannot help not loving you or behaving badly.
interview in Daily Telegraph 10 September 1996

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

[Bainbridge]

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Bairnsfather, Bruce 1888–1959 British cartoonist

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

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Bakewell, Joan 1933– English broadcaster and writer

1 I'm afraid I'm addicted to fat and love British beef. BSE holds no terror for me because…I am as likely to get it as win the National Lottery.on her main difficulty in following a healthy diet
in Independent 30 August 1997 "Quote Unquote"

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Baldwin, James 1924–1987 American novelist and essayist

1 Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. They must, they have no other models.
Nobody Knows My Name (1961) "Fifth Avenue, Uptown: a letter from Harlem"

2 Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.
Nobody Knows My Name (1961) "Fifth Avenue, Uptown: a letter from Harlem"

[Baldwin]

3 At the root of the American Negro problem is the necessity of the American white man to find a way of living with the Negro in order to be able to live with himself.
in Harper's Magazine October 1953 "Stranger in a Village"

[Baldwin]

4 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"

[Baldwin]

5 If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.
in New Yorker 17 November 1962 "Down at the Cross"

[Baldwin]

6 It comes as a great shock around the age of 5, 6 or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you. It comes as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians and, although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you.speaking for the proposition that "The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro"
speech at the Cambridge Union, England, 17 February 1965

[Baldwin]

7 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]

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Baldwin, Stanley 1867–1947 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1923–4, 1924–9, 1935–7

1 They 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)

2 A platitude is simply a truth repeated until people get tired of hearing it.
speech, House of Commons, 29 May 1924

[Baldwin]

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

[Baldwin]

4 "Safety first" does not mean a smug self-satisfaction with everything as it is. It is a warning to all persons who are going to cross a road in dangerous circumstances.
in The Times 21 May 1929

[Baldwin]

5 Had the employers of past generations all of them dealt fairly with their men there would have been no unions.
speech in Birmingham, 14 January 1931

[Baldwin]

6 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, House of Commons, 10 November 1932

[Baldwin]

7 Since the day of the air, the old frontiers are gone. When you think of the defence of England you no longer think of the chalk cliffs of Dover; you think of the Rhine. That is where our frontier lies.
speech, House of Commons, 30 July 1934

[Baldwin]

8 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]

9 Do not run up your nose dead against the Pope or the NUM!
Lord Butler The Art of Memory (1982).

[Baldwin]

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Balfour, Arthur James 1848–1930 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1902–5

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 Christianity, of course…but why journalism?replying to the remark that "all the faults of the age come from Christianity and journalism"
Margot Asquith Autobiography (1920)

[Balfour]

3 Biography should be written by an acute enemy.
in Observer 30 January 1927

[Balfour]

4 whole political machinery pre-supposes a people so fundamentally at one that they can safely afford to bicker.
introduction to Walter Bagehot The English Constitution (World Classics ed., 1928)

[Balfour]

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

[Balfour]

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Ballard, J. G. 1930– British writer

1 Everything is becoming science fiction. From the margins of an almost invisible literature has sprung the intact reality of the 20th century.
"Fictions of Every Kind" in Books and Bookmen February 1971

2 A car crash harnesses elements of eroticism, aggression, desire, speed, drama, kinaesthetic factors, the stylizing of motion, consumer goods, status—all these in one event. I myself see the car crash as a tremendous sexual event really: a liberation of human and machine libido (if there is such a thing).
interview in Penthouse September 1970

[Ballard]

3 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.

[Ballard]

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Balliett, Whitney 1926– American writer

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]

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Balmain, Pierre 1914–1982 French couturier

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

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Baltzell, E. Digby 1915–

1 There is a crisis in American leadership in the middle of the twentieth century that is partly due, I think, to the declining authority of an establishment which is now based on an increasingly castelike White-Anglo Saxon-Protestant (wasp) upper class.
The Protestant Establishment (1964)

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Bancroft, Lord 1922–1996 British civil servant; Head of the Civil Service 1978–81

1 Conviction politicians, certainly: conviction civil servants, no.
"Whitehall: Some Personal Reflections", lecture at the London School of Economics 1 December 1983

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Bankhead, Tallulah 1903–1968 American actress

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

2 There is less in this than meets the eye.describing a revival of Maeterlinck's play Aglavaine and Selysette
Alexander Woollcott Shouts and Murmurs (1922)

[Bankhead]

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

[Bankhead]

4 I read Shakespeare and the Bible and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education.
attributed

[Bankhead]

5 They used to shoot her through gauze. You should shoot me through linoleum.on Shirley Temple
attributed

[Bankhead]

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Baraka, Imamu Amiri 1934– American poet and dramatist

1 God has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning.
Midstream (1963)

2 A rich man told me recently that a liberal is a man who tells other people what to do with their money.
in Kulchur Spring 1962 "Tokenism"

[Baraka]

3 A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
in Kulchur Spring 1962 "Tokenism"

[Baraka]

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Barker, Pat 1943– English novelist

1 The Somme is like the Holocaust. It revealed things about mankind that we cannot come to terms with and cannot forget. It can never become the past.on winning the Booker Prize 1995
in Athens News 9 November 1995

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Barker, Ronnie 1929– English comedian

1 The marvellous thing about a joke with a double meaning is that it can only mean one thing.
Sauce (1977)

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Barnard, Frederick R.

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

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Barnes, Clive 1927– British journalist and critic

1 This is the kind of show to give pornography a dirty name.of Oh, Calcutta!
in New York Times 18 June 1969

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Barnes, Julian 1946– English novelist

1 Do not imagine that Art is something which is designed to give gentle uplift and self-confidence. Art is not a brassière. At least, not in the English sense. But do not forget that brassière is the French for life-jacket.
Flaubert's Parrot (1984)

2 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)

[Barnes]

3 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); see below
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.
Karl Marx (1818–83) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)

[Barnes]

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

[Barnes]

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Barrie, J. M. 1860–1937 Scottish writer and dramatist

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)

2 When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.
Peter Pan (1928)

[Barrie]

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

[Barrie]

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

[Barrie]

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

[Barrie]

6 Charm…it's a sort of bloom on a woman. If you have it, you don't need to have anything else; and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have.
What Every Woman Knows (performed 1908)

[Barrie]

7 There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.
What Every Woman Knows (performed 1908)

[Barrie]

8 The tragedy of a man who has found himself out.
What Every Woman Knows (performed 1908)

[Barrie]

9 Someone said that God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
Rectorial Address at St Andrew's, 3 May 1922

[Barrie]

10 Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes!
Rectorial Address at St Andrews, 3 May 1922.

[Barrie]

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Barrymore, Ethel 1879–1959 American actress

1 For an actress to be a success, she must have the face of a Venus, the brains of a Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of a Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros.
George Jean Nathan The Theatre in the Fifties (1953)

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Barrymore, John 1882–1942 American actor

1 My only regret in the theatre is that I could never sit out front and watch me.
Eddie Cantor The Way I See It (1959)

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Barth, Karl 1886–1968 Swiss Protestant theologian

1 Men have never been good, they are not good and they never will be good.
Christian Community (1948)

2 He will not be like an ant which has foreseen everything in advance, but like a child in a forest, or on Christmas Eve: one who is always rightly astonished by events, by the encounters and experiences which overtake him.of the justified man
Church Dogmatics (1936)

[Barth]

3 It may be that when the angels go about their task of praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille, they play Mozart.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1956)

[Barth]

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Barthes, Roland 1915–1980 French writer and critic

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"

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Baruch, Bernard 1870–1965 American financier and presidential adviser

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]

3 Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing.
M. Berger New York (1960)

[Baruch]

4 A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they aren't still there, he's no longer a political leader.
in New York Times 21 June 1965

[Baruch]

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Barzun, Jacques 1907– American historian and educationist

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)

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Baudrillard, Jean 1929– French sociologist and cultural critic

1 The microwave, the waste disposal, the orgasmic elasticity of the carpets, this soft resort-style civilization irresistibly evokes the end of the world.
America (1986)

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Bauer, Lord 1915– British economist

1 Foreign aid is a system of taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries.
attributed; not recollected by Lord Bauer but not repudiated by him

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Baum, L. Frank

seeHarburg

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Baxter, Beverley 1891–1964 British journalist and Conservative politician

1 Beaverbrook is so pleased to be in the Government that he is like the town tart who has finally married the Mayor!
Henry ("Chips") Channon diary, 12 June 1940

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Bayley, John 1925– English academic

1 It is rather like falling from stair to stair in a series of bumps.on his wife Iris Murdoch's progressive loss of memory from Alzheimer's disease
in an interview, Daily Telegraph 8 February 1997

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Beatty, Lord 1871–1936 British Admiral of the Fleet, 1916–19

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

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Beaverbrook, Lord 1879–1964 Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor and Conservative politician

1 Our cock won't fight.of Edward VIII, during the abdication crisis of 1936
F. Donaldson Edward VIII (1974)

2 The Flying Scotsman is no less splendid a sight when it travels north to Edinburgh than when it travels south to London. Mr Baldwin denouncing sanctions was as dignified as Mr Baldwin imposing them.
in Daily Express 29 May 1937

[Beaverbrook]

3 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

[Beaverbrook]

4 I ran the paper purely for propaganda, and with no other purpose.
evidence to Royal Commission on the Press, 18 March 1948, in A. J. P. Taylor Beaverbrook (1972)

[Beaverbrook]

5 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]

6 Often undecided whether to desert a sinking ship for one that might not float, he would make up his mind to sit on the wharf for a day.of Lord Curzon
Men and Power (1956)

[Beaverbrook]

7 did not seem to care which way he travelled providing he was in the driver's seat.of Lloyd George
The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George (1963)

[Beaverbrook]

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Beckett, Samuel 1906–1989 Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet

1 It is suicide to be abroad. But what is it to be at home, Mr Tyler, what is it to be at home? A lingering dissolution.
All That Fall (1957)

2 We could have saved sixpence. We have saved fivepence. (Pause) But at what cost?
All That Fall (1957)

[Beckett]

3 clov: Do you believe in the life to come?
hamm: Mine was always that.

Endgame (1958)

[Beckett]

4 Where I am, I don't know, I'll never know, in the silence you don't know, you must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on.
The Unnamable (1959)

[Beckett]

5 Nothing to be done.
Waiting for Godot (1955)

[Beckett]

6 There's a man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.
Waiting for Godot (1955)

[Beckett]

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

[Beckett]

8 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)

[Beckett]

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

[Beckett]

10 He can't think without his hat.
Waiting for Godot (1955)

[Beckett]

11 vladimir: That passed the time.
estragon: It would have passed in any case.
vladimir: Yes, but not so rapidly.

Waiting for Godot (1955)

[Beckett]

12 Habit is a great deadener.
Waiting for Godot (1955)

[Beckett]

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

[Beckett]

14 I couldn't have done it otherwise, gone on I mean. I could not have gone on through the awful wretched mess of life without having left a stain upon the silence.
Deirdre Bair Samuel Beckett (1978)

[Beckett]

15 Even death is unreliable: instead of zero it may be some ghastly hallucination, such as the square root of minus one.
attributed

[Beckett]

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Bedford, Harry and Sullivan, Terry British songwriters

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)

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Beecham, Thomas 1879–1961 English conductor

1 Good music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and quits the memory with difficulty.
speech, c.1950, in New York Times 9 March 1961

2 The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.
in New York Herald Tribune 9 March 1961

[Beecham]

3 At a rehearsal I let the orchestra play as they like. At the concert I make them play as I like.
Neville Cardus Sir Thomas Beecham (1961)

[Beecham]

4 A kind of musical Malcolm Sargent.of Herbert von Karajan
H. Atkins and A. Newman Beecham Stories (1978)

[Beecham]

5 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.
H. Atkins and A. Newman Beecham Stories (1978)

[Beecham]

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

[Beecham]

7 Two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof.describing the harpsichord
H. Atkins and A. Newman Beecham Stories (1978)

[Beecham]

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Beerbohm, Max 1872–1956 English critic, essayist, and caricaturist

1 She was one of the people who say "I don't know anything about music really, but I know what I like."
Zuleika Dobson (1911)

2 The Socratic manner is not a game at which two can play.
Zuleika Dobson (1911)

[Beerbohm]

3 Vulgarity has its uses. Vulgarity often cuts ice which refinement scrapes at vainly.
letter, 21 May 1921

[Beerbohm]

4 Have you noticed…there is never any third act in a nightmare? They bring you to a climax of terror and then leave you there. They are the work of poor dramatists.
S. N. Behrman Conversations with Max (1960)

[Beerbohm]

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Behan, Brendan 1923–1964 Irish dramatist

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

The Hostage (1958)

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.
The Hostage (1958)

[Behan]

3 on being asked "What was the message of your play" after a performance ofThe Hostage:Message? Message? What the hell do you think I am, a bloody postman?
Dominic Behan My Brother Brendan (1965).

[Behan]

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

[Behan]

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Bell, Clive 1881–1964 English art critic

1 Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy.
Art (1914)

2 I will try to account for the degree of my aesthetic emotion. That, I conceive, is the function of the critic.
Art (1914)

[Bell]

3 Only reason can convince us of those three fundamental truths without a recogniton of which there can be no effective liberty: that what we believe is not necessarily true; that what we like is not necessarily good; and that all questions are open.
Civilization (1928)

[Bell]

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Bell, George 1883–1958 Anglican clergyman, Bishop of Chichester

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

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Bell, Gertrude 1868–1926 English traveller, archaeologist, and government servant

1 I feel at times like the Creator about the middle of the week. He must have wondered what it was going to be like, as I do.
creating Iraq, at the Cairo Conference 1921; attributed

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Belloc, Hilaire 1870–1953 British poet, essayist, historian, novelist, and Liberal politician

1
Believing Truth is staring at the sun.

title of poem (1938)

2
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]

3
And always keep a-hold of Nurse
For fear of finding something worse.

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Jim"

[Belloc]

4
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]

5
Matilda told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one's Eyes.

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Matilda"

[Belloc]

6
For every time She shouted "Fire!"
They only answered "Little Liar!"

Cautionary Tales (1907) "Matilda"

[Belloc]

7
I said to Heart, "How goes it ?" Heart replied:
"Right as a Ribstone Pippin!" But it lied.

"The False Heart" (1910)

[Belloc]

8
I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.
But Money gives me pleasure all the time.

"Fatigued" (1923)

[Belloc]

9
Remote and ineffectual Don
That dared attack my Chesterton.

"Lines to a Don" (1910)

[Belloc]

10
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]

11
Like many of the Upper Class
He liked the Sound of Broken Glass.

New Cautionary Tales (1930) "About John".

[Belloc]

12
The accursed power which stands on Privilege
(And goes with Women, and Champagne, and Bridge)
Broke—and Democracy resumed her reign:
(Which goes with Bridge, and Women and Champagne).

"On a Great Election" (1923)

[Belloc]

13
I am a sundial, and I make a botch
Of what is done much better by a watch.

"On a Sundial" (1938)

[Belloc]

14
When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."

"On His Books" (1923)

[Belloc]

15
Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

"The Pacifist" (1938)

[Belloc]

16
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?…
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees
And the wine that tasted of the tar?

"Tarantella" (1923)

[Belloc]

17
Balliol made me, Balliol fed me,
Whatever I had she gave me again:
And the best of Balliol loved and led me.
God be with you, Balliol men.

"To the Balliol Men Still in Africa" (1910)

[Belloc]

18 Be content to remember that those who can make omelettes properly can do nothing else.
A Conversation with a Cat (1931)

[Belloc]

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Bellow, Saul 1915– American novelist

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

2 Psychoanalysis pretends to investigate the Unconscious. The Unconscious by definition is what you are not conscious of. But the Analysts already know what's in it—they should, because they put it all in beforehand.
The Dean's December (1982)

[Bellow]

3 In the greatest confusion there is still an open channel to the soul. It may be difficult to find because by midlife it is overgrown, and some of the wildest thickets that surround it grow out of what we describe as our education. But the channel is always there, and it is our business to keep it open, to have access to the deepest part of ourselves.
Allan Bloom The Closing of the American Mind (1987)

[Bellow]

4 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.on his forthcoming biography
in Guardian 10 September 1997

[Bellow]

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Beloff, Nora 1919–1997 British journalist

1 I had the necessary qualifications: inexhaustible stamina, insatiable curiosity and a thick skin.on being a journalist
in Guardian 15 February 1997; obituary

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Benchley, Robert 1889–1945 American humorist

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 The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him.
My Ten Years in a Quandary (1936)

[Benchley]

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

[Benchley]

4 I do most of my work sitting down; that's where I shine.
R. E. Drennan Algonquin Wits (1968)

[Benchley]

5 It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
Nathaniel Benchley Robert Benchley (1955)

[Benchley]

6 One square foot less and it would be adulterous.of the cramped office he shared with Dorothy Parker
in New Yorker 5 January 1946

[Benchley]

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Benda, Julien 1867–1956 French philosopher and novelist

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

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Benét, Stephen Vincent 1898–1943 American poet and novelist

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]

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Benét, William Rose 1886–1950 American poet

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)

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Benn, Tony 1925– British Labour politician, who in 1963 succeeded in disclaiming his hereditary peerage to return to the Commons

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

2 The British House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.
in Observer 4 February 1962

[Benn]

3 Some of the jam we thought was for tomorrow, we've already eaten.
attributed, 1969; see below
The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam today.
Lewis Carroll (1832–98) Through the Looking-Glass (1872)

[Benn]

4 on seeing Harold Wilson, who had resigned as Prime Minister in March, looking "absolutely shrunk":Office is something that builds up a man only if he is somebody in his own right.
diary, 12 April 1976

[Benn]

5 of the influence of Parliament:Through talk, we tamed kings, restrained tyrants, averted revolution.
Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Benn]

6 The distortion of the Marxist idea that developed in Russia was as great, and of the same character, as the distortion of the Christian teaching at the time of the Inquisition. But it is as wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his.
Alan Freeman The Benn Heresy (1982)

[Benn]

7 I did not enter the Labour Party forty-seven years ago to have our manifesto written by Dr Mori, Dr Gallup and Mr Harris.
in Guardian 13 June 1988

[Benn]

8 A faith is something you die for; a doctrine is something you kill for: there is all the difference in the world.
in Observer 16 April 1989 "Sayings of the Week"

[Benn]

9 The rights that are entrusted to us are not for us to give away. Even if I agree with everything that is proposed, I cannot hand away powers lent to me for five years by the people of Chesterfield. I just could not do it.on the essential impediment to the Maastricht Treaty
speech, London, 20 November 1991

[Benn]

10 questions habitually asked by Tony Benn on meeting somebody in power:What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How do we get rid of you?
"The Independent Mind", lecture at Nottingham, 18 June 1993

[Benn]

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

[Benn]

12 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]

13 We should put the spin-doctors in spin clinics, where they can meet other spin patients and be treated by spin consultants. The rest of us can get on with the proper democratic process.
in Independent 25 October 1997 "Quote Unquote"

[Benn]

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Bennett, Alan 1934– English actor and dramatist

1 I go to the theatre to be entertained, I want to be taken out of myself, I don't want to see lust and rape and incest and sodomy and so on, I can get all that at home.
Beyond the Fringe (1963) "Man of Principles"

2 The real solvent of class distinction is a proper measure of self-esteem—a kind of unselfconsciousness. Some people are at ease with themselves, so the world is at ease with them. My parents thought this kind of ease was produced by education…they didn't see that what disqualified them was temperament—just as, though educated up to the hilt, it disqualifies me. What keeps us in our place is embarrassment.
Dinner at Noon (BBC television, 1988)

[Bennett]

3 Outside Shakespeare the word treason to me means nothing. Only, you pissed in our soup and we drank it.Coral Browne to Guy Burgess
An Englishman Abroad (1989)

[Bennett]

4 I don't want to give you the idea I'm trying to hide anything, or that anything unorthodox goes on between my wife and me. It doesn't. Nothing goes on at all…No foreplay. No afterplay. And fuck all in between.
Enjoy (1980)

[Bennett]

5 I have never understood this liking for war. It panders to instincts already catered for within the scope of any respectable domestic establishment.
Forty Years On (1969)

[Bennett]

6 Memories are not shackles, Franklin, they are garlands.
Forty Years On (1969)

[Bennett]

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

[Bennett]

8 Don't swear, boy. It shows a lack of vocabulary.
Forty Years On (1969)

[Bennett]

9 I'm all in favour of free expression provided it's kept rigidly under control.
Forty Years On (1969)

[Bennett]

10 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)

[Bennett]

11 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]

12 Brought up in the provinces in the forties and fifties one learned early the valuable lesson that life is generally something that happens elsewhere.
Talking Heads (1988) introduction

[Bennett]

13
Here I sit, alone and sixty,
Bald, and fat, and full of sin,
Cold the seat and loud the cistern,
As I read the Harpic tin.

"Place Names of China"

[Bennett]

14 He proved that a life of self-indulgence, if led with a whole heart, may also bring a certain wisdom.of Peter Cook
in Observer 31 December 1995

[Bennett]

15 But I loathe Classic FM more and more for its cosiness, its safety and its wholehearted endorsement of the post-Thatcher world, with medical insurance and Saga holidays rammed down your throat between every item.
diary, 3 July 1996

[Bennett]

16 People always complain about muck-raking biographers saying "Leave us our heroes." "Leave us our villains" is just as important.of an attempt to rehabilitate Earl Haig
diary, 11 February 1996

[Bennett]

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Bennett, Arnold 1867–1931 English novelist

1 Seventy minutes had passed before Mr Lloyd George arrived at his proper theme. He spoke for a hundred and seventeen minutes, in which period he was detected only once in the use of an argument.
Things that have Interested Me (1921) "After the March Offensive."

2 The price of justice is eternal publicity.
Things that have Interested Me (2nd series, 1923) "Secret Trials"

[Bennett]

3 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)

[Bennett]

4 Being a husband is a whole-time job. That is why so many husbands fail. They cannot give their entire attention to it.
The Title (1918)

[Bennett]

5 Journalists say a thing that they know isn't true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true.
The Title (1918)

[Bennett]

6 Literature's always a good card to play for Honours. It makes people think that Cabinet ministers are educated.
The Title (1918)

[Bennett]

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Bennett, Jill 1931–1990 English actress; former wife of John Osborne

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"

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Benson, A. C. 1862–1925 English writer

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)

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Benson, Stella 1892–1933 English novelist

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

This is the End (1917)

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Bentley, Edmund Clerihew 1875–1956 English writer

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.

"George the Third" (1929)

[Bentley]

3
Sir Humphrey Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered Sodium.

"Sir Humphrey Davy" (1905)

[Bentley]

4
Sir Christopher Wren
Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
If anybody calls
Say I am designing St Paul's."

"Sir Christopher Wren" (1905)

[Bentley]

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Bentley, Eric 1916–

1 Ours is the age of substitutes: instead of language, we have jargon; instead of principles, slogans; and, instead of genuine ideas, Bright Ideas.
in New Republic 29 December 1952

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Bentsen, Lloyd 1921– American Democratic politician

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

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Bergman, Ingmar 1918– Swedish film director

1 After years of playing with images of life and death, life has made me shy.message sent when his daughter Linn Ullman collected the Palme of Palmes for him at the Cannes Film Festival
in Observer 18 May 1997 "Soundbites"

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Berlin, Irving 1888–1989 American songwriter

1
Anything you can do, I can do better,
I can do anything better than you.

"Anything You Can Do" (1946 song)

2
Heaven—I'm in Heaven—And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak;
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek-to-cheek.

"Cheek-to-Cheek" (1935 song)

[Berlin]

3
God bless America,
Land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.

"God Bless America" (1939 song)

[Berlin]

4
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)

[Berlin]

5
Oh! how I hate to get up in the morning,
Oh! how I'd love to remain in bed;
For the hardest blow of all,
Is to hear the bugler call,
You've got to get up, you've got to get up,
You've got to get up this morning!

"Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" (1918 song)

[Berlin]

6
A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day.

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

[Berlin]

7 The song is ended (but the melody lingers on).
title of song (1927)

[Berlin]

8 There's no business like show business.
title of song (1946)

[Berlin]

9
I'm puttin' on my top hat,
Tyin' up my white tie,
Brushin' off my tails.

"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" (1935 song)

[Berlin]

10
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know.

"White Christmas" (1942 song)

[Berlin]

11 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]

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Berlin, Isaiah 1909–1997 British philosopher

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); see below
The fox knows many things—the hedgehog one big one.
Archilochus (7th century bc) fragment

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

[Berlin]

3 Few new truths have ever won their way against the resistance of established ideas save by being overstated.
Vico and Herder (1976)

[Berlin]

4 Rousseau was the first militant lowbrow.
in Observer 9 November 1952

[Berlin]

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Bernal, J. D. 1901–1971 Irish-born physicist

1 Men will not be content to manufacture life: they will want to improve on it.
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1929)

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Bernanos, Georges 1888–1948 French novelist and essayist

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

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

[Bernanos]

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Bernard, Jeffrey 1932–1997 English journalist

1 It may be more difficult to make new friends as you get older but it is some consolation to know how easy it is to lose them when you are young.
in The Spectator 17 August 1985

2 Oh, the self-importance of fading stars. Never mind, they will be black holes one day.
in The Spectator 18 July 1992

[Bernard]

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Berne, Eric 1910–1970 American psychiatrist

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

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Berners, Lord 1883–1950 English composer, artist, and writer

1 He's always backing into the limelight.of T. E. Lawrence
oral tradition

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Bernstein, Carl 1944– and Woodward, Bob 1943– American journalists

1 All the President's men.
title of book (1974) on the Watergate scandal

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Berra, Yogi 1925– American baseball player

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

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

[Berra]

3 If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's going to stop 'em.of baseball games
attributed

[Berra]

4 It was déjà vu all over again.
attributed

[Berra]

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Berrigan, Daniel American anti-Vietnam War activist

1 This is a war run to show the world, and particularly the Third World, where exactly it stands in relation to our technology.
attributed, 1973

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Berry, Chuck 1931– American rock and roll singer

1 Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news.
"Roll Over, Beethoven" (1956 song)

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Berryman, John 1914–1972 American poet

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
Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so…
And moreover my mother taught me as a boy
(repeatingly) "Ever to confess you're bored
means you have no

Inner Resources."

77 Dream Songs (1964) no. 14

[Berryman]

4
I seldom go to films. They are too exciting,
said the Honourable Possum.

77 Dream Songs (1964) no. 53

[Berryman]

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Berton, Pierre 1920– Canadian writer

1 Somebody who knows how to make love in a canoe.definition of a Canadian
in Toronto Star, Canadian Magazine 22 December 1973

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Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von 1856–1921 Chancellor of Germany, 1909–17

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 in British Documents on Origins of the War 1898–1914 (1926)

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Betjeman, John 1906–1984 English poet

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?

"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
Oh shall I see the Thames again?
The prow-promoted gems again,
As beefy ATS
Without their hats
Come shooting through the bridge?
And "cheerioh" or "cheeri-bye"
Across the waste of waters die
And low the mists of evening lie
And lightly skims the midge.

"Henley-on-Thames" (1945)

[Betjeman]

8
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]

9
It's awf'lly bad luck on Diana,
Her ponies have swallowed their bits;
She fished down their throats with a spanner
And frightened them all into fits.

"Hunter Trials" (1954)

[Betjeman]

10
The Church's Restoration
In eighteen-eighty-three
Has left for contemplation
Not what there used to be.

"Hymn" (1931)

[Betjeman]

11
Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots' and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
Democracy and proper drains.

"In Westminster Abbey" (1940)

[Betjeman]

12
In the licorice fields at Pontefract
My love and I did meet
And many a burdened licorice bush
Was blooming round our feet.

"The Licorice Fields at Pontefract" (1954)

[Betjeman]

13
Belbroughton Road is bonny, and pinkly bursts the spray
Of prunus and forsythia across the public way.

"May-Day Song for North Oxford" (1945)

[Betjeman]

14
Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's
Daintily alights Elaine;
Hurries down the concrete station
With a frown of concentration,
Out into the outskirt's edges
Where a few surviving hedges
Keep alive our lost Elysium—rural Middlesex again.

"Middlesex" (1954)

[Betjeman]

15
Official designs are aggressively neuter,
The Puritan work of an eyeless computer.

"The Newest Bath Guide" (1974)

[Betjeman]

16
Pam, I adore you, Pam, you great big mountainous sports girl,
Whizzing them over the net, full of the strength of five:
That old Malvernian brother, you zephyr and khaki shorts girl,
Although he's playing for Woking,
Can't stand up to your wonderful backhand drive.

"Pot Pourri from a Surrey Garden" (1940)

[Betjeman]

17
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

"Slough" (1937)

[Betjeman]

18
Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn,
Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun.

"A Subaltern's Love-Song" (1945)

[Betjeman]

19
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]

20
By roads "not adopted", by woodlanded ways,
She drove to the club in the late summer haze.

"A Subaltern's Love-Song" (1945)

[Betjeman]

21
The dread of beatings! Dread of being late!
And, greatest dread of all, the dread of games!

Summoned by Bells (1960)

[Betjeman]

22
Broad of Church and "broad of Mind",
Broad before and broad behind,
A keen ecclesiologist,
A rather dirty Wykehamist.

"The Wykehamist" (1931)

[Betjeman]

23 Ghastly good taste, or a depressing story of the rise and fall of English architecture.
title of book (1933)

[Betjeman]

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Bettelheim, Bruno 1903–1990 Austrian-born American psychologist

1 The most extreme agony is to feel that one has been utterly forsaken.
Surviving and other essays (1979)

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Bevan, Aneurin 1897–1960 British Labour politician

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 No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party…So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
speech at Manchester, 4 July 1948

[Bevan]

3 The language of priorities is the religion of Socialism.
speech at Labour Party Conference, 8 June 1949

[Bevan]

4 does not talk the language of the 20th century but that of the 18th. He is still fighting Blenheim all over again. His only answer to a difficult situation is send a gun-boat.
speech at Labour Party Conference, 2 October 1951

[Bevan]

5 We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down.
in Observer 6 December 1953

[Bevan]

6 Damn it all, you can't have the crown of thorns and the thirty pieces of silver.on his position in the Labour Party, c.1956
Michael Foot Aneurin Bevan vol. 2 (1973)

[Bevan]

7 I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the Foreign Secretary…If we complain about the tune, there is no reason to attack the monkey when the organ grinder is present.on the Suez crisis
speech, House of Commons, 16 May 1957

[Bevan]

8 If you carry this resolution you will send Britain's Foreign Secretary naked into the conference chamber.on a motion proposing unilateral nuclear disarmament by the UK
speech at Labour Party Conference, 3 October 1957

[Bevan]

9 I know that the right kind of leader for the Labour Party is a desiccated calculating machine who must not in any way permit himself to be swayed by indignation. If he sees suffering, privation or injustice he must not allow it to move him, for that would be evidence of the lack of proper education or of absence of self-control. He must speak in calm and objective accents and talk about a dying child in the same way as he would about the pieces inside an internal combustion engine.generally taken as referring to Hugh Gaitskell, although Bevan specifically denied it in an interview with Robin Day on 28 April 1959
Michael Foot Aneurin Bevan (1973) vol. 2

[Bevan]

10 This so-called affluent society is an ugly society still. It is a vulgar society. It is a meretricious society. It is a society in which priorities have gone all wrong.
speech in Blackpool, 29 November 1959.

[Bevan]

11 I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
in The Times 29 March 1960

[Bevan]

12 Fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the future refusing to be born.
Leon Harris The Fine Art of Political Wit (1965)

[Bevan]

13 I stuffed their mouths with gold.on his handling of the consultants during the establishment of the National Health Service
B. Abel-Smith The Hospitals 1800–1948 (1964)

[Bevan]

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Beveridge, William Henry 1879–1963 British economist

1 Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens.
Full Employment in a Free Society (1944)

2 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)

[Beveridge]

3 The state is or can be master of money, but in a free society it is master of very little else.
Voluntary Action (1948)

[Beveridge]

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Bevin, Ernest 1881–1951 British Labour politician and trade unionist

1 The most conservative man in this world is the British Trade Unionist when you want to change him.
speech, Trades Union Congress, 8 September 1927

2 I hope you will carry no resolution of an emergency character telling a man with a conscience like Lansbury what he ought to do…It is placing the Executive in an absolutely wrong position to be taking your conscience round from body to body to be told what you ought to do with it.often quoted as "hawking his conscience round the Chancellories of Europe"
Labour Party Conference Report (1935)

[Bevin]

3 My policy is to be able to take a ticket at Victoria Station and go anywhere I damn well please.
in Spectator 20 April 1951

[Bevin]

4 I didn't ought never to have done it. It was you, Willie, what put me up to it.to Lord Strang, after officially recognizing Communist China
C. Parrott Serpent and Nightingale (1977)

[Bevin]

5 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)

[Bevin]

6 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]

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Biko, Steve 1946–1977 South African anti-apartheid campaigner

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. Rather, all true liberals should realize that the place for their fight for justice is within their white society. The liberals must realize that they themselves are oppressed if they are true liberals and therefore they must fight for their own freedom and not that of the nebulous "they" with whom they can hardly claim identification. The liberal must apply himself with absolute dedication to the idea of educating his white brothers.
"Black Souls in White Skins?" (written 1970), in Steve Biko—I Write What I Like (1978)

2 The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
statement as witness, 3 May 1976

[Biko]

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Binyon, Laurence 1869–1943 English poet

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]

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Birch, Nigel 1906–1981 British Conservative politician

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

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Bird, John 1936– English actor and satirist

1 That was the week that was.
title of satirical BBC television series, 1962–3

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Birtwistle, Harrison 1934– English composer

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"

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Bishop, Elizabeth 1911–1979 American poet

1
The state with the prettiest name,
the state that floats in brackish water,
held together by mangrove roots.

"Florida" (1946)

2
Topography displays no favourites; North's as near as West.
More delicate than the historians' are the map-makers' colours.

"The Map" (1946)

[Bishop]

3
The armoured cars of dreams, contrived to let us do
so many a dangerous thing.

"Sleeping Standing Up" (1946)

[Bishop]

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Björk 1965– Icelandic pop star

1 Icelandic peoples were the ones who memorized sagas…We were the first rappers of Europe.
attributed, January 1996

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Black, James 1924– British analytical pharmacologist; winner of the Nobel prize for medicine

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

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Blair, Tony 1953– British Labour statesman; Prime Minister since 1997

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 The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.
in Mail on Sunday 2 October 1994

[Blair]

3 Those who seriously believe we cannot improve on words written for the world of 1918 when we are now in 1995 are not learning from our history but living it.on the proposed revision of Clause IV
in Independent 11 January 1995.

[Blair]

4 We need to build a relationship of trust not just within a firm but within a society. By trust, I mean the recognition of a mutual purpose for which we work together and in which we all benefit. It is a Stakeholder Economy in which opportunity is available to all, advancement is through merit and from which no group or class is set apart or excluded.
speech (press release) in Singapore, 8 January 1996

[Blair]

5 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]

6 Enough of talking—it is time now to do.taking office as Prime Minister
on the steps of 10 Downing Street, 2 May 1997

[Blair]

7 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]

8 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]

9 I am from the Disraeli school of Prime Ministers in their relations with the Monarch.at the Queen's golden wedding celebration, 20 November 1997
in Daily Telegraph 21 November 1997

[Blair]

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Blake, Eubie 1883–1983 American ragtime pianist

1 at the age of ninety-seven, Blake was asked at what age the sex drive goes:You'll have to ask somebody older than me.
attributed

2 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"

[Blake]

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Blanch, Lesley 1907– British writer

1 She was an Amazon. Her whole life was spent riding at breakneck speed towards the wilder shores of love.
The Wilder Shores of Love (1954)

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Blanchflower, Danny 1926–1993 English footballer

1 The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.
attributed, 1972

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Bliss, Arthur 1891–1975 English composer

1 What is called the serenity of age is only perhaps a euphemism for the fading power to feel the sudden shock of joy or sorrow.
As I Remember (1970)

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Blunden, Edmund 1896–1974 English poet

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]

3
I have been young, and now am not too old;
And I have seen the righteous forsaken,
His health, his honour and his quality taken.
This is not what we were formerly told.

"Report on Experience" (1929)

[Blunden]

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Blunt, Alfred 1879–1957 English Protestant cleric, Bishop of Bradford

1 The benefit of the King's Coronation depends, under God, upon two elements: First, on the faith, prayer, and self-dedication of the King himself, and on that it would be improper for me to say anything except to commend him, and ask you to commend him, to God's grace, which he will so abundantly need…if he is to do his duty faithfully. We hope that he is aware of his need. Some of us wish that he gave more positive signs of his awareness.referring to Edward VIII's relationship with Mrs Simpson, which until then had not been publicly mentioned
speech to Bradford Diocesan Conference, 1 December 1936

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Bly, Robert 1926– American writer

1 Every modern male has, lying at the bottom of his psyche, a large, primitive being covered with hair down to his feet. Making contact with this Wild Man is the step the Eighties male or the Nineties male has yet to take.
Iron John (1990)

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Blythe, Ronald 1922– English writer

1 An industrial worker would sooner have a £5 note but a countryman must have praise.
Akenfield (1969)

2 With full-span lives having become the norm, people may need to learn how to be aged as they once had to learn how to be adult.
The View in Winter (1979)

[Blythe]

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Boaz, David 1953– American lawyer

1 Alcohol didn't cause the high crime rates of the '20s and '30s, Prohibition did. Drugs don't cause today's alarming crime rates, but drug prohibition does.quoted by Judge James C. Paine, addressing the Federal Bar Association in Miami, 1991
"The Legalization of Drugs" 27 April 1988

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Boesky, Ivan F. 1937– American businessman

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.

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Bogan, Louise 1897–1970 American poet

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)

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Bogart, Humphrey

seeFilm lines

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Bogart, John B. 1848–1921 American journalist

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.
F. M. O'Brien Story of the Sun (1918); often attributed to Charles A. Dana

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Bohr, Niels 1885–1962 Danish physicist

1 Of course not, but I am told it works even if you don't believe in it.when asked whether he really believed a horseshoe hanging over his door would bring him luck, c.1930
A. Pais Inward Bound (1986)

2 Anybody who is not shocked by this subject has failed to understand it.of quantum mechanics
attributed; Nature 23 August 1990

[Bohr]

3 One of the favourite maxims of my father was the distinction between the two sorts of truths, profound truths recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth, in contrast to trivialities where opposites are obviously absurd.
S. Rozental Niels Bohr (1967)

[Bohr]

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Bold, Alan 1943– Scottish poet

1
This happened near the core
Of a world's culture. This
Occurred among higher things.
This was a philosophical conclusion.
Everybody gets what he deserves.

The bare drab rubble of the place.
The dull damp stone. The rain.
The emptiness. The human lack.

"June 1967 at Buchenwald" (1969).

2
Scotland, land of the omnipotent No.

"A Memory of Death" (1969)

[Bold]

3
Our job is to try
To change things.
After Hiroshima
You ask a poet to sing.

"Recitative" (1965)

[Bold]

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Bolt, Robert 1924–1995 English dramatist

1 Morality's not practical. Morality's a gesture. A complicated gesture learned from books.
A Man for All Seasons (1960)

2 It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world…But for Wales—!
A Man for All Seasons (1960); see below

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Bible St Mark

[Bolt]

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Bonham Carter, Violet

seeTelegrams

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Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 1906–1945 German Lutheran theologian and pastor

1 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 (1951)

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Bono 1960– Irish rock star, member of U2

1 They didn't have Kalashnikovs but U2 tickets in their hands.of the audience at the U2 concert in Sarajevo, 24 September 1997
in Daily Telegraph 25 September 1997

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Booth, Connie

seeJohn Cleese and Connie Booth

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Boothby, Robert 1900–1986 British Conservative politician

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.

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Boothroyd, Betty 1929– Labour politician; Speaker of the House of Commons since 1992

1 My desire to get here 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)

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Boren, James H. 1925– American bureaucrat

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

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Borges, Jorge Luis 1899–1986 Argentinian writer

1 I come from a vertiginous country where the lottery forms a principal part of reality.
Fictions (1956) "The Babylon Lottery"

2 The original is unfaithful to the translation.of Henley's translation of Vathek
Sobre el "Vathek" de William Beckford; in Obras Completas (1974)

[Borges]

3 For one of those gnostics, the visible universe was an illusion or, more precisely, a sophism. Mirrors and fatherhood are abominable because they multiply it and extend it.
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius (1941)

[Borges]

4 The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb.application of a proverbial phrase
in Time 14 February 1983

[Borges]

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Bottomley, Horatio 1860–1933 British newspaper proprietor and financier

1 What poor education I have received has been gained in the University of Life.
speech at the Oxford Union, 2 December 1920

2 reply to a prison visitor who asked if he were sewing:No, reaping.
S. T. Felstead Horatio Bottomley (1936)

[Bottomley]

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Bousquet, Louis French songwriter

1
Nous en rêvons la nuit, nous y pensons le jour,
Ce n'est que Madelon, mais pour nous, c'est l'amour.

We dream of her by night, we think of her by day,
It's only Madelon, but for us, it's love.

"Quand Madelon" (1914), French soldiers' song of the First World War

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Bowen, Elizabeth 1899–1973 Anglo-Irish novelist

1 It is about five o'clock in an evening that the first hour of spring strikes—autumn arrives in the early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.
The Death of the Heart (1938)

2 The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We have really no absent friends.
The Death of the Heart (1938)

[Bowen]

3 I suppose art is the only thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.
Heat of the Day (1949)

[Bowen]

4 There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone.
The House in Paris (1935)

[Bowen]

5 Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.
The House in Paris (1935)

[Bowen]

6 Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.
The House in Paris (1935)

[Bowen]

7 It is not only our fate but our business to lose innocence, and once we have lost that, it is futile to attempt a picnic in Eden.
"Out of a Book" in Orion III (ed. Rosamund Lehmann et al, 1946)

[Bowen]

8 A high altar on the move.of Edith Sitwell
V. Glendinning Edith Sitwell (1981)

[Bowen]

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Bowie, David 1947– English rock musician

1
Ground control to Major Tom.

"Space Oddity" (1969 song)

2 The 1970s for me started the 21st century—it was the beginning of a true pluralism in social attitudes.
An Earthling at 50 ITV programme; in Sunday Times 12 January 1997

[Bowie]

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Boy George 1961– English pop singer and songwriter

1 She's a gay man trapped in a woman's body.of Madonna
Take It Like a Man (1995)

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Boyer, Charles

seeMisquotations

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Bradley, Omar 1893–1981 American general

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

[Bradley]

3 The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
speech on Armistice Day, 1948

[Bradley]

4 Red China is not the powerful nation seeking to dominate the world. Frankly, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this strategy would involve us in the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.
US Congress Senate Committee on Armed Services (1951)

[Bradley]

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Brando, Marlon

seeFilm lines
Glass

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Branson, Richard 1950– English businessman

1 We spend most of our lives working. So why do so few people have a good time doing it? Virgin is the possibility of good times.
interview in New York Times 28 February 1993

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Braque, Georges 1882–1963 French painter

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]

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Bratton, John W.

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Braun, Werner von 1912–1977 German-born American rocket engineer

1 Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go—and he'll do plenty well when he gets there.on space
in Time 17 February 1958

2 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)

[Braun]

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Brecht, Bertolt 1898–1956 German dramatist

1 Terrible is the temptation to be good.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948)

2 andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes!…
galileo: No. Unhappy the land that needs heroes.

The Life of Galileo (1939)

[Brecht]

3 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)

[Brecht]

4 They have gone too long without a war here. Where is morality to come from in such a case, I ask? Peace is nothing but slovenliness, only war creates order.
Mother Courage (1939)

[Brecht]

5 The finest plans are always ruined by the littleness of those who ought to carry them out, for the Emperors can actually do nothing.
Mother Courage (1939)

[Brecht]

6 Don't tell me peace has broken out, when I've just bought fresh supplies.
Mother Courage (1939)

[Brecht]

7 The resistible rise of Arturo Ui.
title of play (1941)

[Brecht]

8
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear,
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jack-knife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight.

The Threepenny Opera (1928)

[Brecht]

9 Food comes first, then morals.
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

[Brecht]

10 What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

[Brecht]

11
Who built Thebes of the seven gates?
In the books you will find the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?…
Where, the evening that the wall of China was finished
Did the masons go?

"Questions From A Worker Who Reads" (1935)

[Brecht]

12
Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
on the uprising against the Soviet occupying forces in East Germany in 1953
"The Solution" (1953)

[Brecht]

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Brenner, Sydney 1927– British scientist

1 A modern computer hovers between the obsolescent and the nonexistent.
attributed in Science 5 January 1990

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Briand, Aristide 1862–1932 French statesman

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

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Bridges, Edward 1892–1969 British civil servant, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service

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)

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Brittain, Vera 1893–1970 English writer

1 Politics are usually the executive expression of human immaturity.
Rebel Passion (1964)

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Brockbank, Russell 1913– British cartoonist

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)

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Brodkey, Harold 1930–1996 American writer

1 The American daydream, as in Twain (and Hemingway), is about re-building after the flood, about being better off than before, about outwitting this or that challenge, up to and including death. Well, how do you manage to be optimistic for the moment? Without hope?
This Wild Darkness: The Story of My Death (1996)

2 But the horror was I had no strength to respond or pretend after only a short while, less than an hour. I am not able to be present for him and never will be anymore.on a visit from his four-year-old grandson, while dying of Aids
This Wild Darkness: The Story of My Death (1996)

[Brodkey]

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Brodsky, Joseph 1940–1996 Russian-born American poet

1 As a form of moral insurance, at least, literature is much more dependable than a system of beliefs or a philosophical doctrine.
"Uncommon Visage", Nobel lecture 1987, in On Grief and Reason (1996)

2 There is no other antidote to the vulgarity of the human heart than doubt and good taste, which one finds fused in works of great literature.
"Letter to a President " (1993), in On Grief and Reason (1996)

[Brodsky]

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Bronowski, Jacob 1908–1974 Polish-born mathematician and humanist

1 The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation…The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.
The Ascent of Man (1973)

2 The essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.
The Ascent of Man (1973)

[Bronowski]

3 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)

[Bronowski]

4 Therapy has become what I think of as the tenth American muse.
attributed

[Bronowski]

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Brooke, Rupert 1887–1915 English poet

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; gave up the years to be
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
That men call age; and those that would have been,
Their sons, they gave, their immortality.

"The Dead" (1914)

2
Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
Of blankets.

"The Great Lover" (1914)

[Brooke]

3
Fish say, they have their stream and pond;
But is there anything beyond?

"Heaven" (1915)

[Brooke]

4
Unkempt about those hedges blows
An English unofficial rose.

"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1915)

[Brooke]

5
God! I will pack, and take a train,
And get me to England once again!
For England's the one land, I know,
Where men with Splendid Hearts may go.

"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1915)

[Brooke]

6
For Cambridge people rarely smile,
Being urban, squat, and packed with guile.

"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1915)

[Brooke]

7
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1915)

[Brooke]

8
Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour,
And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping,
With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power,
To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping.

"Peace" (1914)

[Brooke]

9
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware.

"The Soldier" (1914)

[Brooke]

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Brookner, Anita 1928– British novelist and art historian

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)

2 They were reasonable people, and no one was to be hurt, not even with words.
Hotel du Lac (1984)

[Brookner]

3 I have reached the age when a woman begins to perceive that she is growing into the person she least plans to resemble: her mother.
Incidents in the Rue Laugier (1995)

[Brookner]

4 Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.
A Start in Life (1981)

[Brookner]

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Brooks, Gwendolyn 1917– American poet

1
Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies.
And be it gash or gold it will not come
Again in this identical disguise.

"Exhaust the little moment" (1949)

2
The time
cracks into furious flower. Lifts its face
all unashamed. And sways in wicked grace.

"The Second Sermon on the Warpland" (1968)

[Brooks]

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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)

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Broun, Heywood 1888–1939 American journalist

1 Men build bridges and throw railroads across deserts, and yet they contend successfully that the job of sewing on a button is beyond them. Accordingly, they don't have to sew buttons.
Seeing Things at Night (1921) "Holding a Baby"

2 Posterity is as likely to be wrong as anybody else.
Sitting on the World (1924) "The Last Review"

[Broun]

3 Everybody favours free speech in the slack moments when no axes are being ground.
in New York World 23 October 1926

[Broun]

4 Just as every conviction begins as a whim so does every emancipator serve his apprenticeship as a crank. A fanatic is a great leader who is just entering the room.
in New York World 6 February 1928

[Broun]

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Brown, Craig 1957– English humorist

1 The world dwindles daily for the humorist…Jokes are fast running out, for a joke must transform real life in some perverse way, and real life has begun to perform the same operation perfectly professionally upon itself.
Craig Brown's Greatest Hits (1993)

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Brown, H. Rap 1943– American Black Power leader

1 I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
speech, 27 July 1967

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Brown, Lew 1893–1958 American songwriter

1 Life is just a bowl of cherries.
title of song (1931)

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Browne, Cecil 1932– American businessman

1
But not so odd
As those who choose
A Jewish God,
But spurn the Jews.

reply to verse by William Norman Ewer.

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Browning, Frederick "Boy" 1896–1965 British soldier

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)

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Bruce, Lenny 1925–1966 American comedian

1 The liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them.
John Cohen (ed.) The Essential Lenny Bruce (1967)

2 I'll die young, but it's like kissing God.on his drug addiction
attributed

[Bruce]

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Bruno, Frank 1961– English boxer

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]

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Bryant, Anita 1940–

1 If homosexuality were the normal way, God would have made Adam and Bruce.
in New York Times 5 June 1977

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Bryson, Bill 1951– American travel writer

1 I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted—stay up all night or eat ice-cream straight out of the container.
The Lost Continent (1989)

2 What an odd thing tourism is. You fly off to a strange land, eagerly abandoning all the comforts of home, and then expend vast quantities of time and money in a largely futile attempt to recapture the comforts that you wouldn't have lost if you hadn't left home in the first place.
Neither Here Nor There (1991)

[Bryson]

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Brzezinski, Zbigniew 1928– US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor

1 Russia can be an empire or a democracy, but it cannot be both.
in Foreign Affairs March/April 1994 "The Premature Partnership"

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Buber, Martin 1878–1965 Austrian-born religious philosopher and Zionist

1 Through the Thou a person becomes I.
Ich und Du (1923)

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Buchan, John 1875–1940 Scottish novelist; Governor-General of Canada, 1935–40

1 To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.
Memory Hold-the-Door (1940)

2 It's a great life if you don't weaken.
Mr Standfast (1919)

[Buchan]

3 An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.
H. E. Fosdick On Being a Real Person (1943)

[Buchan]

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Buchman, Frank 1878–1961 American evangelist; founder of the Moral Re-Armament movement

1 There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.
Remaking the World (1947)

2 I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defence against the anti-Christ of Communism.
in New York World-Telegram 26 August 1936

[Buchman]

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Buchwald, Art 1925– American humorist

1 War is too serious a business to be left to computers.
in International Herald Tribune 14/15 June 1980

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Buck, Gene 1885–1957 and Ruby, Herman 1891–1959

1
That Shakespearian rag,—
Most intelligent, very elegant.

"That Shakespearian Rag" (1912 song).

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Bullard, Edward 1907–1980 English geophysicist

1 Rutherford was a disaster. He started the "something for nothing" tradition…the notion that research can always be done on the cheap…The war taught us differently. If you want quick and effective results you must put the money in.
P. Grosvenor and J. McMillan The British Genius (1973).

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Buller, Arthur 1874–1944 British botanist and mycologist

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

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Bulmer-Thomas, Ivor 1905–1993 British Conservative politician

1 If he ever went to school without any boots it was because he was too big for them.of Harold Wilson, who had claimed in a speech the previous year that more than half the children with whom he went to school had been unable to afford boots or shoes (and had therefore worn clogs)
speech at the Conservative Party Conference, in Manchester Guardian 13 October 1949.

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Bunting, Basil 1900–1985 English poet

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)

2
Dance tiptoe, bull,
black against may.

"Briggflatts" (1965)

[Bunting]

3
Our doom
is, to be sifted by the wind,

heaped up, smoothed down like silly sands.
We are less permanent than thought.

"Villon" (1925)

[Bunting]

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Buñuel, Luis 1900–1983 Spanish film director

1 Thanks to God, I am still an atheist.
in Le Monde 16 December 1959

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Burchill, Julie 1960– English journalist and writer

1 The freedom women were supposed to have found in the Sixties largely boiled down to easy contraception and abortion: things to make life easier for men, in fact.
Damaged Goods (1986) "Born Again Cows"

2 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

[Burchill]

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Burgess, Anthony 1917– English novelist and critic

1 A clockwork orange.
title of novel (1962)

2 It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.
Earthly Powers (1980)

[Burgess]

3 He said it was artificial respiration, but now I find I am to have his child.
Inside Mr Enderby (1963)

[Burgess]

4 The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and a failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I have read. He should also be about my age.
George Plimpton (ed.) Writers at Work (4th Series, 1977)

[Burgess]

5 The US presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
George Plimpton (ed.) Writers at Work (4th Series, 1977)

[Burgess]

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Burke, Johnny 1908–1964 American songwriter

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 song)

[Burke]

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Burnum, Burnum 1936–1997 Australian political activist

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

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Burroughs, William S. 1914–1997 American novelist

1 Kerouac opened a million coffee bars and sold a million pairs of Levis to both sexes. Woodstock rises from his pages.
The Adding Machine (1985) "Remembering Jack Kerouac"

2 Junk is the ideal product…the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.
The Naked Lunch (1959) introduction

[Burroughs]

3 The face of "evil" is always the face of total need.
The Naked Lunch (1959)

[Burroughs]

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Burt, Benjamin Hapgood 1880–1950 American songwriter

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]

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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)

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Bush, Barbara 1925– wife of George Bush; First Lady, 1989–93

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

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Bush, George 1924– American Republican statesman; 41st President of the US, 1989–93; husband of Barbara Bush

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 What's wrong with being a boring kind of guy?
during the campaign for the Republican nomination; in Daily Telegraph 28 April 1988

[Bush]

3 Read my lips: no new taxes.campaign pledge on taxation
in New York Times 19 August 1988

[Bush]

4 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]

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Butler, Nicholas Murray 1862–1947 President of Columbia University, 1901–45

1 An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.
Commencement address at Columbia University; attributed

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Butler, R. A. ("Rab") 1902–1982 British Conservative politician

1 on hearing of the appointment of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister in succession to Neville Chamberlain:The good clean tradition of English politics, that of Pitt as opposed to Fox, has been sold to the greatest adventurer of modern political history.
John Colville diary, 10 May 1940

2 reporter: Mr Butler, would you say that this is the best Prime Minister we have?
r. a. butler: Yes.

interview at London Airport, 8 January 1956

[Butler]

3 I think a Prime Minister has to be a butcher and know the joints. That is perhaps where I have not been quite competent, in knowing all the ways that you can cut up a carcass.
in Listener 28 June 1966

[Butler]

4 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); see below.
Politics is the art of the possible.
Bismarck (1815–98) conversation with Meyer von Waldeck, 11 August 1867

[Butler]

5 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]

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Byatt, A. S. 1936– English novelist

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

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C

Cabell, James Branch 1879–1958 American novelist and essayist

1 The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
The Silver Stallion (1926); see below
In this best of possible worlds…all is for the best.
Voltaire (1694–1778) Candide (1759)

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Caesar, Irving 1895– American songwriter

1
Picture you upon my knee,
Just tea for two and two for tea.

"Tea for Two" (1925 song)

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Cage, John 1912–1992 American composer, pianist, and writer

1
I have nothing to say
and I am saying it and that is
poetry.

"Lecture on nothing" (1961)

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Cagney, James

seeFilm lines
Misquotations

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Cain, James M. 1892–1977 American novelist

1 The postman always rings twice.
title of novel (1934)

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Caine, Michael 1933– English film actor

1 Not many people know that.
title of book (1984)

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Cairns, Joseph 1920– British industrialist and politician

1 The betrayal of Ulster, the cynical and entirely undemocratic banishment of its properly elected Parliament and a relegation to the status of a fuzzy wuzzy colony is, I hope, a last betrayal contemplated by Downing Street because it is the last that Ulster will countenance.
speech on retiring as Lord Mayor of Belfast, 31 May 1972

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Calhoun, Charles 1897–1972

1 Shake, rattle and roll.
title of song (1954)

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Callado, Antônio 1917–1997 Brazilian novelist

1 To live beyond eighty is an exaggeration, almost an excess.just before his 80th birthday (he died on 28 January, aged 80 years and 2 days)
in Independent 1 February 1997; obituary

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Callaghan, James 1912– British Labour statesman; Prime Minister 1976–9

1 You cannot now, if you ever could, spend your way out of a recession.
speech at Labour Party Conference, 28 September 1976

2 You never reach the promised land. You can march towards it.
in a television interview, 20 July 1978

[Callaghan]

3 I had known it was going to be a "winter of discontent".
television interview, 8 February 1979; in Daily Telegraph 9 February 1979; see below.

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) Richard III (1591)

[Callaghan]

4 It's the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas.in the debate resulting in the fall of the Labour government, when the pact between Labour and the Liberals had collapsed, and the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists had also withdrawn their support
in the House of Commons, 28 March 1979

[Callaghan]

5 There are times, perhaps once every thirty years, when there is a sea-change in politics. It then does not matter what you say or what you do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves of. I suspect there is now such a sea-change—and it is for Mrs Thatcher.during the election campaign of 1979
Kenneth O. Morgan Callaghan (1997)

[Callaghan]

6 of the popularity of Margaret Thatcher:The further you got from Britain, the more admired you found she was.
in Spectator 1 December 1990

[Callaghan]

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Camara, Helder 1909–99 Brazilian priest

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

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Campbell, Mrs Patrick 1865–1940 English actress

1 I'm out of a job. London wants flappers, and I can't flap.of the theatre of 1927
Margot Peters Mrs Pat (1984)

2 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"

[Campbell]

3 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)

[Campbell]

4 Tallulah is always skating on thin ice. Everyone wants to be there when it breaks.
in The Times 13 December 1968

[Campbell]

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Campbell, Roy 1901–1957 South African poet

1
Giraffes!—a People
Who live between the earth and skies,
Each in his lone religious steeple,
Keeping a light-house with his eyes.

"Dreaming Spires" (1946)

2
Of all the clever people round me here
I most delight in Me—
Mine is the only voice I care to hear,
And mine the only face I like to see.

"Home Thoughts in Bloomsbury" (1930)

[Campbell]

3
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)

[Campbell]

4
South Africa, renowned both far and wide
For politics and little else beside.

The Wayzgoose (1928)

[Campbell]

5 I hate "Humanity" and all such abstracts: but I love people. Lovers of "Humanity" generally hate people and children, and keep parrots or puppy dogs.
Light on a Dark Horse (1951)

[Campbell]

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Camus, Albert 1913–1960 French novelist, dramatist, and essayist

1 You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.
The Fall (1957)

2 We are all special cases. We all want to appeal against something! Everyone insists on his innocence, at all costs, even if it means accusing the rest of the human race and heaven.
The Fall (1957)

[Camus]

3 I'll tell you a big secret, mon cher. Don't wait for the last judgement. It takes place every day.
The Fall (1957)

[Camus]

4 Poor people's memory is less nourished than that of the rich; it has fewer landmarks in space because they seldom leave the place where they live, and fewer reference points in time…Of course, there is the memory of the heart that they say is the surest kind, but the heart wears out with sorrow and labour, it forgets sooner under the weight of fatigue.
The First Man (1994)

[Camus]

5 The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a human heart. One must imagine that Sisyphus is happy.
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)

[Camus]

6 Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness. Those who have greatness within them do not go in for politics.
Notebooks 1935–42 (1963)

[Camus]

7 An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.
Notebooks 1935–42 (1963)

[Camus]

8 What is a rebel? A man who says no.
The Rebel (1953)

[Camus]

9 All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the State.
The Rebel (1953)

[Camus]

10 Mother died today. Or perhaps it was yesterday, I don't know.
The Stranger (1944)

[Camus]

11 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]

12 Without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.
attributed; E. F. Schumacher Good Work (1979)

[Camus]

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Canetti, Elias 1905–1994 Bulgarian-born writer and novelist

1 All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.
Die Provinz der Menschen (1973)

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Cantona, Eric 1966– French footballer

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

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Capone, Al 1899–1947 Italian-born American gangster

1 Once in the racket you're always in it.
in Philadelphia Public Ledger 18 May 1929

2 Don't you get the idea I'm one of these goddam radicals. Don't get the idea I'm knocking the American system.
interview, c.1929, with Claud Cockburn; Claud Cockburn In Time of Trouble (1956)

[Capone]

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Capote, Truman 1924–1984 American writer and novelist

1 Other voices, other rooms.
title of novel (1948)

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Capp, Al 1907–1979 American cartoonist

1 A product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.on abstract art
in National Observer 1 July 1963

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Cardus, Neville 1889–1975 English critic and writer

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)

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Carey, George 1935– British Anglican clergyman, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991

1 I see it as an elderly lady, who mutters away to herself in a corner, ignored most of the time.on the Church of England
in Readers Digest (British ed.) March 1991

2 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

[Carey]

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Carmichael, Stokely 1941– American Black Power leader

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

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Carmichael, Stokely 1941– and Hamilton, Charles Vernon 1929– American Black Power leaders

1 The adoption of the concept of Black Power is one of the most legitimate and healthy developments in American politics and race relations in our time.…It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and to support those organizations. It is a call to reject the racist institutions and values of this society.
Black Power (1967)

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Carnegie, Dale 1888–1955 American writer and lecturer

1 How to win friends and influence people.
title of book (1936)

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Carr, J. L. 1912– English novelist

1 You have not had thirty years' experience…You have had one year's experience 30 times.to a teacher
The Harpole Report (1972)

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Carrington, Lord 1919– British Conservative politician

1 q: If Mrs Thatcher were run over by a bus…?
lord carrington: It wouldn't dare.
during the Falklands War
Russell Lewis Margaret Thatcher (1984)

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Carson, Edward 1854–1935 Northern Irish lawyer and politician

1 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–)

2 My only great qualification for being put at the head of the Navy is that I am very much at sea.
I. Colvin Life of Lord Carson (1936)

[Carson]

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Carson, Rachel 1907–1964 American zoologist

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)

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Carter, Angela 1940–1992 English novelist

1 Clothes are our weapons, our challenges, our visible insults.
Nothing Sacred (1982) "Notes for a Theory of Sixties Style"

2 Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.
Wise Children (1991)

[Carter]

3 If Miss means respectably unmarried, and Mrs respectably married, then Ms means nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
"The Language of Sisterhood" in Christopher Ricks (ed.) The State of the Language (1980).

[Carter]

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Carter, Howard 1874–1939 English archaeologist

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"
H. V. F. Winstone Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (1993)

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Carter, Jimmy 1924– American Democratic statesman, 39th President of the US, 1977–81

1 I'm Jimmy Carter, and I'm going to be your next president.to the son of a campaign supporter, November 1975
I'll Never Lie to You (1976)

2 We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.speech to Bible class at Plains, Georgia, March 1976
in Boston Sunday Herald Advertiser 11 April 1976

[Carter]

3 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

[Carter]

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Carter, Sydney 1915– English folk-song writer

1
It's God they ought to crucify
Instead of you and me,
I said to the carpenter
A-hanging on the tree.

"Friday Morning" (1967)

2
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)

[Carter]

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Cartland, Barbara 1901–2000 English writer

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

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Casals, Pablo 1876–1973 Spanish cellist, conductor, and composer

1 It is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older, but younger with time, more slender, more supple, more graceful.of the cello
in Time 29 April 1957

2 The man who works and is not bored is never old.
J. Lloyd Webber (ed.) Song of the Birds (1985)

[Casals]

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Casement, Roger 1864–1916 Irish nationalist; executed for treason in 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

2 Where all your rights become only an accumulated wrong; where men must beg with bated breath for leave to subsist in their own land, to think their own thoughts, to sing their own songs, to garner the fruits of their own labours…then surely it is a braver, a saner and truer thing, to be a rebel in act and deed against such circumstances as these than tamely to accept it as the natural lot of men.
statement at the conclusion of his trial, the Old Bailey, London, 29 June 1916

[Casement]

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Casson, Hugh 1910– English architect

1 We have now to plan no longer for soft little animals pottering about on their own two legs, but for hard steel canisters hurtling about with these same little animals inside them.
C. Williams-Ellis Around the World in 90 Years (1978)

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Castle, Ted 1907–1979 British journalist

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

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Castro, Fidel 1927– Cuban statesman, Prime Minister 1959–76 and President since 1976

1 Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.
in Observer 8 November 1964

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Catch-phrases

1 cecil: After you, Claude.
claude: No, after you, Cecil.

ITMA (BBC radio programme, 1939–49), written by Ted Kavanagh (1892–1958)

2 And now for something completely different.
Monty Python's Flying Circus (BBC TV programme, 1969–74)

[Catch-phrases]

3 Anyone for tennis?
said to be typical of drawing-room comedies, much associated with Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957); perhaps from George Bernard Shaw "Anybody on for a game of tennis?" Misalliance (1914)

[Catch-phrases]

4 Are yer courtin'?
Have a Go! (BBC radio quiz programme, 1946–67), used by Wilfred Pickles (1904–78)

[Catch-phrases]

5 Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.sometimes "Then we'll begin"
Listen with Mother (BBC radio programme for children, 1950–82), used by Julia Lang (1921–)

[Catch-phrases]

6 The butler did it!a solution for detective stories
Nigel Rees, in Sayings of the Century (1984), quotes a correspondent who recalls hearing it at a cinema c.1916 but the origin of the phrase has not been traced

[Catch-phrases]

7 Can I do you now, sir?spoken by "Mrs Mopp"
ITMA (BBC radio programme, 1939–49), written by Ted Kavanagh (1892–1958)

[Catch-phrases]

8 Can you hear me, mother?
used by Sandy Powell (1900–82)

[Catch-phrases]

9 The day war broke out.customary preamble to radio monologues in the role of a Home Guard, used by Robb Wilton (1881–1957)
from c.1940

[Catch-phrases]

10 Didn't she do well?
used by Bruce Forsyth (1928–) in "The Generation Game" on BBC Television, 1973 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

11 Don't forget the diver.spoken by "The Diver"; based on "a memory of the pier at New Brighton where Tommy Handley used to go as a child…A man in a bathing suit…whined "Don't forget the diver, sir.”"
ITMA (BBC radio programme, 1939–49), written by Ted Kavanagh (1892–1958)

[Catch-phrases]

12 Eat my shorts!
The Simpsons (American TV series, 1990–), created by Matt Groening

[Catch-phrases]

13 Ee, it was agony, Ivy.
Ray's a Laugh (BBC radio programme, 1949–61), written by Ted Ray (1906–77)

[Catch-phrases]

14 Evening, all.
opening words spoken by Jack Warner as Sergeant Dixon in Dixon of Dock Green (BBC television series, 1956–76), written by Ted Willis (1918–)

[Catch-phrases]

15 Everybody wants to get inta the act!
used by Jimmy Durante (1893–1980)

[Catch-phrases]

16 An everyday story of country folk.
introduction to The Archers (BBC radio serial, 1950 onwards), written by Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason

[Catch-phrases]

17 Exterminate! Exterminate!
the Daleks in Dr Who (BBC television series, from 1963) written by Terry Nation

[Catch-phrases]

18 A good idea—son.
Educating Archie, 1950–3 BBC radio comedy series, written by Eric Sykes (1923–) and Max Bygraves (1922–)

[Catch-phrases]

19 Good morning, sir—was there something?
used by Sam Costa in radio comedy series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, written by Richard Murdoch (1907–90) and Kenneth Horne (1900–69), started 2 January 1947

[Catch-phrases]

20 Goodnight, children…everywhere.closing words normally spoken by "Uncle Mac" in the 1930s and 1940s
on Children's Hour (BBC Radio programme); written by Derek McCulloch (1892–1978)

[Catch-phrases]

21 Have you read any good books lately?
used by Richard Murdoch in radio comedy series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, written by Richard Murdoch (1907–90) and Kenneth Horne (1900–69), started 2 January 1947

[Catch-phrases]

22 Hello, good evening, and welcome.
used by David Frost (1939–) in "The Frost Programme" on BBC Television, 1966 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

23 Here come de judge.
from the song-title "Here comes the judge" (1968); written by Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham, Dick Alen, Bob Astor, and Sarah Harvey

[Catch-phrases]

24 Here's one I made earlier.culmination to directions for making a model out of empty yoghurt pots, coat-hangers, and similar domestic items
children's BBC television programme Blue Peter, 1963 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

25 I didn't get where I am today without….
used by the manager C. J. in BBC television series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, 1976–80); based on David Nobbs The Death of Reginald Perrin (1975)

[Catch-phrases]

26 I don't like this game, let's play another game—let's play doctor and nurses.
phrase first used by Bluebottle in "The Phantom Head-Shaver" in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 15 October 1954, written by Spike Milligan; the catch-phrase was often "I do not like this game"

[Catch-phrases]

27 I don't mind if I do.spoken by "Colonel Chinstrap"
ITMA (BBC radio programme, 1939–49), written by Ted Kavanagh (1892–1958)

[Catch-phrases]

28 I go—I come back.spoken by "Ali Oop"
ITMA (BBC radio programme, 1939–49), written by Ted Kavanagh (1892–1958)

[Catch-phrases]

29 I have a cunning plan.
Baldrick's habitual over-optimistic promise in Blackadder II (1987 television series), written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton (1959–)

[Catch-phrases]

30 I'm Bart Simpson: who the hell are you?
The Simpsons (American TV series, 1990–), created by Matt Groening

[Catch-phrases]

31 I'm in charge.
used by Bruce Forsyth (1928–) in "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" on ITV, 1958 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

32 I'm worried about Jim.
frequent line in Mrs Dale's Diary, BBC radio series 1948–69

[Catch-phrases]

33 It all depends what you mean by…
habitually used by C. E. M. Joad when replying to questions on "The Brains Trust" (formerly "Any Questions"), BBC radio (1941–8)

[Catch-phrases]

34 It's being so cheerful as keeps me going.spoken by "Mona Lott"
ITMA (BBC radio programme, 1939–49), written by Ted Kavanagh (1892–1958)

[Catch-phrases]

35 I've arrived and to prove it I'm here!
Educating Archie, 1950–3 BBC radio comedy series, written by Eric Sykes (1923–) and Max Bygraves (1922–)

[Catch-phrases]

36 I've started so I'll finish.said when a contestant's time runs out while a question is being put
Magnus Magnusson (1929–) Mastermind, BBC television (1972–97)

[Catch-phrases]

37 Just like that!
used by Tommy Cooper (1921–84)

[Catch-phrases]

38 Keep on truckin'.
used by Robert Crumb (1943–) in cartoons from c.1972

[Catch-phrases]

39 Left hand down a bit!
The Navy Lark (BBC radio series, 1959–77), written by Laurie Wyman

[Catch-phrases]

40 Let's be careful out there.
Hill Street Blues (television series, 1981 onwards), written by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll

[Catch-phrases]

41 Mind my bike!
used by Jack Warner (1895–1981) in the BBC radio series Garrison Theatre, 1939 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

42 Nice to see you—to see you, nice.
used by Bruce Forsyth (1928–) in "The Generation Game" on BBC Television, 1973 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

43 Oh, calamity!
used by Robertson Hare (1891–1979)

[Catch-phrases]

44 Pass the sick bag, Alice.
used by John Junor (1919–97); in Sunday Express and elsewhere

[Catch-phrases]

45 Seriously, though, he's doing a grand job!
used by David Frost (1939–) in "That Was The Week That Was", on BBC Television, 1962-3

[Catch-phrases]

46 Shome mishtake, shurely?
in Private Eye magazine, 1980s

[Catch-phrases]

47 So farewell then…frequent opening of poems by "E. J. Thribb" in Private Eye magazine, usually as an obituary
1970s onwards

[Catch-phrases]

48 Take me to your leader.
from science-fiction stories

[Catch-phrases]

49 The truth is out there.
The X Files (American television series, 1993–), created by Chris Carter

[Catch-phrases]

50 Very interesting…but stupid.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (American television series, 1967–73), written by Dan Rowan (1922–87) and Dick Martin (1923–)

[Catch-phrases]

51 The weekend starts here.
Ready, Steady, Go, British television series, c.1963

[Catch-phrases]

52 We have ways of making you talk.
perhaps originating in the line "We have ways of making men talk" in Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935 film), written by Waldemar Young et al.

[Catch-phrases]

53 What's up, Doc?
Bugs Bunny cartoons, written by Tex Avery (1907–80), from c.1940

[Catch-phrases]

54 Who loves ya, baby?
used by Telly Savalas (1926–) in American TV series Kojak (1973-8)

[Catch-phrases]

55 You bet your sweet bippy.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (American television series, 1967–73), written by Dan Rowan (1922–87) and Dick Martin (1923–)

[Catch-phrases]

56 You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.the Chief Whip's habitual response to questioning
House of Cards (televised 1990); written by Michael Dobbs (1948–)

[Catch-phrases]

57 You're going to like this…not a lot…but you'll like it!
used by Paul Daniels (1938– in) in his conjuring act, especially on television from 1981 onwards

[Catch-phrases]

58 You rotten swines. I told you I'd be deaded.
phrase first used by Bluebottle in "Hastings Flyer" in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 3 January 1956, written by Spike Milligan

[Catch-phrases]

59 Your starter for ten.
phrase often used by Bamber Gascoigne (1935–) in University Challenge (ITV quiz series, 1962–87)

[Catch-phrases]

60 You silly twisted boy.
phrase first used in "The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler" in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 12 October 1954, written by Spike Milligan

[Catch-phrases]

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Cather, Willa 1873–1947 American novelist

1 Oh, the Germans classify, but the French arrange!
Death Comes For the Archbishop (1927))

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Caulfield, Mr Justice 1914– British lawyer

1 Remember Mary Archer in the witness box. Your vision of her will probably never disappear. Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have—without the strain of this trial—a radiance?
summing up of court case between Jeffrey Archer and the Star, July 1987, in The Times 24 July 1987

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Causley, Charles 1917– English poet and schoolmaster

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)

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Cavafy, Constantine 1863–1933 Greek poet

1
What are we waiting for, gathered in the market-place?
The barbarians are to arrive today.

"Waiting for the Barbarians" (1904)

2
And now, what will become of us without the barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.

"Waiting for the Barbarians" (1904)

[Cavafy]

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Cavell, Edith 1865–1915 English nurse

1 Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.on the eve of her execution by the Germans for assisting in the escape of British soldiers from occupied Belgium
in The Times 23 October 1915

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Ceauescu, Nicolae 1918–1989 Romanian Communist statesman, first President of the Socialist Republic of Romania 1974–89

1 Fidel Castro is right. You do not quieten your enemy by talking with him like a priest, but by burning him.at a Communist Party meeting 17 December 1989
in Guardian 11 January 1990

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Celan, Paul 1920–1970 German poet

1
A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes
he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair Margareta
Your ashen hair Shulamith we shovel a grave in the air there you won't lie too cramped.

"Deathfugue" (written 1944)

2
He shouts play death more sweetly this Death is a master from Deutschland
he shouts scrape your strings darker you'll rise then as smoke to the sky
you'll have a grave then in the clouds there you won't lie too cramped.

"Deathfugue" (written 1944)

[Celan]

3
Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland.

Death is a master from Germany.

"Deathfugue" (written 1944)

[Celan]

4 There's nothing in the world for which a poet will give up writing, not even when he is a Jew and the language of his poems is German.
letter to relatives, 2 August 1948

[Celan]

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Chamberlain, Neville 1869–1940 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1937–40

1 In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.
speech at Kettering, 3 July 1938

2 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

[Chamberlain]

3 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; see below
Lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace—but a peace I hope with honour.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) speech on returning from the Congress of Berlin, 16 July 1878

[Chamberlain]

4 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]

5 Whatever may be the reason—whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain—he missed the bus.
speech at Central Hall, Westminster, 4 April 1940

[Chamberlain]

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Chandler, Raymond 1888–1959 American writer of detective fiction

1 It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.
Farewell, My Lovely (1940)

2 A big hard-boiled city with no more personality than a paper cup.of Los Angeles
The Little Sister (1949)

[Chandler]

3 Crime isn't a disease, it's a symptom. Cops are like a doctor that gives you aspirin for a brain tumour.
The Long Good-Bye (1953)

[Chandler]

4 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]

5 If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
letter to Charles W. Morton, 12 December 1945

[Chandler]

6 Would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split.
letter to Edward Weeks, 18 January 1947

[Chandler]

7 When in doubt have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
attributed

[Chandler]

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Chanel, Coco 1883–1971 French couturière

1 Clothes by a man who doesn't know women, never had one, and dreams of being one!of Dior's New Look
in Vanity Fair June 1994

2 Passion always goes, and boredom stays.
Frances Kennett Coco: the Life and Loves of Gabrielle Chanel (1989)

[Chanel]

3 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)

[Chanel]

4 Youth is something very new: twenty years ago no one mentioned it.
Marcel Haedrich Coco Chanel, Her Life, Her Secrets (1971)

[Chanel]

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Channon, Henry ("Chips") 1897–1958 American-born British Conservative politician and diarist

1 I like my "abroad" to be Catholic and sensual.
diary, 18 January 1924

2 What is more dull than a discreet diary? One might just as well have a discreet soul.
diary, 26 July 1935

[Channon]

3 There is nowhere in the world where sleep is so deep as in the libraries of the House of Commons.
diary, 16 December 1937

[Channon]

4 He is winning through and will probably be Premier for years to come.of Neville Chamberlain
diary, 15 January 1939

[Channon]

5 I gather it has now been decided not to embrace the Russian bear, but to hold out a hand and accept its paw gingerly. No more. The worst of both worlds.
diary, 16 May 1939

[Channon]

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Chaplin, Charlie 1889–1977 English film actor and director

1 All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
My Autobiography (1964)

2 Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is "elephant".on the universality of silent films
B. Norman The Movie Greats (1981)

[Chaplin]

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Chapman, Arthur 1873–1935 American poet

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)

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Charles, Prince of Wales 1948– Heir apparent to the British throne; former husband of Diana, Princess of Wales

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 in London, 30 May 1984

[Charles]

3 I just come and talk to the plants, really—very important to talk to them, they respond I find.
television interview, 21 September 1986

[Charles]

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Charteris, Lord 1913– the Queen's former private secretary

1 The Duchess of York is a vulgarian. She is vulgar, vulgar, vulgar, and that is that.
in Spectator 5 January 1995

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Chesterton, G. K. 1874–1936 English essayist, novelist, and poet

1
Are they clinging to their crosses, F. E. Smith?
satirizing F. E. Smith's response to the Welsh Disestablishment Bill
"Antichrist" (1915)

2
Talk about the pews and steeples
And the Cash that goes therewith!
But the souls of Christian peoples…
Chuck it, Smith!

"Antichrist" (1915)

[Chesterton]

3
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)

[Chesterton]

4
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)

[Chesterton]

5
The thing on the blind side of the heart,
On the wrong side of the door,
The green plant groweth, menacing
Almighty lovers in the Spring;
There is always a forgotten thing,
And love is not secure.

The Ballad of the White Horse (1911)

[Chesterton]

6
The gallows in my garden, people say,
Is new and neat and adequately tall.
I tie the noose on in a knowing way
As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
But just as all the neighbours—on the wall—
Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"
The strangest whim has seized me…. After all
I think I will not hang myself today.

"Ballade of Suicide" (1915)

[Chesterton]

7
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

"The Donkey" (1900)

[Chesterton]

8
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]

9 They died to save their country and they only saved the world.

"English Graves" (1922)

[Chesterton]

10
Why do you rush through the fields in trains,
Guessing so much and so much.
Why do you flash through the flowery meads,
Fat-head poet that nobody reads;
And why do you know such a frightful lot
About people in gloves and such?

"The Fat White Woman Speaks" (1933).

[Chesterton]

11
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]

12
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war.

"Lepanto" (1915)

[Chesterton]

13
The folk that live in Liverpool, their heart is in their boots;
They go to hell like lambs, they do, because the hooter hoots.

"Me Heart" (1914)

[Chesterton]

14
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
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]

15
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]

16
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]

17
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]

18
Lancashire merchants whenever they like
Can water the beer of a man in Klondike
Or poison the meat of a man in Bombay;
And that is the meaning of Empire Day.

"Songs of Education: II Geography" (1922)

[Chesterton]

19
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]

20 An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
All Things Considered (1908) "On Running after one's Hat"

[Chesterton]

21 The rich are the scum of the earth in every country.
The Flying Inn (1914)

[Chesterton]

22 There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.
Heretics (1905)

[Chesterton]

23 Bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions.
Heretics (1905)

[Chesterton]

24 After the first silence the small man said to the other: "Where does a wise man hide a pebble?"
And the tall man answered in a low voice: "On the beach."
The small man nodded, and after a short silence said: "Where does a wise man hide a leaf?"
And the other answered: "In the forest."

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)

[Chesterton]

25 One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.
The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)

[Chesterton]

26 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)

[Chesterton]

27 The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up.
Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904)

[Chesterton]

28 The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.
Orthodoxy (1908)

[Chesterton]

29 Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.
Orthodoxy (1908)

[Chesterton]

30 Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.
Orthodoxy (1908)

[Chesterton]

31 Democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.
Orthodoxy (1908)

[Chesterton]

32 All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.
Orthodoxy (1908)

[Chesterton]

33 Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
Orthodoxy (1908)

[Chesterton]

34 It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.
The Scandal of Father Brown (1935)

[Chesterton]

35 They say travel broadens the mind; but you must have the mind.
"The Shadow of the Shark" (1921)

[Chesterton]

36 Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling.
Tremendous Trifles (1909)

[Chesterton]

37 Hardy went down to botanize in the swamp, while Meredith climbed towards the sun. Meredith became, at his best, a sort of daintily dressed Walt Whitman: Hardy became a sort of village atheist brooding and blaspheming over the village idiot.
Victorian Age in Literature (1912)

[Chesterton]

38 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]

39 The prime truth of woman, the universal mother…that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
What's Wrong with the World (1910) pt. 4 "Folly and Female Education"

[Chesterton]

40 To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it.
The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914)

[Chesterton]

41 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]

42 Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.
in New York Times 1 February 1931

[Chesterton]

43 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]

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Chevalier, Maurice 1888–1972 French singer and actor

1 Considering the alternative, it's not too bad at all.on being asked what he felt about the advancing years, on his seventy-second birthday
Michael Freedland Maurice Chevalier (1981)

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Childers, Erskine 1870–1922 Anglo-Irish writer and Irish nationalist

1 The riddle of the sands.
title of novel (1903)

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Chiles, Lawton 1930– American politician

1 You are misunderstood, maligned, viewed by the press as a Pulitzer Prize ready to be won.on the problems of investigative journalism for politicians
in St Petersburg (Florida) Times 6 March 1991

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Chirac, Jaques 1932– French statesman, Prime Minister 1974–6 and 1986–8, President since 1995

1 For its part, France wants you to take part in this great undertaking.on European Monetary Union
speech to both Houses of Parliament, 15 May 1996

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Chisholm, Melanie ("Mel C.") English pop singer, member ("Sporty Spice") of The Spice Girls

1 If Oasis are bigger than God, what does that make us? Bigger than Buddha?asserting that the Spice Girls are "a darn sight bigger than Oasis"
in Independent 16 August 1997 "Quote Unquote". ,

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Chomsky, Noam 1928– American linguistics scholar

1 Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.illustrating that grammatical structure is independent of meaning
Syntactic Structures (1957)

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]

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Christie, Agatha 1890–1976 English writer of detective fiction

1 He tapped his forehead. "These little grey cells. It is "up to them”."
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

2 I'm a sausage machine, a perfect sausage machine.
G. C. Ramsey Agatha Christie (1972)

[Christie]

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Churchill, Frank E. 1901–1942

1 Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
title of song (1933; probably written in collaboration with Ann Ronell)

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Churchill, Winston 1874–1965 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1940–5, 1951–5

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 He is one of those orators of whom it was well said, "Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said."of Lord Charles Beresford
speech in the House of Commons, 20 December 1912

[Churchill]

3 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]

4 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]

5 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]

6 I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire.replying to complaints of his bias in editing the British Gazette during the General Strike
speech in the House of Commons, 7 July 1926

[Churchill]

7 I remember, when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the programme which I most desired to see was the one described as "The Boneless Wonder". My parents judged that that spectacle would be too revolting and demoralizing for my youthful eyes, and 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]

8 go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity.
speech in the House of Commons, 12 November 1936

[Churchill]

9 Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
letter, 11 November 1937

[Churchill]

10 The utmost he has been able to gain for Czechoslovakia and in the matters which were in dispute has been that the German dictator, instead of snatching his victuals from the table, has been content to have them served to him course by course.
speech, House of Commons, 5 October 1938

[Churchill]

11 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]

12 I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
speech in the House of Commons, 13 May 1940

[Churchill]

13 What is our policy?…to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.
speech in the House of Commons, 13 May 1940

[Churchill]

14 What is our aim?…Victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
speech in the House of Commons, 13 May 1940

[Churchill]

15 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]

16 What General Weygand called the "Battle of France" is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands; but if we fail then the whole world, including the United States, and all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more prolonged, by the lights of a perverted science. 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]

17 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]

18 No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.
letter to Lord Wavell, 26 November 1940

[Churchill]

19 As far as I can see you have used every cliché except "God is Love" and "Please adjust your dress before leaving".on a long-winded report from Anthony Eden
in Life 9 December 1940; when this story was repeated in the Daily Mirror, Churchill denied that it was true

[Churchill]

20 Give us the tools and we will finish the job.addressing President Roosevelt
radio broadcast, 9 February 1941

[Churchill]

21 The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.
speech in the House of Commons, 10 June 1941

[Churchill]

22 The people of London with one voice would say to Hitler: "You have committed every crime under the sun….We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst—and we will do our best."
speech at County Hall, London, 14 July 1941

[Churchill]

23 Do not let us speak of darker days; let us rather speak of sterner days. These are not dark days: these are great days—the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.
speech at Harrow School, 29 October 1941

[Churchill]

24 It becomes still more difficult to reconcile Japanese action with prudence or even with sanity. What kind of a people do they think we are?
speech to US Congress, 26 December 1941

[Churchill]

25 When I warned them 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]

26 A medal glitters, but it also casts a shadow.a reference to the envy caused by the award of honours
in 1941; Kenneth Rose King George V (1983)

[Churchill]

27 We mean to hold our own. I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.
speech in London, 10 November 1942

[Churchill]

28 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]

29 National compulsory insurance for all classes for all purposes from the cradle to the grave.
radio broadcast, 21 March 1943

[Churchill]

30 There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.
radio broadcast, 21 March 1943

[Churchill]

31 The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
speech at Harvard, 6 September 1943

[Churchill]

32 Unless the right hon. Gentleman changes his policy and methods and moves without the slightest delay, he will be as great a curse to this country in time of peace, as he was a squalid nuisance in time of war.of Aneurin Bevan
speech in the House of Commons, 6 December 1945

[Churchill]

33 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]

34 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]

35 This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.
Ernest Gowers Plain Words (1948) "Troubles with Prepositions"

[Churchill]

36 No, not dead. But the candle in that great turnip has gone out.in reply to the comment "One never hears of Baldwin nowadays—he might as well be dead"
Harold Nicolson diary, 17 August 1950

[Churchill]

37 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]

38 To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
speech at White House, 26 June 1954

[Churchill]

39 A modest man who has a good deal to be modest about.of Clement Attlee
in Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine of Books 27 June 1954

[Churchill]

40 I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
at a news conference in Washington, 1954, in New York Times 25 January 1965

[Churchill]

41 I have never accepted what many people have kindly said—namely, that I inspired the nation…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. I also hope that I sometimes suggested to the lion the right place to use his claws.
speech at Westminster Hall, 30 November 1954

[Churchill]

42 I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
Quentin Reynolds By Quentin Reynolds (1964)

[Churchill]

43 In defeat unbeatable: in victory unbearable.of Lord Montgomery
E. Marsh Ambrosia and Small Beer (1964)

[Churchill]

44 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]

45 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]

46 I wrote my name at the top of the page. I wrote down the number of the question "1". After much reflection I put a bracket round it thus "(1)". But thereafter I could not think of anything connected with it that was either relevant or true.…It was from these slender indications of scholarship that Mr Welldon drew the conclusion that I was worthy to pass into Harrow. It is very much to his credit.
My Early Life (1930)

[Churchill]

47 By being so long in the lowest form I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys. They all went on to learn Latin and Greek…. But I was taught English.…Thus I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence—which is a noble thing.…Naturally I am biased in favour of boys learning English. I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat.
My Early Life (1930)

[Churchill]

48 Headmasters have powers at their disposal with which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.
My Early Life (1930)

[Churchill]

49 Mr Gladstone read Homer for fun, which I thought served him right.
My Early Life (1930)

[Churchill]

50 It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
My Early Life (1930)

[Churchill]

51 In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
The Second World War (1948) vol. 1 epigraph

[Churchill]

52 I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and this trial.
The Second World War (1948) vol. 1

[Churchill]

53 The loyalties which centre upon number one are enormous. If he trips he must be sustained. If he makes mistakes they must be covered. If he sleeps he must not be wantonly disturbed. If he is no good he must be pole-axed. But this last extreme process cannot be carried out every day; and certainly not in the days just after he has been chosen.
The Second World War (1949) vol. 2

[Churchill]

54 If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.
The Second World War (1950) vol. 3

[Churchill]

55 I did not suffer from any desire to be relieved of my responsibilities. All I wanted was compliance with my wishes after reasonable discussion.
The Second World War (1951) vol. 4

[Churchill]

56 It may almost be said, "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat."
The Second World War (1951) vol. 4

[Churchill]

57 Jellicoe was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon.
The World Crisis (1927)

[Churchill]

58 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]

59 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]

60 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]

61 A remarkable example of modern art. It certainly combines force with candour.on the notorious 80th birthday portrait by Graham Sutherland, later destroyed by Lady Churchill
Martin Gilbert Churchill: A Life (1991)

[Churchill]

62 The only recorded instance in history of a rat swimming towards a sinking ship.of a former Conservative who proposed to stand as a Liberal
Leon Harris The Fine Art of Political Wit (1965)

[Churchill]

63 The Prime Minister has nothing to hide from the President of the United Stateson stepping from his bath in the presence of a startled President Roosevelt
recalled by Roosevelt's son in Churchill (BBC television series presented by Martin Gilbert, 1992)

[Churchill]

64 A sheep in sheep's clothing.of Clement Attlee
Lord Home The Way the Wind Blows (1976)

[Churchill]

65 Take away that pudding—it has no theme.
Lord Home The Way the Wind Blows (1976)

[Churchill]

66 We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm.
Violet Bonham-Carter Winston Churchill as I Knew Him (1965)

[Churchill]

67 bessie braddock: Winston, you're drunk.
churchill: Bessie, you're ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober.

J. L. Lane (ed.) Sayings of Churchill (1992)

[Churchill]

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Ciano, Count Galeazzo 1903–1944 Italian fascist politician; son-in-law of Mussolini

1 Victory has a hundred fathers, but no-one wants to recognise defeat as his own.often quoted as "…but defeat is an orphan"
diary, 9 September 1942

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Cioran, E. M. 1911–1995 Romanian-born French philosopher

1 Without the possibility of suicide, I would have killed myself long ago.
in Independent 2 December 1989

2 I do nothing, granted. But I see the hours pass—which is better than trying to fill them.
in Guardian 11 May 1993

[Cioran]

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Clark, Alan 1928– British Conservative politician, son of Kenneth Clark; husband of Jane Clark

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 If you have bright plumage, people will take pot shots at you.
in Independent 25 June 1994

[Clark]

4 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, 24 January 1997
in Daily Telegraph 25 January 1997

[Clark]

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Clark, Jane wife of Alan Clark

1 If you bed people of below-stairs class, they will go to the papers.
in Daily Telegraph 31 May 1994

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Clark, Kenneth 1903–1983 English art historian, father of Alan Clark

1 It's a curious fact that the all-male religions have produced no religious imagery—in most cases have positively forbidden it. The great religious art of the world is deeply involved with the female principle.
Civilisation (1969)

2 Perrault's façade reflects the triumph of an authoritarian state…the work not of craftsmen, but of wonderfully gifted civil servants.of the Louvre
Civilisation (1969)

[Clark]

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Clarke, Arthur C. 1917– English science fiction writer

1 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The Lost Worlds of 2001 (1972)

2 If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong.
in New Yorker 9 August 1969.

[Clarke]

3 How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean.
in Nature 8 March 1990

[Clarke]

4 The only genuine consciousness-expanding drug.of science fiction
letter claiming coinage in New Scientist 2 April 1994

[Clarke]

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Clarke, Kenneth 1940– British Conservative politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer

1 Tell your kids to get their scooters off my lawn.allegedly said to the Party Chairman, Brian Mawhinney, of young Central Office personnel
television report, 5 December 1996; in Guardian 7 December 1996

2 The Government doesn't have a hostile attitude to the single currency. It was a slip of the tongue.in response to a statement by fellow Conservative Malcolm Rifkind, 19 February 1997
in Guardian 20 February 1997

[Clarke]

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Clayton, Philip "Tubby" 1885–1972 Australian-born British clergyman, founder of Toc H

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)

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Cleaver, Eldridge 1935– American political activist

1 You're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.
speech in San Francisco, 1968, in R. Scheer Eldridge Cleaver, Post Prison Writings and Speeches (1969)

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Cleese, John 1939– and Booth, Connie British comedy writer and actor; British comedy actress

1 They're Germans. Don't mention the war.
Fawlty Towers "The Germans" (BBC TV programme, 1975)

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Clemenceau, Georges 1841–1929 French statesman; Prime Minister of France, 1906–9, 1917–20

1 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

2 What do you expect when I'm between two men of whom one thinks he is Napoleon and the other thinks he is Jesus Christ?to André Tardieu, on being asked why he always gave in to Lloyd George at the Paris Peace Conference, 1918
letter from Harold Nicolson to his wife, Vita Sackville-West, 20 May 1919

[Clemenceau]

3 It is easier to make war than to make peace.
speech at Verdun, 20 July 1919

[Clemenceau]

4 Oh, to be seventy again!on seeing a pretty girl on his eightieth birthday
James Agate diary, 19 April 1938

[Clemenceau]

5 War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.
attributed to Clemenceau, e.g. in Hampden Jackson Clemenceau and the Third Republic (1946), but also to Briand and Talleyrand. ,

[Clemenceau]

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Cleveland, Harlan 1918– American government official

1 The revolution of rising expectations.
phrase coined, 1950; Arthur Schlesinger A Thousand Days (1965)

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Clinton, Hillary Rodham 1947– American lawyer, wife of Bill Clinton, First Lady of the US since 1993

1 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.
comment on questions raised by rival Democratic contender Edmund G. Brown Jr.; in Albany Times-Union 17 March 1992

2 There is no such thing as other people's children.
in Newsweek 15 January 1996

[Clinton]

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Clinton, William Jefferson ("Bill") 1946– American Democratic statesman; 42nd President of the US from 1993; husband of Hillary Rodham Clinton

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]

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Clough, Brian 1935– English football player and manager

1 If I'm ever feeling a bit uppity, whenever I get on my high horse, I go and take another look at my dear Mam's mangle that has pride of place in the dining-room.
Clough: The Autobiography (1994)

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Cobain, Kurt 1967–1994 American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter, husband of Courtney Love

1 I'd rather be dead than cool.
"Stay Away" (1991 song)

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Cockburn, Claud 1904–1981 British writer and journalist

1 Reality goes bounding past the satirist like a cheetah laughing as it lopes ahead of the greyhound.
Crossing the Line (1958)

2 Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead.winning entry for a dullest headline competition at The Times
In Time of Trouble (1956)

[Cockburn]

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Cocteau, Jean 1889–1963 French dramatist and film director

1 Life is a horizontal fall.
Opium (1930)

2 Victor Hugo was a madman who thought he was Victor Hugo.
Opium (1930)

[Cocteau]

3 Being tactful in audacity is knowing how far one can go too far.
Le Rappel à l'ordre (1926)

[Cocteau]

4 The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.
Le Rappel à l'ordre (1926)

[Cocteau]

5 If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas.
Le Rappel à l'ordre (1926)

[Cocteau]

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Coffey, Denise British actress

1 I am that twentieth-century failure, a happy undersexed celibate.
Ned Sherrin Cutting Edge (1984)

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Cohan, George M. 1878–1942 American actor-manager and dramatist

1
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming everywhere.
So prepare, say a prayer,
Send the word, send the word to beware.
We'll be over, we're coming over
And we won't come back till it's over, over there.

"Over There" (1917 song)

2 I don't care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right.to a newspaperman who wanted some information about Broadway Jones in 1912
John McCabe George M. Cohan (1973)

[Cohan]

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Cohen, Leonard 1934– Canadian singer and writer

1 I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.
in Observer 2 May 1993 "Sayings of the Week"

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Coleman, David 1926– British sports commentator

1 He just can't believe what isn't happening to him.
in Guardian 24 December 1980 "Sports Quotes of the Year"

2 That's the fastest time ever run—but it's not as fast as the world record.
Barry Fantoni (ed.) Private Eye's Colemanballs 3 (1986)

[Coleman]

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Colette 1873–1954 French novelist

1 The world of the emotions that are so lightly called physical.
Le Blé en herbe (1923)

2 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)

[Colette]

3 Let's buy a pack of cards, good wine, bridge scores, knitting needles, all the paraphernalia needed to fill an enormous void, everything needed to hide that horror—the old woman.
Chéri (1920)

[Colette]

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Collingwood, R. G. 1889–1943 English philosopher and archaeologist

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)

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Collins, Charles English songwriter

1
My old man said, "Follow the van,
Don't dilly-dally on the way!"

"Don't Dilly-Dally on the Way" (1919 song, with Fred Leigh); popularized by Marie Lloyd

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Collins, Michael 1890–1922 Irish nationalist leader and politician

1 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.on signing the treaty establishing the Irish Free State; he was shot from ambush in the following year
letter, 6 December 1921

2 on arriving at Dublin Castle for the handover by British forces on 16 January 1922, and being told that he was seven minutes late:We've been waiting seven hundred years, you can have the seven minutes.
Tim Pat Coogan Michael Collins (1990); attributed

[Collins]

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Colombo, John Robert 1936– Canadian writer

1
Canada could have enjoyed:
English government,
French culture,
and American know-how.

Instead it ended up with:
English know-how,
French government,
and American culture.

"O Canada" (1965)

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Comden, Betty 1919– and Green, Adolph 1915– American songwriters

1 The party's over, it's time to call it a day.
"The Party's Over" (1956 song)

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Commager, Henry Steele 1902– American historian

1 It was observed half a century ago that what is a stone wall to a layman, to a corporate lawyer is a triumphant arch. Much the same might be said of civil rights and freedoms. To the layman the Bill of Rights seems to be a stone wall against the misuse of power. But in the hands of a congressional committee, or often enough of a judge, it turns out to be so full of exceptions and qualifications that it might be a whole series of arches.
"The Right to Dissent" in Current History October 1955; see below
A law, Hinnissey, that might look like a wall to you or me wud look like a triumphal arch to th'expeeryenced eye iv a lawyer.
Peter Finley Dunne (1867–1936) "Mr Dooley on the Power of the Press" in American Magazine 1906

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Compton, Denis 1918–1997 British cricketer

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

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Compton-Burnett, Ivy 1884–1969 English novelist

1 Time has too much credit…It is not a great healer. It is an indifferent and perfunctory one. Sometimes it does not heal at all. And sometimes when it seems to, no healing has been necessary.
Darkness and Day (1951)

2 Well, of course, people are only human…But it really does not seem much for them to be.
A Family and a Fortune (1939)

[Compton-Burnett]

3 People don't resent having nothing nearly as much as too little.
A Family and a Fortune (1939)

[Compton-Burnett]

4 "The more we ask, the more we have. And, it is fair enough: asking is not always easy."
"And it is said to be hard to accept…So no wonder we have so little."

The Mighty and their Fall (1961)

[Compton-Burnett]

5 There are different kinds of wrong. The people sinned against are not always the best.
The Mighty and their Fall (1961)

[Compton-Burnett]

6 A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.
More Women than Men (1933)

[Compton-Burnett]

7 We must use words as they are used or stand aside from life.
Mother and Son (1955)

[Compton-Burnett]

8 There is more difference within the sexes than between them.
Mother and Son (1955)

[Compton-Burnett]

9 My point is that it is not punished, and that is why it is natural to be guilty of it. When it is likely to be punished, most of us avoid it.
in Orion (1945) "A Conversation between I. Compton-Burnett and M. Jourdain"

[Compton-Burnett]

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Conlon, Gerry first member of the Guildford Four to be released from prison

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

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Connolly, Billy 1942– Scottish comedian

1 Marriage is a wonderful invention; but, then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.
Duncan Campbell Billy Connolly (1976)

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Connolly, Cyril 1903–1974 English writer

1 Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once.
Enemies of Promise (1938)

2 As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers, so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.
Enemies of Promise (1938)

[Connolly]

3 Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.
Enemies of Promise (1938)

[Connolly]

4 There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.
Enemies of Promise (1938)

[Connolly]

5 I have called this style the Mandarin style, since it is beloved by literary pundits, by those who would make the written word as unlike as possible to the spoken one. It is the style of those writers whose tendency is to make their language convey more than they mean or more than they feel, it is the style of most artists and all humbugs.
Enemies of Promise (1938)

[Connolly]

6 In the eighteenth century he would have become Prime Minister before he was thirty; as it was he appeared honourably ineligible for the struggle of life.of Alec Douglas-Home
Enemies of Promise (1938)

[Connolly]

7 Imprisoned in every fat man a thin one is wildly signalling to be let out.
The Unquiet Grave (1944). ,

[Connolly]

8 Our memories are card-indexes consulted, and then put back in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.during the Blitz
The Unquiet Grave (1944)

[Connolly]

9
M is for Marx
And Movement of Masses
And Massing of Arses.
And Clashing of Classes.

"Where Engels Fears to Tread" (1945)

[Connolly]

10 It is closing time in the gardens of the West and from now on an artist will be judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair.
in Horizon December 1949—January 1950

[Connolly]

11 It is the one war in which everyone changes sides.on the generation gap
Tom Driberg, speech in House of Commons, 30 October 1959

[Connolly]

12 He could not blow his nose without moralising on the state of the handkerchief industry.of George Orwell
in Sunday Times 29 September 1968

[Connolly]

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Connolly, James 1868–1916 Irish nationalist and labour leader; executed after the Easter Rising, 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)

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Connors, Jimmy 1952– American tennis player

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"

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Conrad, Joseph 1857–1924 Polish-born British novelist

1 The horror! The horror!
Heart of Darkness (1902)

2 The terrorist and the policeman both come from the same basket.
The Secret Agent (1907)

[Conrad]

3 Reality, as usual, beats fiction out of sight.commenting on "this wartime atmosphere"
letter 11 August 1915

[Conrad]

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Conran, Shirley 1932– English writer

1 Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.
Superwoman (1975)

2 First things first, second things never.
Superwoman (1975)

[Conran]

3 Conran's Law of Housework—it expands to fill the time available plus half an hour.
Superwoman 2 (1977).

[Conran]

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Conran, Terence 1931– British designer and businessman

1 The figure is unbelievable—just because she cooked a few meals now and again and wrote a few books.on the £10 million divorce settlement awarded to Caroline Conran
in Mail on Sunday 6 July 1997 "Quotes of the Week"

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Cook, A. J. 1885–1931 English labour leader; Secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, 1924–31

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

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Cook, Peter 1937–1995 English satrist and actor

1 I'm glad it hasn't changed him. He's still selfish, vain, greedy. In other words a fully-rounded human being.of Dudley Moore's success in the US
in Guardian 10 January 1994

2 Life is a matter of passing the time enjoyably. There may be other things in life, but I've been too busy passing my time enjoyably to think very deeply about them.
in Guardian 10 January 1994

[Cook]

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Coolidge, Calvin 1872–1933 American Republican statesman, 30th President of the US, 1923–9

1 There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.
telegram to Samuel Gompers, 14 September 1919

2 Civilization and profits go hand in hand.
speech in New York, 27 November 1920

[Coolidge]

3 The chief business of the American people is business.
speech in Washington, 17 January 1925

[Coolidge]

4 I do not choose to run for President in nineteen twenty-eight.
statement issued at Rapid City, South Dakota, 2 August 1927

[Coolidge]

5 when asked by Mrs Coolidge what a sermon had been about:"Sins," he said. "Well, what did he say about sin?" "He was against it."
John H. McKee Coolidge: Wit and Wisdom (1933); perhaps apocryphal

[Coolidge]

6 They hired the money, didn't they?on war debts incurred by England and others
J. H. McKee Coolidge: Wit and Wisdom (1933)

[Coolidge]

7 Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
attributed in the programme of a memorial service for Coolidge in 1933

[Coolidge]

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Cooper, Diana 1892–1986 wife of Duff Cooper

1 It's nerve and brass, audace and disrespect, and leaping-before-you-look and what-the-hellism, that must be developed.on speaking French fluently rather than correctly
Philip Ziegler Diana Cooper (1981)

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Cooper, Duff 1890–1954 British Conservative politician, diplomat, and writer; husband of Diana Cooper

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
Artemis Cooper Durable Fire (1983)

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Cope, Wendy 1945– English poet

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); see below
Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
Lady Caroline Lamb (1785–1828) writing of Byron in her journal after their first meeting at a ball in March 1812; Elizabeth Jenkins Lady Caroline Lamb (1932)

[Cope]

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Copland, Aaron 1900–1990 American composer, pianist, and conductor

1 The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer to that would be, "Yes." And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be, "No."
What to Listen for in Music (1939)

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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

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Cornfeld, Bernard 1927– American businessman

1 Do you sincerely want to be rich?stock question to salesmen
C. Raw et al. Do You Sincerely Want to be Rich? (1971)

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Cornford, Frances 1886–1960 English poet; wife of Francis M. Cornford

1
Whoso maintains that I am humbled now
(Who wait the Awful Day) is still a liar;
I hope to meet my Maker brow to brow
And find my own the higher.

"Epitaph for a Reviewer" (1954)

2
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)

[Cornford]

3
O fat white woman whom nobody loves,
Why do you walk through the fields in gloves,
When the grass is soft as the breast of doves
And shivering-sweet to the touch?
O 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]

4
A young Apollo, golden-haired,
Stands dreaming on the verge of strife,
Magnificently unprepared
For the long littleness of life.
of Rupert Brooke
"Youth" (1910)

[Cornford]

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Cornford, Francis M. 1874–1943 English classical scholar; husband of Frances Cornford

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)

2 That branch of the art of lying which consists in very nearly deceiving your friends without quite deceiving your enemies.on propaganda
Microcosmographia Academica (1922 ed.)

[Cornford]

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Coubertin, Baron Pierre de 1863–1937 French sportsman and educationist, founder of the modern Olympics

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 in London, 24 July 1908

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Coué, Émile 1857–1926 French psychologist

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)

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Coupland, Douglas 1961– Canadian author

1 Generation X: tales for an accelerated culture.
title of book (1991)

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Coward, Noël 1899–1973 English dramatist, actor, and composer

1
Dance, dance, dance, little lady!
Leave tomorrow behind.

"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
I believe that since my life began
The most I've had is just
A talent to amuse.

"If Love Were All" (1929 song)

[Coward]

4
I'll see you again,
Whenever spring breaks through again.

"I'll See You Again" (1929 song)

[Coward]

5
London Pride has been handed down to us.
London Pride is a flower that's free.
London Pride means our own dear town to us,
And our pride it for ever will be.

"London Pride" (1941 song)

[Coward]

6
Mad about the boy,
It's pretty funny but I'm mad about the boy.
He has a gay appeal
That makes me feel
There may be something sad about the boy.

"Mad about the Boy" (1932 song)

[Coward]

7
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
The Japanese don't care to,
The Chinese wouldn't dare to,
The Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one,
But Englishmen detest a siesta.

"Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (1931 song)

[Coward]

8
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington,
Don't put your daughter on the stage.

"Mrs Worthington" (1935 song)

[Coward]

9
Poor little rich girl
You're a bewitched girl,
Better beware!

"Poor Little Rich Girl" (1925 song)

[Coward]

10
Someday I'll find you,
Moonlight behind you,
True to the dream I am dreaming.

"Someday I'll Find You" (1930 song)

[Coward]

11
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); see below

The stately homes of England,
How beautiful they stand!
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O'er all the pleasant land.

Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) "The Homes of England" (1849)

[Coward]

12
There are bad times just around the corner,
There are dark clouds travelling through the sky
And it's no good whining
About a silver lining
For we know from experience that they won't roll by.

"There are Bad Times Just Around the Corner" (1953 song)

[Coward]

13 I believe we should all behave quite differently if we lived in a warm, sunny climate all the time.
Brief Encounter (1945)

[Coward]

14 Very flat, Norfolk.
Private Lives (1930)

[Coward]

15 Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.
Private Lives (1930)

[Coward]

16 Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs.
Private Lives (1930)

[Coward]

17 Dear 338171 (May I call you 338?).
letter to T. E. Lawrence, 25 August 1930

[Coward]

18 The age of the common man has taken over a nation which owes its very existence to uncommon men.
diary, 31 December 1956

[Coward]

19 Just say the lines and don't trip over the furniture.advice on acting
D. Richards The Wit of Noël Coward (1968)

[Coward]

20 Television is for appearing on, not looking at.
D. Richards The Wit of Noël Coward (1968)

[Coward]

21 It would be nice if sometimes the kind things I say were considered worthy of quotation. It isn't difficult, you know, to be witty or amusing when one has something to say that is destructive, but damned hard to be clever and quotable when you are singing someone's praises.
William Marchant The Pleasure of His Company (1981)

[Coward]

22 Two wise acres and a cow.of Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell; the phrase "Three acres and a cow" was associated with Jesse Collings and his land reform propaganda, c. 1886, though already proverbial then
J. Pearson Façades (1978)

[Coward]

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Crane, Hart 1899–1932 American poet

1
Stars scribble on our eyes the frosty sagas,
The gleaming cantos of unvanquished space.

"Cape Hatteras" (1930)

2
Cowslip and shad-blow, flaked like tethered foam
Around bared teeth of stallions, bloomed that spring
When first I read thy lines, rife as the loam
Of prairies, yet like breakers cliffward leaping!
…My hand
in yours,
Walt Whitman—
so—

"Cape Hatteras" (1930)

[Crane]

3
We have seen
The moon in lonely alleys make
A grail of laughter of an empty ash can.

"Chaplinesque" (1926)

[Crane]

4
Ah, madame! truly it's not right
When one isn't the real Gioconda,
To adapt her methods and deportment
For snaring the poor world in a blue funk.

"Locutions des Pierrots" (1933)

[Crane]

5
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]

6
O Sleepless as the river under thee,
Vaulting the sea, the prairies' dreaming sod,
Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend
And of the curveship lend a myth to God.

"To Brooklyn Bridge" (1930)

[Crane]

7
You who desired so much—in vain to ask—
Yet fed your hunger like an endless task,
Dared dignify the labor, bless the quest—
Achieved that stillness ultimately best,

Being, of all, least sought for: Emily, hear!

"To Emily Dickinson" (1927)

[Crane]

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Crewe, Ivor 1945– British political scientist

1 The British public has always displayed a healthy cynicism of MPs. They have taken it for granted that MPs are self-serving impostors and hypocrites who put party before country and self before party.addressing the Nolan inquiry into standards in public life
in Guardian 18 January 1995

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Crick, Francis 1916– English biophysicist

1 "You" your joys and your sorrows, your memories and ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.
The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (1994)

2 Almost all aspects of life are engineered at the molecular level, and without understanding molecules we can only have a very sketchy understanding of life itself.
What Mad Pursuit (1988)

[Crick]

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Crick, Francis 1916– and Watson, James D. 1928– English biophysicist; American biologist

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

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Crisp, Quentin 1908–99 English writer

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)

2 An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last instalment missing.
The Naked Civil Servant (1968)

[Crisp]

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Critchley, Julian 1930–2000 British Conservative politician and journalist

1 Humming, Hawing and Hesitation are the three Graces of contemporary Parliamentary oratory.
Westminster Blues (1985)

2 The only safe pleasure for a parliamentarian is a bag of boiled sweets.
in Listener 10 June 1982

[Critchley]

3 She cannot see an institution without hitting it with her handbag.of Margaret Thatcher
in The Times 21 June 1982

[Critchley]

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Crompton, Richmal 1890–1969 English author of books for children

1 I'll thcream and thcream and thcream till I'm thick. I can.Violet Elizabeth's habitual threat
Still—William (1925)

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Crosby, Bing 1903–1977 American singer and film actor

1
Where the blue of the night
Meets the gold of the day,
Someone waits for me.

"Where the Blue of the Night" (1931 song); with Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert

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Crosland, Anthony 1918–1977 British Labour politician; Foreign Secretary 1976–7

1 Total abstinence and a good filing system are not now the right signposts to the socialist Utopia; or at least, if they are, some of us will fall by the wayside.
The Future of Socialism (1956)

2 If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every fucking grammar school in England. And Wales, and Northern Ireland.c.1965, while Secretary of State for Education and Science
Susan Crosland Tony Crosland (1982)

[Crosland]

3 In the blood of the socialist there should always run a trace of the anarchist and the libertarian, and not too much of the prig and the prude.
Susan Crosland Tony Crosland (1982)

[Crosland]

4 Harold knows best. Harold is a bastard, but he is a genius. He's like Odysseus. Odysseus was a bastard, but he managed to steer the ship between Scylla and Charybdis.on Harold Wilson
Susan Crosland Tony Crosland (1982)

[Crosland]

5 The party's over.cutting back central government's support for rates, as Minister of the Environment in the 1970s
Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982).

[Crosland]

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Cross, Amanda 1926– American crime writer and academic

1 "What…is a text course?" "One that uses books, of course…You remember books? They're what we used to read before we started discussing what we ought to read."
Poetic Justice (1970)

2 In former days, everyone found the assumption of innocence so easy; today we find fatally easy the assumption of guilt.
Poetic Justice (1970)

[Cross]

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Cross, Douglas American songwriter

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)

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Crossman, Richard 1907–1974 British Labour politician

1 While there is death there is hope.on the death of Hugh Gaitskell in 1963
Tam Dalyell Dick Crossman (1989)

2 The Civil Service is profoundly deferential—"Yes, Minister! No, Minister! If you wish it, Minister!"
diary, 22 October 1964

[Crossman]

3 There is a cracking sound in the political atmosphere: the sound of the consensus breaking up.
in 1970; Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Crossman]

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Crowley, Aleister 1875–1947 English diabolist

1 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Book of the Law (1909); see below
Do what you like.
François Rabelais (c.1494–c.1553) Gargantua (1534)

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cummings, e. e. 1894–1962 Amercian poet

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 oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry.

is 5 (1926)

[cummings]

3
Humanity i love you because
when you're hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink.

"La Guerre" no. 2 (1925)

[cummings]

4
o to be a metope
now that triglyph's here.

"Memorabilia" (1926); see below

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there.

Robert Browning (1812–89) "Home-Thoughts, from Abroad" (1845)

[cummings]

5
a politician is an arse upon
which everyone has sat except a man.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 10

[cummings]

6
plato told

him: he couldn't
believe it (jesus

told him; he
wouldn't believe
it).

1 x 1 (1944) no. 13

[cummings]

7
pity this busy monster, manunkind,
not. Progress is a comfortable disease.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 14

[cummings]

8
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]

9
when man determined to destroy
himself he picked the was
of shall and finding only why
smashed it into because.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 26

[cummings]

10
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.

"somewhere I have never travelled" (1931)

[cummings]

11
i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.

"Sonnets–Actualities" no. 8 (1925)

[cummings]

12
the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds.

"Sonnets–Realities" no. 1 (1923)

[cummings]

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Cummings, William Thomas 1903–1945 American priest

1 There are no atheists in the foxholes.
C. P. Romulo I Saw the Fall of the Philippines (1943)

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Cuomo, Mario 1932– American Democratic politician

1 You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
in New Republic, Washington, DC, 8 April 1985

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Cupitt, Don 1934– British theologian

1 Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity.
in Independent 19 December 1996

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Currie, Edwina 1946– British Conservative politician

1 My message to the businessmen of this country when they go abroad on business is that there is one thing above all they can take with them to stop them catching Aids—and that is the wife.
speech at Runcorn, 12 February 1987

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Curtis, Tony 1925– American actor

1 It's like kissing Hitler.when asked what it was like to kiss Marilyn Monroe
A. Hunter Tony Curtis (1985)

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Curtiz, Michael 1888–1962 Hungarian-born American film director

1 Bring on the empty horses!while directing The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)
David Niven Bring on the Empty Horses (1975)

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Curzon, Lord 1859–1925 British Conservative politician; Viceroy of India 1898–1905

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]

3 Dear me, I never knew that the lower classes had such white skins.supposedly said by Curzon when watching troops bathing during the First World War
K. Rose Superior Person (1969)

[Curzon]

4 Gentlemen do not take soup at luncheon.
E. L. Woodward Short Journey (1942)

[Curzon]

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D

Daley, Richard J. 1902–1976 American Democratic politician and Mayor of Chicago

1 The policeman isn't there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder.to the press, on the riots during the Democratic Convention in 1968
Milton N. Rakove Don't Make No Waves: Don't Back No Losers (1975)

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Dali, Salvador 1904–1989 Spanish painter

1 Picasso is Spanish, I am too. Picasso is a genius. I am too. Picasso will be seventy-two and I about forty-eight. Picasso is known in every country of the world; so am I. Picasso is a Communist; I am not.
lecture in Madrid, 12 October 1951; Meredith Etherington Smith Dali (1992)

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Dalton, Hugh 1887–1962 British Labour politician

1 He is loyal to his own career but only incidentally to anything or anyone else.of Richard Crossman
diary, 17 September 1941

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Darion, Joe 1917–2001 American songwriter

1 Dream the impossible dream.
"The Quest" (1965 song)

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Darnell, Bill Canadian environmentalist

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).

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Darrow, Clarence 1857–1938 American lawyer

1 I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure—that is all that agnosticism means.
speech at trial of John Thomas Scopes for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in school, 15 July 1925

2 I would like to see a time when man loves his fellow man and forgets his colour or his creed. We will never be civilized until that time comes. I know the Negro race has a long road to go. I believe that the life of the Negro race has been a life of tragedy, of injustice, of oppression. The law has made him equal, but man has not.
speech in Detroit, 19 May 1926

[Darrow]

3 When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I'm beginning to believe it.
Irving Stone Clarence Darrow for the Defence (1941)

[Darrow]

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Darwin, Francis 1848–1925 English botanist; son of Charles Darwin

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

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Davies, Robertson 1913–1995 Canadian novelist

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)

2 It's an excellent life of somebody else. But I've really lived inside myself, and she can't get in there.on a biography of himself
interview in The Times 4 April 1995

[Davies]

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Davies, W. H. 1871–1940 Welsh poet

1
A rainbow and a cuckoo's song
May never come together again;
May never come
This side the tomb.

"A Great Time" (1914)

2
It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues.

"Kingfisher" (1910)

[Davies]

3
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

"Leisure" (1911)

[Davies]

4
Come, lovely Morning, rich in frost
On iron, wood and glass…

Come, rich and lovely Winter's Eve,
That seldom handles gold;
And spread your silver sunsets out,
In glittering fold on fold.

"Silver Hours" (1932)

[Davies]

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Davis, Bette

seeFilm lines

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Davis, Sammy Jnr. 1925–1990 American entertainer

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)

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Dawkins, Richard 1941– English biologist

1 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); see below
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.
William Paley (1743–1805) Natural Theology (1802)

2 However many ways there may be of being alive, it is certain that there are vastly more ways of being dead.
The Blind Watchmaker (1986)

[Dawkins]

3 The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale.
The Blind Watchmaker (1986).

[Dawkins]

4 The selfish gene
title of book (1976)

[Dawkins]

5 They are in you and in me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence…they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines.
The Selfish Gene (1976)

[Dawkins]

6 Science offers the best answers to the meaning of life. Science offers the privilege of understanding before you die why you were ever born in the first place.
in Break the Science Barrier with Richard Dawkins (Channel Four) 1 September 1996

[Dawkins]

7 I think it is likely that there is life out there. I fear we shall never know about it.
Seven Wonders of the World (BBC TV) 9 April 1997

[Dawkins]

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Dawson, Christopher 1889–1970 English historian of ideas and social culture

1 As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.
The Judgement of the Nations (1942)

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Dawson, Lord of Penn 1864–1945 English doctor; physician to King George V

1 The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close.
bulletin, 20 January 1936; K. Rose King George V (1983)

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Day, Robin 1923– British broadcaster

1 Television…thrives on unreason, and unreason thrives on television… strikes at the emotions rather than the intellect.
Grand Inquisitor (1989)

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Dayan, Moshe 1915–1981 Israeli statesman and general

1 War is the most exciting and dramatic thing in life. In fighting to the death you feel terribly relaxed when you manage to come through.
in Observer 13 February 1972

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Day-Lewis, C. 1904–1972 Anglo-Irish poet and critic

1
Do not expect again a phoenix hour,
The triple-towered sky, the dove complaining,
Sudden the rain of gold and heart's first ease
Traced under trees by the eldritch light of sundown.

"From Feathers to Iron" (1935)

2
Tempt me no more; for I
Have known the lightning's hour,
The poet's inward pride,
The certainty of power.

The Magnetic Mountain (1933)

[Day-Lewis]

3
You that love England, who have an ear for her music,
The slow movement of clouds in benediction,
Clear arias of light thrilling over her uplands,
Over the chords of summer sustained peacefully.

The Magnetic Mountain (1933)

[Day-Lewis]

4
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)

[Day-Lewis]

5 Every good poem, in fact, is a bridge built from the known, familiar side of life over into the unknown. Science too, is always making expeditions into the unknown. But this does not mean that science can supersede poetry. For poetry enlightens us in a different way from science; it speaks directly to our feelings or imagination. The findings of poetry are no more and no less true than science.
Poetry for You (1944)

[Day-Lewis]

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Dean, John 1938– American lawyer and White House counsel during the Watergate affair

1 We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that is growing.
from the Presidential Transcripts, 21 March 1973

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Dean, Millvina 1911– English youngest survivor of the Titanic disaster

1 I can't bear iced drinks…the iceberg, you know. Perhaps some champagne, though.while visiting the house in Kansas City, Missouri, in which her family would have lived if her father had not drowned
in Times 20 August 1997

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de Beauvoir, Simone 1908–1986 French novelist and feminist

1 Garbo's visage had a kind of emptiness into which anything could be projected—nothing can be read into Bardot's face.
Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome (1959)

2 It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is raised above the animal; that is why superiority has been accorded in humanity not to the sex that brings forth but to that which kills.
The Second Sex (1949)

[de Beauvoir]

3 One is not born a woman: one becomes one.
The Second Sex (1949)

[de Beauvoir]

4 Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition…The housewife wears herself out marking time: she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present.
The Second Sex (1949)

[de Beauvoir]

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de Bono, Edward 1933– British writer and physician

1 Some people are aware of another sort of thinking which…leads to those simple ideas that are obvious only after they have been thought of…the term "lateral thinking" has been coined to describe this other sort of thinking; "vertical thinking" is used to denote the conventional logical process.
The Use of Lateral Thinking (1967)

2 Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.
in Observer 12 June 1977

[de Bono]

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Debord, Guy 1931–1994 French philosopher

1 Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle's present vulgarity.on the concept of the "global village"; see
Comments on the Society of the Spectacle (1988)

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Debray, Régis 1940– French Marxist theorist

1 International life is right-wing, like nature. The social contract is left-wing, like humanity.
Charles de Gaulle (1994)

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Debs, Eugene Victor 1855–1926 Founder of the Socialist party of America

1 When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.
speech at his trial for sedition in Cleveland, Ohio, 11 September 1918

2 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.
speech at his trial for sedition, in Cleveland, Ohio, 14 September 1918

[Debs]

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Degas, Edgar 1834–1917 French artist

1 Art is vice. You don't marry it legitimately, you rape it.
P. Lafond Degas (1918)

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de Gaulle, Charles 1890–1970 French general; President of France, 1959–69

1 France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war!
proclamation, 18 June 1940

2 Faced by the bewilderment of my countrymen, by the disintegration of a government in thrall to the enemy, by the fact that the institutions of my country are incapable, at the moment, of functioning, I General de Gaulle, a French soldier and military leader, realize that I now speak for France.
speech in London, 19 June 1940

[de Gaulle]

3 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]

4 Je vous ai compris.I have understood you.
speech at Algiers, 4 June 1958

[de Gaulle]

5 Yes, it is Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals, it is Europe, it is the whole of Europe, that will decide the fate of the world.
speech to the people of Strasbourg, 23 November 1959

[de Gaulle]

6 Politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.replying to Attlee's remark that "De Gaulle is a very good soldier and a very bad politician"
Clement Attlee A Prime Minister Remembers (1961).

[de Gaulle]

7 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]

8 How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?
E. Mignon Les Mots du Général (1962)

[de Gaulle]

9 Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
Ernest Mignon Les Mots du Général (1962)

[de Gaulle]

10 Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.
speech at Elysée Palace, 2 July 1963

[de Gaulle]

11 Vive Le Québec Libre.Long Live Free Quebec.
speech in Montreal, 24 July 1967

[de Gaulle]

12 Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.
Le Fil de l'épée (1932)

[de Gaulle]

13 The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute.
Vers l'armée de métier (1934)

[de Gaulle]

14 What we think about death only matters for what death makes us think about life.
A. Malraux Les Chênes qu'on abat (1971)

[de Gaulle]

15 And now she is like everyone else.on the death of his daughter, who had been born with Down's syndrome
attributed

[de Gaulle]

16 One does not put Voltaire in the Bastille.when asked to arrest Sartre, in the 1960s
in Encounter June 1975

[de Gaulle]

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de Knight, J. 1919– and Freedman, M. 1893–1962

1 (We're gonna) rock around the clock.
title of song (1953)

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de la Mare, Walter 1873–1956 English poet and novelist

1
Oh, no man knows
Through what wild centuries
Roves back the rose.

"All That's Past" (1912)

2
He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia,
They have stolen his wits away.

"Arabia" (1912)

[de la Mare]

3
Beauty vanishes; beauty passes;
However rare—rare it be.

"Epitaph" (1912)

[de la Mare]

4
Look thy last on all things lovely,
Every hour.

"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
Softly along the road of evening,
In a twilight dim with rose,
Wrinkled with age, and drenched with dew,
Old Nod, the shepherd, goes.

"Nod" (1912)

[de la Mare]

8
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon.

"Silver" (1913)

[de la Mare]

9
Behind the blinds I sit and watch
The people passing—passing by;
And not a single one can see
My tiny watching eye.

"The Window" (1913)

[de la Mare]

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Delaney, Shelagh 1939– English dramatist

1 Women never have young minds. They are born three thousand years old.
A Taste of Honey (1959)

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Delius, Frederick 1862–1934 English composer, of German and Scandinavian descent

1 It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music.
in Sackbut September 1920 "At the Crossroads"

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Dempsey, Jack 1895–1983 American boxer

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)

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Deneuve, Catherine 1943– French actress

1 The paparazzi are nothing but dogs of war.after the death in a car crash of Diana, Princess of Wales
in Daily Telegraph 3 September 1997

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Deng Xiaoping 1904–1997 Chinese Communist statesman, from 1977 paramount leader of China

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

2 I should love to be around in 1997 to see with my own eyes Hong Kong's return to China.
in 1984; in Daily Telegraph 20 February 1997, obituary

[Deng]

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Denning, Lord 1899– British judge

1 The Treaty is like an incoming tide. It flows into the estuaries and up the rivers. It cannot be held back.
in 1975; Anthony Sampson The Essential Anatomy of Britain (1992)

2 To every subject of this land, however powerful, I would use Thomas Fuller's words over three hundred years ago, "Be ye never so high, the law is above you."
in a High Court ruling against the Attorney-General, January 1977; see below
Be ye never so high, the law is above you.
Thomas Fuller (1654–1734) Gnomologia (1732)

[Denning]

3 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)

[Denning]

4 Properly exercised the new powers of the executive lead to the welfare state; but abused they lead to the totalitarian state.
Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Denning]

5 As a moth is drawn to the light, so is a litigant drawn to the United States. If he can only get his case into their courts, he stands to win a fortune. At no cost to himself; and at no risk of having to pay anything to the other side.
Smith Kline & French Laboratories Ltd. v. Bloch 1983

[Denning]

6 We shouldn't have all these campaigns to get the Birmingham Six released if they'd been hanged. They'd have been forgotten and the whole community would be satisfied.
in Spectator 18 August 1990

[Denning]

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Derrida, Jacques 1930– French philosopher and critic

1 Il n'y a pas de hors-texte.There is nothing outside of the text.
Of Grammatology (1967)

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De Sylva, Buddy 1895–1950 and Brown, Lew 1893–1958

1
The moon belongs to everyone,
The best things in life are free,
The stars belong to everyone,
They gleam there for you and me.

"The Best Things in Life are Free" (1927 song)

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De Vries, Peter 1910–93 American novelist

1 Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.
Comfort Me With Apples (1956)

2 The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.
The Tunnel of Love (1954)

[De Vries]

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Dewar, Lord 1864–1930 British industrialist

1 only two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic—the quick, and the dead.
George Robey Looking Back on Life (1933)

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Dewey, Thomas E. 1902–1971 American politician and presidential candidate

1 That's why it's time for a change!phrase used extensively in campaigns of 1944, 1948, and 1952
campaign speech in San Francisco, 21 September 1944

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Diaghilev, Sergei 1872–1929 Russian ballet impresario

1 Étonne-moi.Astonish me.to Jean Cocteau
W. Fowlie (ed.) Journals of Jean Cocteau (1956)

2 Tchaikovsky thought of committing suicide for fear of being discovered as a homosexual, but today, if you are a composer and not homosexual, you might as well put a bullet through your head.
Vernon Duke Listen Here! (1963)

[Diaghilev]

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Diana, Princess of Wales 1961–1997 former wife of Charles, Prince of Wales

1 If men had to have babies, they would only ever have one each.
in Observer 29 July 1984 `Sayings of the Week'

2 It gives you a feeling of comfort. It's like having a pair of arms around you, but it's temporary. Then you're disgusted at the bloatedness of your stomach, and then you bring it all up again.on bulimia
interview on Panorama, BBC1 TV, 20 November 1995

[Diana]

3 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

[Diana]

4 There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
interview on Panorama, BBC1 TV, 20 November 1995

[Diana]

5 I'm not a political figure…I'm a humanitarian figure. I always have been and I always will be.on taking part in the campaign against landmines
in Daily Telegraph 17 January 1997

[Diana]

6 You are going to get a big surprise with the next thing I do.to reporters at St Tropez
in Guardian 16 July 1997

[Diana]

7 The press is ferocious. It forgives nothing, it only hunts for mistakes…In my position anyone sane would have left a long time ago.contrasting British and foreign press reporting
in Le Monde 27 August 1997

[Diana]

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Dickson, Paul 1939– American writer

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

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Didion, Joan 1934– American writer

1 Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a night when choice was any more than the sum of all the choices gone before?
Run River (1963)

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Dietz, Howard 1896–1983 American songwriter

1 Ars gratia artis.Art for art's sake.motto of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studios, apparently intended to say "Art is beholden to the artists"
Bosley Crowthier The Lion's Share (1957); see below
L'art pour l'art.Art for art's sake.
Benjamin Constant (1767–1834) Journal intime 11 February 1804

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Dimnet, Ernest French priest, writer, and lecturer

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)

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Dinesen, Isak (Karen Blixen) 1885–1962 Danish novelist and short-story writer

1 A herd of elephant…pacing along as if they had an appointment at the end of the world.
Out of Africa (1937)

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]

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Dirac, Paul 1902–1984 British theoretical physicist, of Swiss descent

1 It is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment…It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations, and if one has a really sound insight, one is on a sure line of progress. If there is not complete agreement between the results of one's work and experiment, one should not allow oneself to be too discouraged, because the discrepancy may well be due to minor features that are not properly taken into account and that will get cleared up with further developments of the theory.
in Scientific American May 1963

2 It is nice, but in one of the chapters the author made a mistake. He describes the sun as rising twice on the same day.on the novel Crime and Punishment
G. Gamow Thirty Years that Shook Physics (1966)

[Dirac]

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Dodd, Ken 1931– British comedian

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 forms since the mid-1960s

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Dole, Robert ("Bob") 1923– American Republican politician

1 announcing his decision to relinquish his Senate seat and step down as majority leader:I will seek the presidency with nothing to fall back on but the judgement of the people and with nowhere to go but the White House or home.
on Capitol Hill, 15 May 1996; in Daily Telegraph 16 May 1996

2 A corps of the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered, and never learned.of the Clinton administration
nomination acceptance speech at Republican convention in San Diego, 15 August 1996

[Dole]

3 It's a lot more fun winning. It hurts to lose.conceding the US presidential election, 6 November 1996
in Daily Telegraph 7 November 1996

[Dole]

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Donleavy, J. P. 1926– Irish-American novelist

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)

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Doty, Mark 1953– American poet

1
and I swear sometimes
when I put my head to his chest
I can hear the virus humming

like a refrigerator.

"Atlantis" (1996)

2
In one of those, he says, is the virus,
a box of AIDS. And if I open it…

"Grosse Fuge" (1996)

[Doty]

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Douglas, Keith 1920–1944 English poet

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]

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Douglas, Norman 1868–1952 Scottish-born novelist and essayist

1 To find a friend one must close one eye. To keep him—two.
Almanac (1941)

2 You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.
South Wind (1917)

[Douglas]

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Douglas, O. (Anna Buchan) 1877–1948 Scottish writer, sister of John Buchan

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)

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Douglas, William O. 1898–1980 American lawyer

1 Free speech is not to be regulated like diseased cattle and impure butter. The audience…that hissed yesterday may applaud today, even for the same performance.
dissenting opinion in Kingsley Books, Inc. v. Brown 1957

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Dowd, Maureen 1952– American journalist

1 The Princess of Wales was the queen of surfaces, ruling over a kingdom where fame was the highest value and glamour the most cherished attribute.
in New York Times 3 September 1997

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Doyle, Arthur Conan 1859–1930 Scottish-born writer of detective fiction

1 Matilda Briggs…was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.
The Case-Book of Sherlock Homes (1927)

2 Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age.
His Last Bow (1917)

[Doyle]

3 The vocabulary of "Bradshaw" is nervous and terse, but limited. The selection of words would hardly lend itself to the sending of general messages.
The Valley of Fear (1915)

[Doyle]

4 Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
The Valley of Fear (1915)

[Doyle]

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Drabble, Margaret 1939– English novelist

1 Lord knows what incommunicable small terrors infants go through, unknown to all. We disregard them, we say they forget, because they have not the words to make us remember…By the time they learn to speak they have forgotten the details of their complaints, and so we never know. They forget so quickly we say, because we cannot contemplate the fact that they never forget.
The Millstone (1965)

2 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)

[Drabble]

3 Affluence was, quite simply, a question of texture…The threadbare carpets of infancy, the coconut matting, the ill-laid linoleum, the utility furniture…had all spoken of a life too near the bones of subsistence, too little padded, too severely worn.
The Needle's Eye (1972)

[Drabble]

4 Perhaps the rare and simple pleasure of being seen for what one is compensates for the misery of being it.
A Summer Bird-Cage (1963)

[Drabble]

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Drinkwater, John 1882–1937 English poet and dramatist

1
Deep is the silence, deep
On moon-washed apples of wonder.

"Moonlit Apples" (1917)

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Dubek, Alexander 1921–1992 Czechoslovak statesman; First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, 1968–9

1 In the service of the people we followed such a policy that socialism would not lose its human face.describing the Prague Spring, 1968
in Rudé Právo 19 July 1968

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Du Bois, W. E. B. 1868–1963 American social reformer and political activist

1 The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.
The Souls of Black Folk (1905)

2 One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long.
last message, written 26 June, 1957, and read at his funeral, 1963

[Du Bois]

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Duffy, Carol Ann 1965– English poet

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).

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Dulles, John Foster 1888–1959 American international lawyer and politician

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.

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Du Maurier, Daphne 1907–1989 English novelist

1 Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
Rebecca (1938)

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Duncan, Isadora

seeLast words

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Duncan, Ronald 1914–1982 English dramatist

1
Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity?

"In Praise of the Horse" (1962)

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Dunlop, Ian 1940– British art historian

1 The shock of the new.
title of book about modern art (1972)

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Dunn, Douglas 1942– Scottish poet

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;
A poetry of nuts and bolts, born, bred,
Embattled by the Clyde, tight and impure.

"Clydesiders" (1974)

[Dunn]

3
They ruined us. They conquered continents.
We filled their uniforms. We cruised the seas.
We worked their mines and made their histories.
You work, we rule, they said. We worked; they ruled.
They fooled the tenements. All men were fooled.

"Empires" (1979)

[Dunn]

4
I am light with meditation, religiose
And mystic with a day of solitude.

"Reading Pascan in the Lowlands" (1985)

[Dunn]

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Durcan, Paul 1944– Irish poet

1
Some of us made it
To the forest edge, but many of us did not

Make it, although their unborn children did—
Such as you whom the camp commandant branded
Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. Jesus, break his fall:

There—but for the clutch of luck—go we all.

"The Death by Heroin of Sid Vicious" (1980)

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Durem, Ray 1915–1963 American poet

1
Some of my best friends are white boys.
when I meet 'em
I treat 'em
just the same as if they was people.

"Broadminded" (written 1951)

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Durocher, Leo 1906–1991 American baseball coach

1 Nice guys. Finish last.casual remark at a practice ground, July 1946
Nice Guys Finish Last (as the remark generally is quoted, 1975)

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Durrell, Lawrence 1912–1990 English novelist, poet, and travel writer

1
No history much? Perhaps. Only this ominous
Dark beauty flowering under veils,
Trapped in the spectrum of a dying style:
A village like an instinct left to rust,
Composed around the echo of a pistol-shot.

"Sarajevo" (1951)

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Dürrenmatt, Friedrich 1921– Swiss writer

1 What was once thought can never be unthought.
The Physicists (1962)

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Dury, Ian 1942–2000 British rock singer and songwriter

1 Sex and drugs and rock and roll.
title of song (1977)

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Duvall, Robert

seeFilm lines

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Dworkin, Andrea 1946– American feminist and writer

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; in Letters from a War Zone (1988)

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Dylan, Bob 1941– American singer and songwriter

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
Don't think twice, it's all right.

title of song (1963)

[Dylan]

3
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords, in the hands of young children…
And it's a hard rain's a gonna fall.

"A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" (1963 song)

[Dylan]

4 Money doesn't talk, it swears.
"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" (1965 song)

[Dylan]

5
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]

6
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

"Like a Rolling Stone" (1965 song)

[Dylan]

7
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all.

"Love Minus Zero / No Limit" (1965 song)

[Dylan]

8
Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

"Mr Tambourine Man" (1965 song)

[Dylan]

9
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

"My Back Pages" (1964 song)

[Dylan]

10
Señor, señor, do you know where we're headin'?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?

"Señor (Tale of Yankee Power)" (1978 song)

[Dylan]

11
All that foreign oil controlling American soil.

"Slow Train" (1979 song)

[Dylan]

12
Come mothers and fathers,
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand.
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'!

"The Times They Are A-Changing" (1964 song)

[Dylan]

13
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide,
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

"With God on our Side" (1963 song)

[Dylan]

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E

Eastwood, Clint

seeFilm lines

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Eban, Abba 1915– Israeli diplomat

1 History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
speech in London, 16 December 1970

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Eddington, Arthur 1882–1944 British astrophysicist

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)

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 someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations—then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation—well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But 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)

[Eddington]

4 I am standing on the threshold about to enter a room. It is a complicated business. In the first place I must shove against an atmosphere pressing with a force of fourteen pounds on every square inch of my body. I must make sure of landing on a plank travelling at twenty miles a second round the sun— a fraction of a second too early or too late, the plank would be miles away. I must do this whilst hanging from a round planet, head outward into space, and with a wind of aether blowing at no one knows how many miles a second through every interstice of my body.
The Nature of the Physical World (1928)

[Eddington]

5 I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars.
Stars and Atoms (1928)

[Eddington]

6 Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers.
attributed; R. L. Weber More Random Walks in Science (1982)

[Eddington]

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Eden, Anthony 1897–1977 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1955–7; husband of Clarissa Eden

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

2 Long experience has taught me that to be criticized is not always to be wrong.during the Suez crisis
speech at Lord Mayor's Guildhall banquet; in Daily Herald 10 November 1956

[Eden]

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Eden, Clarissa 1920– wife of Anthony Eden

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

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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)

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Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) 1894–1972 King of the United Kingdom, 1936; husband of the Duchess of Windsor

1 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.following his abdication
radio broadcast, 11 December 1936

2 The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
in Look 5 March 1957

[Edward VIII]

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Ehrenreich, Barbara 1941– American sociologist and writer

1 Exercise is the yuppie version of bulimia.
The Worst Years of Our Lives (1991) "Food Worship"

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Ehrlich, Paul Ralph 1932– American biologist

1 The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
in Saturday Review 5 June 1971

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Ehrlichman, John 1925– American government official in the Nixon administration

1 I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.Nixon had withdrawn his support for Patrick Gray, nominated as director of the FBI, although Gray himself had not been informed
in Washington Post 27 July 1973

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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)

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Einstein, Albert 1879–1955 German-born theoretical physicist; originator of the theory of relativity

1 Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Science, Philosophy and Religion (1941)

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 does not play dice.
letter to Max Born, 4 December 1926

[Einstein]

5 I am an absolute pacifist…It is an instinctive feeling. It is a feeling that possesses me, because the murder of men is disgusting.
interview with Paul Hutchinson, in Christian Century 28 August 1929

[Einstein]

6 If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
address at the Sorbonne, Paris, possibly early December 1929, in New York Times 16 February 1930

[Einstein]

7 I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
in an interview, given on the Belgenland, December 1930

[Einstein]

8 I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
interview with G. S. Viereck, January 1931

[Einstein]

9 As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.
letter to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, 19 September 1932

[Einstein]

10 The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility…The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle.usually quoted as "The most incomprehensible fact about the universe is that it is comprehensible"
in Franklin Institute Journal March 1936 "Physics and Reality"

[Einstein]

11 Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration.warning of the possible development of an atomic bomb, and leading to the setting up of the Manhattan Project
letter to Franklin Roosevelt, 2 August 1939, drafted by Leo Szilard and signed by Einstein

[Einstein]

12 The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.
telegram to prominent Americans, 24 May 1946

[Einstein]

13 If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
in Observer 15 January 1950

[Einstein]

14 Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen.
Lincoln Barnett The Universe and Dr Einstein (1950 ed.)

[Einstein]

15 The grand aim of all science to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest possible number of hypotheses or axioms.
Lincoln Barnett The Universe and Dr Einstein (1950 ed.)

[Einstein]

16 If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.
in Reporter 18 November 1954

[Einstein]

17 The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however persistent.
letter to Michelangelo Besso, 21 March 1955

[Einstein]

18 One must divide one's time between politics and equations. But our equations are much more important to me.
C. P. Snow "Einstein"; M. Goldsmith et al. (eds.) Einstein (1980)

[Einstein]

19 Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race.
Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman Albert Einstein, the Human Side (1979)

[Einstein]

20 When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks.
to Philippe Halsman; A. P. French Einstein: A Centenary Volume (1979)

[Einstein]

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Eisenhower, Dwight D. 1890–1969 American general and Republican statesman, 34th President of the US, 1953–61

1 Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
speech in Washington, 16 April 1953

2 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.
speech at press conference, 7 April 1954

[Eisenhower]

3 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]

4 In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Richard Nixon Six Crises (1962); attributed

[Eisenhower]

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Eliot, T. S. 1888–1965 Anglo-American poet, critic, and dramatist

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.

The Cocktail Party (1950)

[Eliot]

5
Success is relative:
It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.

The Family Reunion (1939)

[Eliot]

6
Round and round the circle
Completing the charm
So the knot be unknotted
The cross be uncrossed
The crooked be made straight
And the curse be ended.

The Family Reunion (1939)

[Eliot]

7
How unpleasant to meet Mr Eliot!
With his features of clerical cut,
And his brow so grim
And his mouth so prim
And his conversation, so nicely
Restricted to What Precisely
And If and Perhaps and But.

"Five-Finger Exercises" (1936); see below

"How pleasant to know Mr Lear!"

Edward Lear (1812–88) Nonsense Songs (1871) preface

[Eliot]

8
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]

9
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]

10
Human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 1.

[Eliot]

11
At the still point of the turning world.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 2

[Eliot]

12
Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.

Four Quartets "Burnt Norton" (1936) pt. 5

[Eliot]

13
In my beginning is my end.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 1; see below
In my end is my beginning.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–87) motto embroidered with an emblem of her mother, Mary of Guise

[Eliot]

14
That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory:
A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,
Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle
With words and meanings.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 2

[Eliot]

15
The houses are all gone under the sea.
The dancers are all gone under the hill.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 2

[Eliot]

16
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]

17
The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer's art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 4

[Eliot]

18
Each venture
Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate
With shabby equipment always deteriorating
In the general mess of imprecision of feeling.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 5

[Eliot]

19
Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure.

Four Quartets "East Coker" (1940) pt. 5

[Eliot]

20
I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god.

Four Quartets "The Dry Salvages" (1941) pt. 1

[Eliot]

21 We had the experience but missed the meaning.
Four Quartets "The Dry Salvages" (1941) pt. 2

[Eliot]

22
And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 1

[Eliot]

23
Ash on an old man's sleeve
Is all the ash the burnt roses leave.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 2

[Eliot]

24
The death of hope and despair,
This is the death of air.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 2

[Eliot]

25
Since our concern was speech, and speech impelled us
To purify the dialect of the tribe.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 2

[Eliot]

26
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Four Quartets "Little Gidding" (1942) pt. 5

[Eliot]

27
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]

28
A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments. 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]

29
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; see below
Sin is behovely, but all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.
Julian of Norwich (1343–after 1416) Revelations of Divine Love

[Eliot]

30
Here I am, an old man in a dry month
Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.

"Gerontion" (1920)

[Eliot]

31
After such knowledge, what forgiveness?

"Gerontion" (1920)

[Eliot]

32
Tenants of the house,
Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season.

"Gerontion" (1920)

[Eliot]

33
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

34
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear.

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

35
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow.

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

36
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

"The Hollow Men" (1925)

[Eliot]

37
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); see below
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.
Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626) Of the Nativity (1622)

[Eliot]

38
There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death
But had thought they were different.

"Journey of the Magi" (1927)

[Eliot]

39
With an alien people clutching their gods.

"Journey of the Magi" (1927)

[Eliot]

40
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917).

[Eliot]

41
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

42
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

43
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

44
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

45
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

46
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)

[Eliot]

47
I grow old…I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

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.

"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917); see below

Teach me to hear mermaids singing.

John Donne (1572–1631) Songs and Sonnets "Song: Go and catch a falling star"

[Eliot]

48
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.

"Morning at the Window" (1917)

[Eliot]

49
Yet we have gone on living,
Living and partly living.

Murder in the Cathedral (1935)

[Eliot]

50
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

Murder in the Cathedral (1935)

[Eliot]

51 Clear the air! clean the sky! wash the wind!
Murder in the Cathedral (1935)

[Eliot]

52
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]

53
The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

"Preludes" (1917)

[Eliot]

54
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium.

"Rhapsody on a Windy Night" (1917)

[Eliot]

55
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

The Rock (1934)

[Eliot]

56
…Here were decent godless people:
Their only monument the asphalt road
And a thousand lost golf balls.

The Rock (1934)

[Eliot]

57
Birth, and copulation, and death.
That's all the facts when you come to brass tacks.

Sweeney Agonistes (1932) "Fragment of an Agon"

[Eliot]

58
Any man has to, needs to, wants to
Once in a lifetime, do a girl in.

Sweeney Agonistes (1932) "Fragment of an Agon"

[Eliot]

59
I gotta use words when I talk to you.

Sweeney Agonistes (1932) "Fragment of an Agon"

[Eliot]

60
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]

61
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 1

[Eliot]

62
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 1

[Eliot]

63
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 1

[Eliot]

64
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 1

[Eliot]

65
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
"Jug Jug" to dirty ears.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2; see below

O 'tis the ravished nightingale.
Jug, jug, jug, jug, tereu, she cries.

John Lyly (c.1554–1606) Campaspe (1584)

[Eliot]

66
I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2

[Eliot]

67
o o o o that Shakespeherian Rag—
It's so elegant
So intelligent.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2.

[Eliot]

68
Hurry up please it's time.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 2

[Eliot]

69
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; see below

But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near.

Andrew Marvell (1621–78) "To His Coy Mistress" (1681)

[Eliot]

70
At the violet hour, when the eyes and back
Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits
Like a taxi throbbing waiting.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 3

[Eliot]

71
I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 3

[Eliot]

72
One of the low on whom assurance sits
As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire.

The Waste Land (1922) pt. 3

[Eliot]

73
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; see below

When lovely woman stoops to folly
And finds too late that men betray.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

[Eliot]

74
Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin.

"Whispers of Immortality" (1919)

[Eliot]

75
Uncorseted, her friendly bust
Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.

"Whispers of Immortality" (1919)

[Eliot]

76 Culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living.
Notes Towards a Definition of Culture (1948)

[Eliot]

77 The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an "objective correlative"; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.
The Sacred Wood (1920) "Hamlet and his Problems"

[Eliot]

78 Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
The Sacred Wood (1920) "Philip Massinger"

[Eliot]

79 Someone said: "The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did." Precisely, and they are that which we know.
The Sacred Wood (1920) "Tradition and Individual Talent"

[Eliot]

80 Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality.
The Sacred Wood (1920) "Tradition and Individual Talent"

[Eliot]

81 We know too much and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion.
Selected Essays (1932) "A Dialogue on Dramatic Poetry" (1928)

[Eliot]

82 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]

83 Poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult.
Selected Essays (1932) "The Metaphysical Poets" (1921)

[Eliot]

84 was only the relief of a personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life; it is just a piece of rhythmical grumbling.
The Waste Land (ed. Valerie Eliot, 1971) epigraph

[Eliot]

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Elisabeth, Queen of Belgium 1876–1965 German-born consort of King Albert of the Belgians

1 Between them and me there is now a bloody curtain which has descended forever.on Germany's invasion of Belgium in 1914
attributed

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Elizabeth II 1926– Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952; wife of Prince Philip

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 I think everybody really will concede that on this, of all days, I should begin my speech with the words "My husband and I".speech at Guildhall, London, on her 25th wedding anniversary
in The Times 21 November 1972

[Elizabeth II]

3 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

[Elizabeth II]

4 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

[Elizabeth II]

5 I sometimes sense the world is changing almost too fast for its inhabitants, at least for us older ones.on her tour of Pakistan, 8 October 1997
in Times 9 October 1997

[Elizabeth II]

6 Please don't be too effusive.adjuration to the Prime Minister, at their weekly meeting on the speech he was to make to celebrate her golden wedding
in Daily Telegraph 21 November 1997.

[Elizabeth II]

7 Think what we would have missed if we had never…used a mobile phone or surfed the Net—or, to be honest, listened to other people talking about surfing the Net.reflecting on developments in the past 50 years
in Daily Telegraph 21 November 1997

[Elizabeth II]

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Elizabeth, the Queen Mother 1900– Queen Consort of George VI

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
J. Wheeler-Bennett King George VI (1958)

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)

[Elizabeth]

3 How small and selfish is sorrow. But it bangs one about until one is senseless.letter to Edith Sitwell, shortly after the death of George VI
Victoria Glendinning Edith Sitwell (1983)

[Elizabeth]

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Elizabeth, Countess von Arnim 1866–1941 Australian-born British writer

1 Guests can be, and often are, delightful, but they should never be allowed to get the upper hand.
All the Dogs in My Life (1936)

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Ellerton, Alf

1 Belgium put the kibosh on the Kaiser.
title of song (1914)

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Ellington, Duke 1899–1974 American jazz pianist, composer, and band-leader

1 Playing "Bop" is like scrabble with all the vowels missing.
in Look 10 August 1954

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Ellis, Alice Thomas 1932– English novelist

1 Claudia's the sort of person who goes through life holding on to the sides.
The Other Side of the Fire (1983)

2 Our only hope rests on the off-chance that God does exist.
Unexplained Laughter (1985)

[Ellis]

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Ellis, Havelock 1859–1939 English sexologist

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)

[Ellis]

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Éluard, Paul 1895–1952 French poet

1
Adieu tristesse
Bonjour tristesse.

Farewell sadness
Good-day sadness.

"À peine défigurée" (1932)

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Empson, William 1906–1984 English poet and literary critic

1 Just a smack at Auden.
title of poem, 1940

2
Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end.

"Just a smack at Auden" (1940)

[Empson]

3
You don't want madhouse and the whole thing there.

"Let it Go" (1955)

[Empson]

4
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

"Missing Dates" (1935)

[Empson]

5 Seven types of ambiguity.
title of book (1930)

[Empson]

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Ephron, Nora 1941– American writer and journalist

1 We have lived through the era when happiness was a warm puppy, and the era when happiness was a dry martini, and now we have come to the era when happiness is "knowing what your uterus looks like".
Crazy Salad (1975) "Vaginal Politics".

2 I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.
in Esquire January 1976

[Ephron]

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Epitaphs

1 Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau has rejoined the world of silence.announcement by the Cousteau Foundation, Paris, 25 June 1997; Cousteau (1910–97) published The Silent World in 1953
in Daily Telegraph 26 June 1997

2 Excuse My Dust.
Dorothy Parker's suggested epitaph for herself (1925); Alexander Woollcott While Rome Burns (1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

[Epitaphs]

3
Free at last, free at last
Thank God almighty
We are free at last.
epitaph of Martin Luther King, Atlanta, Georgia
anonymous spiritual, with which he ended his "I have a dream" speech.

[Epitaphs]

4 God damn you all: I told you so.H. G. Wells' suggestion for his own epitaph, in conversation with Ernest Barker, 1939
Ernest Barker Age and Youth (1953)

[Epitaphs]

5 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 Worst Journey in the World (1922).

[Epitaphs]

6 Here lies Groucho Marx—and lies and lies and lies. P.S. He never kissed an ugly girl.his own suggestion for his epitaph
B. Norman The Movie Greats (1981)

[Epitaphs]

7 Here lies W. C. Fields. I would rather be living in Philadelphia.
suggested epitaph for himself, in Vanity Fair June 1925

[Epitaphs]

8 He was an average guy who could carry a tune.Bing Crosby's suggested epitaph for himself
in Newsweek 24 October 1977

[Epitaphs]

9 His foe was folly and his weapon wit.
inscription for W. S. Gilbert's memorial on the Victoria Embankment, London (1915), by Anthony Hope (1863–1933)

[Epitaphs]

10 I will return. And I will be millions.
inscription on the tomb of Eva Perón, Buenos Aires

[Epitaphs]

11 John Le Mesurier wishes it to be known that he conked out on November 15th. He sadly misses family and friends.
obituary notice on the death of John Le Mesurier (1912–83), in The Times 16 November 1983

[Epitaphs]

12
Poor G.K.C., his day is past—
Now God will know the truth at last.
mock epitaph for G. K. Chesterton, by E. V. Lucas (1868–1938)
Dudley Barker G. K. Chesterton (1973)

[Epitaphs]

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

[Epitaphs]

14 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

[Epitaphs]

15 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); see below

Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.

Bible (Apocrypha) Ecclesiasticus

[Epitaphs]

16 Timothy has passed…message on his Internet web page announcing the death of Timothy Leary, 31 May 1996
in Guardian 1 June 1996

[Epitaphs]

17
When you go home, tell them of us and say,
"For your tomorrow we gave our today."

Kohima memorial to the Burma campaign of the Second World War; in recent years used at Remembrance Day parades in the UK (cf. ); see below

When you go home, tell them of us and say,
"For your tomorrows these gave their today."

John Maxwell Edmonds (1875–1958) Inscriptions Suggested for War Memorials (1919)

[Epitaphs]

18
Without you, Heaven would be too dull to bear,
And Hell would not be Hell if you are there.
epitaph for Maurice Bowra by John Sparrow
in Times Literary Supplement 30 May 1975

[Epitaphs]

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Epstein, Jacob 1880–1959 British sculptor

1 Why don't they stick to murder and leave art to us?on hearing that his statue of Lazarus in New College chapel, Oxford, kept Khrushchev awake at night
attributed

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Erhard, Ludwig 1897–1977 German statesman, Chancellor of West Germany (1963–6)

1 Without Britain Europe would remain only a torso.
remark on W. German television, 27 May 1962; in The Times 28 May 1962

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Ertz, Susan 1894–1985 American writer

1 Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Anger in the Sky (1943)

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Esher, Lord 1913– English architect and planner

1 When politicians and civil servants hear the word "culture" they feel for their blue pencils.
speech, House of Lords, 2 March 1960.

2 Who would guess that those gloomy bunkers were built to celebrate the pleasures of the senses?of the Hayward Gallery complex, London
A Broken Wave (1987)

[Esher]

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Ewart, Gavin 1916–1995 British poet

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)

2
Is it Colman's smile
That makes life worth while
Or Crawford's significant form?
Is it Lombard's lips
Or Mae West's hips
That carry you through the storm?

"Verse from an Opera" (1939)

[Ewart]

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Ewer, William Norman 1885–1976 British writer

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.

The Week-End Book (1924).

[Ewer]

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Eyre, Richard 1943– English theatre director

1 We exercise the ultimate sanction of switching off only in an extreme case, like a heroin addict rejecting the needle in the face of death.on television as an agent of cultural destruction
attributed, 1995

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F

Fadiman, Clifton 1904– American critic

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]

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Farjeon, Eleanor 1881–1965 English writer for children

1
Morning has broken
Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.

"A Morning Song (for the First Day of Spring)" (1957)

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Farjeon, Herbert 1887–1945 English writer and theatre critic

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)

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Farouk, King 1920–1965 King of Egypt, 1936–52

1 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; Lord Boyd-Orr As I Recall (1966)

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Farrow, Mia 1945– American actress

1 He had polyester sheets and I wanted to get cotton sheets. He discussed it with his shrink many times before he made the switch.of the dependence of her former partner, Woody Allen, on psychotherapists
in Independent 8 February 1997 "Quote Unquote"

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Faulkner, William 1897–1962 American novelist

1 He made the books and he died.his own "sum and history of my life"
letter to Malcolm Cowley, 11 February 1949

2 He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.
Nobel Prize speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1950

[Faulkner]

3 The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man; it can be one of the props, the pillars, to help him endure and prevail.
Nobel prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1950

[Faulkner]

4 The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board…If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies.
in Paris Review Spring 1956

[Faulkner]

5 A man shouldn't fool with booze until he's fifty; then he's a damn fool if he doesn't.
James M. Webb and A. Wigfall Green William Faulkner of Oxford (1965)

[Faulkner]

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Feinstein, Dianne 1933– American Democratic politician, Mayor of San Francisco

1 Toughness doesn't have to come in a pinstripe suit.
in Time 4 June 1984

2 There was a time when you could say the least government was the best—but not in the nation's most populous state.
campaign speech, 15 March 1990

[Feinstein]

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Fenton, James 1949– English poet

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
"I didn't exist at Creation
I didn't exist at the Flood,
And I won't be around for Salvation
To sort out the sheep from the cud—

"Or whatever the phrase is. The fact is
In soteriological terms
I'm a crude existential malpractice
And you are a diet of worms."

"God, A Poem" (1983)

[Fenton]

3
Yes
You have come upon the fabled lands where myths
Go when they die.

"The Pitt-Rivers Museum" (1983)

[Fenton]

4 Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world.
in Times 21 February 1985

[Fenton]

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Ferber, Edna 1887–1968 American writer

1 Being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation after you cease to struggle.
R. E. Drennan Wit's End (1973)

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Fermi, Enrico 1901–1954 Italian-born American atomic physicist

1 If I could remember the names of all these particles I'd be a botanist.
R. L. Weber More Random Walks in Science (1973)

2 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)

[Fermi]

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Ferrier, Kathleen

seeLast words

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Feyerabend, Paul 1924–1994 Austrian philosopher

1 The time is overdue for adding the separation of state and science to the by now customary separation of state and church. Science is only one of the many instruments man has invented to cope with his surroundings. It is not the only one, it is not infallible, and it has become too powerful, too pushy, and too dangerous to be left on its own.
Against Method (1975)

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Feynman, Richard Phillips 1918–1988 American theoretical physicist

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]

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Field, Frank 1942– British Labour politician

1 The archbishop is usually to be found nailing his colours to the fence.of Archbishop Runcie; a similar comment has been recorded on A. J. Balfour, c.1904
attributed in Crockfords 1987/88 (1987)

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Fields, Dorothy 1905–1974 American songwriter

1
The minute you walked in the joint,
I could see you were a man of distinction,
A real big spender…
Hey! big spender, spend a little time with me.

"Big Spender" (1966 song)

2
A fine romance with no kisses.
A fine romance, my friend, this is.

"A Fine Romance" (1936 song)

[Fields]

3
Grab your coat, and get your hat,
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]

4
Pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.

"Pick Yourself Up" (1936 song)

[Fields]

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Fields, W. C. 1880–1946 American humorist

1 Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939 film)

2 Never give a sucker an even break.
title of a W. C. Fields film (1941); the catch-phrase (Fields's own) is said to have originated in the musical comedy Poppy (1923)

[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.
R. L. Taylor W. C. Fields (1950)

[Fields]

5 The funniest thing about comedy is that you never know why people laugh. I know what makes them laugh but trying to get your hands on the why of it is like trying to pick an eel out of a tub of water.
R. J. Anobile A Flask of Fields (1972)

[Fields]

6 If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
attributed

[Fields]

7 Last week, I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed.
R. J. Anobile Godfrey Daniels (1975)

[Fields]

8 Never cry over spilt milk, because it may have been poisoned.to Carlotta Monti
Carlotta Monti with Cy Rice W. C. Fields and Me (1971)

[Fields]

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Film lines

1 Anyway, Ma, I made it…Top of the world!
White Heat (1949 film) written by Ivan Goff (1910–) and Ben Roberts (1916–84); last lines—spoken by James Cagney

2 Don't let's ask for the moon! We have the stars!
Now, Voyager (1942 film), from the novel (1941) by Olive Higgins Prouty (1882–1974); spoken by Bette Davis

[Film lines]

3 Either he's dead, or my watch has stopped.
A Day at the Races (1937 film) written by Robert Pirosh, George Seaton, and George Oppenheimer; spoken by Groucho Marx

[Film lines]

4 E.T. phone home.
E.T. (1982 film) written by Melissa Mathison (1950–)

[Film lines]

5 Fasten your seat-belts, it's going to be a bumpy night.
All About Eve (1950 film) written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–); spoken by Bette Davis

[Film lines]

6 Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!
Gone with the Wind (1939 film) written by Sidney Howard; spoken by Clark Gable.

[Film lines]

7 Go ahead, make my day.
Sudden Impact (1983 film) written by Joseph C. Stinson (1947–); spoken by Clint Eastwood

[Film lines]

8 Greed—for lack of a better word—is good. Greed is right. Greed works.
Wall Street (1987 film) written by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone (1946–).

[Film lines]

9 Here's looking at you, kid.
Casablanca (1942 film) written by Julius J. Epstein (1909–2001), Philip G. Epstein (1909–52), and Howard Koch (1902–); spoken by Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman.

[Film lines]

10 I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
On the Waterfront (1954 film) written by Budd Schulberg (1914–); spoken by Marlon Brando

[Film lines]

11 If she can stand it, I can. Play it!usually quoted as "Play it again, Sam"
Casablanca (1942 film) written by Julius J. Epstein (1909–2001), Philip G. Epstein (1909–52), and Howard Koch (1902–); spoken by Humphrey Bogart.

[Film lines]

12 If you can't leave in a taxi you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff.
Duck Soup (1933 film) written by Bert Kalmar (1884–1947), Harry Ruby (1895–1974), Arthur Sheekman (1891–1978), and Nat Perrin; spoken by Groucho Marx.

[Film lines]

13 I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory.
Apocalypse Now (1979 film) written by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola (1939–); spoken by Robert Duvall

[Film lines]

14 In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce…? The cuckoo clock.
The Third Man (1949 film); words added by Orson Welles to Graham Greene's screenplay

[Film lines]

15 It's a funny old world—a man's lucky if he gets out of it alive.
You're Telling Me (1934 film), written by Walter de Leon and Paul M. Jones; spoken by W. C. Fields.

[Film lines]

16 driftwood(Groucho Marx): It's all right. That's—that's in every contract. That's—that's what they call a sanity clause.
fiorello(Chico Marx): You can't fool me. There ain't no Sanity Claus.

Night at the Opera (1935 film) written by George S. Kaufman (1889–1961) and Morrie Ryskind (1895–1985)

[Film lines]

17 Let's get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini.
line coined in the 1920s by Robert Benchley's press agent and adopted by Mae West in Every Day's a Holiday (1937 film)

[Film lines]

18 Madness! Madness!
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957 film of the novel by Pierre Boulle) written by Carl Foreman (1914–), closing line

[Film lines]

19 Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects.
Casablanca (1942 film) written by Julius J. Epstein (1909–2001), Philip G. Epstein (1909–52), and Howard Koch (1902–); spoken by Claude Rains.

[Film lines]

20 The man you love to hate.
anonymous billing for Erich von Stroheim in the film The Heart of Humanity (1918)

[Film lines]

21 Man your ships, and may the force be with you.
Star Wars (1977 film) written by George Lucas (1944–)

[Film lines]

22 Marriage isn't a word…it's a sentence!
The Crowd (1928 film) written by King Vidor (1895–1982)

[Film lines]

23 Maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.
To Have and Have Not (1944 film) written by Jules Furthman (1888–1960) and William Faulkner; spoken by Lauren Bacall

[Film lines]

24 Mr Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything. I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle, a missing piece.
Citizen Kane (1941 film) written by Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897–1953) and Orson Welles

[Film lines]

25 My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates…you never know what you're gonna get.
Forrest Gump (1994 film), written by Eric Ross, based on the novel (1986) by Winston Groom; spoken by Tom Hanks

[Film lines]

26 Nature, Mr Allnutt, is what we are put into this world to rise above.
The African Queen (1951 film) written by James Agee 1909–55; not in the novel by C. S. Forester

[Film lines]

27 Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
Casablanca (1942 film) written by Julius J. Epstein (1909–2001), Philip G. Epstein (1909–52), and Howard Koch (1902–); spoken by Humphrey Bogart.

[Film lines]

28 Oh no, it wasn't the aeroplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.
King Kong (1933 film) written by James Creelman (1901–41) and Ruth Rose

[Film lines]

29 The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
The Court Jester (1955 film) written by Norman Panama (1914–) and Melvin Frank (1913–88); spoken by Danny Kaye

[Film lines]

30 Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honour…which is probably more than she ever did.
Duck Soup (1933 film) written by Bert Kalmar (1884–1947), Harry Ruby (1895–1974), Arthur Sheekman (1891–1978), and Nat Perrin; spoken by Groucho Marx.

[Film lines]

31 The son of a bitch stole my watch!
The Front Page (1931 film), from the play (1928) by Charles MacArthur (1895–1956) and Ben Hecht (1894–1964)

[Film lines]

32 Gerry: We can't get married at all....I'm a man.
Osgood: Well, nobody's perfect.

Some Like It Hot (1959 film) written by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond; closing words spoken by Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown

[Film lines]

33 What a dump!
Beyond the Forest (1949 film) written by Lenore Coffee (?1897–1984); line spoken by Bette Davis, entering a room

[Film lines]

34 Why, a four-year-old child could understand this report. Run out and find me a four-year-old child. I can't make head or tail of it.
Duck Soup (1933 film) written by Bert Kalmar (1884–1947), Harry Ruby (1895–1974), Arthur Sheekman (1891–1978), and Nat Perrin; spoken by Groucho Marx.

[Film lines]

35 You're going out a youngster but you've got to come back a star.
42nd Street (1933 film) written by James Seymour and Rian James

[Film lines]

36 joe gillis: You used to be in pictures. You used to be big.
norma desmond: I am big. It's the pictures that got small.

Sunset Boulevard (1950 film) written by Charles Brackett (1892–1969), Billy Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr.

[Film lines]

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Film titles

1 Back to the future.
written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, 1985

2 Close encounters of the third kind.
written by Steven Spielberg (1947–), 1977

[Film titles]

3 The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie.
written by Luis Buñuel, 1972

[Film titles]

4 The Empire strikes back.
written by George Lucas (1944–), 1980; the sequel to Star Wars

[Film titles]

5 Every which way but loose.
written by Jeremy Joe Kronsberg, 1978; starring Clint Eastwood

[Film titles]

6 The good, the bad, and the ugly.
written by Age Scarpelli , Luciano Vincenzoni (1926–), and Sergio Leone (1921–), 1966

[Film titles]

7 The long hot summer.
written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, 1958; based on stories by William Faulkner

[Film titles]

8 Naughty but nice.
written by Jerry Wald (1911–62) and Richard Macaulay, 1939

[Film titles]

9 Never on Sunday.
written by Jules Dassin (1911–), 1959

[Film titles]

10 Rebel without a cause.
written by R. M. Lindner (1914–56), 1959, based on his book (1944); starring James Dean

[Film titles]

11 Sunday, bloody Sunday.
written by Penelope Gilliatt, 1971

[Film titles]

12 Sweet smell of success.
written by Ernest Lehman, 1957

[Film titles]

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Fish, Michael 1944– British weather forecaster

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

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Fisher, Carrie 1956– American actress and writer

1 Here's how men think. Sex, work—and those are reversible, depending on age—sex, work, food, sports and lastly, begrudgingly, relationships. And here's how women think. Relationships, relationships, relationships, work, sex, shopping, weight, food.
Surrender the Pink (1990)

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Fisher, H. A. L. 1856–1940 English historian

1 Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following upon another as wave follows upon wave.
A History of Europe (1935)

2 Purity of race does not exist. Europe is a continent of energetic mongrels.
A History of Europe (1935)

[Fisher]

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Fisher, Lord 1841–1920 British admiral

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; F. Ponsonby Reflections of Three Reigns (1951)

[Fisher]

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Fisher, MarveAmerican songwriter

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]

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Fisher, R. A. 1890–1962 English statistician and geneticist

1 The best causes tend to attract to their support the worst arguments.
Statistical Methods and Scientific Inference (1956)

2 It was Darwin's chief contribution, not only to Biology but to the whole of natural science, to have brought to light a process by which contingencies a priori improbable are given, in the process of time, an increasing probability, until it is their non-occurrence, rather than their occurence, which becomes highly probable.sometimes quoted as "Natural selection is a mechanism for generating an exceedingly high degree of improbability"
"Retrospect of the criticisms of the Theory of Natural Selection" in Julian Huxley Evolution as a Process (1954)

[Fisher]

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Fitt, Gerry 1926– Northern Irish politician

1 People 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

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Fitzgerald, F. Scott 1896–1940 American novelist

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 Her voice is full of money.of Daisy
The Great Gatsby (1925)

[Fitzgerald]

5 They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
The Great Gatsby (1925)

[Fitzgerald]

6 Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter…So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
The Great Gatsby (1925)

[Fitzgerald]

7 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]

8 The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
in Esquire February 1936 "The Crack-Up"

[Fitzgerald]

9 In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning."dark night of the soul" being a translation of the Spanish title of a work (1578–80) by St John of the Cross
"Handle with Care" in Esquire March 1936

[Fitzgerald]

10 No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.
Edmund Wilson (ed.) The Crack-Up (1945) "Note-Books E"

[Fitzgerald]

11 Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.
Edmund Wilson (ed.) The Crack-Up (1945) "Note-Books E"

[Fitzgerald]

12 There are no second acts in American lives.
Edmund Wilson (ed.) The Last Tycoon (1941) "Hollywood, etc."

[Fitzgerald]

13 My theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever after.
letter to the Booksellers' Convention, April 1920

[Fitzgerald]

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Flanagan, Bud 1896–1968 British comedian

1
Underneath the Arches,
I dream my dreams away,
Underneath the Arches,
On cobble-stones I lay.

"Underneath the Arches" (1932 song)

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Flanders, Michael 1922–1975 and Swann, Donald 1923–1994 English songwriters

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 song)

[Flanders]

3
Eating people is wrong!

"The Reluctant Cannibal" (1956 song)

[Flanders]

4
That monarch of the road,
Observer of the Highway Code,
That big six-wheeler
Scarlet-painted
London Transport
Diesel-engined
Ninety-seven horse power
Omnibus!

"A Transport of Delight" (c.1956 song)

[Flanders]

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Flecker, James Elroy 1884–1915 English poet

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]

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Fleming, Ian 1908–1964 English thriller writer

1 A medium Vodka dry Martini—with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred.
Dr No (1958)

2 From Russia with love.
title of novel (1957)

[Fleming]

3 Live and let die.
title of novel (1954)

[Fleming]

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Fleming, Peter 1907–1971 English journalist and travel writer

1 São Paulo is like Reading, only much farther away.
Brazilian Adventure (1933)

2 Last night we went to a Chinese dinner at six and a French dinner at nine, and I can feel the sharks' fins navigating unhappily in the Burgundy.
letter from Yunnanfu, 20 March 1938

[Fleming]

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Fo, Dario 1926– Italian dramatist

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!").

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Foch, Ferdinand 1851–1929 French general

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)

2 This is not a peace treaty, it is an armistice for twenty years.at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919
P. Reynaud Mémoires (1963)

[Foch]

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Foley, J. 1906–1970 British songwriter

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.

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Fonda, Jane 1937– American actress

1 A man has every season, while a woman has only the right to spring.
in Daily Mail 13 September 1989

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Foot, Michael 1913– British Labour politician

1 A speech from Ernest Bevin on a major occasion had all the horrific fascination of a public execution. If the mind was left immune, eyes and ears and emotions were riveted.
Aneurin Bevan (1962)

2 Think of it! A second Chamber selected by the Whips. A seraglio of eunuchs.
speech in the House of Commons, 3 February 1969

[Foot]

3 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]

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Ford, Anna 1943– English journalist and broadcaster

1 Let's face it, there are no plain women on television.
in Observer 23 September 1979

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Ford, Gerald 1909– American Republican statesman, 38th President of the US, 1974–7

1 I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.
on taking the vice-presidential oath, 6 December 1973

2 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; see below
A government of laws, and not of men.
John Adams (1735–1826) in Boston Gazette (1774)

[Ford]

3 If the Government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big enough to take away everything you have.
J. F. Parker If Elected (1960)

[Ford]

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Ford, Henry 1863–1947 American car manufacturer

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
My Life and Work (with Samuel Crowther, 1922)

2 History is more or less bunk.
in Chicago Tribune 25 May 1916

[Ford]

3 What we call evil is simply ignorance bumping its head in the dark.
n Observer 16 March 1930

[Ford]

4 Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it: if you are sick you shouldn't take it.
attributed

[Ford]

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Ford, Lena Guilbert 1870–1916 English songwriter

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

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Forgy, Howell 1908–1983 American naval chaplain

1 Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, while sailors passed ammunition by hand to the deck
in New York Times 1 November 1942 (later title of song by Frank Loesser, 1942)

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Forster, E. M. 1879–1970 English novelist

1 Everything must be like something, so what is this like?
Abinger Harvest (1936) "Doll Souse"

2 go forth into a world that is not entirely composed of public-school men or even of Anglo-Saxons, but of men who are as various as the sands of the sea; into a world of whose richness and subtlety they have no conception. They go forth into it with well-developed bodies, fairly developed minds, and undeveloped hearts.
Abinger Harvest (1936) "Notes on English Character"

[Forster]

3 Yes—oh dear yes—the novel tells a story.
Aspects of the Novel (1927)

[Forster]

4 How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?
Aspects of the Novel (1927).

[Forster]

5 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); see below
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.
Matthew Arnold (1822–88) Culture and Anarchy (1869)

[Forster]

6 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]

7 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)

[Forster]

8 It will be generally admitted that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man.
Howards End (1910)

[Forster]

9 To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it.
Howards End (1910)

[Forster]

10 She felt that those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy.
Howards End (1910)

[Forster]

11 Personal relations are the important thing for ever and ever, and not this outer life of telegrams and anger.
Howards End (1910)

[Forster]

12 Only connect!…Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.
Howards End (1910)

[Forster]

13 Death destroys a man: the idea of death saves him.
Howards End (1910)

[Forster]

14 It's the worst thing that can ever happen to you in all your life, and you've got to mind it…They'll come saying, "Bear up—trust to time." No, no; they're wrong. Mind it.
The Longest Journey (1907)

[Forster]

15 There is much good luck in the world, but it is luck. We are none of us safe. We are children, playing or quarrelling on the line.
The Longest Journey (1907)

[Forster]

16 The so-called white races are really pinko-grey.
A Passage to India (1924)

[Forster]

17 Nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else.
A Passage to India (1924)

[Forster]

18 Pathos, piety, courage—they exist, but are identical, and so is filth. Everything exists, nothing has value.
A Passage to India (1924)

[Forster]

19 Where there is officialism every human relationship suffers.
A Passage to India (1924)

[Forster]

20 God si Love. Is this the final message of India?
A Passage to India (1924)

[Forster]

21 Think before you speak is criticism's motto; speak before you think creation's.
Two Cheers for Democracy (1951) "Raison d'être of Criticism"

[Forster]

22 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]

23 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"; see below

Even love, the beloved Republic, that feeds upon freedom lives.

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) "Hertha" (1871)

[Forster]

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Forster, Margaret 1938– English novelist

1 But that perhaps is the point of any memoir—to walk with the dead and yet see them with our eyes, from our vantage point.
Hidden Lives: A Family Memoir (1995)

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Forsyth, Frederick 1938– English novelist

1 Everyone seems to remember with great clarity what they were doing on November 22nd, 1963, at the precise moment they heard President Kennedy was dead.
The Odessa File (1972)

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Fosdick, Harry Emerson 1878–1969 American Baptist minister

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

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Fowler, Gene American screenwriter

1 Will Hays is my shepherd, I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in clean postures.on the establishment of the "Hays Office" in 1922 to monitor the Hollywood film industry
Clive Marsh and Gaye Ortiz (eds.) Explorations in Theology and Film (1997); see below

The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green.

Bible Psalm 23 (Scottish Metrical Psalms, 1650)

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Fowler, H. W. 1858–1933 English lexicographer and grammarian

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)

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Fowler, Norman 1938– British Conservative politician

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.

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Fox, Theodore 1899–1989 English doctor

1 We shall have to learn to refrain from doing things merely because we know how to do them.
speech to Royal College of Physicians, 18 October 1965

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France, Anatole 1844–1924 French writer

1 Imitation lies at the root of most human actions. A respectable person is one who conforms to custom. People are called good when they do as others do.
Crainquebille (1923)

2 Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.
La Vie en fleur (1922)

[France]

3 Make hatred hated!to public school teachers
speech in Tours, August 1919; Carter Jefferson Anatole France: The Politics of Scepticism.

[France]

4 You think you are dying for your country; you die for the industrialists.
in L'Humanité 18 July 1922

[France]

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Frank, Anne 1929–1945 German-born Jewish diarist

1 I want to go on living even after death!
diary, 4 April 1944

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Frankfurter, Felix 1882–1965 American lawyer

1 It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.
dissenting opinion in United States v. Rabinowitz 1950

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Franks, Lord 1905–1992 British philosopher and administrator

1 The Pentagon, that immense monument to modern man's subservience to the desk.
in Observer 30 November 1952

2 on the composition of such bodies as royal commissions and committees of inquiry:There is a fashion in these things and when you are in fashion you are asked to do a lot.
in conversation, 24 January 1977; Peter Hennessy Whitehall (1990)

[Franks]

3 A secret in the Oxford sense: you may tell it to only one person at a time.
in Sunday Telegraph 30 January 1977

[Franks]

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Frayn, Michael 1933– English writer

1 To be absolutely honest, what I feel really bad about is that I don't feel worse. That's the ineffectual liberal's problem in a nutshell.
in Observer 8 August 1965

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Freed, Arthur 1894–1973

1 Singin' in the rain.
title of song (1929)

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French, Marilyn 1929– American writer

1 The truth is that it is not the sins of the fathers that descend unto the third generation, but the sorrows of the mothers.
Her Mother's Daughter (1987)

2 Whatever they may be in public life, whatever their relations with men, in their relations with women, all men are rapists, and that's all they are. They rape us with their eyes, their laws, and their codes.
The Women's Room (1977)

[French]

3 "I hate discussions of feminism that end up with who does the dishes," she said. So do I. But at the end, there are always the damned dishes.
The Women's Room (1977)

[French]

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Freud, Sigmund 1856–1939 Austrian psychiatrist; originator of psychoanalysis

1 We are so made, that we can only derive intense enjoyment from a contrast, and only very little from a state of things.
Civilization and its Discontents (1930)

2 Anatomy is destiny.
Collected Writings (1924) vol. 5

[Freud]

3 The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
The Interpretation of Dreams (2nd ed., 1909).

[Freud]

4 Intolerance of groups is often, strangely enough, exhibited more strongly against small differences than against fundamental ones.
Moses and Monotheism (1938)

[Freud]

5 Analogies decide nothing, that is true, but they can make one feel more at home.
New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933)

[Freud]

6 The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is "What does a woman want?"
letter to Marie Bonaparte, in E. Jones Sigmund Freud (1955)

[Freud]

7 All that matters is love and work.
attributed

[Freud]

8 Frozen anger.his definition of depression
attributed

[Freud]

9 Yes, America is gigantic, but a gigantic mistake.
Peter Gay Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988)

[Freud]

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Friedan, Betty 1921– American feminist

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).

2 It is easier to live through someone else than to become complete yourself.
The Feminine Mystique (1963)

[Friedan]

3 Today the problem that has no name is how to juggle work, love, home and children.
The Second Stage (1987).

[Friedan]

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Friedman, Milton 1912– American economist and exponent of monetarism; policy adviser to President Reagan 1981–9

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)

2 History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition for it.
Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

[Friedman]

3 A society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.
Free to Choose (1980)

[Friedman]

4 Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.
in Observer 22 September 1974

[Friedman]

5 Thank heavens we do not get all of the government that we are made to pay for.
attributed; quoted by Lord Harris of High Cross in the House of Lords, 24 November 1994

[Friedman]

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Frisch, Max 1911– Swiss novelist and dramatist

1 Technology…the knack of so arranging the world that we need not experience it.
Homo Faber (1957)

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Frohman, Charles

seeLast words

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Fromm, Erich 1900–1980 American philosopher and psychologist

1 Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.
Man for Himself (1947)

2 In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead. In the nineteenth century inhumanity meant cruelty; in the twentieth century it means schizoid self-alienation. The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots.
The Sane Society (1955)

[Fromm]

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Frost, David 1939– English broadcaster and writer

1 Having one child makes you a parent; having two you are a referee.
in Independent 16 September 1989

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Frost, Robert 1874–1963 American poet

1
I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate wilfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.

"Birches" (1916)

2
Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favour.

"The Black Cottage" (1914)

[Frost]

3
Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.

"Cluster of Faith" (1962)

[Frost]

4
And nothing to look backward to with pride,
And nothing to look forward to with hope.

"The Death of the Hired Man" (1914)

[Frost]

5
"Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in."
"I should have called it
Something you somehow haven't to deserve."

"The Death of the Hired Man" (1914)

[Frost]

6
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars—on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

"Desert Places" (1936)

[Frost]

7
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

"Fire and Ice" (1923)

[Frost]

8
The land was ours before we were the land's.

"The Gift Outright" (1942)

[Frost]

9 Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.
title of poem (1942)

[Frost]

10
Never ask of money spent
Where the spender thinks it went.
Nobody was ever meant
To remember or invent
What he did with every cent.

"The Hardship of Accounting" (1936)

[Frost]

11
And were an epitaph to be my story
I'd have a short one ready for my own.
I would have written of me on my stone:
I had a lover's quarrel with the world.

"The Lesson for Today" (1942)

[Frost]

12
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it.

"Mending Wall" (1914)

[Frost]

13
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]

14
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.

"Mending Wall" (1914)

[Frost]

15
I never dared be radical when young
For fear it would make me conservative when old.

"Precaution" (1936)

[Frost]

16
No memory of having starred
Atones for later disregard,
Or keeps the end from being hard.

"Provide Provide" (1936)

[Frost]

17
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]

18
We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

"The Secret Sits" (1942)

[Frost]

19
I've broken Anne of gathering bouquets.
It's not fair to the child. It can't be helped though:
Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.

"The Self-Seeker" (1914)

[Frost]

20
The best way out is always through.

"A Servant to Servants" (1914)

[Frost]

21
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (1923).

[Frost]

22
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (1923)

[Frost]

23 It should be of the pleasure of a poem itself to tell how it can. The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom. The figure is the same as for love.
Collected Poems (1939) "The Figure a Poem Makes"

[Frost]

24 No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.
Collected Poems (1939) "The Figure a Poem Makes"

[Frost]

25 Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting. A poem may be worked over once it is in being, but may not be worried into being.
Collected Poems (1939) "The Figure a Poem Makes"

[Frost]

26 Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.
E. S. Sergeant Robert Frost (1960)

[Frost]

27 I'd as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down.
E. Lathem Interviews with Robert Frost (1966)

[Frost]

28 Poetry is what is lost in translation. It is also what is lost in interpretation.
L. Untermeyer Robert Frost (1964)

[Frost]

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Fry, Christopher 1907– English dramatist

1 The dark is light enough.
title of play (1954)

2 The lady's not for burning.
title of play (1949).

[Fry]

3
I travel light; as light,
That is, as a man can travel who will
Still carry his body around because
Of its sentimental value.

The Lady's not for Burning (1949)

[Fry]

4
What after all
Is a halo? It's only one more thing to keep clean.

The Lady's not for Burning (1949)

[Fry]

5
Where in this small-talking world can I find
A longitude with no platitude?

The Lady's not for Burning (1949)

[Fry]

6
The best
Thing we can do is to make wherever we're lost in
Look as much like home as we can.

The Lady's not for Burning (1949)

[Fry]

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Fry, Roger 1866–1934 English art critic

1 Art is significant deformity.
Virginia Woolf Roger Fry (1940)

2 Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.
Virginia Woolf Roger Fry (1940)

[Fry]

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Fuentes, Carlos 1928– Mexican novelist and writer

1 High on the agenda for the 21st century will be the need to restore some kind of tragic consciousness.
Rushworth M. Kidder An Agenda for the 21st Century (1987)

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Fukuyama, Francis 1952– American historian

1 What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of man's ideological evolution and the universalism of Western liberal democracy.
in Independent 20 September 1989

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Fulbright, J. William 1905– American politician

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"

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Fuller, John 1937– English poet

1
You and I, when our days are done, must say
Without exactly saying it, good-bye.

"Pyrosymphonie" (1996)

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Fuller, R. Buckminster 1895–1983 American designer and architect

1
God, to me, it seems,
is a verb
not a noun,
proper or improper.

untitled poem written in 1940, in No More Secondhand God (1963)

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)

[Fuller]

3 Either war is obsolete or men are.
in New Yorker 8 January 1966

[Fuller]

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Fuller, Sam 1912– American film director

1 When you're in the battlefield, survival is all there is. Death is the only great emotion.
in Guardian 26 February 1991

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Funke, Alfred b. 1869 German writer

1 Gott strafe England!God punish England!
Schwert und Myrte (1914).

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Fyffe, Will 1885–1947

1
I belong to Glasgow
Dear Old Glasgow town!
But what's the matter wi' Glasgow?
For it's going round and round.
I'm only a common old working chap,
As anyone can see,
But when I get a couple of drinks on a Saturday,
Glasgow belongs to me.

"I Belong to Glasgow" (1920 song)

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Fyleman, Rose 1877–1957 English writer for children

1 There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
"The Fairies" (1918)

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G

Gable, Clark

seeFilm lines

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Gabor, Zsa Zsa 1919– Hungarian-born film actress

1 I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back.
in Observer 25 August 1957

2 A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he's finished.
in Newsweek 28 March 1960

[Gabor]

3 You mean apart from my own?when asked how many husbands she had had
K. Edwards I Wish I'd Said That (1976)

[Gabor]

4 Not hard enough.when asked how hard she had slapped a policeman
in Independent 21 September 1989

[Gabor]

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Gaitskell, Hugh 1906–1963 British Labour politician

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]

3 The subtle terrorism of words.in a warning given to his Party, c.1957
Harry Hopkins The New Look (1963); attributed

[Gaitskell]

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Galbraith, J. K. 1908– Canadian-born American economist

1 The affluent society
title of book (1958)

2 The conventional wisdom.ironic term for "the beliefs that are at any time assiduously, solemnly and mindlessly traded between the conventionally wise"
The Affluent Society (1958)

[Galbraith]

3 These are the days when men of all social disciplines and all political faiths seek the comfortable and the accepted; when the man of controversy is looked upon as a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland.
The Affluent Society (1958)

[Galbraith]

4 It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.
The Affluent Society (1958)

[Galbraith]

5 In a community where public services have failed to keep abreast of private consumption things are very different. Here, in an atmosphere of private opulence and public squalor, the private goods have full sway.
The Affluent Society (1958)
We have public poverty and private opulence.
Sallust (86–35 bc) Catiline

[Galbraith]

6 The greater the wealth, the thicker will be the dirt.
The Affluent Society (1958)

[Galbraith]

7 It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or houses to the homeless.
American Capitalism (1952)

[Galbraith]

8 The salary of the chief executive of the large corporation is not a market reward for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
Annals of an Abiding Liberal (1979)

[Galbraith]

9 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]

10 The reduction of politics to a spectator sport…has been one of the more malign accomplishments of television. Television newsmen are breathless on how the game is being played, largely silent on what the game is all about.
A Life in Our Times (1981)

[Galbraith]

11 A wrong decision isn't forever; it can always be reversed. The losses from a delayed decision are forever; they can never be retrieved.
A Life in our Times (1981)

[Galbraith]

12 of the defeat of Germany in World War Two:That they were defeated is conclusive testimony to the inherent inefficiencies of dictatorship, the inherent efficiencies of freedom.
in Fortune December 1945

[Galbraith]

13 Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
letter to President Kennedy, 2 March 1962; see below.
Politics is the art of the possible.
Bismarck (1815–98), conversation with Meyer von Waldeck, 11 August 1867

[Galbraith]

14 If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by a spectacular error.
attributed

[Galbraith]

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Gallagher, Liam 1972– English pop singer

1 I'm not getting married today. I'm in bed.after his rumoured wedding to Patsy Kensit failed to take place
in Independent 15 February 1997

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Gallagher, Noel 1967– English pop singer

1 We are lads. We have burgled houses and nicked car stereos, and we like girls and swear and go to the football and take the piss.
interview in Melody Maker 30 March 1996

2 Drugs is like getting up and having a cup of tea in the morning.in a radio interview, 28 January 1997
in Daily Telegraph 31 January 1997

[Gallagher]

3 I would hope we mean more to people than putting money in a church basket and saying ten Hail Marys on a Sunday. Has God played Knebworth recently?on the drawing power of Oasis
in New Musical Express 12 July 1997. ,

[Gallagher]

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Galsworthy, John 1867–1933 English novelist

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)

2 A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it.
Maid in Waiting (1931)

[Galsworthy]

3 I know nothing—nobody tells me anything.
A Man of Property (1906)

[Galsworthy]

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Galton, Ray 1930– and Simpson, Alan 1929– English scriptwriters

1 I came in here in all good faith to help my country. I don't mind giving a reasonable amount , 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

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Gamow, George 1904–1968 Russian-born American physicist

1 We do not know why they have the masses they do; we do not know why they transform into another the way they do; we do not know anything! The one concept that stands like the Rock of Gibraltar in our sea of confusion is the Pauli principle.
in Scientific American July 1959

2 With five free parameters, a theorist could fit the profile of an elephant.
attributed; in Nature 21 June 1990

[Gamow]

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Gandhi, Mahatma 1869–1948 Indian statesman

1 What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Non-Violence in Peace and War (1942) vol. 1

2 The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states.
Non-Violence in Peace and War (1949) vol. 2

[Gandhi]

3 Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.speech on a charge of sedition
at Shahi Bag, 18 March 1922

[Gandhi]

4 In my humble opinion, non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.
speech in Ahmadabad, 23 March 1922

[Gandhi]

5 on being asked what he thought of modern civilization:That would be a good idea.while visiting England in 1930
E. F. Schumacher Good Work (1979)

[Gandhi]

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Garbo, Greta 1905–1990 Swedish film actress

1 I want to be alone.
Grand Hotel (1932 film)

2 I tank I go home.on being refused a pay rise by Louis B. Mayer
Norman Zierold Moguls (1969)

[Garbo]

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García Lorca, Federico 1899–1936 Spanish poet and dramatist

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]

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Gardner, Ed 1901–1963 American radio comedian

1 Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.
Duffy's Tavern (US radio programme, 1940s)

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Garner, John Nance 1868–1967 American Democratic politician, vice-president 1933–41

1 The vice-presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss.
O. C. Fisher Cactus Jack (1978)

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Gates, Bill 1955– American computer entrepreneur

1 If they want we will give them a sleeping bag, but there is something romantic about sleeping under the desk. They want to do it.on his young software programmers
in Independent 18 November 1995 "Quote Unquote"

2 Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.
in Independent on Sunday 12 October 1997 "For the Record"

[Gates]

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Gay, Noel 1898–1954 British songwriter

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

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Geddes, Eric 1875–1937 British politician and administrator

1 The Germans…are going to be squeezed as a lemon is squeezed—until the pips squeak.
speech at Cambridge, 10 December 1918

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Geldof, Bob 1954– Irish rock musician

1 Most people get into bands for three very simple rock and roll reasons: to get laid, to get fame, and to get rich.
in Melody Maker 27 August 1977

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Geldof, Bob 1954– and Ure, Midge 1953– Irish rock musician; Scottish rock musician

1
Feed the world
Feed the world.
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again.

"Do They Know it's Christmas?" (1984 song)

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Gellhorn, Martha 1908–1998 American journalist

1 I believed that all one did about a war was go to it, as a gesture of solidarity, and get killed, or survive if lucky until the war was over…I had no idea you could be what I became, an unscathed tourist of wars.
The Face of War (1959)

2 of the defeat of the Spanish Republic:I daresay we all became more competent press tourists because of it, since we never again cared so much. You can only love one war; afterward, I suppose, you do your duty.
The Honeyed Peace (1953)

[Gellhorn]

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Genet, Jean 1910–1986 French novelist, poet, and dramatist

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]

3 Anyone who hasn't experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing about ecstasy at all.
Prisoner of Love (1986)

[Genet]

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George V 1865–1936 King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1910

1 The Old Country must wake up if she intends to maintain her old position of pre-eminence in her Colonial trade against foreign competitors.reprinted in 1911 with the title "Wake up, England"
speech at Guildhall, 5 December 1901

2 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]

3 No more coals to Newcastle, no more Hoares to Paris.following Samuel Hoare's resignation as Foreign Secretary on 18 December 1935
Earl of Avon Facing the Dictators (1962)

[George V]

4 After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months.of his son, the future Edward VIII
K. Middlemas and J. Barnes Baldwin (1969)

[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 I will not have another war. I will not. The last one was none of my doing and if there is another one and we are threatened with being brought into it, I will go to Trafalgar Square and wave a red flag myself sooner than allow this country to be brought in.
Andrew Roberts Eminent Churchillians (1994)

[George V]

7 My father was frightened of his mother; I was frightened of my father, and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me.
attributed in Randolph S. Churchill Lord Derby (1959), but said by Kenneth Rose in George V (1983) to be almost certainly apocryphal.

[George V]

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George VI 1895–1952 King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1936

1 I feel happier now that we have no allies to be polite to and to pamper.to Queen Mary, 27 June 1940
J. Wheeler-Bennett King George VI (1958)

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]

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George, Daniel English writer

1 O Freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name!
The Perpetual Pessimist (1963); see below
O liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!
Mme Roland (1754–93) in A. de Lamartine Histoire des Girondins (1847)

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Gershwin, Ira 1896–1983 American songwriter

1
I got rhythm,
I got music,
I got my man
Who could ask for anything more?

"I Got Rhythm" (1930 song)

2 Lady, be good!
title of musical (1924)

[Gershwin]

3
You like potato and I like po-tah-to,
You like tomato and I like to-mah-to;
Potato, po-tah-to, tomato, to-mah-to—
Let's call the whole thing off!

"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (1937 song)

[Gershwin]

4
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)

[Gershwin]

5
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)

[Gershwin]

6
The way you wear your hat,
The way you sip your tea,
The mem'ry of all that—
No, no! They can't take that away from me!

"They Can't Take That Away from Me" (1937 song)

[Gershwin]

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Getty, J. Paul 1892–1976 American industrialist

1 If you can actually count your money, then you are not really a rich man.
in Observer 3 November 1957

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Gibbons, Stella 1902–1989 English novelist

1 Something nasty in the woodshed.
Cold Comfort Farm (1932)

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Gibbs, Wolcott 1902–1958 American critic

1 Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind.satirizing the style of Time magazine
in New Yorker 28 November 1936 "Time…Fortune…Life…Luce"

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Gibran, Kahlil 1883–1931 Syrian writer and painter

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).

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]

3 Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
The Prophet (1923) "On Work"

[Gibran]

4 An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.
Sand and Foam (1926)

[Gibran]

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Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson 1878–1962 English poet

1
But we, how shall we turn to little things
And listen to the birds and winds and streams
Made holy by their dreams,
Nor feel the heart-break in the heart of things?

"Lament" (1918)

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Gide, André 1869–1951 French novelist and critic

1 What cleanliness everywhere! You dare not throw your cigarette into the lake. No graffiti in the urinals. Switzerland is proud of this; but I believe this is just what she lacks: manure.
diary, Lucerne, 10 August 1917

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Gill, Eric 1882–1940 English sculptor, engraver, and typographer

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"

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Gilliatt, Penelope 1933–1993

seeFilm titles

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Gingold, Hermione 1897–1987 English actress

1 Contrary to popular belief, English women do not wear tweed nightgowns.
in Saturday Review 16 April 1955

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Gingrich, Newton 1943– American Republican politician; Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995

1 No society can survive, no civilization can survive, with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of Aids, with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read.in December 1994, after the Republican electoral victory
in The Times 9 February 1995

2 In a campaign, first you put up the façade, then you go around and build the building.
in New Yorker 9 October 1995

[Gingrich]

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Ginsberg, Allen 1926–1997 American poet and novelist

1
What if someone gave a war & Nobody came?

"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]

3 What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca what were you doing down by the watermelons?
"A Supermarket in California" (1956)

[Ginsberg]

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Gipp, George d. 1920 American footballer

1 Win just one for the Gipper.
attributed; the catch-phrase later became associated with Ronald Reagan, who uttered the immortal words in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American

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Giraudoux, Jean 1882–1944 French dramatist

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); translated by Christopher Fry as Tiger at the Gates, 1955)

2 No poet ever interpreted nature as freely as a lawyer interprets the truth.
La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu (1935)

[Giraudoux]

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Gladney, Edna American philanthropist

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)

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Glass, George 1910–1984

1 An actor is a kind of a guy who if you ain't talking about him ain't listening.
Bob Thomas Brando (1973); said to be often quoted by Marlon Brando, as in Observer 1 January 1956

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Glencross, David 1936– British television executive

1 It is unlikely that the government reaches for a revolver when it hears the word culture. The more likely response is to search for a dictionary.
Royal Television Society conference on the future of television, 26–27 November 1988.

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Glendinning, Victoria 1937– English biographer and novelist

1 There's no greater bliss in life than when the plumber eventually comes to unblock your drains. No writer can give that sort of pleasure.
in Observer 3 January 1993

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Godard, Jean-Luc 1930– French film director

1 Photography is truth. The cinema is truth 24 times per second.
Le Petit Soldat (1960 film)

2 Ce n'est pas une image juste, c'est juste une image.This is not a just image, it is just an image.
Colin MacCabe Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics (1980)

[Godard]

3 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]

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Godley, A. D. 1856–1925 English classicist

1
What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum!

letter, 10 January 1914, in Reliquiae (1926)

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Goebbels, Joseph 1897–1945 German Nazi leader

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]

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Goering, Hermann 1893–1946 German Nazi leader

1 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).

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 Reinhard Heydrich, 31 July 1941; W. L. Shirer Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1962).

[Goering]

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Goldberg, Isaac 1887–1938

1
Diplomacy is to do and say
The nastiest thing in the nicest way.

in The Reflex October 1927

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Golding, William 1911–1993 English novelist

1 Nothing is so impenetrable as laughter in a language you don't understand.
An Egyptian Journal (1985)

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Goldwater, Barry 1909– American Republican politician

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

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Goldwyn, Sam 1882–1974 American film producer

1 Gentlemen, include me out.resigning from the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, October 1933
M. Freedland The Goldwyn Touch (1986)

2 A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it is written on.
Alva Johnston The Great Goldwyn (1937)

[Goldwyn]

3 "I can answer you in two words, "im-possible” " is almost the cornerstone of the Goldwyn legend, but Sam did not say it. It was printed late in 1925 in a humorous magazine and credited to an anonymous Potash or Perlmutter.
Alva Johnston The Great Goldwyn (1937)

[Goldwyn]

4 That's the way with these directors, they're always biting the hand that lays the golden egg.
Alva Johnston The Great Goldwyn (1937)

[Goldwyn]

5 Why should people go out and pay to see bad movies when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?
in Observer 9 September 1956

[Goldwyn]

6 Any man who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined.
Norman Zierold Moguls (1969)

[Goldwyn]

7 I'll give you a definite maybe.
attributed

[Goldwyn]

8 Let's have some new clichés.
attributed, perhaps apocryphal

[Goldwyn]

9 Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.
A. Marx Goldwyn (1976).

[Goldwyn]

10 What we need is a story that starts with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax.
attributed, perhaps apocryphal

[Goldwyn]

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Goodman, Amy 1957– American journalist

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

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Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich 1931– Soviet statesman, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR 1985–91 and President 1988–91

1 The guilt of Stalin and his immediate entourage before the Party and the people for the mass repressions and lawlessness they committed is enormous and unforgivable.
speech on the seventieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution, 2 November 1987

2 The idea of restructuring …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

[Gorbachev]

3 After leaving the Kremlin…my conscience was clear. The promise I gave to the people when I started the process of perestroika was kept: I gave them freedom.
Memoirs (1995)

[Gorbachev]

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Gordon, Mack 1904–1959 American songwriter

1
Pardon me boy is that the Chattanooga Choo-choo,
Track twenty nine,
Boy you can gimme a shine.

"Chattanooga Choo-choo" (1941 song)

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Gorky, Maxim 1868–1936 Russian writer and revolutionary

1 The proletarian state must bring up thousands of excellent "mechanics of culture", "engineers of the soul".
speech at the Writers' Congress 1934.

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Gorrell, Stuart 1902–1963 American songwriter

1
Georgia, Georgia, no peace I find,
Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

"Georgia on my Mind" (1930 song)

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Gould, Stephen Jay 1941–2002> American palaeontologist

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]

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Grade, Lew 1906–98 British television producer and executive

1 All my shows are great. Some of them are bad. But they are all great.
in Observer 14 September 1975

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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, 9 February 1933

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Grant, Bernie 1944–2000 British Labour politician

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

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Grant, Cary

seeTelegrams

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Graves, Robert 1895–1985 English poet

1
Children are dumb to say how hot the day is,
How hot the scent is of the summer rose.

"The Cool Web" (1927)

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
As you are woman, so be lovely:
As you are lovely, so be various.

"Pygmalion to Galatea" (1927)

[Graves]

5
Love is a universal migraine.
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.

"Symptoms of Love"

[Graves]

6
"What did the mayor do?"
"I was coming to that."

"Welsh Incident" (1938)

[Graves]

7 Goodbye to all that.
title of autobiography (1929)

[Graves]

8 If there's no money in poetry, neither is there poetry in money.
speech at London School of Economics, 6 December 1963

[Graves]

9 Science has lost its virgin purity, has become dogmatic instead of seeking for enlightenment and has gradually fallen into the hands of the traders.
Bruno Friedman Flawed science, damaged human life (1969)

[Graves]

10 LSD reminds me of the minks that escape from mink-farms and breed in the forest and become dangerous and destructive. It has escaped from the drug factory and gets made in college laboratories.
George Plimpton (ed.) The Writer's Chapbook (1989)

[Graves]

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Greaves, Jimmy 1940– English footballer

1 The thing about sport, any sport, is that swearing is very much part of it.
attributed, 1989

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Greene, Graham 1904–1991 English novelist

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)

2 He gave her a bright fake smile; 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)

[Greene]

3 They had been corrupted by money, and he had been corrupted by sentiment. Sentiment was the more dangerous, because you couldn't name its price. A man open to bribes was to be relied upon below a certain figure, but sentiment might uncoil in the heart at a name, a photograph, even a smell remembered.
The Heart of the Matter (1948)

[Greene]

4 Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim.
Heart of the Matter (1948)

[Greene]

5 Here you could love human beings nearly as God loved them, knowing the worst; you didn't love a pose, a pretty dress, a sentiment artfully assumed.
The Heart of the Matter (1948)

[Greene]

6 He felt the loyalty we all feel to unhappiness—the sense that that is where we really belong.
The Heart of the Matter (1948)

[Greene]

7 Any victim demands allegiance.
The Heart of the Matter (1948)

[Greene]

8 His hilarity was like a scream from a crevasse.
The Heart of the Matter (1948)

[Greene]

9 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]

10 Goodness has only once found a perfect incarnation in a human body and never will again, but evil can always find a home there. Human nature is not black and white but black and grey.
The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951) title essay

[Greene]

11 There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
The Power and the Glory (1940)

[Greene]

12 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)

[Greene]

13 For a writer, success is always temporary, success is only a delayed failure. And it is incomplete.
A Sort of Life (1971)

[Greene]

14 Success in journalism can be a form of failure. Freedom comes from lack of possessions. The truth-divulging paper must imitate the tramp and sleep under a hedge.
in New Statesman 31 May 1968

[Greene]

15 to discover what lies behind the dark, thick leaf of the aspidistra that guards…the vulnerable gap between the lace curtains.on early attempts to experience life outside his own social class
Norman Sherry Life of Graham Greene 1904–39 (1989)

[Greene]

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Greer, Germaine 1939– Australian feminist

1 The stereotype is the Eternal Feminine. She is the Sexual Object sought by all men, and by all women. She is of neither sex, for she has herself no sex at all. Her value is solely attested by the demand she excites in others. All she must contribute is her existence. She need achieve nothing, for she is the reward of achievement.
The Female Eunuch (1970)

2 Women have very little idea of how much men hate them.
The Female Eunuch (1971)

[Greer]

3 You can now see the Female Eunuch the world over…spreading herself wherever blue jeans and Coca-Cola may go. Wherever you see nail varnish, lipstick, brassieres, and high heels, the Eunuch has set up her camp.
The Female Eunuch (20th anniversary ed., 1991) foreword

[Greer]

4 Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves; when that right is pre-empted it is called brain-washing.
in The Times 1 February 1986

[Greer]

5 I didn't fight to get women out from behind the vacuum cleaner to get them onto the board of Hoover.
in Guardian 27 October 1986

[Greer]

6 Football is an art more central to our culture than anything the Arts Council deigns to recognize.
in Independent 28 June 1996

[Greer]

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Gregg, Hubert 1914– English songwriter

1
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
That I love London so.

"Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner" (1947 song)

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Gregory, Dick 1932– American comedian

1 You gotta say this for the white race—its self-confidence knows no bounds. Who else could go to a small island in the South Pacific where there's no poverty, no crime, no unemployment, no war and no worry—and call it a "primitive society"?
From the Back of the Bus (1962)

2 Wouldn't it be a hell of a thing if all this was burnt cork and you people were being tolerant for nothing?
Nigger (1965)

[Gregory]

3 Baseball is very big with my people. It figures. It's the only way we can get to shake a bat at a white man without starting a riot.
D. H. Nathan (ed.) Baseball Quotations (1991)

[Gregory]

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Grenfell, Joyce 1910–1979 English comedy actress and writer

1 George—don't do that.recurring line in monologues about a nursery school
from the 1950s; George—Don't Do That (1977)

2
So gay the band,
So giddy the sight,
Full evening dress is a must,
But the zest goes out of a beautiful waltz
When you dance it bust to bust.

"Stately as a Galleon" (1978 song)

[Grenfell]

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Grenfell, Julian 1888–1915 English soldier and poet

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

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Grey, Clifford 1887–1941

1
If you were the only girl in the world
And I were the only boy.

"If You Were the Only Girl in the World" (1916 song)

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Grey, Lord of Fallodon 1862–1933 British Liberal politician

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)

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Grierson, John 1888–1972 English documentary film-maker

1 Art is not a mirror but a hammer.
H. Forsyth Hardy (ed.) Grierson on Documentary (1946, 1966)

2 In sponsored film work the price to be paid for the privilege of aesthetic experiment is the discipline of public service.
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

[Grierson]

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Griffith-Jones, Mervyn 1909–1979 British lawyer

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
in The Times 21 October 1960

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Grigg, John1924– British writer and journalist, who as Lord Altrincham disclaimed his hereditary title in 1963

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]

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Grigson, Geoffrey 1905–1985 English critic

1 The old ideas of nobility and sacrifice have become a howitzer squatting at Hyde Park like a petrified toad, and the hero has become a cabinet minister on a pedestal in bronze boots.on modern sculpture
Henry Moore (1944)

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Grimond, Joseph ("Jo") 1913–1993 British Liberal politician, Leader of the Liberal Party (1956–67)

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

2 on the chance of a pact with the Labour Government:Our teeth are in the real meat.
speech to the Liberal Party Assembly, 1965

[Grimond]

3 The trouble with the Labour Party is that they don't really believe in Socialism, but they cannot wholeheartedly approve of private enterprise either.
attributed, 1965

[Grimond]

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Gromyko, Andrei 1909–1989 Soviet statesman, President of the USSR 1985–8

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

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Grove, Andrew 1936– American businessman

1 Only the paranoid survive.dictum on which he has long run his company, the Intel Corporation
in New York Times 18 December 1994

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Guedalla, Philip 1889–1944 British historian and biographer

1 Any stigma, as the old saying is, will serve to beat a dogma.
Masters and Men (1923) "Ministers of State"

2 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)

[Guedalla]

3 The cheerful clatter of Sir James Barrie's cans as he went round with the milk of human kindness.
Supers and Supermen (1920) "Some Critics"

[Guedalla]

4 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]

5 History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.
Supers and Supermen (1920) "Some Historians"

[Guedalla]

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Guevara, Ernesto ("Che") 1928–1967 Argentinian revolutionary and guerrilla leader

1 The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.
Socialism and Man in Cuba (1968)

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Guibert, Hervé 1955–1991 French writer

1 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)

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Gulbenkian, Nubar 1896–1972 British industrialist and philanthropist

1 The best number for a dinner party is two—myself and a dam' good head waiter.
in Daily Telegraph 14 January 1965

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Gunn, Thom 1929– English poet

1
My thoughts are crowded with death
and it draws so oddly on the sexual
that I am confused
confused to be attracted
by, in effect, my own annihilation.

"In Time of Plague" (1992)

2
Their relationship consisted
In discussing if it existed.

"Jamesian" (1992)

[Gunn]

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Guth, Alan 1947– American physicist

1 It is often said that there is no such thing as a free lunch. The Universe, however, is a free lunch.
in Harpers November 1994.

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Guthrie, Woody 1912–1967 American folksinger and songwriter

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)

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H

Haig, Lord 1861–1928 British soldier, Commander of British armies in France, 1915–18

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 the 17th Earl of 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; A. Duff Cooper Haig (1936)

[Haig]

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Hailsham, Lord (Quintin Hogg) 1907–2001 British Conservative politician

1 Conservatives do not believe that the political struggle is the most important thing in life…The simplest of them prefer fox-hunting—the wisest religion.
The Case for Conservatism (1947)

2 We are a democratically governed republic with a wholly admirable head of state.
Values: Collapse and Cure (1994)

[Hailsham]

3 A great party is not to be brought down because of a scandal by a woman of easy virtue and a proved liar.
BBC television interview on the Profumo affair; in The Times 14 June 1963

[Hailsham]

4 If the British public falls for this, I think it will be stark, raving bonkers.on the Labour party programme
in press conference at Conservative Central Office, 12 October 1964

[Hailsham]

5 I believe there is a golden thread which alone gives meaning to the political history of the West, from Marathon to Alamein, from Solon to Winston Churchill and after. This I chose to call the doctrine of liberty under the law.
in 1975; Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Hailsham]

6 The elective dictatorship.
title of the Dimbleby Lecture, 19 October 1976

[Hailsham]

7 The English and, more latterly, the British, have the habit of acquiring their institutions by chance or inadvertence, and shedding them in a fit of absent-mindedness.
"The Granada Guildhall Lecture 1987" 10 November 1987; see below
We seem…to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind.
John Seeley (1834–95) The Expansion of England (1883)

[Hailsham]

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Haldane, J. B. S. 1892–1964 Scottish mathematical biologist

1 Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.
Possible Worlds (1927)

2 If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason for supposing that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.
Possible Worlds (1927) "When I am Dead"

[Haldane]

3
I wish I had the voice of Homer
To sing of rectal carcinoma,
Which kills a lot more chaps, in fact,
Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked.

"Cancer's a Funny Thing"; Ronald Clark J. B. S. (1968)

[Haldane]

4 The Creator, if He exists, has a special preference for beetles.on observing that there are 400,000 species of beetles on this planet, but only 8,000 species of mammals
in Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (1951)

[Haldane]

5 I'd lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins.
attributed; in New Scientist 8 August 1974

[Haldane]

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Haldeman, H. R. 1929–1993 Presidential assistant to Richard Nixon

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, in Hearings Before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of US Senate: Watergate and Related Activities (1973)

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Hall, Jerry American model, wife of Mick Jagger

1 My mother said it was simple to keep a man, you must be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom. I said I'd hire the other two and take care of the bedroom bit.
in Observer 6 October 1985

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Hall, Radclyffe 1883–1943 English novelist

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.
The Well of Loneliness (1928)

[Hall]

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Halsey, Margaret 1910– American writer

1 Englishwomen's shoes look as if they had been made by someone who had often heard shoes described but had never seen any.
With Malice Toward Some (1938)

2 The English never smash in a face. They merely refrain from asking it to dinner.
With Malice Toward Some (1938)

[Halsey]

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Halsey, W. F. ("Bull") 1882–1959 American admiral

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)

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Hammerstein II, Oscar 1895–1960 American songwriter

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)

2
Climb ev'ry mountain, ford ev'ry stream
Follow ev'ry rainbow, till you find your dream!

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (1959 song)

[Hammerstein II]

3 June is bustin' out all over.
title of song (1945)

[Hammerstein II]

4
The last time I saw Paris
Her heart was warm and gay,
I heard the laughter of her heart in ev'ry street café.

"The Last Time I saw Paris" (1941 song)

[Hammerstein II]

5
The corn is as high as an elephant's eye,
An' it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky.

"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' " (1943 song)

[Hammerstein II]

6
Oh, what a beautiful mornin',
Oh, what a beautiful day!
I got a beautiful feelin'
Ev'rything's goin' my way.

"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' " (1943 song)

[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)

[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)

[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 song)

[Hammerstein II]

10 There is nothin' like a dame.
title of song (1949)

[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)

[Hammerstein II]

12 You'll never walk alone.
title of song (1945)

[Hammerstein II]

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Hampton, Christopher 1946– English dramatist

1 Masturbation is the thinking man's television.
Philanthropist (1970)

2 A definition of capitalism…the process whereby American girls turn into American women.
Savages (1974)

[Hampton]

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Hand, Learned 1872–1961 American judge

1 No plagiarist can excuse the wrong by showing how much of his work he did not pirate.
in Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp. 1936

2 A self-made man may prefer a self-made name.on Samuel Goldfish's changing his name to Samuel Goldwyn
Bosley Crowther Lion's Share (1957)

[Hand]

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Hanrahan, Brian 1949– British journalist

1 I counted them all out and I counted them all back.on the number of British aeroplanes joining the raid on Port Stanley
BBC broadcast report, 1 May 1982

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Hansberry, Lorraine 1930–1965 American dramatist

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.

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Harbach, Otto 1873–1963 American songwriter

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)

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Harburg, E. Y. ("Yip") 1898–1981 American songwriter

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
Wanna cry, wanna croon.
Wanna laugh like a loon.
It's that Old Devil Moon in your eyes.

"Old Devil Moon" (1946 song)

[Harburg]

4
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

"Over the Rainbow" (1939 song)

[Harburg]

5
When our organs have been transplanted
And the new ones made happy to lodge in us,
Let us pray one wish be granted—
We retain our zones erogenous.

"Seated One Day at the Organ" (1965)

[Harburg]

6 Follow the yellow brick road.
"We're Off to See the Wizard" (1939 song); see below.
The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick.
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

[Harburg]

7 Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought…The greatest romance in the life of a lyricist is when the right word meets the right note; often however, a Park Avenue phrase elopes with a Bleeker Street chord resulting in a shotgun wedding and a quickie divorce.
lecture given at the New York YMCA in 1970

[Harburg]

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Hardie, Keir 1856–1915 Scottish Labour politician

1 Woman, even more than the working class, is the great unknown quantity of the race.
speech at Bradford, 11 April 1914

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Harding, D. W. 1906– British psychologist and critic

1 Regulated hatred.title of an article on the novels of Jane Austen
in Scrutiny March 1940

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Hardy, Godfrey Harold 1877–1947 English mathematician

1 Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.
A Mathematician's Apology (1940)

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Hardy, Thomas 1840–1928 English novelist and poet

1
When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay,
And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say,
"He was a man who used to notice such things"?

"Afterwards" (1917)

2
The bower we shrined to Tennyson,
Gentlemen,
Is roof-wrecked; damps there drip upon
Sagged seats, the creeper-nails are rust,
The spider is sole denizen.

"An Ancient to Ancients" (1922)

[Hardy]

3
"Peace upon earth!" was said. We sing it,
And pay a million priests to bring it.
After two thousand years of mass
We've got as far as poison-gas.

"Christmas: 1924" (1928)

[Hardy]

4
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she…

Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls—grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
on the loss of the Titanic
"Convergence of the Twain" (1914)

[Hardy]

5
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything.

"Convergence of the Twain" (1914)

[Hardy]

6
And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too…

Till the Spinner of the Years
Said "Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.

"Convergence of the Twain" (1914)

[Hardy]

7
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume.

"The Darkling Thrush" (1902)

[Hardy]

8
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]

9
If way to the Better there be, it exacts a full look at the worst.

"De Profundis" (1902)

[Hardy]

10
Well, World, you have kept faith with me,
Kept faith with me;
Upon the whole you have proved to be
Much as you said you were.

"He Never Expected Much" (1928)

[Hardy]

11
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]

12
Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

"In Time of "The Breaking of Nations” " (1917)

[Hardy]

13
Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by:
War's annals will cloud into night
Ere their story die.

"In Time of "The Breaking of Nations” " (1917)

[Hardy]

14
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.

"The Man he Killed" (1909)

[Hardy]

15
What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away
Ere the barn-cocks say
Night is growing grey,
To hazards whence no tears can win us;
What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away?

"Men Who March Away" (1914)

[Hardy]

16
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]

17
Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me.

"The Voice" (1914)

[Hardy]

18
This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I.

"Weathers" (1922)

[Hardy]

19
And drops on gate-bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go.

"Weathers" (1922)

[Hardy]

20
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" (1914)

[Hardy]

21 War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.
The Dynasts (1904)

[Hardy]

22 A local thing called Christianity.
The Dynasts (1904)

[Hardy]

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Hargreaves, W. F. 1846–1919 British songwriter

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]

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Harlech, Lord 1918–1985 British diplomat

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.

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Harman, Charles Eustace 1894–1970 British judge

1 Accountants are the witch-doctors of the modern world and willing to turn their hands to any kind of magic.
speech, February 1964, in A. Sampson The New Anatomy of Britain (1971)

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Harper, Jimmy et al.

1 The biggest aspidistra in the world.
title of song (1938); popularized by Gracie Fields

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Harrington, Michael 1928–1989 American writer and sociologist

1 For the urban poor the police are those who arrest you. In almost any slum there is a vast conspiracy against the forces of law and order.
The Other America: Poverty in the United States (1962)

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Harris, Arthur 1892–1984 British Air Force Marshal

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; Max Hastings Bomber Command (1979); see below
Not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.
Bismarck (1815–98) in G. O. Kent Bismarck and his Times (1978)

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Harrison, George 1943– English rock and pop guitarist, former member of The Beatles

1 The good thing about them is that you can look at them with the sound turned down.of the Spice Girls
in Independent 28 August 1997

2 The more you jump around, the bigger your hat is, the more people listen to your music…The only important thing is to sell, and make money. It's nothing to do with talent.of modern music as exemplified by Oasis and U2
in Independent 28 August 1997

[Harrison]

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Harrison, Paul 1936– American dramatist and director

1 The poor tread lightest upon the earth. The higher our income, the more resources we control and the more havoc we wreak.
in Guardian 1 May 1992

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Hart, Josephine 1942–

1 Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.
Damage (1991).

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Hart, Lorenz 1895–1943 American songwriter

1
Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I.

"Bewitched" (1941 song)

2
When love congeals
It soon reveals
The faint aroma of performing seals.

"I Wish I Were in Love Again" (1937 song)

[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)

[Hart]

4
In a mountain greenery
Where God paints the scenery—
Just two crazy people together.

"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]

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Hart, Moss 1904–1961 and Kaufman, George 1889–1961

1 You can't take it with you.
title of play (1936)

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Hartley, Dorothy 1893–1985 English writer

1
Hot on Sunday,
Cold on Monday,
Hashed on Tuesday,
Minced on Wednesday,
Curried Thursday,
Broth on Friday,
Cottage pie Saturday.

Food in England (1954) "Vicarage Mutton"

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Hartley, L. P. 1895–1972 English novelist

1 The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
The Go-Between (1953) prologue

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Harvey, F. W. b. 1888 English poet

1
From troubles of the world
I turn to ducks
Beautiful comical things.

"Ducks" (1919)

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Haskins, Minnie Louise 1875–1957 English teacher and writer

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"

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Havel, Václav 1936– Czech dramatist and statesman; President of Czechoslovakia 1989–92 and of the Czech Republic since 1993

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
Summer Meditations (1992)

2 Truth is not merely what we are thinking, but also why, to whom and under what circumstances we say it.
Temptation (1985)

[Havel]

3 To respond to evil by committing another evil does not eliminate evil but allows it to go on forever.
letter, 5 November 1989

[Havel]

4 Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not only the art of the possible, especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals, and pragmatic manoeuvring, but that it can even be the art of the impossible, namely, the art of improving ourselves and the world.
speech, Prague, 1 January 1990.

[Havel]

5 The Gypsies are a litmus test not of democracy but of civil society.
attributed

[Havel]

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Hawking, Stephen 1942– English theoretical physicist

1 Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales.
A Brief History of Time (1988)

2 In effect, we have redefined the task of science to be the discovery of laws that will enable us to predict events up to the limits set by the uncertainty principle.
A Brief History of Time (1988)

[Hawking]

3 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)

[Hawking]

4 If we find the answer to that , it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God.
A Brief History of Time (1988)

[Hawking]

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Hay, Ian 1876–1952 Scottish novelist and dramatist

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)

[Hay]

3 The dawn of legibility in his handwriting has revealed his utter inability to spell.
attributed; perhaps used in a dramatization of The Housemaster (1938)

[Hay]

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Hayden, Bill 1933– Australian Labor politician

1 Hayden had resigned as Opposition leader in 1983 as Malcolm Fraser was in the process of calling the election, but remained convinced that he would have won:I am not convinced the Labor Party could not win under my leadership. I believe a drover's dog could lead the Labor Party to victory the way the country is.
John Stubbs Hayden (1989)

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Hayes, Alfred 1911–1985 American songwriter

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)

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Hazlewood, Lee 1929– American singer and songwriter

1 These boots are made for walkin'.
title of song (1966)

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Healey, Denis 1917– British Labour politician

1 I warn you there are going to be howls of anguish from the 80,000 people who are rich enough to pay over 75% on the last slice of their income.
speech at Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1973

2 It's no good ceasing to become the world's policeman in order to become the world's parson instead.
at a meeting of the Cabinet at Chequers, 17 November 1974; Peter Hennessy Whitehall (1990)

[Healey]

3 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

[Healey]

4 While the rest of Europe is marching to confront the new challenges, the Prime Minister is shuffling along in the gutter in the opposite direction, like an old bag lady, muttering imprecations at anyone who catches her eye.of Margaret Thatcher
in the House of Commons, 22 February 1990

[Healey]

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Healey, Edna 1918– British writer

1 She has no hinterland; in particular she has no sense of history.of Margaret Thatcher
Denis Healey The Time of My Life (1989)

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Heaney, Seamus 1939– Irish poet

1
All agog at the plasterer on his ladder
Skimming our gable and writing our name there
With his trowel point, letter by strange letter.

"Alphabets" (1987)

2
And found myself thinking: if it were nowadays,
This is how Death would summon Everyman.

"A Call" (1996)

[Heaney]

3
How culpable was he
That last night when he broke
Our tribe's complicity?
"Now you're supposed to be
An educated man,"
I hear him say. "Puzzle me
The right answer to that one.

"Casualty" (1979)

[Heaney]

4
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

"Digging" (1966)

[Heaney]

5
Me waiting until I was nearly fifty
To credit marvels.

"Fosterling" (1991)

[Heaney]

6
The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise
Were all at prayers inside the oratory
A ship appeared above them in the air.

"Lightenings viii" (1991)

[Heaney]

7
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 (1983)

[Heaney]

8
Who would connive
in civilised outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge.

"Punishment" (1975)

[Heaney]

9
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]

10
Here is the News,

Said the absolute speaker. Between him and us
A great gulf was fixed where pronunciation
Reigned tyrannically

"A Sofa in the Forties" (1996)

[Heaney]

11
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]

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Heath, Edward 1916– British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1970–4

1 This would, at a stroke, reduce the rise in prices, increase production and reduce unemployment.
press release from Conservative Central Office, 16 June 1970, never actually spoken by Heath

2 The unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism.on the Lonrho affair
in the House of Commons, 15 May 1973

[Heath]

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Heatherton, Fred

1
I've got a loverly bunch of coconuts,
There they are a-standing in a row.

"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" (1944 song; revised version 1948)

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Heath-Stubbs, John 1918– English poet

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)

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Hecht, Ben 1894–1964 American screenwriter

1 filled the room with wonderful panic and beat at your mind like a man in front of a slot machine, shaking it for a jackpot.
A. Scott Berg Goldwyn (1989)

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Hedren, Tippi 1935– American actress

1 thought of himself as looking like Cary Grant. That's tough, to think of yourself one way and look another.
interview in California, 1982; P. F. Boller and R. L. Davis Hollywood Anecdotes (1988)

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Heggs, Amanda

1 Sometimes I have a terrible feeling that I am dying not from the virus, but from being untouchable.of Aids
in Guardian 12 June 1989

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Heisenberg, Werner 1901–1976 German mathematical physicist

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); tr. A. J. Pomerans as Physics and Beyond, 1971

2 on Felix Bloch's stating that space was the field of linear operations:Nonsense. Space is blue and birds fly through it.
Felix Bloch "Heisenberg and the early days of quantum mechanics" in Physics Today December 1976

[Heisenberg]

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Heller, Joseph 1923–99 American novelist

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)

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); see below
Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) Twelfth Night (1601)

[Heller]

3 Kissinger brought peace to Vietnam the same way Napoleon brought peace to Europe: by losing.
Good as Gold (1979)

[Heller]

4 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]

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Hellman, Lillian 1905–1984 American dramatist

1 Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.
The Little Foxes (1939)

2 I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.
letter to John S. Wood, 19 May 1952

[Hellman]

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Helmsley, Leona c.1920– American hotelier

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

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Hemingway, Ernest 1899–1961 American novelist

1 Where do the noses go? I always wondered where the noses would go.
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

2 But did thee feel the earth move?
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

[Hemingway]

3 Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
Men at War (1942)

[Hemingway]

4 Paris is a movable feast.
A Movable Feast (1964) epigraph

[Hemingway]

5 A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

[Hemingway]

6 The sun also rises.
title of novel (1926)

[Hemingway]

7 Grace under pressure.when asked what he meant by "guts" in an interview with Dorothy Parker
in New Yorker 30 November 1929

[Hemingway]

8 I started out very quiet and I beat Mr Turgenev. Then I trained hard and I beat Mr de Maupassant. I've fought two draws with Mr Stendhal, and I think I had an edge in the last one. But nobody's going to get me in any ring with Mr Tolstoy unless I'm crazy or I keep getting better.
in New Yorker 13 May 1950

[Hemingway]

9 The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.
in Paris Review Spring 1958

[Hemingway]

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Henderson, Arthur 1863–1935 Labour politician and from 1931 Party Leader

1 to critics in his own party, when as adviser on labour matters he was made minister without portfolio in Lloyd George's War Cabinet (December 1916):I am not here either to please myself or you; I am here to see the war through.
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

2 The first forty-eight hours decide whether a Minister is going to run his office or whether his office is going to run him.
Susan Crosland Tony Crosland (1982)

[Henderson]

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Hendrix, Jimi 1942–1970 American rock musician

1
Purple haze is in my brain
Lately things don't seem the same.

"Purple Haze" (1967 song)

2 A musician, if he's a messenger, is like a child who hasn't been handled too many times by man, hasn't had too many fingerprints across his brain.
in Life Magazine (1969)

[Hendrix]

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Henley, Arthur W. D.

1 Nobody loves a fairy when she's forty.
title of song (1934)

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Hennessy, Peter 1947– British historian and writer

1 The model of a modern Prime Minister would be a kind of grotesque composite freak—someone with the dedication to duty of a Peel, the physical energy of a Gladstone, the detachment of a Salisbury, the brains of an Asquith, the balls of a Lloyd George, the word-power of a Churchill, the administrative gifts of an Attlee, the style of a Macmillan, the managerialism of a Heath, and the sleep requirements of a Thatcher. Human beings do not come like that.
The Hidden Wiring (1995)

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Herbert, A. P. 1890–1971 English writer and humorist

1
Don't let's go to the dogs tonight,
For mother will be there.

"Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" (1926)

2
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)

[Herbert]

3
Not huffy, or stuffy, not tiny or tall,
But fluffy, just fluffy, with no brains at all.

"I Like them Fluffy" (1927)

[Herbert]

4
Let's find out what everyone is doing,
And then stop everyone from doing it.

"Let's Stop Somebody from Doing Something!" (1930)

[Herbert]

5
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]

6
Other people's babies—
That's my life!
Mother to dozens,
And nobody's wife.

"Other People's Babies" (1930)

[Herbert]

7
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]

8
Nothing is wasted, nothing is in vain:
The seas roll over but the rocks remain.

Tough at the Top (operetta c.1949)

[Herbert]

9 Holy deadlock.
title of novel (1934)

[Herbert]

10 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]

11 The critical period in matrimony is breakfast-time.
Uncommon Law (1935) "Is Marriage Lawful?"

[Herbert]

12 "Was the cow crossed?"
"No, your worship, it was an open cow."
on an attempt to write a cheque on a cow
Uncommon Law (1935) "The Negotiable Cow"

[Herbert]

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Heseltine, Michael 1933– British Conservative politician

1 I knew that, "He who wields the knife never wears the crown."
in New Society 14 February 1986

2 The market has no morality.
on Panorama, BBC1 TV, 27 June 1988

[Heseltine]

3 Polluted rivers, filthy streets, bodies bedded down in doorways are no advertisement for a prosperous or caring society.
speech at Conservative Party Conference 10 October 1989

[Heseltine]

4 If I have to intervene to help British companies…I'll intervene—before breakfast, before lunch, before tea and before dinner. And I'll get up the next morning and I'll start all over again.of his role as President of the Board of Trade
to the Conservative Party Conference, 7 October 1992

[Heseltine]

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Hesse, Hermann 1877–1962 German novelist and poet

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)

2 The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire.
Der Steppenwolf (1927) "Tractat vom Steppenwolf"

[Hesse]

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Hewart, Lord 1870–1943 British lawyer and politician

1 Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.
Rex v. Sussex Justices, 9 November 1923

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Hewison, Robert 1943– British historian

1 The turn of the century raises expectations. The end of a millennium promises apocalypse and revelation. But at the close of the twentieth century the golden age seems behind us, not ahead. The end game of the 1990s promises neither nirvana nor Armageddon, but entropy.
Future Tense (1990)

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Hewitt, John 1907–1987 Northern Irish poet

1
We would be strangers in the Capitol;
this is our country also, no-where else;
and we shall not be outcast on the world.

"The Colony" (1950)

2 I'm an Ulsterman, of planter stock. I was born in the island of Ireland, so secondarily I'm an Irishman. I was born in the British archipelago and English is my native tongue, so I am British. The British archipelago consists of offshore islands to the continent of Europe, so I'm European. This is my hierarchy of values and so far as I am concerned, anyone who omits one step in that sequence of values is falsifying the situation.
in The Irish Times 4 July 1974

[Hewitt]

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Heydrich, Reinhard 1904–1942 German Nazi leader

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 eleven million European Jews
speech in Wannsee, 20 January 1942.

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Heyward, Du Bose 1885–1940 and Gershwin, Ira 1896–1983 American songwriters

1
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)

2
Summer time an' the livin' is easy,
Fish are jumpin' an' the cotton is high.

"Summertime" (1935 song)

[Heyward]

3
A woman is a sometime thing.

title of song (1935)

[Heyward]

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Hicks, J. R. 1904– British economist

1 The best of all monopoly profits is a quiet life.
Econometrica (1935) "The Theory of Monopoly"

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Hicks, Seymour 1871–1949 English actor-manager and author

1 You will recognize, my boy, the first sign of old age: it is when you go out into the streets of London and realize for the first time how young the policemen look.
C. R. D. Pulling They Were Singing (1952)

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Hilbert, David 1862–1943 German mathematician

1 The importance of a scientific work can be measured by the number of previous publications it makes it superfluous to read.
attributed; Lewis Wolpert The Unnatural Nature of Science (1993)

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Hill, Christopher 1912– British historian

1 Only very slowly and late have men come to realize that unless freedom is universal it is only extended privilege.
Century of Revolution (1961)

2 Just as Oliver Cromwell aimed to bring about the kingdom of God on earth and founded the British Empire, so Bunyan wanted the millennium and got the novel.
A Turbulent, Seditious, and Factious People: John Bunyan and his Church, 1628-1688 (1988)

[Hill]

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Hill, Damon 1960– English motor-racing driver

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"

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Hill, Geoffrey 1932– English poet

1
Poetry
Unearths from among the speechless dead

Lazarus mystified, common man
Of death. The lily rears its gouged face
From the provided loam.

"History as Poetry" (1968)

2
She kept the siege. And every day
We watched her brooding over death
Like a strong bird above its prey.
The room filled with the kettle's breath.

Damp curtains glued against the pane
Sealed time away. Her body froze
As if to freeze us all, and chain
Creation to a stunned repose.

"In Memory of Jane Fraser" (1959)

[Hill]

3
I love my work and my children. God
Is distant, difficult. Things happen.
Too near the ancient troughs of blood
Innocence is no earthly weapon.

"Ovid in the Third Reich" (1968)

[Hill]

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Hill, Joe 1879–1915 American labour leader and songwriter

1
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

"Preacher and the Slave" (1911 song)

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]

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Hill, Pattie S. 1868–1946 American educationist

1 Happy birthday to you.
title of song (1935)

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Hillary, Edmund 1919– New Zealand mountaineer

1 Well, we knocked the bastard off!on conquering Mount Everest, 1953
Nothing Venture, Nothing Win (1975)

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Hillebrand, Fred 1893–

1 Home James, and don't spare the horses.
title of song (1934)

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Hilton, James 1900–1954 English novelist

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)

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Hirohito, Emperor 1901–1989 Emperor of Japan from 1926

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

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Hirst, Damien 1965– English artist

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"

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Hislop, Ian 1960– English satirical journalist

1 If this is justice, I am a banana.on the libel damages awarded against Private Eye to Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper
comment, 24 May 1989

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Hitchcock, Alfred 1899–1980 British-born film director

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]

3 There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.
Leslie Halliwell (ed.) Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion (1984); attributed

[Hitchcock]

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Hitler, Adolf 1889–1945 German dictator

1 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)

2 I go the way that Providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker.
speech in Munich, 15 March 1936

[Hitler]

3 It is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe.on the Sudetenland
speech in Berlin, 26 September 1938

[Hitler]

4 Is Paris burning?
on 5 August 1944; L. Collins and D. Lapierre Is Paris Burning? (1965)

[Hitler]

5 The broad mass of a nation…will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.
Mein Kampf (1925)

[Hitler]

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Hobsbawm, Eric 1917– British historian

1 For 80 per cent of humanity the Middle Ages ended suddenly in the 1950s; or perhaps better still, they were felt to end in the 1960s.
Age of Extremes (1994)

2 This was the kind of war which existed in order to produce victory parades.of the Falklands War
in Marxism Today January 1983

[Hobsbawm]

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Hockney, David 1937– British artist

1 All you can do with most ordinary photographs is stare at them—they stare back, blankly—and presently your concentration begins to fade. They stare you down. I mean, photography is all right if you don't mind looking at the world from the point of view of a paralysed cyclops—for a split second.
as told to Lawrence Weschler, Cameraworks (1984)

2 All painting, no matter what you're painting, is abstract in that it's got to be organized.
David Hockney (1976)

[Hockney]

3 The thing with high-tech is that you always end up using scissors.
in Observer 10 July 1994 "Sayings of the Week"

[Hockney]

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Hodgson, Ralph 1871–1962 English poet

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)

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Hoffer, Eric 1902–1983 American philosopher

1 When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. Originality is deliberate and forced, and partakes of the nature of a protest.
Passionate State of Mind (1955)

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Hoffman, Al 1902–1960 and Manning, Dick 1912–

1 Takes two to tango.
title of song (1952)

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Hoffnung, Gerard 1925–1959 English humorist

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
in speech at the Oxford Union, 4 December 1958

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Hogben, Lancelot 1895–1975 English scientist

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

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Holiday, Billie 1915–1959 American singer

1
Mama may have, papa may have,
But God bless the child 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 You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.
Lady Sings the Blues (1956, with William Duffy)

[Holiday]

4 In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love.of a drug habit
Lady Sings the Blues (1956, with William Duffy)

[Holiday]

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Holmes, John H. 1879–1964 American Unitarian minister

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)

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Holmes, Oliver Wendell Jr. 1841–1935 American lawyer

1 Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that were not so.
"Natural Law" (1918)

2 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]

3 The minute a phrase becomes current it becomes an apology for not thinking accurately to the end of the sentence.
letter to Harold Laski, 2 July 1917

[Holmes]

4 But I have long thought that if you knew a column of advertisements by heart, you could achieve unexpected felicities with them. You can get a happy quotation anywhere if you have the eye.
letter to Harold Laski, 31 May 1923

[Holmes]

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Home, Alec Douglas-Home, Lord 1903–1995 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1963–4

1 When I have to read economic documents I have to have a box of matches and start moving them into position to simplify and illustrate the points to myself.
in Observer 16 September 1962

2 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 process has ground to a halt with a fourteenth Earl"
in Daily Telegraph 22 October 1963

[Home]

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Hoover, Herbert 1874–1964 American Republican statesman, 31st President of the US, 1929–33

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; Claudius O. Johnson Borah of Idaho (1936)

2 The American system of rugged individualism.
speech, 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; see below
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.
Henri IV, King of France (1553–1610) in Hardouin de Péréfixe Histoire de Henry le Grand (1681)

[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]

5 Older men declare war. But it is youth who must fight and die.
speech at the Republican National Convention, Chicago, 27 June 1944

[Hoover]

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Hope, A. D. 1907– Australian poet

1
And her five cities, like teeming sores,
Each drains her: a vast parasite robber-state
Where second-hand Europeans pullulate
Timidly on the edge of alien shores.

"Australia" (1939)

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Hope, Anthony 1863–1933 English novelist

1 Oh, for an hour of Herod!at the first night of Peter Pan in 1904
D. Mackail Story of JMB (1941)

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Hope, Bob 1903– American comedian

1 A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
Alan Harrington Life in the Crystal Palace (1959) "The Tyranny of Farms"

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Housman, A. E. 1859–1936 English poet

1
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)

2
And how am I to face the odds
Of man's bedevilment and God's?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.

Last Poems (1922) no. 12

[Housman]

3
The candles burn their sockets,
The blinds let through the day,
The young man feels his pockets
And wonders what's to pay.

Last Poems (1922) no. 21

[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
For nature, heartless, witless nature,
Will neither care nor know
What stranger's feet may find the meadow
And trespass there and go,
Nor ask amid the dews of morning
If they are mine or no.

Last Poems (1922) no. 40

[Housman]

6
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]

7 Experience has taught me, when I am shaving of a morning, to keep watch over my thoughts, because, if a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act…The seat of this sensation is the pit of the stomach.
The Name and Nature of Poetry (1933)

[Housman]

8 Written English is now inert and inorganic: not stem and leaf and flower, not even trim and well-joined masonry, but a daub of untempered mortar.
in Cambridge Review 1917

[Housman]

9 Whence came the intrusive comma on p. 4? It did not fall from the sky.
letter to the Richards Press, 3 July 1930

[Housman]

10 Cambridge has seen many strange sights. It has seen Wordsworth drunk and Porson sober. It is now destined to see better a better scholar than Wordsworth and a better poet than Porson betwixt and between.
speech at University College, London, 29 March 1911, in R. W. Chambers Man's Unconquerable Mind (1939)

[Housman]

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Howe, Geoffrey 1926– British Conservative politician

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 the Prime Mininster'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]

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Howerd, Frankie 1922–1992 British comedian

1 Such cruel glasses.of Robin Day
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]

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Hoyle, Fred 1915– English astrophysicist

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"

2 When I was young, the old regarded me as an outrageous young fellow, and now that I'm old the young regard me as an outrageous old fellow.
in Scientific American March 1995

[Hoyle]

3 There is a coherent plan to the universe, though I don't know what it's a plan for.
attributed

[Hoyle]

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Hubbard, Elbert 1859–1915 American writer

1 Life is just one damned thing after another.
in Philistine December 1909; often attributed to Frank Ward O'Malley.

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Hubbard, Frank McKinney ("Kin") 1868–1930 American humorist

1 Classic music is th'kind that we keep thinkin'll turn into a tune.
Comments of Abe Martin and His Neighbors (1923)

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Hughes, Howard Jr. 1905–1976 American industrialist, aviator, and film producer

1 That man's ears make him look like a taxi-cab with both doors open.of Clark Gable
Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg Celluloid Muse (1969)

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Hughes, Jimmy and Lake, Frank

1
Bless 'em all! Bless 'em all! The long and the short and the tall.

"Bless 'Em All" (1940 song)

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Hughes, Langston 1902–1967 American writer and poet

1
I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes.

"I, Too" (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]

3
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921)

[Hughes]

4 "It's powerful," he said.
"What?"
"That one drop of Negro blood—because just one drop of black blood makes a man coloured. One drop—you are a Negro!"

Simple Takes a Wife (1953)

[Hughes]

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Hughes, Ted 1930–98 English poet

1
Daylong this tomcat lies stretched flat
As an old rough mat, no mouth and no eyes,
Continual wars and wives are what
Have tattered his ears and battered his head.

"Esther's Tomcat" (1960)

2
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot.

"Hawk Roosting" (1960)

[Hughes]

3
I saw the horses:
Huge in the dense grey—ten together—
Megalith-still.

"The Horses" (1957)

[Hughes]

4
Adam ate the apple.
Eve ate Adam.
The serpent ate Eve.
This is the dark intestine.

"Theology" (1967)

[Hughes]

5
Grape is my mulatto mother
In this frozen whited country.

"Wino" (1967)

[Hughes]

6 Christianity deposes Mother Nature and begets, on her prostrate body, Science, which proceeds to destroy Nature.
in Your Environment Summer 1970

[Hughes]

7 Imagination isn't merely a surplus mental department meant for entertainment, but the most essential piece of machinery we have if we are going to live the lives of human beings.
in Children's Literature in Education March 1970

[Hughes]

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Hull, Josephine ?1886–1957 American actress

1 Shakespeare is so tiring. You never get a chance to sit down unless you're a king.
in Time 16 November 1953

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Humphrey, Hubert 1911–1978 American Democratic politician

1 There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.
speech at Williamsburg, 1 May 1965

2 Here we are the way politics ought to be in America, the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.
speech in Washington, 27 April 1968

[Humphrey]

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Hunt, Lord of Tanworth 1919– British civil servant; Secretary of the Cabinet 1973–9

1 of British Cabinet government, described as "a shambles":It has got to be, so far as possible, a democratic and accountable shambles.
at a seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, 20 October 1993

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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).

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Hupfeld, Herman 1894–1951 American songwriter

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)

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Hurd, Douglas 1930– British Conservative politician; Foreign Secretary

1 Lord Rothschild roamed like a condottiere through Whitehall, laying an ambush here, there breaching some crumbling fortress which had outlived its usefulness…He respected persons occasionally but rarely policies.of Lord Rothschild as first Director of the Central Policy Review Staff
An End to Promises (1979)

2 One of the principal props which have allowed Britain to punch above its weight in the world.of American support for Nato
speech at Chatham House; in Financial Times 4 February 1993

[Hurd]

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Hussein, Saddam 1937– Iraqi statesman, President since 1979

1 The mother of battles.popular interpretation of his description of the approaching Gulf War; in The Times 7 January 1991 it was reported that he was ready for the "mother of all wars"
speech in Baghdad, 6 January 1991

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Huxley, Aldous 1894–1963 English novelist

1 The sexophones wailed like melodious cats under the moon.
Brave New World (1932)

2 That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.
Collected Essays (1959) "Case of Voluntary Ignorance"

[Huxley]

3 The proper study of mankind is books.
Crome Yellow (1921); see below
The proper study of mankind is man.
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) An Essay on Man (1733)

[Huxley]

4 The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced.
Ends and Means (1937)

[Huxley]

5 So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.
Ends and Means (1937)

[Huxley]

6 It is far easier to write ten passably effective sonnets, good enough to take in the not too enquiring critic, than one effective advertisement that will take in a few thousand of the uncritical buying public.
On the Margin (1923) "Advertisement"

[Huxley]

7 There is no substitute for talent. Industry and all the virtues are of no avail.
Point Counter Point (1928)

[Huxley]

8 Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.
Proper Studies (1927) "Note on Dogma"

[Huxley]

9 Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Proper Studies (1927) "Note on Dogma"

[Huxley]

10 Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.
Themes and Variations (1950) "Variations on a Philosopher"

[Huxley]

11
A million million spermatozoa,
All of them alive:
Out of their cataclysm but one poor Noah
Dare hope to survive.

And among that billion minus one
Might have chanced to be
Shakespeare, another Newton, a new Donne—
But the One was Me.

"Fifth Philosopher's Song" (1920); see below

And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) pt. 1

[Huxley]

12
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]

13 Even if I could be Shakespeare, I think I should still choose to be Faraday.
in 1925, attributed; Walter M. Elsasser Memoirs of a Physicist in the Atomic Age (1978)

[Huxley]

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Huxley, Julian 1887–1975 English biologist

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.)

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Hytner, Nicholas 1956– English theatre and film director

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, prior to the UK release of his film The Crucible

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I

Ibarruri, Dolores ("La Pasionaria") 1895–1989 Spanish Communist leader

1 It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
speech in Paris, 3 September 1936; also attributed to Emiliano Zapata

2 No pasarán.They shall not pass.
radio broadcast, Madrid, 19 July 1936.

[Ibarruri]

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Ice Cube 1970– American rap musician

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

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Ice-T 1958– American rap musician

1 When they call you articulate, that's another way of saying "He talks good for a black guy".
in Independent 30 December 1995 "Interviews of the Year"

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Iles, Francis 1893–1970 English crime writer

1 It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Dr Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter. Murder is a serious business.
Malice Aforethought (1931)

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Illich, Ivan 1926– American sociologist

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)

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Imlah, Mick 1956– British poet

1
Oh, foolish boys!
The English elephant
Never lies!

"Tusking" (1988)

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Indiana, Gary American writer

1 We used to say: How can we live like this? And now the question really is: How can we die like this?of Aids
Horse Crazy (1989)

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Inge, Charles 1868–1957

1
This very remarkable man
Commends a most practical plan:
You can do what you want
If you don't think you can't,
So don't think you can't think you can.

"On Monsieur Coué" (1928).

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Inge, Dean 1860–1954 English writer; Dean of St. Paul's, 1911–34

1 The enemies of Freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.
End of an Age (1948)

2 The effect of boredom on a large scale in history is underestimated. It is a main cause of revolutions, and would soon bring to an end all the static Utopias and the farmyard civilization of the Fabians.
End of an Age (1948)

[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 The nations which have put mankind and posterity most in their debt have been small states—Israel, Athens, Florence, Elizabethan England.
Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922) "State, visible and invisible"

[Inge]

5 A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.
Philosophy of Plotinus (1923).

[Inge]

6 The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.
"The Training of the Reason" in A. C. Benson (ed.) Cambridge Essays on Education (1917)

[Inge]

7 Literature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art.
Victorian Age (Rede Lecture delivered at Cambridge, 1922)

[Inge]

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Ingham, Bernard 1932– British journalist and public relations specialist, Chief Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, 1979–90

1 Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory.
in Observer 17 March 1985 "Sayings of the Week"

2 Blood sport is brought to its ultimate refinement in the gossip columns.
speech, 5 February 1986

[Ingham]

3 The media, I tell pedants in the Government, is like an oil painting. Close up, it looks like nothing on earth. Stand back and you get the drift.
speech to the Parliamentary Press Gallery, February 1990

[Ingham]

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Ingrams, Richard 1937– English satirical journalist, editor of Private Eye

1 My motto is publish and be sued.
on BBC Radio 4, 4 May 1977

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Ionesco, Eugène 1912–1994 Romanian-born French dramatist

1 A civil servant doesn't make jokes.
The Killer (1958)

2 Living is abnormal.
The Rhinoceros (1959)

[Ionesco]

3 You can only predict things after they have happened.
The Rhinoceros (1959)

[Ionesco]

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Irvine, Weldon J.

1 Young, gifted and black.
title of song (1969).

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Isherwood, Christopher 1904–1986 English novelist

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]

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Ismay, Hastings Lionel ("Pug") 1887–1965 British general and Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence; first Secretary-General of Nato

1 nato exists for three reasons—to keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.to a group of British Conservative backbenchers in 1949
Peter Hennessy Never Again (1992); oral tradition

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Issigonis, Alec British engineer

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

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Ives, Charles 1874–1954 American composer

1 Beauty in music is too often confused with something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair.
Joseph Machlis Introduction to Contemporary Music (1963)

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Izetbegovi, Alija 1925– Bosnian statesman; President of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1990

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

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J

Jackson, Jesse 1941– American Democratic politician and clergyman

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

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Jackson, Michael 1958– American pop singer

1
Before you judge me, try hard to love me, look within your heart
Then ask,—have you seen my childhood?

"Childhood" (1995 song)

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Jackson, Robert H. 1892–1954 American lawyer and judge

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

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Jacobs, Joe 1896–1940 American boxing manager

1 We was robbed!after Jack Sharkey beat Max Schmeling (of whom Jacobs was manager) in the heavyweight title fight, 21 June 1932
P. 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
J. Lardner Strong Cigars (1951)

[Jacobs]

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Jagger, Mick 1943– and Richards, Keith 1943– English rock musicians

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,
'Cause summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy.

"Street Fighting Man" (1968 song)

[Jagger]

5 There's just no place for a street fighting man!
"Street Fighting Man" (1968 song)

[Jagger]

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James, Clive 1939– Australian critic and writer

1 Television is simultaneously blamed, often by the same people, for worsening the world and for being powerless to change it.
Glued to the Box (1981)

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James, Henry 1843–1916 American novelist

1 The ever-importunate murmur, "Dramatize it, dramatize it!"
The Altar of the Dead (1909 ed.) preface

2 The note I wanted; that of the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy.
The Altar of the Dead (1909 ed.) preface

[James]

3 The Story is just the spoiled child of art.
The Ambassadors (1909 ed.) preface

[James]

4 The terrible fluidity of self-revelation.
The Ambassadors (1909 ed.) preface

[James]

5 Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?
The Ambassadors (1903)

[James]

6 The deep well of unconscious cerebration.
The American (1909 ed.) preface

[James]

7 The historian, essentially, wants more documents than he can really use; the dramatist only wants more liberties than he can really take.
The Aspern Papers (1909 ed.) preface

[James]

8 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]

9 Life being all inclusion and confusion, and art being all discrimination and selection.
The Spoils of Poynton (1909 ed.) preface

[James]

10 I could come back to America…to die—but never, never to live.
letter to Mrs William James, 1 April 1913

[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)

[James]

13 So here it is at last, the distinguished thing!on experiencing his first stroke
Edith Wharton A Backward Glance (1934)

[James]

14 Summer afternoon—summer afternoon…the two most beautiful words in the English language.
Edith Wharton A Backward Glance (1934)

[James]

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James, P. D. 1920– English crime writer

1 What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order.
in Face December 1986

2 I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
in Paris Review 1995

[James]

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Jarrell, Randall 1914–1965 American poet

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 To Americans, English manners are far more frightening than none at all.
Pictures from an Institution (1954)

[Jarrell]

3 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)

[Jarrell]

4 One of the most obvious facts about grown-ups, to a child, is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child.
introduction to Christina Stead The Man Who Loved Children (1965)

[Jarrell]

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Jay, Antony

seeLynn

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Jay, Douglas 1907–1996 British Labour politician

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)

2 He never used one syllable where none would do.of Attlee
Peter Hennessy Muddling Through (1996)

[Jay]

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Jean-Baptiste, Marianne British actress

1 The old men running the industry just have not got a clue…Britain is no longer totally a white place where people ride horses, wear long frocks and drink tea. The national dish is no longer fish and chips, it's curry.having been excluded from the group of actors invited to promote British talent at Cannes
in Observer 18 May 1997 "Soundbites"

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Jeans, James 1877–1946 English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician

1 Taking a very gloomy view of the future of the human race, let us suppose that it can only expect to survive for two thousand million years longer, a period about equal to the past age of the earth. Then, regarded as a being destined to live for three-score years and ten, humanity, although it has been born in a house seventy years old, is itself only three days old.
Eos (1928)

2 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)

[Jeans]

3 Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.
The Mysterious Universe (1930)

[Jeans]

4 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)

[Jeans]

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Jenkin, Patrick 1926– British Conservative politician

1 People can clean their teeth in the dark, use the top of the stove instead of the oven, all sorts of savings, but they must use less electricity.as Minister for Energy, asking the public to save electricity as a miners' strike reduced supplies; often summarized as, "clean your teeth in the dark"
radio broadcast, 15 January 1974

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Jenkins, David 1925– English theologian; Bishop of Durham from 1984

1 The withdrawal of an imported, elderly American to leave a reconciling opportunity for some local product is surely neither dishonourable nor improper.referring to Ian MacGregor, Chairman of the National Coal Board
in The Times 22 September 1984

2 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)

[Jenkins]

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Jenkins, Roy 1920– British politician; co-founder of the Social Democratic Party, 1981

1 There is nobody in politics I can remember and no case I can think of in history where a man combined such a powerful political personality with so little intelligence.of James Callaghan
Richard Crossman diary, 5 September 1969

2 He simply stopped the engine in its tracks, lifted it up, and put it back facing in the other direction.of Ernest Bevin changing the course of a Cabinet meeting
Roy Jenkins Nine Men of Power (1974)

[Jenkins]

3 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

[Jenkins]

4 A dead or dying beast lying across a railway line and preventing other trains from getting through.of the Labour Party
in Guardian 16 May 1987

[Jenkins]

5 A First Minister whose self-righteous stubbornness has not been equalled, save briefly by Neville Chamberlain, since Lord North.of Margaret Thatcher
in Observer 11 March 1990

[Jenkins]

6 A great lighthouse which stands there, flashing out beams of light, indifferent to the waves which beat against him.of Edward Heath
in Independent 22 September 1990

[Jenkins]

7 Nearly all Prime Ministers are dissatisfied with their successors, perhaps even more so if they come from their own party.
Gladstone (1995)

[Jenkins]

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Jennings, Elizabeth 1926– English poet

1
I hate a word like "pets": it sounds so much
Like something with no living of its own.

"My Animals" (1966)

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Jennings, Paul 1918–1989 English writer

1 Resistentialism is concerned with what Things think about men.
Even Oddlier (1952) "Developments in Resistentialism"

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Joad, C. E. M. 1891–1953 English philosopher

1 It will be said of this generation that it found England a land of beauty and left it a land of "beauty spots".
The Horrors of the Countryside (1931)

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John XXIII 1881–1963 Italian cleric, Pope from 1958

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 The social progress, order, security and peace of each country are necessarily connected with the social progress, order, security and peace of all other countries.
Pacem in Terris (1963)

[John XXIII]

3 Anybody can be pope; the proof of this is that I have become one.
Henri Fesquet Wit and Wisdom of Good Pope John (1964)

[John XXIII]

4 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]

5 Signora, do you believe my blessing cannot pass through plastic?to a pilgrim who asked him to bless again some medals and rosaries which he had blessed before she had time to remove them from her purse, 1959
Laureano López Rodó Memorias (1990)

[John XXIII]

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John, Elton 1947– and Taupin, Bernie 1950– English pop singer and songwriter; songwriter

1
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.
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
The candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.

Goodbye Norma Jean.
of Marilyn Monroe
"Candle in the Wind" (song, 1973)

2
Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you.

"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]

6 It's the only song I've ever written where I get goose bumps every time I play it.of "Candle in the Wind"
in Daily Telegraph 9 September 1997

[John]

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John Paul II 1920– Polish cleric, Pope since 1978

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 by the Italian writer Vittorio Missori 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)

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Johnson, Lyndon Baines 1908–1973 American Democratic statesman, 36th President of the US, 1963–9

1 to a reporter who had queried his embracing Richard Nixon on the vice-president's return from a controversial tour of South America in 1958:Son, in politics you've got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.
Fawn Brodie Richard Nixon (1983)

2 I am a free man, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.
in Texas Quarterly Winter 1958

[Johnson]

3 I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the best coloured man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on and he'll empty his pockets for you.during the 1960 Presidential campaign, to Bill Moyers
Robert Dallek Lone Star Rising (1991)

[Johnson]

4 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]

5 We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for a hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.
speech to Congress, 27 November 1963

[Johnson]

6 We hope that the world will not narrow into a neighbourhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.
speech at the lighting of the Nation's Christmas Tree, 22 December 1963

[Johnson]

7 This administration today, here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in America.
State of the Union address to Congress, 8 January 1964

[Johnson]

8 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]

9 We Americans know, although others appear to forget, the risks of spreading conflict. We still seek no wider war.
speech on radio and television, 4 August 1964

[Johnson]

10 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]

11 Extremism in the pursuit of the Presidency is an unpardonable vice. Moderation in the affairs of the nation is the highest virtue.
speech in New York, 31 October 1964

[Johnson]

12 A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.
State of the Union address to Congress, 4 January 1965

[Johnson]

13 Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in.of J. Edgar Hoover
D. Halberstam The Best and the Brightest (1972)

[Johnson]

14 Did you ever think that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.to J. K. Galbraith
J. K. Galbraith A Life in Our Times (1981)

[Johnson]

15 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
D. Halberstam The Best and the Brightest (1972)

[Johnson]

16 So dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.of Gerald Ford
R. Reeves A Ford, not a Lincoln (1975)

[Johnson]

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Johnson, Philander Chase 1866–1939 American journalist

1 Cheer up! the worst is yet to come!
in Everybody's Magazine May 1920

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Johnson, Philip 1906– American architect

1 Architecture is the art of how to waste space.
in New York Times 27 December 1964

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Johst, Hanns 1890–1978 German dramatist

1 Whenever I hear the word culture…I release the safety-catch of my Browning!often attributed to Hermann Goering, and quoted "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my pistol!"
Schlageter (1933)

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Jolson, Al 1886–1950 American singer

1 You think that's noise—you ain't heard nuttin' yet!first said in a café, competing with the din from a neighbouring building site, in 1906; subsequently an aside in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer
M. Abramson Real Story of Al Jolson (1950); also the title of a Jolson song, 1919, "You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet"

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Jones, Steve 1944– English geneticist

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

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Jong, Erica 1942– American writer

1 The zipless fuck is the purest thing there is. And it is rarer than the unicorn. And I have never had one.
Fear of Flying (1973)

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Joplin, Janis 1943–1970 American singer

1
Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all drive Porsches,
I must make amends.

"Mercedes Benz" (1970 song)

2 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

[Joplin]

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Joseph, Jenny 1932– English poet

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)

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Joyce, James 1882–1941 Irish novelist

1 His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.
Dubliners (1914) "The Dead"

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)

[Joyce]

3 That ideal reader suffering from an ideal insomnia.
Finnegans Wake (1939)

[Joyce]

4 The flushpots of Euston and the hanging garments of Marylebone.
Finnegans Wake (1939)

[Joyce]

5 All moanday, tearsday, wailsday, thumpsday, frightday, shatterday till the fear of the Law.
Finnegans Wake (1939)

[Joyce]

6 Three quarks for Muster Mark!
Finnegans Wake (1939)

[Joyce]

7 A portrait of the artist as a young man.
title of novel, 1916

[Joyce]

8 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)

[Joyce]

9 When the soul of a man is born in this country, there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

[Joyce]

10 Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

[Joyce]

11 Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the human sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

[Joyce]

12 The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

[Joyce]

13 I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use, silence, exile, and cunning.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

[Joyce]

14 By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself.
Stephen Hero (1944)

[Joyce]

15 The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

16 It is a symbol of Irish art. The cracked lookingglass of a servant.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

17 I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so unhappy.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

18 History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

19 Lawn Tennyson, gentleman poet.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

20 saw the dark tangled curls of his bush floating, floating hair of the stream around the limp father of thousands.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

21 Plenty to see and hear and feel yet. Feel live warm beings near you…Warm beds: warm full blooded life.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

22 A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

23 Greater love than this, he said, no man hath that a man lay down his wife for his friend.
Ulysses (1922); see below

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Bible St John.

[Joyce]

24 The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
Ulysses (1922)

[Joyce]

25 When a young man came up to him in Zurich and said, "May I kiss the hand that wrote Ulysses?" Joyce replied, somewhat like King Lear, "No, it did lots of other things too."
Richard Ellmann James Joyce (1959); see below

gloucester: O! let me kiss that hand!
lear: Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) King Lear (1605–6)

[Joyce]

26 A writer should never write about the extraordinary. That is for the journalist.
letter to Djuna Barnes; Richard Ellman James Joyce (1959)

[Joyce]

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Joyce, William (Lord Haw-Haw) 1906–1946 wartime broadcaster from Nazi Germany, executed for treason

1 Germany calling! Germany calling!
habitual introduction to propaganda broadcasts to Britain during the Second World War

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Juan Carlos I 1938– King of Spain from 1975

1 The Crown, the symbol of the permanence and unity of Spain, cannot tolerate any actions by people attempting to disrupt by force the democratic process.on the occasion of the attempted coup in 1981
television broadcast at 1.15 a.m., 24 February 1981

2 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
television broadcast, 24 February 1981

[Juan Carlos I]

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Judge, Jack 1878–1938 and Williams, Harry 1874–1924 British songwriters

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!

"It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (1912 song)

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Jung, Carl Gustav 1875–1961 Swiss psychologist

1 A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962)

2 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)

[Jung]

3 Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962)

[Jung]

4 The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933)

[Jung]

5 The afternoon of human life must also have a significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitiful appendage to life's morning.
The Stages of Life (1930)

[Jung]

6 Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
"Über die Psychologie des Unbewussten" (1917)

[Jung]

7 If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
"Vom Werden der Persönlichkeit" (1932)

[Jung]

8 I do not believe…I know.
L. van der Post Jung and the Story of our Time (1976)

[Jung]

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Junor, John 1919–1997 British journalist and editor

1 Such a graceful exit. And then he had to go and do this on the doorstep.on Harold Wilson's "Lavender List" (the honours list he drew up on resigning the British premiership in 1976)
in Observer 23 January 1990

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Justice, Donald 1925– American poet

1
Men at forty
Learn to close softly
The doors to rooms they will not be
Coming back to.

"Men at Forty" (1967)

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K

Kael, Pauline 1919– American film critic

1 The words "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which I saw on an Italian movie poster, are perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of movies.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (1968) "Note on the Title"

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Kafka, Franz 1883–1924 Czech novelist

1 When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
The Metamorphosis (1915)

2 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)

[Kafka]

3 It's often better to be in chains than to be free.
The Trial (1925)

[Kafka]

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Kahn, Gus 1886–1941 and Egan, Raymond B. 1890–1952 American songwriters

1
There's nothing surer,
The rich get rich and the poor get children.
In the meantime, in between time,
Ain't we got fun.

"Ain't We Got Fun" (1921 song)

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Kaufman, George S. 1889–1961 American dramatist

1 Satire is what closes Saturday night.
Scott Meredith George S. Kaufman and his Friends (1974)

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Kaufman, Gerald 1930– British Labour politician

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)

2 We would prefer to see the House run by a philistine with the requisite financial acumen than by the succession of opera and ballet lovers who have brought a great and valuable institution to its knees.
report of the Commons' Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Covent Garden, 3 December 1997

[Kaufman]

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Kaufman, Paul and Anthony, Mike American songwriters

1 Poetry in motion.
title of song (1960)

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Kaunda, Kenneth 1924– Zambian statesman, President 1964–91

1 Westerners have aggressive problem-solving minds; Africans experience people.
attributed, 1990

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Kavanagh, Patrick 1905–1967 Irish poet

1
Cassiopeia was over
Cassidy's hanging hill,
I looked and three whin bushes rode across
The horizon—the Three Wise Kings.

"A Christmas Childhood" (1947)

2
Clay is the word and clay is the flesh
Where the potato-gatherers like mechanized scarecrows move
Along the side-fall of the hill—Maguire and his men.

"The Great Hunger" (1947)

[Kavanagh]

3
That was how his life happened.
No mad hooves galloping in the sky,
But the weak, washy way of true tragedy—
A sick horse nosing around the meadow for a clean place to die.

"The Great Hunger" (1947)

[Kavanagh]

4
I hate what every poet hates in spite
Of all the solemn talk of contemplation.
Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight
Of being king and government and nation.
A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king
Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.

"Inniskeen Road: July Evening" (1936); see below

I am monarch of all I survey…
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.

William Cowper (1731–1800) "Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk" (1782)

[Kavanagh]

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Kaye, Danny

seeFilm lines

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Keating, Paul 1944– Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister 1991–6

1 You look like an Easter Island statue with an arse full of razor blades.in the Australian Parliament to the then Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, 1983
Michael Gordon A Question of Leadership (1993)

2 Even as it 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.

[Keating]

3 I'm a bastard. But I'm a bastard who gets the mail through. And they appreciate that.in 1994, to a senior colleague
in Sunday Telegraph 20 November 1994

[Keating]

4 Leadership is not about being nice. It's about being right and being strong.
in Time 9 January 1995

[Keating]

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Keats, John 1920–

1 The automobile changed our dress, manners, social customs, vacation habits, the shape of our cities, consumer purchasing patterns, common tastes and positions in intercourse.
The Insolent Chariots (1958)

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Keillor, Garrison 1942– American humorous writer and broadcaster

1 Years ago, manhood was an opportunity for achievement, and now it is a problem to be overcome.
The Book of Guys (1994)

2 Ronald Reagan, the President who never told bad news to the American people.
We Are Still Married (1989)

[Keillor]

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Keller, Helen 1880–1968 American writer and social reformer

1 Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.
My Religion (1927)

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Kenbrovin, Jaan and Kellette, William

1 I'm forever blowing bubbles.
title of song (1919)

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Kennedy, Florynce 1916–2001 American lawyer

1 If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
in Ms. March 1973

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Kennedy, James B. and Bratton, John W. British songwriters

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.

"Teddy Bear's Picnic" (1932 song)

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Kennedy, Jimmy 1902–1984 and Carr, Michael 1904–1968 British songwriters

1 We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line.
title of song (1939)

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Kennedy, John Fitzgerald 1917–1963 American Democratic statesman, 35th President of the US, 1961–3; son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, brother of Robert Kennedy, and first husband of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

1 Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.
telegraphed message from his father, read at a Gridiron dinner in Washington, 15 March 1958, and almost certainly JFK's invention; in J. F. Cutler Honey Fitz (1962)

2 We stand today on the edge of a new frontier.
speech accepting the Democratic nomination, 15 July 1960

[Kennedy]

3 The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

4 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]

5 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]

6 Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
inaugural address, 20 January 1961

[Kennedy]

7 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]

8 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]

9 I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth.
Supplementary State of the Union message to Congress, 25 May 1961

[Kennedy]

10 Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
speech to United Nations General Assembly, 25 September 1961

[Kennedy]

11 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
speech at the White House, 13 March 1962

[Kennedy]

12 Probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.of a dinner for Nobel Prizewinners at the White House
in New York Times 30 April 1962

[Kennedy]

13 There are no "white" or "coloured" signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.on proposed Civil Rights Bill
message to Congress, 19 June 1963

[Kennedy]

14 Ich bin ein Berliner.I am a Berliner.
speech in West Berlin, 26 June 1963

[Kennedy]

15 When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgement.
speech at Amherst College, Mass., 26 October 1963

[Kennedy]

16 In free society art is not a weapon…Artists are not engineers of the soul.
speech at Amherst College, Mass., 26 October 1963.

[Kennedy]

17 It was involuntary. They sank my boat.on being asked how he became a war hero
A. M. Schlesinger Jr. A Thousand Days (1965)

[Kennedy]

18 Washington is a city of southern efficiency and northern charm.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. A Thousand Days (1965)

[Kennedy]

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Kennedy, Joseph P. 1888–1969 American financier and diplomat; husband of Rose Kennedy, father of John Fitzgerald and Robert Kennedy

1 This is a hell of a long way from East Boston.to his wife Rose, on a visit to Windsor Castle two weeks after his arrival as Ambassador
in The Times 24 January 1995 (obituary of Rose Kennedy)

2 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)

[Kennedy]

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Kennedy, Robert 1925–1968 American Democratic politician, son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, brother of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1 One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.
speech, University of Pennsylvania, 6 May 1964

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Kennedy, Rose 1890–1995 wife of Joseph Kennedy, mother of John Fitzgerald and Robert Kennedy

1 It's our money, and we're free to spend it any way we please…If you have money you spend it, and win.in response to criticism of overlavish funding of her son Robert's 1968 presidential campaign
in Daily Telegraph 24 January 1995 (obituary)

2 I would much rather be known as the mother of a great son than the author of a great book or the painter of a great masterpiece.
in Daily Telegraph 24 January 1995 (obituary); attributed

[Kennedy]

3 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

[Kennedy]

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Kenyatta, Jomo 1891–1978 Kenyan statesman, Prime Minister of Kenya 1963 and President 1964–78

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

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Kerouac, Jack 1922–1969 Amerian novelist

1 The beat generation.
phrase coined in the course of a conversation; in Playboy June 1959

2 It is not my fault that certain so-called bohemian elements have found in my writings something to hang their peculiar beatnik theories on.
in New York Journal-American 8 December 1960

[Kerouac]

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Kerr, Jean 1923– American writer

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)

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Keynes, John Maynard 1883–1946 English economist

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.
Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919)

[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)

[Keynes]

4 The important thing for Government is not to do things which individuals are doing already, and to do them a little better or a little worse; but to do those things which at present are not done at all.
The End of Laissez-Faire (1926)

[Keynes]

5 This extraordinary figure of our time, this syren, this goat-footed bard, this half-human visitor to our age from the hag-ridden magic and enchanted woods of Celtic antiquity.
Essays in Biography (1933) "Mr Lloyd George"

[Keynes]

6 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…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)

[Keynes]

7 Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. 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.)

[Keynes]

8 In the long run we are all dead.
A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923)

[Keynes]

9 I evidently knew more about economics than my examiners.explaining why he performed badly in the Civil Service examinations
Roy Harrod Life of John Maynard Keynes (1951)

[Keynes]

10 lady violet bonham-carter: What do you think happens to Mr Lloyd George when he is alone in the room?
keynes: When he is alone in the room there is nobody there.

Lady Violet Bonham-Carter Impact of Personality in Politics (Romanes Lecture, 1963)

[Keynes]

11 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]

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Khomeini, Ruhollah 1900–1989 Iranian Shiite Muslim leader

1 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 . 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; in Malise Ruthven A Satanic Affair (1990).

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Khrushchev, Nikita 1894–1971 Soviet statesman; Premier, 1958–64

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 Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all.
speech to secret session of 20th Congress of the Communist Party, 25 February 1956

[Khrushchev]

3 If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations and don't invite us to come to see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
speech to Western diplomats in Moscow, 18 November 1956

[Khrushchev]

4 If one cannot catch the bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.
in Time 6 January 1958

[Khrushchev]

5 If you start throwing hedgehogs under me, I shall throw a couple of porcupines under you.
in New York Times 7 November 1963

[Khrushchev]

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Kilmer, Joyce 1886–1918 American poet

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]

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Kilmuir, Lord (David Maxwell Fyfe) 1900–1967 British Conservative politician and lawyer

1 Loyalty is the Tory's secret weapon.
Anthony Sampson Anatomy of Britain (1962)

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King, Martin Luther 1929–1968 American civil rights leader

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 The Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.
letter from Birmingham Jail, Alabama, 16 April 1963

[King]

4 If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
speech in Detroit, 23 June 1963

[King]

5 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]

6 I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.
speech at Civil Rights March in Washington, 28 August 1963

[King]

7 We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
speech at St Louis, 22 March 1964

[King]

8 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]

9 Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Strength to Love (1963)

[King]

10 The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Strength to Love (1963)

[King]

11 A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
Where Do We Go From Here? (1967)

[King]

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King, Stephen 1947– American writer

1 Terror…often arises from a pervasive sense of disestablishment; that things are in the unmaking.
Danse Macabre (1981)

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King, William Lyon Mackenzie 1874–1950 Canadian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1921–6, 1926–30, and 1935–48

1 If some countries have too much history, we have too much geography.
speech, Canadian House of Commons, 18 June 1936

2 Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary.
speech, Canadian House of Commons, 7 July 1942

[King]

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Kingsmill, Hugh 1889–1949 English man of letters

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

2
But bacon's not the only thing
That's cured by hanging from a string.

"Two Poems, after A. E. Housman" (1933) no. 1

[Kingsmill]

3 God's apology for relations.of friends
Michael Holroyd The Best of Hugh Kingsmill (1970)

[Kingsmill]

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Kington, Miles 1941– English humorist

1 There are those who think that Britain is a class-ridden society, and those who think it doesn't matter either way as long as you know your place in the set-up.
Welcome to Kington (1989)

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Kinnock, Neil 1942– British Labour politician

1 during the Falklands War, replying to a heckler who said that Mrs Thatcher "showed guts"It's a pity others had to leave theirs on the ground at Goose Green to prove it.
television interview, 6 June 1983

2 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

[Kinnock]

3 The grotesque chaos of a Labour council hiring taxis to scuttle round the city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers.of the actions of the city council in Liverpool
speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1985

[Kinnock]

4 I would die for my country but I could never let my country die for me.
speech at Labour Party Conference, 30 September 1986

[Kinnock]

5 Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to a university?later plagiarized by the American politician Joe Biden
speech in party political broadcast, 21 May 1987

[Kinnock]

6 There are lots of ways to get socialism, but I think trying to fracture the Labour party by incessant contest cannot be one of them.
in Guardian 29 January 1988

[Kinnock]

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Kinsey, Alfred 1894–1956 American zoologist and sex researcher

1 The only unnatural sex act is that which you cannot perform.
in Time 21 January 1966

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Kipling, Rudyard 1865–1936 English writer and poet

1
Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin' over Africa—
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!)

"Boots" (1903)

2
If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.

"Epitaphs of the War: Common Form" (1919)

[Kipling]

3
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?

"Epitaphs of the War: A Dead Statesman" (1919)

[Kipling]

4
My son was killed while laughing at some jest. I would I knew
What it was, and it might serve me in a time when jests are few.

"Epitaphs of the War: A Son" (1919)

[Kipling]

5
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

"The Female of the Species" (1919)

[Kipling]

6
For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and take the war.
The Hun is at the gate!

For All We Have and Are (1914)

[Kipling]

7
What stands if freedom fall?
Who dies if England live?

For All We Have and Are (1914)

[Kipling]

8
The Garden called Gethsemane
In Picardy it was,
And there the people came to see
The English soldiers pass.
We used to pass—we used to pass
Or halt, as it may be
And ship our masks in case of gas
Beyond Gethsemane.

"Gethsemane" (1918)

[Kipling]

9
The officer sat on the chair,
The men lay on the grass,
And all the time we halted there
I prayed my cup might pass.

It didn't pass—it didn't pass—
It didn't pass from me.
I drank it when we met the gas
Beyond Gethsemane!

"Gethsemane" (1918); see below

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me

Bible St Matthew

[Kipling]

10
Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.

"The Glory of the Garden" (1911)

[Kipling]

11
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:—"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner-knives.

"The Glory of the Garden" (1911)

[Kipling]

12
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.

"If—" (1910)

[Kipling]

13
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.

"If—" (1910)

[Kipling]

14
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch…
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

"If—" (1910)

[Kipling]

15
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]

16
They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young,
The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:
But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung,
Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?

"Mesopotamia" (1917)

[Kipling]

17
Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour?
When the storm is ended shall we find
How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power
By the favour and contrivance of their kind?

Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,
Even while they make a show of fear,
Do they call upon their debtors, and take counsel with their friends,
To confirm and re-establish each career?

"Mesopotamia" (1917)

[Kipling]

18
Dawn off the Foreland—the young flood making
Jumbled and short and steep—
Black in the hollows and bright where it's breaking—
Awkward water to sweep.
"Mines reported in the fairway,
"Warn all traffic and detain.
" 'Sent up Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain."

"Mine Sweepers" (1915)

[Kipling]

19
"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]

20
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

"The Power of the Dog" (1909)

[Kipling]

21
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]

22
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]

23
God gives all men all earth to love,
But since man's heart is small,
Ordains for each one spot shall prove
Belovèd over all.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground—in a fair ground—
Yea, Sussex by the sea!

"Sussex" (1903)

[Kipling]

24
The dark eleventh hour
Draws on and sees us sold
To every evil power
We fought against of old.
Rebellion, rapine, hate,
Oppression, wrong and greed
Are loosed to rule our fate
By England's act and deed.

"Ulster" (1912)

[Kipling]

25
What answer from the North?
One Law, one Land, one Throne.

"Ulster" (1912)

[Kipling]

26
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]

27
It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you,
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

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]

28 Human nature seldom walks up to the word "cancer".
Debits and Credits (1926) "The Wish House"

[Kipling]

29 But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.
Just So Stories (1902) "The Cat that Walked by Himself"

[Kipling]

30 An Elephant's Child—who was full of 'satiable curtiosity.
Just So Stories (1902) "The Elephant's Child"

[Kipling]

31 Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.
Just So Stories (1902) "The Elephant's Child"

[Kipling]

32 Little Friend of all the World.Kim's nickname
Kim (1901)

[Kipling]

33 The mad all are in God's keeping.
Kim (1901)

[Kipling]

34 '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]

35 Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
speech, 14 February 1923

[Kipling]

36 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 December 1971

[Kipling]

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Kissinger, Henry 1923– American Republican politician and diplomat

1 For Wilson, the justification of America's international role was messianic: America had an obligation not to the balance of power, but to spread its principles throughout the world.
Diplomacy (1994)

2 The management of a balance of power is a permanent undertaking, not an exertion that has a foreseeable end.
White House Years (1979)

[Kissinger]

3 The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.
in Foreign Affairs January 1969

[Kissinger]

4 There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
in New York Times Magazine 1 June 1969

[Kissinger]

5 Power is the great aphrodisiac.
in New York Times 19 January 1971

[Kissinger]

6 We are the President's men.
M. and B. Kalb Kissinger (1974)

[Kissinger]

7 The main advantage of being famous is that when you bore people at dinner parties they think it is their fault.
in Spectator 1 April 1995; attributed

[Kissinger]

8 For other nations, Utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon.
attributed

[Kissinger]

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Kitchener, Lord 1850–1916 British soldier and politician

1 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
Journals and Letters of Viscount Esher (1938) vol. 3, 18 December 1914

[Kitchener]

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Klee, Paul 1879–1940 Swiss painter

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 which moves around.
Pedagogical Sketchbook (1925)

[Klee]

3 Colour has taken hold of me; no longer do I have to chase after it. I know that it has hold of me for ever. That is the significance of this blessed moment.on a visit to Tunis in 1914
Herbert Read A Concise History of Modern Painting (1968)

[Klee]

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Knight, Charles and Lyle, Kenneth British songwriters

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)

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Knight, Frank H. 1885–1973 American economist

1 Costs merely register competing attractions.
Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (1921)

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Knox, Ronald 1888–1957 English writer and Roman Catholic priest

1
When suave politeness, tempering bigot zeal,
Corrected I believe to One does feel.

"Absolute and Abitofhell" (1913)

2
The tumult and the shouting dies,
The captains and the kings depart,
And we are left with large supplies
Of cold blancmange and rhubarb tart.

"After the Party" (1959); see below

The tumult and the shouting dies
The captains and the kings depart
Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) "Recessional" (1897)

[Knox]

3
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."

L. 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]

4 It is stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil, when he is the only explanation of it.
Let Dons Delight (1939)

[Knox]

5 The baby doesn't understand English and the Devil knows Latin.on being asked to perform a baptism in English
Evelyn Waugh Ronald Knox (1959)

[Knox]

6 A loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.definition of a baby
attributed

[Knox]

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Koehler, Ted American songwriter

1
Stormy weather,
Since my man and I ain't together.

"Stormy Weather" (1933 song)

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Koestler, Arthur 1905–1983 Hungarian-born writer

1 One may not regard the world as a sort of metaphysical brothel for emotions.
Darkness at Noon (1940) "The Second Hearing'

2 Behaviourism is indeed a kind of flat-earth view of the mind…it has substituted for the erstwhile anthropomorphic view of the rat, a ratomorphic view of man.
The Ghost in the Machine (1967)

[Koestler]

3 God seems to have left the receiver off the hook, and time is running out.
The Ghost in the Machine (1967)

[Koestler]

4 The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums.
Janus (1978)

[Koestler]

5 Man can leave the earth and land on the moon, but cannot cross from East to West Berlin. Prometheus reaches for the stars with an insane grin on his face and a totem-symbol in his hand.
Janus (1978)

[Koestler]

6 A writer's ambition should be…to trade a hundred contemporary readers for ten readers in ten years' time and for one reader in a hundred years.
in New York Times Book Review 1 April 1951

[Koestler]

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Kohl, Helmut 1930– German statesman, Chancellor of West Germany (1982–90) and first postwar Chancellor of united Germany (1990–)

1 We Germans now have the historic chance to realize the unity of our fatherland.on the reunification of Germany
in Guardian 15 February 1990

2 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

[Kohl]

3 I am not a marketing manager for British beef.asked whether he would "trumpet the merits of British beef" after lunching on it with John Major
in The Times 30 April 1996

[Kohl]

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Kraus, Karl 1874–1936 Austrian satirist

1 How is the world ruled and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read.
Aphorisms and More Aphorisms (1909)

2 There is no unhappier creature on earth than a fetishist who yearns to embrace a woman's shoe and has to embrace the whole woman.
Aphorisms and More Aphorisms (1909)

[Kraus]

3 What good is speed if the brain has oozed out on the way?
in Die Fackel September 1909 "The Discovery of the North Pole"

[Kraus]

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Kray, Charlie c.1930–2000 English gangster

1 Even the most hardened criminal a few years ago would help an old lady across the road and give her a few quid if she was skint.
in Observer 28 December 1986

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Krishnamurti, Jiddu d. 1986 Indian spiritual philosopher

1 Religion is the frozen thought of men out of which they build temples.
in Observer 22 April 1928

2 Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.
speech in Holland, 3 August 1929

[Krishnamurti]

3 Happiness is a state of which you are unconscious, of which you are not aware. The moment you are aware that you are happy, you cease to be happy…You want to be consciously happy; the moment you are consciously happy, happiness is gone.
Penguin Krishnamurti Reader (1970) "Questions and Answers"

[Krishnamurti]

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Kristofferson, Kris 1936– American actor

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)

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Krutch, Joseph Wood 1893–1970 American critic and naturalist

1 The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.
The Twelve Seasons (1949)

2 Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.
Twelve Seasons (1949)

[Krutch]

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Kubrick, Stanley 1928– American film director

1 The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
in Guardian 5 June 1963

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Kumar, Satish 1937– Indian writer

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

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Kundera, Milan 1929– Czech novelist

1 The unbearable lightness of being.
title of novel (1984)

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L

Lacroix, Christian 1951– French couturier

1 Haute Couture should be fun, foolish and almost unwearable.
in Observer 27 December 1987 "Sayings of the Year"

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La Guardia, Fiorello 1882–1947 American politician

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)

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Lahr, John 1941– American critic

1 Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising.
in Guardian 2 August 1989

2 Momentum was part of the exhilaration and the exhaustion of the twentieth century which Coward decoded for the British but borrowed wholesale from the Americans.
in New Yorker 9 September 1996

[Lahr]

3 Terence Conran's vast Bluebird complex on the King's Road is to New Labour what the Crystal Palace was to High Victorianism.
in Observer 6 July 1997 "Soundbites"

[Lahr]

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Laing, R. D. 1927–1989 Scottish psychiatrist

1 The divided self.
title of book on schizophrenia, 1960

2 Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.
The Divided Self (1960)

[Laing]

3 The brotherhood of man is evoked by particular men according to their circumstances. But it seldom extends to all men. In the name of our freedom and our brotherhood we are prepared to blow up the other half of mankind and to be blown up in turn.
The Politics of Experience (1967)

[Laing]

4 The experience and behaviour that gets labelled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation.
Politics of Experience (1967)

[Laing]

5 Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through.
The Politics of Experience (1967)

[Laing]

6 True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is.
Self and Others (1961)

[Laing]

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Lambert, Constant 1905–1951 English composer

1 The whole trouble with a folk song is that once you have played it through there is nothing much you can do except play it over again and play it rather louder.
Music Ho! (1934)

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Lamming, George 1927– Barbados-born novelist and poet

1 In the castle of my skin.
title of novel (1953)

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Lamont, Norman 1942– British Conservative politician

1 Rising unemployment and the recession have been the price that we've had to pay to get inflation down. That is a price well worth paying.
speech in the House of Commons, 16 May 1991

2 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]

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Lampedusa, Giuseppe di 1896–1957 Italian writer

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]

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Lancaster, Osbert 1908–1986 English writer and cartoonist

1 For self-revelation, whether it be a Tudor villa on the by-pass or a bomb-proof chalet at Berchtesgaden, there's no place like home.
Homes Sweet Homes (1939)

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Lang, Fritz 1890–1976 Austrian-born film director

1 Don't forget the Western is not only the history of this country, it is what the Saga of the Nibelungen is for the European.
Peter Bogdanovich Fritz Lang in America (1967)

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Lang, Julia

seeCatch-phrases

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Langer, Susanne 1895–1985 American philosopher

1 Art is the objectification of feeling, and the subjectification of nature.
Mind (1967) vol. 1

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Larkin, Philip 1922–1985 English poet

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
Time has transfigured them into
Untruth. The stone fidelity
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.

"An Arundel Tomb" (1964)

[Larkin]

3
Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence.

"Church Going" (1955)

[Larkin]

4
Life is first boredom, then fear.
Whether or not we use it, it goes,
And leaves what something hidden from us chose,
And age, and then the only end of age.

"Dockery & Son" (1964)

[Larkin]

5
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]

6
Next year we shall be living in a country
That brought its soldiers home for lack of money.
The statues will be standing in the same
Tree-muffled squares, and look nearly the same.
Our children will not know it's a different country.
All we can hope to leave them now is money.

"Homage to a Government" (1974)

[Larkin]

7
Nothing, like something, happens anywhere.

"I Remember, I Remember" (1955)

[Larkin]

8
Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word—the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.

"MCMXIV" (1964)

[Larkin]

9
Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms
Inside your head, and people in them, acting.
People you know, yet can't quite name.

"The Old Fools" (1974)

[Larkin]

10
Don't read too much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who's yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap.

"Study of Reading Habits" (1964)

[Larkin]

11
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]

12
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

"This Be The Verse" (1974)

[Larkin]

13
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]

14
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road.

"Toads Revisited" (1964)

[Larkin]

15
I thought of London spread out in the sun,
Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat.

"The Whitsun Weddings" (1964)

[Larkin]

16
I listen to money singing. It's like looking down
From long french windows at a provincial town,
The slums, the canal, the churches ornate and mad
In the evening sun. It is intensely sad.

"Money" (1974)

[Larkin]

17 Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.
Required Writing (1983)

[Larkin]

18 The notion of expressing sentiments in short lines having similar sounds at their ends seems as remote as mangoes on the moon.
letter to Barbara Pym, 22 January 1975

[Larkin]

19 Far too many relied on the classic formula of a beginning, a muddle, and an end.of the books entered for the 1977 Booker Prize
in New Fiction January 1978; see below
A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Aristotle (384–322 bc) Poetics

[Larkin]

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Laski, Harold 1893–1950 British Labour politician and writer

1 I respect fidelity to colleagues even though they are fit for the hangman.
letter to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., 4 December 1926

2 It was like watching someone organize her own immortality. Every phrase and gesture was studied. Now and again, when she said something a little out of the ordinary, she wrote it down herself in a notebook.of Virginia Woolf
letter to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., 30 November 1930

[Laski]

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Last words

1 Bugger Bognor.King George V (1865–1936) 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
K. Rose King George V (1983).

2 Come closer, boys. It will be easier for you.Erskine Childers (1870–1922) to the firing squad at his execution
Burke Wilkinson The Zeal of the Convert (1976)

[Last words]

3 Farewell, my friends. I go to glory.last words of Isadora Duncan (1878–1927) before her scarf caught in a car wheel, breaking her neck
Mary Desti Isadora Duncan's End (1929)

[Last words]

4 For God's sake look after our people.Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912)
last diary entry, 29 March 1912

[Last words]

5 How's the Empire?said by King George V (1865–1936) to his private secretary on the morning of his death
K. Rose King George V (1983).

[Last words]

6 I am just going outside and may be some time.last words of Captain Lawrence Oates (1880–1912)
Robert Falcon Scott diary entry, 16–17 March 1912.
Epitaphs
[Last words]

7 If this is dying, then I don't think much of it.Lytton Strachey (1880–1932) on his deathbed
M. Holroyd Lytton Strachey (1968) vol. 2

[Last words]

8
In this life there's nothing new in dying,
But nor, of course, is living any newer.
the final poem of Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925), written in his own blood the day before he hanged himself in his Leningrad hotel room
"Goodbye, my Friend, Goodbye" (1925)

[Last words]

9 Let's do it!Gary Gilmore (1941–77) to the firing squad at his execution; after his conviction for murder, Gilmore had refused to appeal, and petitioned the Supreme Court that the execution should be carried out
Norman Mailer The Executioner's Song (1979)

[Last words]

10 Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues.Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941–95), just before he was hanged
in Daily Telegraph 13 November 1995

[Last words]

11 The love boat has crashed against the everyday. You and I, we are quits, and there is no point in listing mutual pains, sorrows, and hurts.from an unfinished poem found among Vladimir Mayakovsky's papers, a variant of which he quoted in his suicide letter
letter, 12 April 1930

[Last words]

12 Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller. What there is…love.final entry in the journal of William S. Burroughs, 1 August 1997, the day before he died
in New Yorker 18 August 1997

[Last words]

13 Now I'll have eine kleine Pause.last words of Kathleen Ferrier (1912–53)
Gerald Moore Am I Too Loud? (1962)

[Last words]

14 Tell them I've had a wonderful life.Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) to his doctor's wife, before losing consciousness, 28 April 1951
Ray Monk Ludwig Wittgenstein (1990)

[Last words]

15 That is indeed very good. I shall have to repeat that on the Golden Floor!said by A. E. Housman (1859–1936) to his physician who had told him a risqué story
attributed

[Last words]

16 We are putting passengers off in small boats…Engine room getting flooded…CQ.CQD was the original SOS call for shipping
last signals sent from the Titanic, 15 April 1912

[Last words]

17 "What is the answer?" No answer came. She laughed and said, "In that case what is the question?"Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
Donald Sutherland Gertrude Stein, A Biography of her Work (1951)

[Last words]

18 Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.the American theatrical manager Charles Frohman (1860–1915) before drowning in the Lusitania, 7 May 1915
I. F. Marcosson and D. Frohman Charles Frohman (1916).

[Last words]

19 Why not? Why not? Why not? Yeah.Timothy Leary (1920–96)
in Independent 1 June 1996

[Last words]

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Lauder, Harry 1870–1950 Scottish music-hall entertainer

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'.

title of song (1911)

[Lauder]

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Laurel, Stan 1890–1965 British-born American film comedian

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

2 Why don't you do something to help me?
Drivers' Licence Sketch (1947); spoken by Oliver Hardy

[Laurel]

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Laurence, William L. 1888–1977 American journalist

1 At first it was a giant column that soon took the shape of a supramundane mushroom.
on the first atomic explosion in New Mexico, 16 July 1945, in New York Times 26 September 1945

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Lawrence, D. H. 1885–1930 English novelist and poet

1 To the Puritan all things are impure, as somebody says.
Etruscan Places (1932) "Cerveteri"; see below

Unto the pure all things are pure.

Bible Titus

2 It was in 1915 the old world ended.
Kangaroo (1923)

[Lawrence]

3 Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)

[Lawrence]

4 John Thomas says good-night to Lady Jane, a little droopingly, but with a hopeful heart.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)

[Lawrence]

5 The English…are paralysed by fear. That is what thwarts and distorts the Anglo-Saxon existence…Nothing could be more lovely and fearless than Chaucer. But already Shakespeare is morbid with fear, fear of consequences. That is the strange phenomenon of the English Renaissance: this mystic terror of the consequences, the consequences of action.
Phoenix (1936) "An Introduction to these Paintings"

[Lawrence]

6 If you try to nail anything down in the novel, either it kills the novel, or the novel gets up and walks away with the nail.
Phoenix (1936) "Morality and the Novel"

[Lawrence]

7 Morality in the novel is the trembling instability of the balance. When the novelist puts his thumb in the scale, to pull down the balance to his own predilection, that is immorality.
Phoenix (1936) "Morality and the Novel"

[Lawrence]

8 Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it.
Phoenix (1936) "Pornography and Obscenity"

[Lawrence]

9 In life…no new thing has ever arisen, or can arise, save out of the impulse of the male upon the female, the female upon the male. The interaction of the male and female spirit begot the wheel, the plough, and the first utterance that was made on the face of the earth.
Phoenix (1936) "Study of Thomas Hardy"

[Lawrence]

10 The novel is the one bright book of life.
Phoenix (1936) "Why the novel matters"

[Lawrence]

11 The bridge to the future is the phallus.
Sex, Literature and Censorship (1955)

[Lawrence]

12 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)

[Lawrence]

13 Be a good animal, true to your instincts.
The White Peacock (1911)

[Lawrence]

14 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)

[Lawrence]

15
How beastly the bourgeois is
Especially the male of the species.

"How Beastly the Bourgeois Is" (1929)

[Lawrence]

16
While we have sex in the mind, we truly have none in the body.

"Leave Sex Alone" (1929)

[Lawrence]

17
Men! The only animal in the world to fear!

"Mountain Lion" (1923)

[Lawrence]

18
I never saw a wild thing
Sorry for itself.

"Self-Pity" (1929)

[Lawrence]

19
A snake came to my water-trough
On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
To drink there.

"Snake" (1923)

[Lawrence]

20
And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords
Of life.
And I have something to expiate:
A pettiness.

"Snake" (1923)

[Lawrence]

21
Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!

"Song of a Man who has Come Through" (1917)

[Lawrence]

22
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]

23 Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines, the slimy, the belly-wriggling invertebrates, the miserable sodding rotters, the flaming sods, the snivelling, dribbling, dithering, palsied, pulse-less lot that make up England today. They've got white of egg in their veins, and their spunk is that watery it's a marvel they can breed. They can nothing but frog-spawn—the gibberers! God, how I hate them!
letter to Edward Garnett, 3 July 1912

[Lawrence]

24 Tragedy ought really to be a great kick at misery.
letter to A. W. McLeod, 6 October 1912

[Lawrence]

25 I like to write when I feel spiteful; it's like having a good sneeze.
letter to Lady Cynthia Asquith, c.25 November 1913

[Lawrence]

26 Australia has a marvellous sky and air and blue clarity, and a hoary sort of land beneath it, like a Sleeping Princess on whom the dust of ages has settled.
letter to Jan Juta, 20 May 1922

[Lawrence]

27 The dead don't die. They look on and help.
letter to J. Middleton Murry, 2 February 1923

[Lawrence]

28 I want to go south, where there is no autumn, where the cold doesn't crouch over one like a snow-leopard waiting to pounce. The heart of the North is dead, and the fingers of cold are corpse fingers.
letter to J. Middleton Murry, 3 October 1924

[Lawrence]

29 My God, what a clumsy olla putrida James Joyce is! Nothing but old fags and cabbage-stumps of quotations from the Bible and the rest, stewed in the juice of deliberate, journalistic dirty-mindedness.
letter to Aldous and Maria Huxley, 15 August 1928

[Lawrence]

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Lawrence, T. E. 1888–1935 English soldier and writer

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)

2
I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars.
To earn you freedom, the seven pillared worthy house, that your eyes might be shining for me
When we came.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) dedication

[Lawrence]

3 Poets hope too much, and their politics…usually stink after twenty years.
letter to Cecil Day Lewis, November 1934

[Lawrence]

4 The trouble with Communism is that it accepts too much of today's furniture. I hate furniture.
letter to Cecil Day Lewis, 20 December 1934

[Lawrence]

5 Surely the sex business isn't worth all this damned fuss? I've met only a handful of people who cared a biscuit for it.on reading Lady Chatterley's Lover
Christopher Hassall Edward Marsh (1959)

[Lawrence]

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Lawson, Nigel 1932– British Conservative politician

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

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Leach, Edmund 1910– English anthropologist

1 Far from being the basis of the good society, the family, with its narrow privacy and tawdry secrets, is the source of all our discontents.
BBC Reith Lectures, 1967, in Listener 30 November 1967

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Leacock, Stephen 1869–1944 British-born Canadian humorist

1 When Rutherford was done with the atom all the solidity was pretty well knocked out of it.
The Boy I Left Behind Me (1947)

2 The parent who could see his boy as he really is, would shake his head and say: "Willie, is no good; I'll sell him."
Essays and Literary Studies (1916) "Lot of a Schoolmaster"

[Leacock]

3 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"

[Leacock]

4 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]

5 Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.
Nonsense Novels (1911) "Gertrude the Governess"

[Leacock]

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Leary, Timothy 1920– American psychologist

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.
The Politics of Ecstasy (1968)

2 The PC is the LSD of the '90s.
remark made in the early 1990s; in Guardian 1 June 1996

[Leary]

3 The key to dying well is for you to decide where, when, how and whom to invite to the last party.to a visitor, during the last days of his final illness
in Daily Telegraph 3 May 1996

[Leary]

4 on abandoning his plan to have his head preserved by the cryonics movement:They have no sense of humour. I was worried I would wake up in 50 years surrounded by people with clipboards.
in Daily Telegraph 10 May 1996

[Leary]

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Leavis, F. R. 1895–1978 English literary critic

1 The common pursuit.
title of book (1952)

2 The great tradition.
title of book (1948)

[Leavis]

3 It is well to start by distinguishing the few really great—the major novelists who count in the same way as the major poets, in the sense that they not only change the possibilities of the art for practitioners and readers, but that they are significant in terms of the human awareness they promote; awareness of the possibilities of life.
The Great Tradition (1948)

[Leavis]

4 He energized the Garden-Suburb ethos with a certain original talent and the vigour of a prolonged adolescence…rather like Keats's vulgarity with a Public School accent.of Rupert Brooke
New Bearings in English Poetry (1932)

[Leavis]

5 The Sitwells belong to the history of publicity rather than of poetry.
New Bearings in English Poetry (1932)

[Leavis]

6 Self-contempt, well-grounded.on the foundation of T. S. Eliot's work
in Times Literary Supplement 21 October 1988

[Leavis]

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Lebowitz, Fran 1946– American humorist

1 Being a woman is of special interest only to aspiring male transsexuals. To actual women, it is merely a good excuse not to play football.
Metropolitan Life (1978)

2 Modern science was largely conceived of as an answer to the servant problem.
Metropolitan Life (1978)

[Lebowitz]

3 If people don't want to listen to you, what makes you think they want to hear from your sweater?on slogans on clothing
Metropolitan Life (1978)

[Lebowitz]

4 The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.
Social Studies (1981)

[Lebowitz]

5 Remember that as a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.
Social Studies (1981)

[Lebowitz]

6 Wealth and power are much more likely to be the result of breeding than they are of reading.on self-help books
Social Studies (1981)

[Lebowitz]

7 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]

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Lec, Stanislaw 1909–1966 Polish writer

1 Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?
Unkempt Thoughts (1962)

2 One has to multiply thoughts to the point where there aren't enough policemen to control them.
Unkempt Thoughts (1962)

[Lec]

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le Carré, John 1931– English thriller writer

1 The spy who came in from the cold.
title of novel (1963)

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Le Corbusier 1887–1965 French architect

1 A house is a machine for living in.
Vers une architecture (1923)

2 This frightful word was born under other skies than those I have loved—those where the sun reigns supreme.
Stephen Gardiner Le Corbusier (1974)

[Le Corbusier]

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Lee, Gypsy Rose 1914–1970 American striptease artiste

1 God is love, but get it in writing.
attributed

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Lee, Harper 1926– American novelist

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)

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Lehrer, Tom 1928– American humorist

1
Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes.

"Lobachevski" (1953 song)

2 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]

3 In my youth there were words you couldn't say in front of a girl; now you can't say "girl".
in Sunday Telegraph 10 March 1996

[Lehrer]

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Leigh, Vivien 1913–1967 English actress

1 Shaw is like a train. One just speaks the words and sits in one's place. But Shakespeare is like bathing in the sea—one swims where one wants.
letter from Harold Nicolson to Vita Sackville-West, 1 February 1956

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LeMay, Curtis E. 1906–1990 American air-force officer

1 We're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.on the North Vietnamese
Mission with LeMay (1965)

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Le Mesurier, John

seeEpitaphs

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Lenin 1870–1924 Russian revolutionary

1 Imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.
Imperialism as the Last Stage of Capitalism (1916)

2 No, Democracy is not identical with majority rule. Democracy is a State which recognizes the subjection of the minority to the majority, that is, an organization for the systematic use of force by one class against the other, by one part of the population against another.
State and Revolution (1919)

[Lenin]

3 While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State.
State and Revolution (1919)

[Lenin]

4 What is to be done?
title of pamphlet (1902); originally the title of a novel (1863) by N. G. Chernyshevsky

[Lenin]

5 A good man fallen among Fabians.of George Bernard Shaw
A. Ransome Six Weeks in Russia in 1919 (1919) "Notes of Conversations with Lenin"

[Lenin]

6 Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
report to 8th Congress, 1920

[Lenin]

7 Who? Whom?definition of political science, meaning "Who will outstrip whom?"
in Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii vol. 44 (1970) 17 October 1921 and elsewhere

[Lenin]

8 Liberty is precious—so precious that it must be rationed.
Sidney and Beatrice Webb Soviet Communism (1936)

[Lenin]

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Lennon, John 1940–1980 English pop singer and songwriter

1 Happiness is a warm gun.
title of song (1968).

2
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.

"Imagine" (1971 song)

[Lennon]

3 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; R. Colman John Winston Lennon (1984)

[Lennon]

4 We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first—rock 'n' roll or Christianity.of The Beatles
interview in Evening Standard 4 March 1966. ,

[Lennon]

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Lennon, John 1940–1980 and McCartney, Paul 1942– English pop singers and songwriters

1 All you need is love.
title of song (1967)

2 Back in the USSR.
title of song (1968)

[Lennon]

3
For I don't care too much for money,
For money can't buy me love.

"Can't Buy Me Love" (1964 song)

[Lennon]

4
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

"Eleanor Rigby" (1966 song)

[Lennon]

5 Give peace a chance.
title of song (1969)

[Lennon]

6
It's been a hard day's night,
And I've been working like a dog.

"A Hard Day's Night" (1964 song)

[Lennon]

7 Strawberry fields forever.
title of song (1967)

[Lennon]

8
She's got a ticket to ride, but she don't care.

"Ticket to Ride" (1965 song)

[Lennon]

9
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty four?

"When I'm Sixty Four" (1967 song)

[Lennon]

10
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]

11
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh I believe in yesterday.

"Yesterday" (1965 song)

[Lennon]

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Lerner, Alan Jay 1918–1986 American songwriter

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
I'm getting married in the morning,
Ding! dong! the bells are gonna chime.
Pull out the stopper;
Let's have a whopper;
But get me to the church on time!

"Get Me to the Church on Time" (1956 song)

[Lerner]

3
Why can't a woman be more like a man?
Men are so honest, so thoroughly square;
Eternally noble, historically fair.

"A Hymn to Him" (1956)

[Lerner]

4
We met at nine.
We met at eight.
I was on time.
No, you were late.
Ah yes! I remember it well.

"I Remember it Well" (1958 song)

[Lerner]

5
I've grown accustomed to the trace
Of something in the air;
Accustomed to her face.

"I've Grown Accustomed to her Face" (1956 song)

[Lerner]

6 On a clear day (you can see forever).
title of song (1965)

[Lerner]

7
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

"The Rain in Spain" (1956)

[Lerner]

8
Thank heaven for little girls!
For little girls get bigger every day.

"Thank Heaven for Little Girls" (1958 song)

[Lerner]

9
All I want is a room somewhere,
Far away from the cold night air,
With one enormous chair;
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

"Wouldn't it be Loverly" (1956 song)

[Lerner]

10
Oozing charm from every pore,
He oiled his way around the floor.

"You Did It" (1956)

[Lerner]

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Lessing, Doris 1919– English writer

1 There's only one real sin, and that is to persuade oneself that the second-best is anything but the second-best.
Golden Notebook (1962)

2 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)

[Lessing]

3 What of October, that ambiguous month, the month of tension, the unendurable month?
Martha Quest (1952)

[Lessing]

4 What is charm then?…something extra, superfluous, unnecessary, essentially a power thrown away.
Particularly Cats (1967)

[Lessing]

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Letts, Winifred Mary 1882–1972 English writer

1
I saw the spires of Oxford
As I was passing by,
The grey spires of Oxford
Against a pearl-grey sky;
My heart was with the Oxford men
Who went abroad to die.

"The Spires of Oxford" (1916)

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Levant, Oscar 1906–1972 American pianist

1 Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.
Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)

2 Epigram: a wisecrack that played Carnegie Hall.
in Coronet September 1958

[Levant]

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Leverhulme, Lord 1851–1925 English industrialist and philanthropist

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)

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Levi, Primo 1919–1987 Italian novelist and poet

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)

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Levin, Bernard 1928– British journalist

1 The truth in these matters may be stated as a scientific law: "The persistence of public officials varies inversely with the importance of the matter on which they are persisting."
In These Times (1986)

2 Paul Getty…had always been vastly, immeasurably wealthy, and yet went about looking like a man who cannot quite remember whether he remembered to turn the gas off before leaving home.
The Pendulum Years (1970)

[Levin]

3 Benn flung himself into the Sixties technology with the enthusiasm (not to say language) of a newly enrolled Boy Scout demonstrating knot-tying to his indulgent parents.
The Pendulum Years (1970)

[Levin]

4 Between them, then, Walrus and Carpenter, they divided up the Sixties.of the Harolds, Macmillan and Wilson
The Pendulum Years (1970)

[Levin]

5 The Stag at Bay with the mentality of a fox at large.of Harold Macmillan
The Pendulum Years (1970)

[Levin]

6 I have heard tell of a Professor of Economics who has a sign on the wall of his study, reading "the future is not what it was". The sentiment was admirable; unfortunately, the past is not getting any better either.
in Sunday Times 22 May 1977.

[Levin]

7 Whom the mad would destroy, they first make gods.of Mao Zedong in 1967
Levin quoting himself in The Times 21 September 1987; see below
Whom God would destroy He first sends mad.
James Duport (1606–79) Homeri Gnomologia (1660), ultimately representing the scholiastic annotation to Sophocles's Antigone "Whenever God prepares evil for a man, He first damages his mind, with which he deliberates"

[Levin]

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Lewis, C. S. 1898–1963 English literary scholar

1 No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.
A Grief Observed (1961)

2 We have trained them to think of the Future as a promised land which favoured heroes attain—not as something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
The Screwtape Letters (1942)

[Lewis]

3 She's the sort of woman who lives for others—you can always tell the others by their hunted expression.
The Screwtape Letters (1942)

[Lewis]

4 A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.
Surprised by Joy (1955)

[Lewis]

5
For twenty years I've stared my level best
To see if evening—any evening—would suggest
A patient etherized upon a table;
In vain. I simply wasn't able.
on contemporary poetry
"A Confession" (1964).

[Lewis]

6 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]

7 Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
Cyril Connolly The Unquiet Grave (1944).

[Lewis]

8 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]

9 Leavis demands moral earnestness; I prefer morality…I mean I'd sooner live among people who don't cheat at cards than among people who are earnest about not cheating at cards.
"Unreal Estates" in Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest (eds.) Spectrum IV (1965)

[Lewis]

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Lewis, Sam M. 1885–1959 and Young, Joe 1889–1939 American songwriters

1 How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm (after they've seen Paree)?
title of song (1919)

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Lewis, Sinclair 1885–1951 American novelist

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 To George F. Babbitt, as to most prosperous citizens of Zenith, his motor car was poetry and tragedy, love and heroism. The office was his pirate ship but the car his perilous excursion ashore.
Babbitt (1922)

[Lewis]

3 She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them.
Babbitt (1922)

[Lewis]

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Lewis, Willmott 1877–1950 British journalist

1 I think it well to remember that, when writing for the newspapers, we are writing for an elderly lady in Hastings who has two cats of which she is passionately fond. Unless our stuff can successfully compete for her interest with those cats, it is no good.
Claud Cockburn In Time of Trouble (1957)

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Lewis, Wyndham 1882–1957 English novelist, painter, and critic

1 Gertrude Stein's prose-song is a cold, black suet-pudding…Cut it at any point, it is the same thing…all fat, without nerve.of Three Lives (1909)
Time and Western Man (1927)

2 Angels in jumpers.describing the figures in Stanley Spencer's paintings
attributed

[Lewis]

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Liberace 1919–1987 American showman

1 I cry all the way to the bank.on bad reviews (from the mid-1950s)
Autobiography (1973)

2 If I play Tchaikovsky I play his melodies and skip his spiritual struggles…If there's any time left over I fill in with a lot of runs up and down the keyboard.
Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel (eds.) The Popular Arts (1964)

[Liberace]

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Liebling, A. J. 1904–1963 American writer

1 Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
"The Wayward Press: Do you belong in Journalism?" (1960)

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Lindon, J. A.

1
Points
Have no parts or joints
How then can they combine
To form a line?

M. Gardner Wheels, Life and Other Mathematical Amusements (1983)

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Lindsay, Vachel 1879–1931 American poet

1
Then I saw the Congo, creeping through the black,
Cutting through the forest with a golden track.

"The Congo" pt. 1 (1914)

2
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum—
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

"General William Booth Enters into Heaven" (1913); see below

…Have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Bible Revelation

[Lindsay]

3
Booth died blind and still by faith he trod,
Eyes still dazzled by the ways of God.

"General William Booth Enters into Heaven" (1913)

[Lindsay]

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Lineker, Gary 1960– English footballer

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

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Linklater, Eric 1899–1974 Scottish novelist

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)

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Lippmann, Walter 1889–1974 American journalist

1 The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
in New York Herald Tribune 14 April 1945

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Littlewood, Joan 1914– British theatre director and Chilton, Charles 1914–

1 Oh what a lovely war.
title of stage show (1963)

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Litvinov, Maxim 1876–1951 Soviet diplomat

1 Peace is indivisible.
note to the Allies, 25 February 1920; A. U. Pope Maxim Litvinoff (1943)

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Lively, Penelope 1933– English novelist

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]

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Livingstone, Ken 1945– British Labour politician

1 If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.
title of book, 1987

2 There are a lot of truly ghastly people gathered around Blair, like lice on the back of a hedgehog.
in New Statesman 10 October 1997

[Livingstone]

3 Politics is a marathon, not a sprint.
in New Statesman 10 October 1997

[Livingstone]

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Llewellyn, Richard 1907–1983 Welsh novelist and dramatist

1 How green was my valley.
title of book (1939)

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Lloyd George, David 1863–1945 British Liberal statesman; Prime Minister, 1916–22

1 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

[Lloyd George]

3 The great peaks of honour we had forgotten—Duty, Patriotism, and—clad in glittering white—the great pinnacle of Sacrifice, pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven.
speech at Queen's Hall, London, 19 September 1914

[Lloyd George]

4 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]

5 What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.
speech at Wolverhampton, 23 November 1918

[Lloyd George]

6 M. Clemenceau…is one of the greatest living orators, but he knows that the finest eloquence is that which gets things done and the worst is that which delays them.
speech at Paris Peace Conference, 18 January 1919

[Lloyd George]

7 Unless I am mistaken, by the steps we have taken we have murder by the throat.
speech at the Mansion House, 9 November 1920

[Lloyd George]

8 on being asked what place Arthur Balfour would have in history:He will be just like the scent on a pocket handkerchief.
Thomas Jones diary, 9 June 1922

[Lloyd George]

9 If you want to succeed in politics, you must keep your conscience well under control.
Lord Riddell's diary, 23 April 1919

[Lloyd George]

10 Death is the most convenient time to tax rich people.
Lord Riddell diary, 23 April 1919

[Lloyd George]

11 The world is becoming like a lunatic asylum run by lunatics.
in Observer 8 January 1933.

[Lloyd George]

12 A politician was a person with whose politics you did not agree. When you did agree, he was a statesman.
speech at Central Hall, Westminster, 2 July 1935

[Lloyd George]

13 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)

[Lloyd George]

14 Sufficient conscience to bother him, but not sufficient to keep him straight.of Ramsay MacDonald
A. J. Sylvester Life with Lloyd George (1975)

[Lloyd George]

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Lodge, David 1935– English novelist

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)

2 Four times, under our educational rules, the human pack is shuffled and cut—at eleven-plus, sixteen-plus, eighteen-plus and twenty-plus—and happy is he who comes top of the deck on each occasion, but especially the last. This is called Finals, the very name of which implies that nothing of importance can happen after it.
Changing Places (1975)

[Lodge]

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Loesser, Frank 1910–1969 American songwriter

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)

[Loesser]

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Loewe, Frederick 1904–1988 American composer

1 I don't like my music, but what is my opinion against that of millions of others.
Nat Shapiro (ed.) An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music (1978)

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Logue, Christopher 1926– English poet

1
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
come to the edge!
And they came
and he pushed
and they flew…
on Apollinaire
"Come to the edge" (1969)

2
I, Christopher Logue, was baptized the year
Many thousands of Englishmen,
Fists clenched, their bellies empty,

Walked day and night on the capital city.

"The Song of Autobiography" (1996)

[Logue]

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London, Jack 1876–1916 American novelist

1 The call of the wild.
title of novel (1903)

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Long, Huey 1893–1935 American Democratic politician

1 For the present you can just call me the Kingfish.
Every Man a King (1933)

2 I can go Mr Wilson one better; I was born barefoot.replying to the claim that an opponent had gone barefoot as a boy
T. Harry Williams Huey Long (1969).

[Long]

3 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]

4 The time has come for all good men to rise above principle.
attributed

[Long]

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Longford, Lord 1905– British Labour politician and philanthropist

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

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Longley, Michael 1939– Irish poet

1
Astrologers or three wise men
Who may shortly be setting out
For a small house up the Shankill
Or the Falls, should pause on their way
To buy gifts at Jim Gibson's shop,
Dates and chestnuts and tambourines.

"The Greengrocer" (1979)

2
I am travelling from one April to another.
It is the same train between the same embankments.
Gorse fires are smoking, but primroses burn
And celandines and white may and gorse flowers.

"Gorse Fires" (1991)

[Longley]

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Longworth, Alice Roosevelt 1884–1980 daughter of Theodore Roosevelt

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)

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Loos, Anita 1893–1981 American writer

1 Gentlemen prefer blondes
title of book (1925)

2 So this gentleman said a girl with brains ought to do something with them besides think.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925)

[Loos]

3 She said she always believed in the old addage, "Leave them while you're looking good."
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925)

[Loos]

4 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). ,

[Loos]

5 Fun is fun but no girl wants to laugh all of the time.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925)

[Loos]

6 I'm furious about the women's liberationists. They keep getting up on soap boxes and proclaiming that women are brighter than men. That's true, but it should be kept very quiet or it ruins the whole racket.
attributed

[Loos]

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Lorenz, Edward N. 1917– American meteorologist

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)

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Lorenz, Konrad 1903–1989 Austrian zoologist

1 It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast.
On Aggression (1966)

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Louis, Joe 1914–1981 American boxer

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)

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Love, Courtney 1965– American rock singer, wife of Kurt Cobain

1 When…you're first famous and you're flush with your influence and you say something whimsical, at a party or something to be cool, it gets reported for real.
interview in Guardian 28 February 1997

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Lovell, Bernard 1913– British astronomer

1 The pursuit of the good and evil are now linked in astronomy as in almost all science…The fate of human civilization will depend on whether the rockets of the future carry the astronomer's telescope or a hydrogen bomb.
The Individual and the Universe (1959)

2 Youth is vivid rather than happy, but memory always remembers the happy things.
in The Times 20 August 1993

[Lovell]

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Lovell, James 1928– American astronaut

1 Houston, we've had a problem.on Apollo 13 space mission, 14 April 1970
in The Times 15 April 1970

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Low, David 1891–1963 British political cartoonist

1 I have never met anyone who wasn't against war. Even Hitler and Mussolini were, according to themselves.
in New York Times Magazine 10 February 1946

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Lowell, Amy 1874–1925 American poet

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]

3
Do we want laurels for ourselves most,
Or most that no one else shall have any?

"La Ronde du Diable" (1925)

[Lowell]

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Lowell, Robert 1917–1977 American poet

1
Terrible that old life of decency
without unseemly intimacy
or quarrels, when the unemancipated woman
still had her Freudian papa and maids!

"During Fever" (1959)

2
The aquarium is gone. Everywhere,
giant finned cars nose forward like fish;
a savage servility
slides by on grease.

"For the Union Dead" (1964)

[Lowell]

3
Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city's throat.

"For the Union Dead" (1964)

[Lowell]

4
These are the tranquillized Fifties,
and I am forty. Ought I to regret my seed-time?

"Memories of West Street and Lepke" (1956)

[Lowell]

5
At forty-five,
What next, what next?
At every corner,
I meet my Father,
my age, still alive.

"Middle Age" (1964)

[Lowell]

6
This is death.
To die and know it. This is the Black Widow, death.

"Mr Edwards and the Spider" (1950)

[Lowell]

7
After fifty
the clock can't stop,
each saving breath
takes something.

"Our Afterlife I" (1977)

[Lowell]

8
The Lord survives the rainbow of His will.

"The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket" (1950)

[Lowell]

9
We feel the machine slipping from our hands
As if someone else were steering;
If we see light at the end of the tunnel,
It's the light of the oncoming train.

"Since 1939" (1977)

[Lowell]

10
But I suppose even God was born
too late to trust the old religion

"Tenth Muse" (1964)

[Lowell]

11
The present, yes,
we are in it,
it's the infection
of things gone.

"We Took Our Paradise" (1977)

[Lowell]

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Lowry, L. S. 1887–1976 English painter

1 I'm a simple man, and I use simple materials.
Mervyn Levy Paintings of L. S. Lowry (1975)

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Lowry, Malcolm 1909–1957 English novelist

1 How alike are the groans of love to those of the dying.
Under the Volcano (1947)

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Loy, Mina d. 1966 American poet

1 Brave and deny at the outset—that pathetic clap-trap war cry Woman is the equal of man for She is not!…Leave off looking to men to find out what you are not—Seek within yourselves to find out what you are.
"Feminist Manifesto" (1914, unpublished) in Virginia M. Kovidis Mina Loy (1980)

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Luce, Clare Booth 1903– American diplomat, politician, and writer

1 Much of…his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still globaloney.
speech to the House of Representatives, February 1943

2 But if God had wanted us to think just with our wombs, why did He give us a brain?
in Life 16 October 1970

[Luce]

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Luxemburg, Rosa 1871–1919 German revolutionary

1 Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
Die Russische Revolution (1918)

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Lynn, Jonathan 1943– and Jay, Antony 1930– English writers

1 "We went in," he said, "to screw the French by splitting them off from the Germans. The French went in to protect their inefficient farmers from commercial competition. The Germans went in to cleanse themselves of genocide and apply for readmission to the human race."of the European Community
Yes Minister (1982) vol. 2

2 I think it will be a clash between the political will and the administrative won't.
Yes Prime Minister (1987) vol. 2

[Lynn]

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Lynton, Michael English publisher

1 The book is the greatest interactive medium of all time. You can underline it, write in the margins, fold down a page, skip ahead. And you can take it anywhere.on taking over as head of Penguin Books
in Daily Telegraph 19 August 1996

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M

McAleese, Mary 1951– Irish stateswoman; President from 1997

1 Apart from the shamrock, the President should not wear emblems or symbols of any kind.deciding not to wear a poppy at her inauguration on 11 November 1997
in Guardian 6 November 1997

2 I went back to the study hall where I met my husband at a debating competition and where, I am pleased to put it on record, I beat him.revisiting her old school
in Irish Times 6 December 1997 "This Week They Said"

[McAleese]

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McArthur, Alexander and Long, H. Kingsley

1 Battles and sex are the only free diversions in slum life. Couple them with drink, which costs money, and you have the three principal outlets for that escape complex which is for ever working in the tenement dweller's subconscious mind.
No Mean City (1935)

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MacArthur, Douglas 1880–1964 American general

1 I came through and I shall return.on reaching Australia, having broken through Japanese lines en route from Corregidor
statement in Adelaide, 20 March 1942

2 In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory.
address to a Joint Meeting of Congress, 19 April 1951

[MacArthur]

3 I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barracks ballads of that day, which proclaimed most proudly that old soldiers never die; they just fade away. I now close my military career and just fade away.
address to a Joint Meeting of Congress, 19 April 1951.

[MacArthur]

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Macaulay, Rose 1881–1958 English novelist

1 "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)

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McAuliffe, Anthony 1898–1975 American general

1 Nuts!replying to the German demand for surrender
at Bastogne, Belgium, 22 December 1944

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McCarthy, Eugene 1916– American Democratic politician

1 Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important.while campaigning for the presidency
in an interview, 1968

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McCarthy, Joseph 1908–1957 American politician and anti-Communist agitator

1 I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five 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; Richard Rovere Senator Joe McCarthy (1973)

[McCarthy]

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McCarthy, Mary 1912–1989 American novelist

1 When an American heiress wants to buy a man, she at once crosses the Atlantic. The only really materialistic people I have ever met have been Europeans.
On the Contrary (1961) "America the Beautiful"

2 The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof.
On the Contrary (1961) "America the Beautiful"

[McCarthy]

3 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]

4 In violence, we forget who we are.
On the Contrary (1961) "Characters in Fiction"

[McCarthy]

5 There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing.
On the Contrary (1961) "Vita Activa"

[McCarthy]

6 Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the".on Lillian Hellman
quoting herself, in New York Times 16 February 1980

[McCarthy]

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McCartney, Paul 1942– English pop singer and songwriter

1 He could be a manoeuvring swine, which no one ever realized.of John Lennon
Hunter Davies The Beatles (1985)

2 Ballads and babies. That's what happened to me.on reaching the age of fifty
in Time 8 June 1992

[McCartney]

3 You cannot reheat a soufflé.discounting rumours of a Beatles reunion
attributed; L. Botts Loose Talk (1980)

[McCartney]

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MacColl, Ewen 1915–1989 English folksinger and songwriter

1
I found my love by the gasworks crofts
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town, dirty old town.

"Dirty Old Town" (1950 song)

2
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)

[MacColl]

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McCord, David 1897–

1
By and by
God caught his eye.

"Remainders" (1935); epitaph for a waiter

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McCoy, Horace 1897–1955 American novelist

1 They shoot horses don't they.
title of novel (1935)

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McCrae, John 1872–1918 Canadian poet and military physician

1
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row.

"In Flanders Fields" (1915)

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McCullers, Carson 1917–1967 American writer

1 The heart is a lonely hunter.
title of novel (1940); see below
My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.
Fiona McLeod (1855–1905) "The Lonely Hunter" (1896)

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McCulloch, Derek

seeCatch-phrases

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MacDiarmid, Hugh 1892–1978 Scottish poet and nationalist

1
I'll ha'e nae hauf-way hoose, but aye be whaur
Extremes meet—it's the only way I ken
To dodge the curst conceit o' bein' richt
That damns the vast majority o' men.

A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926)

2
He's no a man ava',
And lacks a proper pride,
Gin less than a' the world
Can ser' him for a bride!

A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926)

[MacDiarmid]

3
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]

4
I must be a Bolshevik
Before the Revolution, but I'll cease to be one quick
When Communism comes to rule the roost,
For real literature can exist only when it's produced
By madmen, hermits, heretics,
Dreamers, rebels, sceptics,
—And such a door of utterance has been given to me
As none may close whosoever they be.

"Talking with Five Thousand People in Edinburgh" (1972)

[MacDiarmid]

5
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)

[MacDiarmid]

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Macdonald, Dwight 1906–1982 American writer and film critic

1 Götterdämmerung without the gods.of the use of atomic bombs against the Japanese
in Politics September 1945 "The Bomb"

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MacDonald, Ramsay 1866–1937 British Labour statesman; Prime Minister, 1924, 1931–5

1 We hear war called murder. It is not: it is suicide.
in Observer 4 May 1930

2 Tomorrow every Duchess in London will be wanting to kiss me!after forming the National Government, 25 August 1931
Viscount Snowden An Autobiography (1934)

[MacDonald]

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McDonald, Trevor 1939– West Indian-born broadcaster

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"

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McEnroe, John 1959– American tennis player

1 You cannot be serious!
said to tennis umpire at Wimbledon, early 1980s

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McEwan, Ian 1948– English novelist

1 Shakespeare would have grasped wave functions, Donne would have understood complementarity and relative time. They would have been excited. What richness! They would have plundered this new science for their imagery. And they would have educated their audiences too. But you "arts" people, you're not only ignorant of these magnificent things, you're rather proud of knowing nothing.
The Child in Time (1987)

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McGoohan, Patrick 1928– American actor , 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

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McGough, Roger 1937– English poet

1
You will put on a dress of guilt
and shoes with broken high ideals.

"Comeclose and Sleepnow" (1967)

2
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)

[McGough]

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McGovern, George 1922– American Democratic politician, presidential candidate in 1972

1 Sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.
in Observer 18 March 1990 "Sayings of the Week"

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MacGregor, Ian 1912– Scottish-born industrialist whose career was developed in the US; Chairman of the National Coal Board, 1983–6

1 People are now discovering the price of insubordination and insurrection. And boy, are we going to make it stick!during the coal-miners' strike
in Sunday Telegraph 10 March 1985

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McGregor, Jimmie 1932– Scottish singer and songwriter

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)

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McGregor, Lord 1921– British sociologist

1 An odious exhibition of journalists dabbling their fingers in the stuff of other people's souls.on Press coverage of the marital difficulties of the Prince and Princess of Wales, speaking as Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission
in The Times 9 June 1992

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McHarrie, Dennis

1
"He died who loved to live," they'll say,
"Unselfishly so we might have today!"
Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.

"Luck" (1980).

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Mackenzie, Compton 1883–1972 English novelist

1 Prostitution. Selling one's body to keep one's soul: this is the meaning of the sins that were forgiven to the woman because she loved much: one might say of most marriages that they were selling one's soul to keep one's body.
The Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett (1918)

2 Women do not find it difficult nowadays to behave like men, but they often find it extremely difficult to behave like gentlemen.
Literature in My Time (1933)

[Mackenzie]

3 You are offered a piece of bread and butter that feels like a damp handkerchief and sometimes, when cucumber is added to it, like a wet one.
Vestal Fire (1927)

[Mackenzie]

4 Love makes the world go round? Not at all. Whisky makes it go round twice as fast.
Whisky Galore (1947)

[Mackenzie]

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Mackenzie, Kelvin 1946– British journalist and media executive

1 We are surfing food.of cable television
in Trouble at the Top (BBC2) 12 February 1997, a documentary on the launch of Live TV, originally run by Janet Street-Porter

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Maclean, Alistair 1922–1987 Scottish thriller writer

1 Where eagles dare.
title of novel (1967)

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McLean, Don 1945– American songwriter

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]

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MacLeish, Archibald 1892–1982 American poet, later public official

1
A poem should not mean
But be.

"Ars Poetica" (1926)

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Macleod, Iain 1913–1970 British Conservative politician

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

2 The Conservative Party always in time forgives those who were wrong. Indeed often, in time, they forgive those who were right.
in The Spectator 21 February 1964

[Macleod]

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McLuhan, Marshall 1911–1980 Canadian communications scholar

1 The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village.
The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962).

2 Dewey in reacting against passive print culture was surf-boarding along the new electronic wave.
The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)

[McLuhan]

3 One matter Englishmen don't think in the least funny is their happy consciousness of possessing a deep sense of humour.
Mechanical Bride (1951) "The Ballet Luce"

[McLuhan]

4 When this circuit learns your job, what are you going to do?
The Medium is the Massage (1967)

[McLuhan]

5 If the nineteenth century was the age of the editorial chair, ours is the century of the psychiatrist's couch.
Understanding Media (1964)

[McLuhan]

6 The medium is the message.
Understanding Media (1964)

[McLuhan]

7 The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers.
Understanding Media (1964)

[McLuhan]

8 The car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad and incomplete in the urban compound.
Understanding Media (1964)

[McLuhan]

9 The car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban man.
Understanding Media (1964)

[McLuhan]

10 People don't actually read newspapers. They get into them every morning, like a hot bath.
in 1965; attributed

[McLuhan]

11 Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America—not the battlefields of Vietnam.
in Montreal Gazette 16 May 1975

[McLuhan]

12 Gutenberg made everybody a reader. Xerox makes everybody a publisher.
in Guardian Weekly 12 June 1977

[McLuhan]

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Macmillan, Harold 1894–1986 British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1957–63

1 We…are Greeks in this American empire…We must run the Allied Forces HQ as the Greeks ran the operations of the Emperor Claudiusto Richard Crossman in 1944
in Sunday Telegraph 9 February 1964

2 There ain't gonna be no war.following the Geneva summit
at a London press conference, 24 July 1955

[Macmillan]

3 Forever poised between a cliché and an indiscretion.on the life of a Foreign Secretary
in Newsweek 30 April 1956

[Macmillan]

4 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

[Macmillan]

5 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]

6 The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and, whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.
speech at Cape Town, 3 February 1960; Pointing the Way (1972)

[Macmillan]

7 As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.
speech to London Conservatives, 7 March 1961

[Macmillan]

8 He enjoys prophesying the imminent fall of the capitalist system and is prepared to play a part, any part, in its burial, except that of mute.of Aneurin Bevan
Michael Foot Aneurin Bevan (1962)

[Macmillan]

9 I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts.comment on the Profumo affair, July 1963
A. Sampson Macmillan (1967)

[Macmillan]

10 It is thinking about themselves that is really the curse of the younger generation—they appear to have no other subject which interests them at all.the "Tuesday memorandum", a draft of a letter to the Queen, advising on his successor but not sent, 1963
D. R. Thorpe Alec Douglas-Home (1996)

[Macmillan]

11 If people want a sense of purpose, they should get it from their archbishops. They should not hope to receive it from their politicians.
to Henry Fairlie, 1963; H. Fairlie The Life of Politics (1968)

[Macmillan]

12 Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there.
Anthony Sampson The New Anatomy of Britain (1971)

[Macmillan]

13 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]

14 Events, dear boy. Events.when asked what his biggest problem was
attributed

[Macmillan]

15 on the appointment of Michael Ramsey to succeed Geoffrey Fisher as Archbishop of Canterbury:We have had enough of Martha and it is time for some Mary.
attributed

[Macmillan]

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McNamara, Robert 1916– American Democratic politician, Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War

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
speaking in Washington, just before the twentieth anniversary of the American withdrawal from Vietnam; in Daily Telegraph (electronic edition) 10 April 1995

[McNamara]

3 Military force—especially when wielded by an outside power—cannot bring order in a country that cannot govern itself.
in Daily Telegraph (electronic edition) 10 April 1995

[McNamara]

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MacNeice, Louis 1907–1963 British poet, born in Belfast

1
Better authentic mammon than a bogus god.

Autumn Journal (1939)

2
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)

[MacNeice]

3
It's no go the picture palace, it's no go the stadium,
It's no go the country cot with a pot of pink geraniums,
It's no go the Government grants, it's no go the elections,
Sit on your arse for fifty years and hang your hat on a pension.

"Bagpipe Music" (1938)

[MacNeice]

4
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]

5
Crumbling between the fingers, under the feet,
Crumbling behind the eyes,
Their world gives way and dies
And something twangs and breaks at the end of the street.

"Débâcle" (1941)

[MacNeice]

6
So they were married—to be the more together—
And found they were never again so much together,
Divided by the morning tea,
By the evening paper,
By children and tradesmen's bills.

"Les Sylphides" (1941)

[MacNeice]

7
Time was away and somewhere else,
There were two glasses and two chairs
And two people with the one pulse.

"Meeting Point" (1941)

[MacNeice]

8
I am not yet born; O fill me
With strength against those who would freeze my
humanity.

"Prayer Before Birth" (1944)

[MacNeice]

9
Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me,
Otherwise kill me.

"Prayer Before Birth" (1944)

[MacNeice]

10
World is crazier and more of it than we think,
Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
A tangerine and spit the pips and feel
The drunkenness of things being various.

"Snow" (1935)

[MacNeice]

11
Down the road someone is practising scales,
The notes like little fishes vanish with a wink of tails,
Man's heart expands to tinker with his car
For this is Sunday morning, Fate's great bazaar.

"Sunday Morning" (1935)

[MacNeice]

12
The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its net of gold.

"Sunlight on the Garden" (1938)

[MacNeice]

13
By a high star our course is set,
Our end is Life. Put out to sea.

"Thalassa" (1964)

[MacNeice]

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McWilliam, Candia 1955– English novelist

1 With the birth of each child, you lose two novels.
in Guardian 5 May 1993

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Madan, Geoffrey 1895–1947 English bibliophile

1 Conservative ideal of freedom and progress: everyone to have an unfettered opportunity of remaining exactly where they are.
Geoffrey Madan's Notebooks (1981)

2 The dust of exploded beliefs may make a fine sunset.
Livre sans nom: Twelve Reflections (privately printed 1934)

[Madan]

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Madariaga, Salvador de 1886–1978 Spanish writer and diplomat

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)

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Madonna 1958– American pop singer and actress

1 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

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Magee, John Gillespie 1922–1941 American airman, member of the Royal Canadian Airforce

1
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
quoted by Ronald Reagan following the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, January 1986
"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]

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Mahon, Derek 1941– Northern Irish poet

1
"I am just going outside and may be some time."
The others nod, pretending not to know.
At the heart of the ridiculous, the sublime.

"Antarctica" (1985).

2
Somewhere beyond the scorched gable end and the burnt-out buses
there is a poet indulging
his wretched rage for order.

"Rage for Order" (1978)

[Mahon]

3
Even now there are places where a thought might grow—
Peruvian mines, worked out and abandoned
To a slow clock of condensation,
An echo trapped for ever, and a flutter
Of wildflowers in the lift-shaft…
And in a disused shed in Co. Wexford.

"A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford" (1978)

[Mahon]

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Mahy, Margaret 1936– New Zealand writer for children

1 Canadians are Americans with no Disneyland.
The Changeover (1984)

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Mailer, Norman 1923– American novelist and essayist

1 Sentimentality is the emotional promiscuity of those who have no sentiment.
Cannibals and Christians (1966)

2 The horror of the Twentieth Century was the size of each event, and the paucity of its reverberation.
A Fire on the Moon (1970)

[Mailer]

3 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)

[Mailer]

4 Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the Gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision.
The Presidential Papers (1976) Special Preface to the 1st Berkeley Edition

[Mailer]

5 Hip is the sophistication of the wise primitive in a giant jungle.
Voices of Dissent (1959) "The White Negro"

[Mailer]

6 Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists.
in Esquire June 1960

[Mailer]

7 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]

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Major, John 1943– British Conservative statesman; Prime Minister, 1990–7

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 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 A thousand days of Labour could ditch a thousand years of British history.alluding to Tony Blair's statement at the Labour Party Conference that he would have 1,000 days to prepare for the millennium
speech in Mostyn, North Wales, 14 February 1997.

[Major]

6 So right. OK. We lost.on election night
in Guardian 3 May 1997

[Major]

7 When the final curtain comes down, it's time to get off the stage.outside 10 Downing Street on 2 May, leaving office as Prime Minister and announcing that he would resign as Party Leader
in Guardian 3 May 1997

[Major]

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Malamud, Bernard 1914–1986 American novelist and short-story writer

1 The past exudes legend: one can't make pure clay of time's mud. There is no life that can be recaptured wholly; as it was. Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction.
Dubin's Lives (1979)

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Mallory, George Leigh 1886–1924 British mountaineer

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

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Malraux, André 1901–1976 French novelist, essayist, and art critic

1 There are not fifty ways of fighting, there's only one, and that's to win. Neither revolution nor war consists in doing what one pleases.
L'Espoir (1937)

2 Man knows that the world is not made on a human scale; and he wishes that it were.
Les Noyers d'Altenburg (1945)

[Malraux]

3 L'art est un anti-destin.Art is a revolt against fate.
Les Voix du silence (1951)

[Malraux]

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Mancroft, Lord 1914–1987 British Conservative politician

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)

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Mandela, Nelson 1918– South African statesman, President since 1994; former husband of Winnie Mandela

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 my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
speech in Pretoria, 20 April 1964, which he quoted on his release in Cape Town, 11 February 1990

2 I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.
speech in Cape Town 11 February 1990

[Mandela]

3 Through its imperialist system Britain brought about untold suffering of millions of people. And this is an historical fact. To be able to admit this would increase the respect, you know, which we have for British institutions.
in Guardian 2 April 1990

[Mandela]

4 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]

5 True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past.
speech, 7 January 1996

[Mandela]

6 Ever since I came back from jail not once has she ever entered my bedroom when I was awake.of his wife Winnie Mandela during the hearing of their divorce
in Johannesburg, 18 March 1996; in Daily Telegraph 19 March 1996

[Mandela]

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Mandela, Winnie 1934– South African political activist; former wife of Nelson Mandela

1 With that stick of matches, with our necklace, we shall liberate this country.
speech in black townships, 14 April 1986

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Mandelson, Peter 1953– British Labour politician

1 Few politicians are good at taking the high ground and throwing themselves off it.of Tony Blair and the revision of Clause Four
in New Yorker 5 February 1996

2 I can have a big say because I am the owner, the sole shareholder. I don't get involved in half measures.on the £750 million Millennium Dome project
in Observer 6 July 1997 "Soundbites"

[Mandelson]

3 You'll say I'm in charge of a Mickey Mouse project.refusing to be photographed holding a balloon at Disney World
in Daily Telegraph 5 January 1998

[Mandelson]

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Mandelstam, Nadezhda d. 1980 wife of Osip Mandelstam

1 He was as helpless as everybody else, but at least he tried to do something for others.of the Russian writer and journalist Ilya Ehrenburg (1891–1967)
Hope Abandoned (1974)

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Mandelstam, Osip 1892–1938 Russian poet; husband of Nadezhda Mandelstam

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)

2
Perhaps my whisper was already born before my lips.

"Poems Published Posthumously" (written 1934)

[Mandelstam]

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Mann, Herbie 1930– American jazz musician

1 If you're in jazz and more than ten people like you, you're labelled commercial.
Henry Pleasants Serious Music and all that Jazz! (1969)

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Mann, Thomas 1875–1955 German novelist

1 Death in Venice.
title of novella (1912)

2 Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
The Magic Mountain (1924)

[Mann]

3 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)

[Mann]

4 A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own.
The Magic Mountain (1924)

[Mann]

5 Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.
The Magic Mountain (1924)

[Mann]

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Mansfield, Katherine 1888–1923 New Zealand-born short-story writer

1 E. M. Forster never gets any further than warming the teapot. He's a rare fine hand at that. Feel this teapot. Is it not beautifully warm? Yes, but there ain't going to be no tea.
diary, May 1917

2 Whenever I prepare for a journey I prepare as though for death. Should I never return, all is in order.
diary, 29 January 1922

[Mansfield]

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Mao Zedong 1893–1976 Chinese statesman; chairman of the Communist Party of the Chinese People's Republic from 1949

1 Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
lecture, 1938; Selected Works (1965) vol. 2

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; Selected Works (1961) vol. 4

[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]

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Maradona, Diego 1960– Argentine football player

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

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Marchi, John 1948– American Republican politician

1 We ought not to permit a cottage industry in the God business.on hearing that British scientists had successfully cloned a lamb (Dolly)
in Guardian 28 February 1997

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Margaret, Princess 1930– British princess, sister of Elizabeth II

1 My children are not royal, they just happen to have the Queen as their aunt.
Elizabeth Longford (ed.) The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes (1989)

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Margolyes, Miriam 1941– English actress

1 Life, if you're fat, is a minefield—you have to pick your way, otherwise you blow up.
in Observer 9 June 1991

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Margulis, Lynn 1938– American biologist

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

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Marks, Johnny 1909–1985 American songwriter

1
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You would even say it glows.

"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1949 song)

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Marley, Bob 1945–1981 Jamaican reggae musician and songwriter

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]

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Marquis, Don 1878–1937 American poet and journalist

1
procrastination is the
art of keeping
up with yesterday.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "certain maxims of archy"

2
an optimist is a guy
that has never had
much experience.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "certain maxims of archy"

[Marquis]

3
it s cheerio
my deario that
pulls a lady through.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "cheerio, my deario"

[Marquis]

4
I have got you out here
in the great open spaces
where cats are cats.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "mehitabel has an adventure"

[Marquis]

5
but wotthehell archy wotthehell
jamais triste archy jamais triste
that is my motto.

archy and mehitabel (1927) "mehitabel sees paris"

[Marquis]

6
boss there is always
a comforting thought
in time of trouble when
it is not our trouble.

archy does his part (1935) "comforting thoughts"

[Marquis]

7
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]

8
now and then
there is a person born
who is so unlucky
that he runs into accidents
which started to happen
to somebody else.

archys life of mehitabel (1933) "archy says"

[Marquis]

9 Prohibition makes you want to cry into your beer and denies you the beer to cry into.
Sun Dial Time (1936)

[Marquis]

10 The art of newspaper paragraphing is to stroke a platitude until it purrs like an epigram.
E. Anthony O Rare Don Marquis (1962)

[Marquis]

11 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]

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Marriott, Anthony 1931– and Foot, Alistair

1 No sex please—we're British.
title of play (1971)

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Marshall, Arthur 1910–1989 British journalist and former schoolmaster

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)

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Marshall, Thomas R. 1854–1925 American politician

1 What this country needs is a really good 5-cent cigar.
in New York Tribune 4 January 1920

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Martin, Dean 1917–1995 American singer and actor

1 You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
Paul Dickson Official Rules (1978)

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Marvell, Holt 1901–1969 English songwriter

1 These foolish things remind me of you.
title of song (1935)

2
A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces,
An airline ticket to romantic places.

"These Foolish Things Remind Me of You" (1935 song)

[Marvell]

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Marx, Chico 1891–1961 American film comedian

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)

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Marx, Groucho 1895–1977 American film comedian

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)

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]

3 I've been around so long, I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.
Max Wilk The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood (1972)

[Marx]

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Mary, Queen 1867–1953 Queen Consort of George V

1 Well, Mr Baldwin! this is a pretty kettle of fish!after Edward VIII had told her he was prepared to give up the throne to marry Mrs Simpson
said on 17 November 1936; James Pope-Hennessy Life of Queen Mary (1959)

2 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)

[Mary]

3 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; James Pope-Hennessy Queen Mary (1959)

[Mary]

4 So that's what hay looks like.said at Badminton House, where she was evacuated during the Second World War
James Pope-Hennessy Life of Queen Mary (1959)

[Mary]

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Maschwitz, Eric 1901–1969

1 A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.
title of song (1940)

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Mason, Donald 1913– American naval officer

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; in New York Times 27 February 1942

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Matlovich, Leonard d. 1988 American Air Force Sergeant

1 When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.
attributed

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Maugham, W. Somerset 1874–1965 English novelist

1 From the earliest times the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser than they, and before the young had discovered what nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture.
Cakes and Ale (1930)

2 Poor Henry , he's spending eternity wandering round and round a stately park and the fence is just too high for him to peep over and they're having tea just too far away for him to hear what the countess is saying.
Cakes and Ale (1930)

[Maugham]

3 You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.
The Circle (1921)

[Maugham]

4 It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.
The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

[Maugham]

5 A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her, but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.
The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

[Maugham]

6 Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.
Of Human Bondage (1915)

[Maugham]

7 People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.
Of Human Bondage (1915)

[Maugham]

8 Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.
Of Human Bondage (1915)

[Maugham]

9 I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
Sheppey (1933)

[Maugham]

10 A novelist must preserve a childlike belief in the importance of things which common sense considers of no great consequence.
A Writer's Notebook (1949) written in 1933

[Maugham]

11 There is no need for the writer to eat a whole sheep to be able to tell you what mutton tastes like. It is enough if he eats a cutlet. But he should do that.
A Writer's Notebook (1949) written in 1941

[Maugham]

12 I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to the universities go on a Government grant. This is a new class that has entered upon the scene…They are scum.
in Sunday Times 25 December 1955

[Maugham]

13 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]

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Mauldin, Bill 1921– American cartoonist

1 I feel like a fugitive from th' law of averages.
cartoon caption in Up Front (1945)

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Maurois, André 1885–1967 French writer

1 Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.
The Art of Living (1940)

2 Wells, in part of Europe and in the United States, will for some years have wielded an intellectual dominion comparable to that won and held by Voltaire in the eighteenth century.
André Maurois Poets and Prophets (1936)

[Maurois]

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Maxton, James 1885–1946 British Labour politician

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

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Maxwell, Glyn 1962– English poet

1
May his anorak grow big with jotters,
Noting the numbers of trains he saw.

"Curse on a Child" (1995)

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Mayakovsky, Vladimir 1893–1930 Russian poet

1
If you wish—
…I'll be irreproachably tender;
not a man, but—a cloud in trousers!

"The Cloud in Trousers" (1915)

2 Not a sound. The universe sleeps, resting a huge ear on its paw with mites of stars.
"The Cloud in Trousers" (1915)

[Mayakovsky]

3 In our language rhyme is a barrel. A barrel of dynamite. The line is a fuse. The line smoulders to the end and explodes; and the town is blown sky-high in a stanza.
"Conversation with an Inspector of Taxes about Poetry" (1926)

[Mayakovsky]

4 The poet is always indebted to the universe, paying interest and fines on sorrow.
"Conversation with an Inspector of Taxes about Poetry" (1926)

[Mayakovsky]

5
Oh for just
one
more conference
regarding the eradication of all conferences!

"In Re Conferences"; Herbert Marshall (ed.) Mayakovsky (1965)

[Mayakovsky]

6 To us love says humming that the heart's stalled motor has begun working again.
"Letter from Paris to Comrade Kostorov on the Nature of Love" (1928)

[Mayakovsky]

7
Ours is the land.
The air—ours.
Ours the diamond mines of stars.
And we will never,
never!
Allow anyone,
anyone!
To ravage our land with shells,
to tear our air with sharpened spear points.

"Revolution: a Poet's Chronicle" (1917)

[Mayakovsky]

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Mayfield, Percy 1920–1984

1 Hit the road, Jack.
title of song (1961)

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Mayo, Charles H. 1865–1939 American doctor, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic

1 The definition of a specialist as one who "knows more and more about less and less" is good and true.
in Modern Hospital September 1938

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Mead, Margaret 1901–1978 American anthropologist

1 The knowledge that the personalities of the two sexes are socially produced is congenial to every programme that looks forward towards a planned order of society. It is a two-edged sword.
Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935)

2 Women want mediocre men, and men are working hard to be as mediocre as possible.
in Quote Magazine 15 June 1958

[Mead]

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Mead, Shepherd 1914– American advertising executive

1 How to succeed in business without really trying.
title of book (1952)

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Mearns, Hughes 1875–1965 American writer

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 an amateur play The Psycho-ed (1910) and set to music in 1939 as "The Little Man Who Wasn't There"

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Medawar, Peter 1915–1987 English immunologist and author

1 A bishop wrote gravely to the Times inviting all nations to destroy "the formula" of the atomic bomb. There is no simple remedy for ignorance so abysmal.
The Hope of Progress (1972)

2 If a scientist were to cut his ear off, no one would take it as evidence of a heightened sensibility.
"J. B. S." (1968)

[Medawar]

3 If it were an innocent, passive gullibility it would be excusable; but all too clearly, alas, it is an active willingness to be deceived.
review of Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man in Mind 1961 vol. 70

[Medawar]

4 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.

[Medawar]

5 During the 1950s, the first great age of molecular biology, the English Schools of Oxford and particularly of Cambridge produced more than a score of graduates of quite outstanding ability—much more brilliant, inventive, articulate and dialectically skilful than most young scientists; right up in the Watson class. But Watson had one towering advantage over all of them: in addition to being extremely clever he had something important to be clever about.
review of James D. Watson's The Double Helix in New York Review of Books 28 March 1968

[Medawar]

6 Like all good memoirs it has not been emasculated by considerations of good taste.
review of James D. Watson's The Double Helix in New York Review of Books 28 March 1968

[Medawar]

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Meir, Golda 1898–1978 Israeli stateswoman, Prime Minister 1969–74

1 Women's Liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It's the men who are discriminated against. They can't bear children. And no-one's likely to do anything about that.
in Newsweek 23 October 1972

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Melba, Nellie 1861–1931 Australian operatic soprano

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)

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Mellor, David 1949– British Conservative politician

1 I do believe the popular press is drinking in the last chance saloon.
interview on Hard News (Channel 4), 21 December 1989

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Mencken, H. L. 1880–1956 American journalist and literary critic

1 When women kiss it always reminds one of prize-fighters shaking hands.
Chrestomathy (1949)

2 Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.
Chrestomathy (1949)

[Mencken]

3 Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
Chrestomathy (1949)

[Mencken]

4 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]

5 Conscience: the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
A Little Book in C major (1916)

[Mencken]

6 It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics and chemistry.
Notebooks (1956) "Minority Report"

[Mencken]

7 All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend any one or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced upon them, they tackle it by denouncing some one or something else.
Prejudices (1919) 1st series

[Mencken]

8 Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
Prejudices (1922) 3rd series

[Mencken]

9 No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.
in Chicago Tribune 19 September 1926

[Mencken]

10 The saddest life is that of a political aspirant under democracy. His failure is ignominious and his success is disgraceful.
in Baltimore Evening Sun 9 December 1929

[Mencken]

11 He slept more than any other President, whether by day or by night. Nero fiddled, but Coolidge only snored.of Calvin Coolidge
in American Mercury April 1933

[Mencken]

12 If there had been any formidable body of cannibals in the country he would have promised to provide them with free missionaries fattened at the taxpayer's expense.of Harry Truman in the 1948 presidential campaign
in Baltimore Sun 7 November 1948

[Mencken]

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Menuhin, Yehudi 1916– American-born British violinist

1 Whenever I see a newspaper I think of the poor trees. As trees they provide beauty, shade and shelter. But as paper all they provide is rubbish.
attributed, 1982

2 It is only in our advanced and synthetic civilization that mothers no longer sing to the babies they are carrying.
in Observer 4 January 1987

[Menuhin]

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Menzies, Robert Gordon 1894–1978 Australian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1939–41 and 1949–66

1 What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north.
in Sydney Morning Herald 27 April 1939

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Mercer, David 1928–1980 English dramatist

1 A suitable case for treatment.
title of television play (1962); later filmed as Morgan–A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966)

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Mercer, Johnny 1909–1976 American songwriter

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
We're drinking my friend,
To the end of a brief episode,
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]

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Merrill, Bob 1921–1998 American songwriter and composer

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]

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Meyer, Anthony 1920– British Conservative politician

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

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Meynell, Viola 1886–1956 English poet

1
The dust comes secretly day after day,
Lies on my ledge and dulls my shining things.
But O this dust that I shall drive away
Is flowers and Kings,
Is Solomon's temple, poets, Nineveh.

"Dusting" (1919)

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Michael, Princess of Kent 1945– Austrian-born British princess

1 I don't enjoy my public obligations. I was not made to cut ribbons and kiss babies.
in Life November 1986

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Mikes, George 1912– Hungarian-born writer

1 On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.
How to be an Alien (1946)

2 Continental people have sex life; the English have hot-water bottles.
How to be an Alien (1946)

[Mikes]

3 An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.
How to be an Alien (1946)

[Mikes]

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Millay, Edna St Vincent 1892–1950 American poet

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
Euclid alone
Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they
Who, though once only and then but far away,
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923) sonnet 22

[Millay]

5 Justice denied in Massachusetts.relating to the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and their execution on 22 August 1927
title of poem (1928)

[Millay]

6
The sun that warmed our stooping backs and withered the weeds uprooted—
We shall not feel it again.
We shall die in darkness, and be buried in the rain.

"Justice Denied in Massachusetts" (1928)

[Millay]

7
Death devours all lovely things;
Lesbia with her sparrow
Shares the darkness—presently
Every bed is narrow.

"Passer Mortuus Est" (1921)

[Millay]

8
After all, my erstwhile dear,
My no longer cherished,
Need we say it was not love,
Now that love is perished?

"Passer Mortuus Est" (1921)

[Millay]

9 It's not true that life is one damn thing after another—it's one damn thing over and over.
letter to Arthur Davison Ficke, 24 October 1930.

[Millay]

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Miller, Alice Duer 1874–1942 American writer

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)

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Miller, Arthur 1915– American dramatist

1 A suicide kills two people, Maggie, that's what it's for!
After the Fall (1964)

2 Death of a salesman
title of play (1949)

[Miller]

3 The world is an oyster, but you don't crack it open on a mattress.
Death of a Salesman (1949)

[Miller]

4 Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.
Death of a Salesman (1949)

[Miller]

5 For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. 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]

6 The car, the furniture, the wife, the children—everything has to be disposable. Because you see the main thing today is—shopping.
The Price (1968)

[Miller]

7 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)

[Miller]

8 The structure of a play is always the story of how the birds came home to roost.
"Shadows of the Gods" in Harper's Magazine August 1958

[Miller]

9 A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.
in Observer 26 November 1961

[Miller]

10 A theatre where no-one is allowed to walk out and everyone is forced to applause.describing Eastern Europe
Omnibus (BBC TV) 30 October 1987; in Independent 31 October 1987

[Miller]

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Miller, Henry 1891–1980 American novelist

1 Even before the music begins there is that bored look on people's faces. A polite form of self-imposed torture, the concert.
Tropic of Cancer (1934)

2 Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.
Tropic of Cancer (1934)

[Miller]

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Miller, Jonathan 1934– English writer and director

1 I'm not really a Jew. Just Jew-ish. Not the whole hog, you know.
Beyond the Fringe (1960 revue) "Real Class"

2 I successfully don't think about it for most of my life because I'm in that sunlit part of the landscape where I don't hear the cries of the tormented. It's the way things are.when asked how he dealt with the atrocities of this century
in Observer 10 March 1996

[Miller]

3 A sort of cognitive equivalent of a condom—it's a layer of contraceptive rubber between the direct experience and the cognitive system.of reading text from a computer screen
in Independent on Sunday 14 January 1996 "Quotes of the Week"

[Miller]

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Milligan, Spike 1918– British comedian and writer

1 Money couldn't buy friends but you got a better class of enemy.
Puckoon (1963)

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Mills, A. J., Godfrey, Fred, and Scott, Bennett British songwriters

1 Take me back to dear old Blighty.
title of song (1916)

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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)

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Milne, A. A. 1882–1956 English writer for children

1
The more it snows
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom)
On snowing.

House at Pooh Corner (1928)

2 The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.
The House at Pooh Corner (1928)

[Milne]

3 When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
The House at Pooh Corner (1928)

[Milne]

4 I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me.
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

[Milne]

5 Time for a little something.
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

[Milne]

6 My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

[Milne]

7 Owl hasn't exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things.
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

[Milne]

8
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.

"Buckingham Palace" (1924)

[Milne]

9
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."

"Disobedience" (1924)

[Milne]

10
There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And all the day long he'd a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

"The Dormouse and the Doctor" (1924)

[Milne]

11
King John was not a good man—
He had his little ways.
And sometimes no one spoke to him
For days and days and days.

"King John's Christmas" (1927)

[Milne]

12
The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"

"The King's Breakfast" (1924)

[Milne]

13
What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She's perfectly well and she hasn't a pain,
And it's lovely rice pudding for dinner again!
What is the matter with Mary Jane?

"Rice Pudding" (1924)

[Milne]

14
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

"Vespers" (1924).

[Milne]

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Mirren, Helen 1945– English actress

1 When you do Shakespeare they think you must be intelligent because they think you understand what you're saying.
interviewed on Ruby Wax Meets…; in Mail on Sunday 16 February 1997 "Night and Day"

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Misquotations

1 Beam me up, Scotty.
supposedly the form in which Captain Kirk habitually requested to be returned from a planet to the Starship Enterprise; in fact the nearest equivalent found is
Beam us up, Mr Scott.
Gene Roddenberry Star Trek (1966 onwards) "Gamesters of Triskelion"

2 Come with me to the Casbah.often attributed to Charles Boyer (1898–1978) in the film Algiers (1938), but the line does not in fact occur
L. Swindell Charles Boyer (1983)

[Misquotations]

3 Crisis? What crisis?
in Sun headline, 11 January 1979; summarizing James Callaghan's remark
I don't think other people in the world would share the view there is mounting chaos.
interview at London Airport, 10 January 1979

[Misquotations]

4 Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.
summary of Freud's view; see

[Misquotations]

5 Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.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)
attributed

[Misquotations]

6 The green shoots of recovery.
popular misquotation of the Chancellor's upbeat assessment of the economic situation
The green shoots of economic spring are appearing once again.
Norman Lamont, speech at Conservative Party Conference, 9 October 1991

[Misquotations]

7 I paint with my prick.
attributed to Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841–1919); possibly an inversion of
It's with my brush I make love.
A. André Renoir (1919)

[Misquotations]

8 Licensed to kill.
popular description of the status of Secret Service agent James Bond, 007, in the novels of Ian Fleming
The licence to kill for the Secret Service, the double-0 prefix, was a great honour.
Dr No (1958)

[Misquotations]

9 when asked what jazz is:Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know.
frequently quoted version of Louis Armstrong's response
If you still have to ask…shame on you.
Max Jones et al. Salute to Satchmo (1970)

[Misquotations]

10 Me Tarzan, you Jane.Johnny Weissmuller summing up his role in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932 film); the words occur neither in the film nor the original, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
in Photoplay Magazine June 1932

[Misquotations]

11 My lips are sealed.
misquotation from Stanley Baldwin's speech on the Abyssinian crisis
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.
speech in the House of Commons, 10 December 1935

[Misquotations]

12 Play it again, Sam.in the film Casablanca, written by Julius J. Epstein et al., Humphrey Bogart says, "If she can stand it, I can. Play it!"; earlier in the film Ingrid Bergman says, "Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By."
Casablanca (1942 film).

[Misquotations]

13 Selling off the family silver.
summary of Harold Macmillan's attack on privatization
First of all the Georgian silver goes, and then all that nice furniture that used to be in the saloon. Then the Canalettos go.
speech to the Tory Reform Group, 8 November 1985

[Misquotations]

14 The soft under-belly of Europe.
popular version of Winston Churchill's phrase
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 under-belly of the Axis, especially Italy, to heavy attack.
speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1942

[Misquotations]

15 Something must be done.
popular summary of King Edward VIII's words at the derelict Dowlais Iron and Steel Works, 18 November 1936
These works brought all these people here. Something should be done to get them at work again.
in Western Mail 19 November 1936

[Misquotations]

16 We are the masters now.from Hartley Shawcross's assertion of Labour's strength after winning the 1945 election, ""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 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."
in the House of Commons, 2 April 1946; see below.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
Lewis Carroll (1832–98) Through the Looking-Glass (1872)

[Misquotations]

17 The white heat of technology.
phrase deriving from Harold Wilson's speech
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.
speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1963

[Misquotations]

18 Why don't you come up and see me sometime?
alteration of Mae West's invitation
Why don't you come up sometime, and see me?
She Done Him Wrong (1933 film)

[Misquotations]

19 You dirty rat!associated with James Cagney (1899–1986), but not used by him in any film; in a speech at the American Film Institute banquet, 13 March 1974, Cagney said, "I never said "Mmm, you dirty rat!”"
Cagney by Cagney (1976)

[Misquotations]

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Mitchell, Adrian 1932– English poet, novelist, and dramatist

1
Most people ignore most poetry
because
most poetry ignores most people.

Poems (1964) p. 8

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Mitchell, Joni 1945– Canadian singer and songwriter

1
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.

"Big Yellow Taxi" (1970 song)

2
I've looked at life from both sides now,
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall;
I really don't know life at all.

"Both Sides Now" (1967 song)

[Mitchell]

3
We are stardust,
We are golden,
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.

"Woodstock" (1969 song)

[Mitchell]

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Mitchell, Margaret 1900–1949 American novelist

1 Death and taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.
Gone with the Wind (1936)

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).

[Mitchell]

3 After all, tomorrow is another day.
Gone with the Wind (1936), closing lines

[Mitchell]

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Mitford, Nancy 1904–1973 English writer

1 An aristocracy in a republic is like a chicken whose head has been cut off: it may run about in a lively way, but in fact it is dead.
Noblesse Oblige (1956) "The English Aristocracy"

2 Wooing, so tiring.
The Pursuit of Love (1945)

[Mitford]

3 I have only ever read one book in my life, and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another.
The Pursuit of Love (1945)

[Mitford]

4 Abroad is unutterably bloody and foreigners are fiends.
The Pursuit of Love (1945).

[Mitford]

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Mitterrand, François 1916– French socialist statesman; President of France 1981–95

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

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Mizner, Wilson 1876–1933 American dramatist

1 Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet 'em on your way down.
A. Johnston The Legendary Mizners (1953)

2 If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research.
A. Johnston The Legendary Mizners (1953)

[Mizner]

3 A trip through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat.of Hollywood
A. Johnston The Legendary Mizners (1953)

[Mizner]

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Mnouchkine, Ariane French theatre director

1 A cultural Chernobyl.of Euro Disney
in Harper's Magazine July 1992.

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Mola, Emilio 1887–1937 Spanish nationalist general

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

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Mondale, Walter 1928– American Democratic politician

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.

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Mondrian, Piet 1872–1944 Dutch painter

1 The essence of painting has actually always been to make it plastically perceptible through colour and line.
"Natural Reality and Abstract Reality" (written 1919)

2 In order to approach the spiritual in art, one employs reality as little as possible…This explains logically why primary forms are employed. Since these forms are abstract, an abstract art comes into being.
Sketchbook II (1914)

[Mondrian]

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Monnet, Jean 1888–1979 French economist and diplomat; founder of the European Community

1 Europe has never existed. It is not the addition of national sovereignties in a conclave which creates an entity. One must genuinely create Europe.
Anthony Sampson The New Europeans (1968)

2 The common market is a process, not a product.
Anthony Sampson The New Europeans (1968)

[Monnet]

3 I did not understand the politics of Versailles, only the economics.of the Treaty of Versailles
in an interview in 1971; François Duchêne Jean Monnet (1994)

[Monnet]

4 We should not create a nation Europe instead of a nation France.
François Duchêne Jean Monnet (1994)

[Monnet]

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Monroe, Marilyn 1926–1962 American actress

1 when asked if she really had nothing on in a calendar photograph:I had the radio on.
in Time 11 August 1952

2 on being asked what she wore in bed:Chanel No. 5.
Pete Martin Marilyn Monroe (1956)

[Monroe]

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Montague, Charles Edward 1867–1928 English writer and journalist

1 War hath no fury like a non-combatant.
Disenchantment (1922)

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Montague, John 1929– Irish poet and writer

1
To grow
a second tongue, as
harsh a humiliation
as twice to be born.

"A Grafted Tongue" (1972)

2
Like dolmens round my childhood, the old people.

"Like Dolmens Round my Childhood" (1972)

[Montague]

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Montgomery, Lord of Alamein 1887–1976 British field marshal

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"… is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China."
speech in the House of Lords, 30 May 1962

[Montgomery]

3 I have heard some say… practices are allowed in France and in other NATO countries. We are not French, and we are not other nationals. We are British, thank God!on the 2nd reading of the Sexual Offences Bill
speech in the House of Lords, 24 May 1965

[Montgomery]

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Monty Python's Flying Circus 1969–1974 BBC TV programme, written by Graham Chapman (1941–89), John Cleese (1939–), Terry Gilliam (1940–), Eric Idle (1943–), Terry Jones (1942–), and Michael Palin (1943–)

1 Your wife interested in…photographs? Eh? Know what I mean—photographs? He asked him knowingly…nudge nudge, snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, say no more.
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)

2 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)

[Monty Python's Flying Circus]

3 Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970)

[Monty Python's Flying Circus]

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Moore, Henry 1898–1986 English sculptor and draughtsman

1 The first hole made through a piece of stone is a revelation.
in Listener 18 August 1937

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Moore, Marianne 1887–1972 American poet

1
O to be a dragon,
a symbol of the power of Heaven—of silkworm
size or immense; at times invisible.
Felicitous phenomenon!

"O To Be a Dragon" (1959)

2
I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle.
Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it, after all, a place for the genuine.

"Poetry" (1935)

[Moore]

3
Nor till the poets among us can be
"literalists of
the imagination"—above
insolence and triviality and can present
for inspection, imaginary gardens with real toads in them, shall we have
it.

"Poetry" (1935)

[Moore]

4
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]

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Moore, Oscar 1960–1996 English journalist

1 Would someone turn the lights back on please? I can hear the splash and swish of car tyres on wet tarmac outside my window, and I can hear rain rapping like fingernails on the glass, but I cannot see across the room, let alone outside, into the street.on his blindness in the final stages of Aids
in Guardian 10 August 1996

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Moreau, Jeanne 1928– French actress

1 The rhythm hammers us, hits us and possesses us, making us prisoners of noise. It's like a drug.of popular music
in Guardian 13 August 1997

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Morey, Larry 1905–1971

1
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho,
It's off to work we go.

"Heigh-Ho" (1937 song)

2 Whistle while you work.
title of song (1937)

[Morey]

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Morgan, Robin 1941– American feminist

1 Sisterhood is powerful.
title of book (1970)

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Morley, Christopher 1890–1957 American writer

1 Life is a foreign language: all men mispronounce it.
Thunder on the Left (1925)

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Morphy, Countess fl. 1930–1950

1 The tragedy of English cooking is that "plain" cooking cannot be entrusted to "plain" cooks.
English Recipes (1935)

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Morris, Desmond 1928– English anthropologist

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]

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Morrison, Blake 1950– British poet and critic

1 Only a culture without hope cannot forgive—a culture that doesn't believe in progress or redemption. Have we so little faith in ourselves we can't accept the possibility of maturation, change, cure?on the killing of James Bulger
As If (1997)

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Morrison, Herbert 1888–1965 British Labour politician

1 Work is the call. Work at war speed. Good-night—and go to it.
broadcast as Minister of Supply, 22 May 1940

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Morrison, Jim 1943–1971 American rock singer and songwriter

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]

3 When you make your peace with authority, you become an authority.
Andrew Doe and John Tobler In Their Own Words: The Doors (1988)

[Morrison]

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Morrison, Van 1945– Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

1 Music is spiritual. The music business is not.
in The Times 6 July 1990

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Morrow, Dwight 1873–1931 American lawyer, banker, and diplomat

1 The world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class. There's far less competition.
letter to his son, in Harold Nicolson Dwight Morrow (1935)

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Morshead, Owen 1893–1977 English librarian

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

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Mortimer, John 1923– English novelist, barrister, and dramatist

1 No power on earth, however, can abolish the merciless class distinction between those who are physically desirable and the lonely, pallid, spotted, silent, unfancied majority.
Clinging to the Wreckage (1982)

2 What obsesses a writer starting out on a lifetime's work is the panic-stricken search for a voice of his own.
Clinging to the Wreckage (1982)

[Mortimer]

3 They do you a decent death on the hunting-field.
Paradise Postponed (1985)

[Mortimer]

4 At school I never minded the lessons. I just resented having to work terribly hard at playing.
A Voyage Round My Father (1971)

[Mortimer]

5 No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean fingernails.
A Voyage Round My Father (1971)

[Mortimer]

6 The virtue of much literature is that it is dangerous and may do you extreme harm.
foreword to C. H. Rolph Books in the Dock (1969)

[Mortimer]

7 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]

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Morton, J. B. ("Beachcomber") 1893–1975 British journalist

1
Hush, hush,
Nobody cares!
Christopher Robin
Has
Fallen
Down-
Stairs.

By the Way (1931).

2 The Doctor is said also to have invented an extraordinary weapon which will make war less brutal. It is described as a very powerful liquid which rots braces at a distance of a mile.
Gallimaufry (1936) "Bracerot"

[Morton]

3 Dr Strabismus (Whom God Preserve) of Utrecht has patented a new invention. It is an illuminated trouser-clip for bicyclists who are using main roads at night.
Morton's Folly (1933)

[Morton]

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Morton, Jelly Roll 1885–1941 American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader

1 Jazz music is to be played sweet, soft, plenty rhythm.
Mister Jelly Roll (1950)

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Morton, Rogers 1914–1979 American public relations officer

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

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Moses, Edwin 1955– American athlete

1 I don't really see the hurdles. I sense them like a memory.
attributed

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Mosley, Oswald 1896–1980 British politician and Fascist leader

1 I am not, and never have been, a man of the right. My position was on the left and is now in the centre of politics.
letter to The Times 26 April 1968

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Motion, Andrew 1952– English poet

1
Each sudden gust of light explains itself
as flames, but neither they, nor even

bombs redoubled on the hills tonight
can quite include me in their fear.
What does remains invisible, is lost
in curt societies whose deaths become

revenge by morning, and whose homes
are nothing more than all they pity most.

"Leaving Belfast" (1978)

2
Beside the river, swerving under ground.
your future tracked you, snapping at your heels:
Diana, breathless, hunted by your own quick hounds.

"Mythology" (1997)

[Motion]

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Mountbatten, Earl of Burma 1900–1979 British sailor, soldier, and statesman

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)

2 The nuclear arms race has no military purpose. Wars cannot be fought with nuclear weapons. Their existence only adds to our perils.
speech at Strasbourg, 11 May 1979; P. Ziegler Mountbatten (1985)

[Mountbatten]

3 I can't think of a more wonderful thanksgiving for the life I have had than that everyone should be jolly at my funeral.
Richard Hough Mountbatten (1980)

[Mountbatten]

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Moynihan, Daniel P. 1927– American Democratic politician

1 Welfare became a term of opprobrium—a contentious, often vindictive area of political conflict in which liberals and conservatives clashed and children were lost sight of.
in The Washington Post 25 November 1994

2 There have been seven directors, or acting directors, in six years. That's not an organization. That's an institutional collapse.on the CIA
in Independent on Sunday 23 March 1997

[Moynihan]

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Moynihan, Lord 1865–1936 British surgeon

1
Lord Dawson of Penn
Has killed lots of men.
So that's why we sing
God save the King.

Kenneth Rose King George V (1983)

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Mugabe, Robert 1924– African statesman; Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, 1980–7, President since 1987

1 Cricket civilizes people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.
in Sunday Times 26 February 1984

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Muggeridge, Kitty wife of Malcolm Muggeridge

1 David Frost has risen without trace.
said c.1965 to Malcolm Muggeridge

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Muggeridge, Malcolm 1903–1990 British journalist; husband of Kitty Muggeridge

1 To succeed pre-eminently in English public life it is necessary to conform either to the popular image of a bookie or of a clergyman; Churchill being a perfect example of the former, Halifax of the latter.
The Infernal Grove (1973)

2 Working for Scott was like waltzing with some sedate old dowager at a mayoral reception in Manchester; for Beaverbrook, like taking the floor in a night-club in the early hours of the morning, when everyone is more or less drunk.
The Infernal Grove (1975)

[Muggeridge]

3 Something beautiful for God.
title of book (1971); see

[Muggeridge]

4 The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfilment.
Tread Softly (1966)

[Muggeridge]

5 He was not only a bore; he bored for England.of Anthony Eden
Tread Softly (1966)

[Muggeridge]

6 Good taste and humour…are a contradiction in terms, like a chaste whore.
in Time 14 September 1953

[Muggeridge]

7 On television I feel like a man playing a piano in a brothel; every now and again he solaces himself by playing "Abide with Me" in the hope of edifying both the clients and the inmates.
interview on Parkinson, BBC1 TV, 23 September 1972

[Muggeridge]

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Muir, Edwin 1887–1959 Scottish poet

1
And without fear the lawless roads
Ran wrong through all the land.

"Hölderlin's Journey" (1937)

2
Barely a twelvemonth after
The seven days war that put the world to sleep,
Late in the evening the strange horses came.

"The Horses" (1956)

[Muir]

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Muir, Frank 1920–1998 English writer and broadcaster

1 The thinking man's crumpet.of Joan Bakewell
attributed

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Muldoon, Paul 1951– Irish poet

1
I thought of you tonight, a leanbh, lying there in your long barrow,
colder and dumber than a fish by Francisco de Herrera.

"Incantata" (1994)

2
The Volkswagen parked in the gap,
But gently ticking over.
You wonder if it's lovers
And not men hurrying back
Across two fields and a river.

"Ireland" (1980)

[Muldoon]

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Muller, H. J. 1890–1967 American geneticist

1 To say, for example, that a man is made up of certain chemical elements is a satisfactory description only for those who intend to use him as a fertilizer.
Science and Criticism (1943)

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Muller, Herbert J. 1905– American writer

1 Few have heard of Fra Luca Pacioli, the inventor of double-entry book-keeping; but he has probably had much more influence on human life than has Dante or Michelangelo.
Uses of the Past (1957)

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Mumford, Lewis 1895– American sociologist

1 Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.
The Brown Decades (1931)

2 Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.
in Quote Magazine 8 October 1961

[Mumford]

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Murdoch, Iris 1919– English novelist

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)

2 The chief requirement of the good life, is to live without any image of oneself.
The Bell (1958) (said by James Tayper Payce)

[Murdoch]

3 Only in our virtues are we original, because virtue is difficult…Vices are general, virtues are particular.
Nuns and Soldiers (1980)

[Murdoch]

4 One doesn't have to get anywhere in a marriage. It's not a public conveyance.
A Severed Head (1961)

[Murdoch]

5 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]

6 Anything that consoles is fake.
R. Harries Prayer and the Pursuit of Happiness (1985)

[Murdoch]

7 I'm just wandering, I think of things and then they go away for ever.in September 1996 on her inability to write; the following February it was announced that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease
in Times 5 February 1997

[Murdoch]

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Murdoch, Rupert 1931– Australian-born American publisher and media entrepeneur

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

2 I'd say our newspapers paid far too much for them.of buying paparazzi pictures
in Daily Telegraph 8 October 1997

[Murdoch]

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Murrow, Ed 1908–1965 American broadcaster and journalist

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 Search of Light (1967)

[Murrow]

3 When the politicians complain that TV turns their proceedings into a circus, it should be made plain that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
in Observer 27 December 1959

[Murrow]

4 Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really understand the situation.on the Vietnam War
Walter Bryan The Improbable Irish (1969)

[Murrow]

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Mussolini, Benito 1883–1945 Italian Fascist dictator

1 We must leave exactly on time…From now on everything must function to perfection.to a station-master
Giorgio Pini Mussolini (1939). Infanta Eulalia of Spain Courts and Countries after the War (1925): "The first benefit of Benito Mussolini's direction in Italy begins to be felt when one crosses the Italian Frontier and hears "Il treno arriva all'orario ” "

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Muste, A. J. 1885–1967 American pacifist

1 If I can't love Hitler, I can't love at all.
at a Quaker meeting 1940; in New York Times 12 February 1967

2 There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
in New York Times 16 November 1967

[Muste]

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N

Nabokov, Vladimir 1899–1977 Russian novelist

1 Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.
Lectures on Literature (1980) "Good Readers and Good Writers"

2 Her exotic daydreams do not prevent her from being small-town bourgeois at heart, clinging to conventional ideas or committing this or that conventional violation of the conventional, adultery being a most conventional way to rise above the conventional.
Lectures on Literature (1980) "Madame Bovary"

[Nabokov]

3 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)

[Nabokov]

4 You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
Lolita (1955)

[Nabokov]

5 Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.
Pale Fire (1962)

[Nabokov]

6 The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
Speak, Memory (1951)

[Nabokov]

7 That life-quickening atmosphere of a big railway station where everything is something trembling on the brink of something else.
Spring in Fialta and other stories (1956) "Spring in Fialta"

[Nabokov]

8 I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.
Strong Opinions (1973)

[Nabokov]

9 A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual, and only the individual reader is important to me.
Strong Opinions (1973)

[Nabokov]

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Nader, Ralph 1934– American consumer protectionist

1 Unsafe at any speed.
title of book (1965)

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Naidu, Sarojini 1879–1949 Indian politician

1 If only Bapu knew the cost of setting him up in poverty!of Gandhi
A. Campbell-Johnson Mission with Mountbatten (1951)

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Naipaul, V. S. 1932– Trinidadian novelist and travel writer

1 I am the kind of writer that people think other people are reading.
in Radio Times 14 March 1979

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Nansen, Fridtjof 1861–1930 Norwegian polar explorer

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.

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Nash, Ogden 1902–1971 American humorist

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
A bit of talcum
Is always walcum.

"The Baby" (1931)

[Nash]

3
Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave
When they think that their children are naive.

"Baby, What Makes the Sky Blue" (1940); see below

O what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!

Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) Marmion (1808)

[Nash]

4
The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.

"The Cow" (1931)

[Nash]

5 A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
"A Dog's Best Friend is his Illiteracy" (1953)

[Nash]

6
Let us pause to consider the English,
Who when they pause to consider themselves they get all reticently thrilled and tinglish,
Because every Englishman is convinced of one thing, viz.:
That to be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is.

"England Expects" (1938)

[Nash]

7
One would be in less danger
From the wiles of the stranger
If one's own kin and kith
Were more fun to be with.

"Family Court" (1931)

[Nash]

8
Women would rather be right than be reasonable.

"Frailty, Thy Name is a Misnomer" (1942)

[Nash]

9
Parsley
Is gharsley.

"Further Reflections on Parsley" (1942)

[Nash]

10 I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life, particularly if he has income and she is pattable.

"I Do, I Will, I Have" (1949)

[Nash]

11
Professional men, they have no cares;
Whatever happens, they get theirs.

"I Yield to My Learned Brother" (1935)

[Nash]

12
The trouble with a kitten is
that
Eventually it becomes a
cat.

"The Kitten" (1940)

[Nash]

13
Beneath this slab
John Brown is stowed.
He watched the ads,
And not the road.

"Lather as You Go" (1942)

[Nash]

14
Do you think my mind is maturing late,
Or simply rotted early?

"Lines on Facing Forty" (1942)

[Nash]

15
Good wine needs no bush,
And perhaps products that people really want need no hard-sell or soft-sell TV push.
Why not?
Look at pot.

"Most Doctors Recommend or Yours For Fast, Fast, Fast Relief" (1972)

[Nash]

16
Children aren't happy with nothing to ignore,
And that's what parents were created for.

"The Parent" (1933)

[Nash]

17
He tells you when you've got on too much lipstick,
And helps you with your girdle when your hips stick.

"The Perfect Husband" (1949)

[Nash]

18
Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
But hating, my boy, is an art.

"Plea for Less Malice Toward None" (1933)

[Nash]

19
Candy
Is dandy
But liquor
Is quicker.

"Reflections on Ice-breaking" (1931)

[Nash]

20
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]

21
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]

22
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]

23 Life is not having been told that the man has just waxed the floor.
"You and Me and P. B. Shelley" (1942)

[Nash]

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Nation, Terry

seeCatch-phrases

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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)

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Nehru, Jawaharlal 1889–1964 Indian statesman, Prime Minister 1947–64

1 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)

2 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

[Nehru]

3 The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.following Gandhi's assassination
broadcast, 30 January 1948

[Nehru]

4 I may lose many things including my temper, but I do not lose my nerve.
at a press conference in Delhi, 4 June 1958

[Nehru]

5 Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself.
"Basic Approach"; written for private circulation and reprinted in Vincent Shean Nehru: the Years of Power (1960)

[Nehru]

6 Normally speaking, it may be said that the forces of a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and thus increase the gap between them.
"Basic Approach" in Vincent Shean Nehru… (1960)

[Nehru]

7 After every other Viceroy has been forgotten, Curzon will be remembered because he restored all that was beautiful in India.in conversation with Lord Swinton
Kenneth Rose Superior Person (1969)

[Nehru]

8 I shall be the last Englishman to rule in India.
J. K. Galbraith A Life in Our Times (1981)

[Nehru]

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Neill, A. S. 1883–1973 Scottish teacher and educationist

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; in Daily Telegraph 25 September 1973

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Nemerov, Howard 1920–1991 American poet and novelist

1
praise without end the go-ahead zeal
of whoever it was invented the wheel;
but never a word for the poor soul's sake
that thought ahead, and invented the brake.

"To the Congress of the United States, Entering Its Third Century" 26 February 1989

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Neruda, Pablo 1904–1973 Chilean poet

1
I have gone marking the blank atlas of your body
with crosses of fire.
My mouth went across: a spider, trying to hide.
In you, behind you, timid, driven by thirst.

"I Have Gone Marking" (1924), translated 1969 by W. S. Merwin

2 The typewriter separated me from a deeper intimacy with poetry, and my hand brought me closer to that intimacy again.
in Writers at Work (5th series, 1981)

[Neruda]

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Nesbit, Edith 1858–1924 English novelist and children's writer

1 The affection you get back from children is sixpence given as change for a sovereign.
Julia Briggs A Woman of Passion (1987)

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Neumann, John von 1903–1957 Hungarian-born American mathematician and computer pioneer

1 In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
Gary Zukav The Dancing Wu Li Masters (1979)

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Nevins, Allan 1890–1971 American historian

1 The former Allies had blundered in the past by offering Germany too little, and offering even that too late.
in Current History (New York) May 1935

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Newley, Anthony 1931– English singer, songwriter, and actor and Bricusse, Leslie 1931– English songwriter and composer

1 Stop the world, I want to get off.
title of musical (1961)

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Newspaper headlines and leaders

1 Believe it or not.
title of syndicated newspaper feature (from 1918), written by Robert L. Ripley (1893–1949)

2 Crisis? What Crisis?summarizing an interview with James Callaghan
headline in Sun, 11 January 1979.

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

3 Dewey defeats Truman.anticipating the result of the Presidential election, which Truman won against expectation
in Chicago Tribune 3 November 1948

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

4 Egghead weds hourglass.on the marriage of Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe
headline in Variety 1956; attributed

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

5 Freddie Starr ate my hamster.
headline in Sun 13 March 1986

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

6 gotcha!on the sinking of the General Belgrano
headline in Sun 4 May 1982

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

7 It is a moral issue.leader following the resignation of Profumo
in The Times 11 June 1963.

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

8 It's that man again…! At the head of a cavalcade of seven black motor cars Hitler swept out of his Berlin Chancellery last night on a mystery journey.the acronym ITMA became the title of a BBC radio show, from September 1939 (cf. individual entries at )
headline in Daily Express 2 May 1939

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

9 It's The Sun Wot Won It.following the 1992 general election
headline in Sun 11 April 1992

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

10 King's Moll Reno'd in Wolsey's Home Town.on Wallis Simpson's divorce proceedings in Ipswich
US newspaper headline; F. Donaldson Edward VIII (1974)

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

11 Sticks nix hick pix.on the lack of enthusiasm for farm dramas among rural populations
headline in Variety 17 July 1935

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

12 Wall St. lays an egg.on the Wall St. crash
headline in Variety 30 October 1929

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

13 Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?defending Mick Jagger after his arrest for cannabis possession
leader in The Times 1 June 1967, written by William Rees-Mogg; see below

Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) "An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" (1735)

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

14 Whose finger do you want on the trigger?referring to the atom bomb
in Daily Mirror 21 September 1951

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

15 Winter of discontent.
headline in Sun 30 April 1979; see below.

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) Richard III (1591)

[Newspaper headlines and leaders]

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Newton, Huey 1942– American political activist

1 I suggested 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)

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Newton, Trevor Managing Director of Yorkshire Water

1 I personally haven't had a bath or shower now for three months, and no-one has noticed.appealing to customers to stop bathing to reduce consumption
in The Times 20 September 1995

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Nicholson, Nancy d. 1977 daughter of English artist William Nicholson

1 God is a man, so it must be all rot.reading the marriage service for the first time, on the morning of her wedding to Robert Graves
R. Graves Goodbye to All That (1929)

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Nicholson, Vivian 1936–

1 I want to spend, and spend, and spend.said to reporters on arriving to collect her husband's football pools winnings of £152,000
in Daily Herald 28 September 1961

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Nicolson, Harold 1886–1968 English diplomat, politician, and writer; husband of Vita Sackville-West and father of Nigel Nicolson

1 Chamberlain (who has the mind and manner of a clothes-brush) aims only at assuring temporary peace at the price of ultimate defeat.
diary, 6 June 1938

2 We shall have to walk and live a Woolworth life hereafter.anticipating the aftermath of the Second World War
diary, 4 June 1941

[Nicolson]

3 To be a good diarist one must have a little snouty, sneaky mind.
diary, 9 November 1947

[Nicolson]

4 Attlee is a charming and intelligent man, but as a public speaker he is, compared to Winston , like a village fiddler after Paganini.
diary, 10 November 1947

[Nicolson]

5 I do not think it is quite fair to say that the British businessman has trampled on the faces of the poor. But he has sometimes not been very careful where he put his feet.replying to a heckler in the North Croydon by-election, 1948
Nigel Nicolson (ed.) Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson 1945–1962 vol. 3 (1968)

[Nicolson]

6 For seventeen years he did nothing at all but kill animals and stick in stamps.of King George V
diary, 17 August 1949

[Nicolson]

7 Suez—a smash and grab raid that was all smash and no grab.
in conversation with Antony Jay, November 1956; see also letter to Vita Sackville-West, 8 November 1956, "Our smash-and-grab raid got stuck at the smash"

[Nicolson]

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Nicolson, Nigel 1917– British Conservative politician and writer; son of Harold Nicolson

1 One final tip to rebels: always have a second profession in reserve.on the Maastricht Treaty vote in the House of Commons, having lost his own seat after abstaining on the Suez Crisis in 1956
in The Spectator 7 November 1992

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Niebuhr, Reinhold 1892–1971 American theologian

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)

2 Our gadget-filled paradise suspended in a hell of international insecurity.
Pious and Secular America (1957)

[Niebuhr]

3
God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed;
Give us the courage to change what should be changed;
Give us the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.
prayer said to have been first published in 1951
Richard Wightman Fox Reinhold Niebuhr (1985)

[Niebuhr]

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Niemöller, Martin 1892–1984 German theologian

1 Ask the first man you meet what he means by defending freedom, and he'll tell you privately he means defending the standard of living.
address at Augsburg, January 1958; James Bentley Martin Niemöller (1984)

2 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.
in Congressional Record 14 October 1968

[Niemöller]

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Nixon, Richard 1913–1994 American Republican statesman, 37th President of the US, 1969–74

1 But as I leave you I want you to know—just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around any more because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.after losing the election for Governor of California
to the press, 5 November 1962

2 This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation.welcoming the return of the first men to land on the moon
speech 24 July 1969

[Nixon]

3 The great silent majority.
broadcast, 3 November 1969

[Nixon]

4 Let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.
broadcast, 3 November 1969

[Nixon]

5 There can be no whitewash at the White House.on Watergate
television speech 30 April 1973

[Nixon]

6 People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook.
speech, 17 November 1973

[Nixon]

7 I brought myself down. I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in.
television interview, 19 May 1977; David Frost I Gave Them a Sword (1978)

[Nixon]

8 When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.
David Frost I Gave Them a Sword (1978)

[Nixon]

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Nkrumah, Kwame 1900–1972 Ghanaian statesman, Prime Minister 1957–60, President 1960–6

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

2 We face neither East nor West: we face forward.
conference speech, Accra, 7 April 1960; Axioms of Kwame Nkrumah (1967)

[Nkrumah]

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Nolan, Christopher 1965– Irish writer

1 My real motive is to describe how my brain-damaged life is as normal for me as my friends' able-bodied life is to them. My mind is just like a spin-dryer at full speed; my thoughts fly around my skull while millions of beautiful words cascade down into my lap. Images gunfire across my consciousness and while trying to discipline them I jump in awe at the soulfilled bounty of my mind's expanse. Try then to imagine how frustrating it is to give expression to that avalanche in efforts of one great nod after the other.of his reasons for writing The Eye of the Clock
in Observer 8 November 1987

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Norris, Steven 1945– British Conservative politician

1 You have your own company, your own temperature control, your own music—and don't have to put up with dreadful human beings sitting alongside you.on cars compared to public transport
comment to Commons Environment Select Committee, in Daily Telegraph 9 February 1995

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Northcliffe, Lord 1865–1922 British newspaper proprietor

1 The power of the press is very great, but not so great as the power of suppress.
office message, Daily Mail 1918; R. Rose and G. Harmsworth Northcliffe (1959)

2 When I want a peerage, I shall buy it like an honest man.
Tom Driberg Swaff (1974)

[Northcliffe]

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Nuffield, Lord 1877–1963 British motor manufacturer and philanthropist

1 on seeing the Morris Minor prototype in 1945:It looks like a poached egg—we can't make that.
attributed

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Nunn, Sam American Democratic politician

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

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Nyerere, Julius 1922– Tanzanian statesman, President of Tanganyika 1962–4 and of Tanzania 1964–85

1 Should we really let our people starve so we can pay our debts?
in Guardian 21 March 1985

2 We are a poor country and we opted for socialist policies, but to build a socialist society you have to have a developed society.
in Observer 28 July 1985 "Sayings of the Week"

[Nyerere]

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O

Oates, Lawrence

seeLast words

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O'Brien, Conor Cruise 1917– Irish politician, writer, and journalist

1 The strength of these men was that each of them could look a Pearsean ghost in the eye…Each of them, in their youth, had done the thing the ghost asked them to do, in 1916 or 1919—21 or both. That was it; from now on they would do what seemed reasonable to themselves in the interests of the actual people inhabiting the island of Ireland and not of a personified abstraction, or of a disembodied voice, or of a ghost.of Sean Lemass (1899–1971) and other senior Irish politicians in the 1960s
Ancestral Voices (1994)

2 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

[O'Brien]

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O'Brien, Edna 1936– Irish novelist and short-story writer

1 August is a wicked month.
title of novel (1965)

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O'Brien, Flann 1911–1966 Irish novelist and journalist

1 The conclusion of your syllogism, I said lightly, is fallacious, being based upon licensed premises.
At Swim-Two-Birds (1939)

2 The play was consumed in wholesome fashion by large masses in places of public resort; the novel was self-administered in private.
At Swim-Two-Birds (1939)

[O'Brien]

3 A pint of plain is your only man.
At Swim-Two-Birds (1939)

[O'Brien]

4 Waiting for the German verb is surely the ultimate thrill.
The Hair of the Dogma (1977)

[O'Brien]

5 It is not that I half knew my mother. I knew half of her: the lower half—her lap, legs, feet, her hands and wrists as she bent forward.
The Hard Life (1961)

[O'Brien]

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O'Casey, Sean 1880–1964 Irish dramatist

1 I killin' meself workin', an' he sthruttin' about from mornin' till night like a paycock!
Juno and the Paycock (1925)

2 He's an oul' butty o' mine—oh, he's a darlin' man, a daarlin' man.
Juno and the Paycock (1925)

[O'Casey]

3 The whole worl's in a state o' chassis!
Juno and the Paycock (1925)

[O'Casey]

4 There's no reason to bring religion into it. I think we ought to have as great a regard for religion as we can, so as to keep it out of as many things as possible.
The Plough and the Stars (1926)

[O'Casey]

5 It's my rule never to lose me temper till it would be dethrimental to keep it.
The Plough and the Stars (1926)

[O'Casey]

6 English literature's performing flea.of P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse Performing Flea (1953)

[O'Casey]

7 When one has reached 81…one likes to sit back and let the world turn by itself, without trying to push it.
in New York Times 25 September 1960

[O'Casey]

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O'Donoghue, Bernard 1945– Irish poet and academic

1
We were terribly lucky to catch
The Ceauescus' execution, being
By sheer chance that Christmas Day
In the only house for twenty miles
With satellite TV. We sat,
Cradling brandies, by the fire
Watching those two small, cranky autocrats
Lying in snow against a blood-spattered wall,
Hardly able to believe our good fortune.

"Carolling" (1995)

2
The reporter told us how
The cross woman's peasant origins
Came out at the last, shouting
At her executioners "I have been
A mother to you and this is how
You thank me for it."

"Carolling" (1995)

[O'Donoghue]

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O'Donoghue, Denise

1 They are happier with women who make their coffee than make their programmes.
G. Kinnock and F. Miller (eds.) By Faith and Daring (1993)

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Official advice

1 Careless talk costs lives.
wartime security slogan, 1940s

2 Clunk, click, every trip.
road safety campaign promoting the use of seat-belts, 1971

[Official advice]

3 Coughs and sneezes spread diseases. Trap the germs in your handkerchief.
Second World War health slogan, 1942

[Official advice]

4 Dig for victory.
radio broadcast by Reginald Dorman-Smith (1899–1977), Minister for Agriculture, 3 October 1939

[Official advice]

5 Don't ask a man to drink and drive.
UK road safety slogan, from 1964

[Official advice]

6 Don't die of ignorance.
Aids publicity campaign, 1987

[Official advice]

7 Is your journey really necessary?
slogan coined to discourage Civil Servants from going home for Christmas, 1939

[Official advice]

8 Keep Britain tidy.
issued by the Central Office of Information, 1950s

[Official advice]

9 Make do and mend.
wartime slogan, 1940s

[Official advice]

10 Slip, slop, slap.sun protection slogan, meaning slip on a T-shirt, slop on some suncream, slap on a hat
Australian health education programme, 1980s

[Official advice]

11 Smoking can seriously damage your health.government health warning now required by British law to be printed on cigarette packets
from early 1970s, in form "Smoking can damage your health"

[Official advice]

12 Stop-look-and-listen.
road safety slogan, current in the US from 1912

[Official advice]

13 Taisez-vous! Méfiez-vous! Les oreilles ennemies vous écoutent.Keep your mouth shut! Be on your guard! Enemy ears are listening to you.
official notice in France, 1915

[Official advice]

14 Tradition dictates that we have a lawn—but do we really need one? Why not increase the size of your borders or replace lawned areas with paving stones or gravel?
Severn Trent Water "The Gardener's Water Code" (1996)

[Official advice]

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Ogilvy, David 1911– British-born advertising executive

1 The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.
Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963)

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O'Hara, John 1905–1970 American writer

1 George died on July 11, 1937, but I don't have to believe that if I don't want to.
in Newsweek 15 July 1940

2 An artist is his own fault.
The Portable F. Scott Fitzgerald (1945) introduction

[O'Hara]

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Okpik, Abraham Canadian Inuit spokesman

1 I am proud to be an Eskimo, but I think we can improve on the igloo as a permanent dwelling.
in Northern Affairs Bulletin March 1960

2 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

[Okpik]

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Oldfield, Bruce 1950– English fashion designer

1 Fashion is more usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas.
in Independent 9 September 1989

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Olivier, Laurence 1907–1989 English actor and director

1 The tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind.
introduction to his 1948 screen adaptation of Hamlet

2 Shakespeare—the nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God.
in Kenneth Harris Talking To (1971) "Sir Laurence Olivier"

[Olivier]

3 Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.
in Time 3 July 1978

[Olivier]

4 Can a muse of fire exist under a ceiling of commerce?appealing on behalf of the Rose Theatre remains
in The Times 12 July 1989; see below

O! for a Muse of fire.

Shakespeare Henry V (1599) chorus

[Olivier]

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Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy 1929–1994 wife of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, First Lady of the US 1961–3

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]

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O'Neill, Eugene 1888–1953 American dramatist

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)

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]

5 The sea hates a coward!
Mourning becomes Electra (1931)

[O'Neill]

6 What beastly incidents our memories insist on cherishing!…the ugly and disgusting…the beautiful things we have to keep diaries to remember!
Strange Interlude (1928)

[O'Neill]

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Ono, Yoko 1933– Japanese poet and songwriter

1 Woman is the nigger of the world.
interview for Nova magazine (1968); adopted by her husband John Lennon as song title (1972)

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Oppenheimer, J. Robert 1904–1967 American physicist

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]

3 When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.
in In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, USAEC Transcript of Hearing Before Personnel Security Board (1954)

[Oppenheimer]

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Orbach, Susie 1946– American psychotherapist

1 Fat is a feminist issue.
title of book (1978)

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Orbison, Roy 1936–1988 American singer and songwriter and Melsom, Joe

1 Only the lonely (know the way I feel).
title of song (1960)

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O'Rourke, P. J. 1947– American humorous writer

1 You can't put your visa bill on your American Express card.
The Bachelor Home Companion (1987)

2 Not only is this the first live televised war, it's also the first war ever covered by sober journalists.of the Gulf War
Give War a Chance (1992)

[O'Rourke]

3 That happy sense of purpose people have when they are standing up for a principle they haven't really been knocked down for yet.
Give War a Chance (1992)

[O'Rourke]

4 Liberals have invented whole college majors—psychology, sociology, women's studies— to prove that nothing is anybody's fault.
Give War a Chance (1992)

[O'Rourke]

5 You can't shame or humiliate modern celebrities. What used to be called shame and humiliation is now called publicity.
Give War a Chance (1992)

[O'Rourke]

6 Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.
Parliament of Whores (1991)

[O'Rourke]

7 Whatever it is that the government does, sensible Americans would prefer that the government does it to somebody else. This is the idea behind foreign policy.
Parliament of Whores (1991)

[O'Rourke]

8 Whose woods are whose everybody knows exactly, and everybody knows who got them rezoned for a shopping mall and who couldn't get the financing to begin construction and why it was he couldn't get it.on a traditional New England community
Parliament of Whores (1991).

[O'Rourke]

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Ortega y Gasset, José 1883–1955 Spanish writer and philosopher

1 I am I plus my surroundings, and if I do not preserve the latter I do not preserve myself.
Meditaciones del Quijote (1914)

2 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]

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Orton, Joe 1933–1967 English dramatist

1 I'd the upbringing a nun would envy and that's the truth. Until I was fifteen I was more familiar with Africa than my own body.
Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964)

2 kath: Can he be present at the birth of his child?…
ed: It's all any reasonable child can expect if the dad is present at the conception.

Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964)

[Orton]

3 Every luxury was lavished on you—atheism, breast-feeding, circumcision.
Loot (1967)

[Orton]

4 Reading isn't an occupation we encourage among police officers. We try to keep the paper work down to a minimum.
Loot (1967)

[Orton]

5 You were born with your legs apart. They'll send you to the grave in a Y-shaped coffin.
What the Butler Saw (1969)

[Orton]

6 The kind of people who always go on about whether a thing is in good taste invariably have very bad taste.
in Transatlantic Review Spring 1967

[Orton]

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Orwell, George 1903–1950 English novelist

1 Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.
Animal Farm (1945)

2 Four legs good, two legs bad.
Animal Farm (1945)

[Orwell]

3 All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
Animal Farm (1945)

[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).

[Orwell]

6 Roast beef and Yorkshire, or roast pork and apple sauce, followed up by suet pudding and driven home, as it were, by a cup of mahogany-brown tea, have put you in just the right mood…In these blissful circumstances, what is it that you want to read about?
Naturally, about a murder.
Decline of the English Murder and other essays (1965) title essay, written 1946

[Orwell]

7 Down and out in Paris and London
title of book (1933)

[Orwell]

8 He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him), and took a sort of pleasure in thinking that human affairs would never improve.
Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)

[Orwell]

9 There was much in it that I did not understand, in some ways I did not even like it, but I recognized it immediately as a state of affairs worth fighting for.
Homage to Catalonia (1938)

[Orwell]

10 Down here it was still the England I had known in my childhood: the railway cuttings smothered in wild flowers…the red buses, the blue policemen—all sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs.
Homage to Catalonia (1938)

[Orwell]

11 Most revolutionaries are potential Tories, because they imagine that everything can be put right by altering the shape of society; once that change is effected, as it sometimes is, they see no need for any other.
Inside the Whale (1940) "Charles Dickens"

[Orwell]

12 Keep the aspidistra flying.
title of novel (1936)

[Orwell]

13 England is not the jewelled isle of Shakespeare's much-quoted passage, nor is it the inferno depicted by Dr Goebbels. More than either it resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep in it but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons…A family with the wrong members in control.
The Lion and the Unicorn (1941) pt. 1 "England Your England"

[Orwell]

14 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]

15 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"; see below
The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.
Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) oral tradition, but not found in this form of words

[Orwell]

16 It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

17 big brother is watching you.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

18 War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

19 Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

20 Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

21 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)

[Orwell]

22 Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

23 Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

24 If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

[Orwell]

25 The road to Wigan Pier.
title of book (1937)

[Orwell]

26 It is only because miners sweat their guts out that superior persons can remain superior.
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)

[Orwell]

27 A person of bourgeois origin goes through life with some expectation of getting what he wants, within reasonable limits. Hence the fact that in times of stress "educated" people tend to come to the front.
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)

[Orwell]

28 To the ordinary working man, the sort you would meet in any pub on Saturday night, Socialism does not mean much more than better wages and shorter hours and nobody bossing you about.
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)

[Orwell]

29 The high-water mark, so to speak, of Socialist literature is W. H. Auden, a sort of gutless Kipling.
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)

[Orwell]

30 We of the sinking middle class…may sink without further struggles into the working class where we belong, and probably when we get there it will not be so dreadful as we feared, for, after all, we have nothing to lose but our aitches.
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)

[Orwell]

31 Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, and disregard of all the rules.
Shooting an Elephant (1950) "I Write as I Please"

[Orwell]

32 The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.
Shooting an Elephant (1950) "Politics and the English Language"

[Orwell]

33 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]

34 Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.
Shooting an Elephant (1950) "Reflections on Gandhi"

[Orwell]

35 is war minus the shooting.
Shooting an Elephant (1950) "The Sporting Spirit"

[Orwell]

36 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]

37 Attlee reminds me of nothing so much as a recently dead fish, before it has had time to stiffen.
diary, 19 May 1942

[Orwell]

38 The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent.
in Polemic January 1946 "The Prevention of Literature"

[Orwell]

39 The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
in Polemic May 1946 "Second Thoughts on James Burnham"

[Orwell]

40 At 50, everyone has the face he deserves.
last words in his notebook, 17 April 1949; Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters… (1968)

[Orwell]

41 Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
attributed

[Orwell]

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Osborne, John 1929–1994 English dramatist; former husband of Jill Bennett

1 Don't clap too hard—it's a very old building.
The Entertainer (1957)

2
Thank God we're normal,
Yes, this is our finest shower!

The Entertainer (1957)

[Osborne]

3 But I have a go, lady, don't I? I 'ave a go. I do.
The Entertainer (1957)

[Osborne]

4 Look back in anger.
title of play (1956)

[Osborne]

5 Oh heavens, how I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm—that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm alive!
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

6 His knowledge of life and ordinary human beings is so hazy, he really deserves some sort of decoration for it—a medal inscribed "For Vaguery in the Field".
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

7 Slamming their doors, stamping their high heels, banging their irons and saucepans—the eternal flaming racket of the female.
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

8 I don't think one "comes down" from Jimmy's university. According to him, it's not even red brick, but white tile.
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

9 Reason and Progress, the old firm, is selling out!
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

10 They spend their time mostly looking forward to the past.
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

11 There aren't any good, brave causes left. If the big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won't be in aid of the old-fashioned, grand design. It'll just be for the Brave New-nothing-very-much-thank-you. About as pointless and inglorious as stepping in front of a bus.
Look Back in Anger (1956)

[Osborne]

12 She's like the old line about justice—not only must be done, but must be seen to be done.
Time Present (1968)

[Osborne]

13 Royalty is the gold filling in a mouthful of decay.
"They call it cricket" in T. Maschler (ed.) Declaration (1957)

[Osborne]

14 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]

15 The schoolteacher is certainly underpaid as a childminder, but ludicrously overpaid as an educator.
in Observer 21 July 1985 "Sayings of the Week"

[Osborne]

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Owen, David 1938– British Social Democratic politician

1 The price of championing human rights is a little inconsistency at times.
speech, House of Commons, 30 March 1977

2 We are fed up with fudging and mudging, with mush and slush. We need courage, conviction, and hard work.
speech to his supporters at Labour Party Conference in Blackpool, 2 October 1980

[Owen]

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Owen, Wilfred 1893–1918 English poet

1
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity.

Poems (1963) preface (written 1918)

2 All a poet can do today is warn.
Poems (1963) preface (written 1918)

[Owen]

3
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

[Owen]

4
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

[Owen]

5
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]

6
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.); see below

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Lovely and honourable it is to die for one's country.
Horace (65–8 bc) Odes.

[Owen]

7
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

"Futility" (written 1918)

[Owen]

8
Red lips are not so red
As the stained stones kissed by the English dead.

"Greater Love" (written 1917)

[Owen]

9
It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

10
"Strange friend," I said, "here is no cause to mourn."
"None," said that other, "save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also."

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

11
Courage was mine, and I had mystery,
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

12
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

13
Let us sleep now.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

[Owen]

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P

Packard, Vance 1914– American writer and journalist

1 The hidden persuaders.
title of a study of the advertising industry (1957)

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Paderewski, Ignacy Jan 1860–1941 Polish pianist, composer, and statesman

1 What a terrible revenge by the culture of the Negroes on that of the whites!of jazz
Nat Shapiro (ed.) An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music (1978)

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Paget, Reginald 1908–1990 British Labour politician

1 There is no disguise or camouflage about the Prime Minister. He is the original banana man, yellow outside and a softer yellow inside.of Anthony Eden
in a House of Commons debate, 14 September 1956

2 When self-indulgence has reduced a man to the shape of Lord Hailsham, sexual continence requires no more than a sense of the ridiculous.
speech in the House of Commons during the Profumo affair, 17 June 1963

[Paget]

3 I know of no book which has been a source of brutality and sadistic conduct, both public and private, that can compare with the Bible.
in Observer 28 June 1964 "Sayings of the Week"

[Paget]

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Paglia, Camille 1947– American author and critic

1 Modern body building is ritual, religion, sport, art, and science, awash in Western chemistry and mathematics. Defying nature, it surpasses it.
Sex, Art, and American Culture (1992)

2 If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.
Sexual Personae (1990)

[Paglia]

3 Television is actually closer to reality than anything in books. The madness of TV is the madness of human life.
in Harper's Magazine March 1991

[Paglia]

4 There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.
in International Herald Tribune 26 April 1991

[Paglia]

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Pagnol, Marcel 1895–1974 French dramatist and film-maker

1 Honour is like a match, you can only use it once.
Marius (1946)

2 It's better to choose the culprits than to seek them out.
Topaze (1930)

[Pagnol]

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Paige, Leroy ("Satchel") 1906–1982 American baseball player

1 Don't look back. Something may be gaining on you.
in Collier's 13 June 1953

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Paisley, Ian 1926– Presbyterian minister and Northern Irish politician

1 I would rather be British than just.
remark to Bernadette Devlin, October 1969, reported by Sunday Times Insight Team in Ulster (1972)

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Pankhurst, Christabel 1880–1958 English suffragette; daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst

1 Never lose your temper with the Press or the public is a major rule of political life.
Unshackled (1959)

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.
speech in London, 23 March 1911

[Pankhurst]

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Pankhurst, Emmeline 1858–1928 English suffragette leader; founder of the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903

1 There is something that Governments care far more for than human life, and that is the security of property, and so it is through property that we shall strike the enemy…I say to the Government: You have not dared to take the leaders of Ulster for their incitement to rebellion. Take me if you dare.
speech at Albert Hall, 17 October 1912

2 The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics.
G. Dangerfield The Strange Death of Liberal England (1936)

[Pankhurst]

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Paquin, Anna 1982– New Zealand actress

1 Acting is pretending to be someone else.
in Guardian 24 January 1997

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Parish, Mitchell American songwriter 1900–93

1
When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls.

"Deep Purple" (1939 song)

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Parker, Charlie 1920–1955 American jazz saxophonist

1 Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn.
Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (1955)

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Parker, Dorothy 1893–1967 American critic and humorist

1
Scratch a lover, and find a foe.

"Ballade of a Great Weariness" (1937)

2
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)

[Parker]

3
Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

"Inventory" (1937)

[Parker]

4
Men seldom make passes
At girls who wear glasses.

"News Item" (1937)

[Parker]

5
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]

6
Whose love is given over-well
Shall look on Helen's face in hell
Whilst they whose love is thin and wise
Shall see John Knox in Paradise.

"Partial Comfort" (1937)

[Parker]

7
If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.

"A Pig's-Eye View of Literature" (1937)

[Parker]

8
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

"Résumé" (1937)

[Parker]

9 Where's the man could ease a heart like a satin gown?
"The Satin Dress" (1937)

[Parker]

10
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]

11 Sorrow is tranquillity remembered in emotion.
Here Lies (1939) "Sentiment"; see below
Poetry…takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) Lyrical Ballads (2nd ed., 1802)

[Parker]

12 Brevity is the soul of lingerie, as the Petticoat said to the Chemise.
caption written for Vogue (1916); John Keats You Might as well Live (1970); see below
Brevity is the soul of wit.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) Hamlet (1601)

[Parker]

13 The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith will live as one of the prettiest love stories in all literature.
review of Margot Asquith's Lay Sermons in New Yorker 22 October 1927

[Parker]

14 And it is that word "hummy", my darlings, that marks the first place in "The House at Pooh Corner" at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.
in New Yorker 20 October 1928 (review by Dorothy Parker as "Constant Reader")

[Parker]

15 House Beautiful is play lousy.
New Yorker review (1933); P. Hartnoll Plays and Players (1984)

[Parker]

16 She ran the whole gamut of the emotions from A to B.of Katharine Hepburn at a Broadway first night, 1933
attributed

[Parker]

17 That woman speaks eighteen languages, and can't say No in any of them.
Alexander Woollcott While Rome Burns (1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

[Parker]

18 And there was that wholesale libel on a Yale prom. If all the girls attending it were laid end to end, Mrs Parker said, she wouldn't be at all surprised.
Alexander Woollcott While Rome Burns (1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

[Parker]

19 There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply callisthenics with words.
in Paris Review Summer 1956

[Parker]

20 How do they know?on being told that Calvin Coolidge had died
M. Cowley Writers at Work 1st Series (1958)

[Parker]

21 As artists they're rot, but as providers they're oil wells; they gush.on lady novelists
Malcolm Cowley Writers at Work 1st Series (1958)

[Parker]

22 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]

23 It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.on her abortion
J. Keats You Might as well Live (1970)

[Parker]

24 One more drink and I'd have been under the host.
Howard Teichmann George S. Kaufman (1972)

[Parker]

25 You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think.
J. Keats You Might as well Live (1970)

[Parker]

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Parker, Ross 1914–1974 and Charles, Hugh 1907– British songwriters

1
There'll always be an England
While there's a country lane,
Wherever there's a cottage small
Beside a field of grain.

"There'll always be an England" (1939 song)

2
We'll meet again, don't know where,
Don't know when,
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

"We'll Meet Again" (1939 song)

[Parker]

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Parkinson, C. Northcote 1909–1993 English writer

1 Expenditure rises to meet income.
The Law and the Profits (1960)

2 Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Parkinson's Law (1958)

[Parkinson]

3 Time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.
Parkinson's Law (1958)

[Parkinson]

4 Perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse.
Parkinson's Law (1958)

[Parkinson]

5 The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.
Parkinson's Law (1958)

[Parkinson]

6 Men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.
Parkinson's Law (1958)

[Parkinson]

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Parks, Rosa 1913– American civil rights activist

1 Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.of her refusal, in December 1955, to surrender her seat on a segregated bus in Alabama to a white man
Quiet Strength (1994)

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Parris, Matthew 1949– British journalist and former politician

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 Nice guys, when we turn nasty, can make a terrible mess of it, usually because we've had so little practice, and have bottled it up for too long.
in The Spectator 27 February 1993

[Parris]

3 Being an MP feeds your vanity and starves your self-respect.
in The Times 9 February 1994

[Parris]

4 Why waste it on some vanilla-flavoured pixie. Bring on the fruitcakes, we want a fruitcake for an unlosable seat. They enliven the Commons.the day before the Kensington and Chelsea association chose Alan Clark as their parliamentary candidate
in Mail on Sunday 26 January 1997

[Parris]

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Parsons, Tony 1953– English critic and writer

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)

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Partridge, Frances 1900– English writer and diarist

1 Thirty years is a very long time to live alone and life doesn't get any nicer.on widowhood, at the age of 92
G. Kinnock and F. Miller (eds.) By Faith and Daring (1993)

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Pasternak, Boris 1890–1960 Russian novelist and poet

1 Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.
Doctor Zhivago (1958)

2 Most people experience love, without noticing that there is anything remarkable about it.
Doctor Zhivago (1958)

[Pasternak]

3 I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.
Doctor Zhivago (1958)

[Pasternak]

4 The whole human way of life has been destroyed and ruined. All that's left is the bare, shivering human soul, stripped to the last shred, the naked force of the human psyche for which nothing has changed because it was always cold and shivering and reaching out to its nearest neighbour, as cold and lonely as itself.
Doctor Zhivago (1958)

[Pasternak]

5 Art always serves beauty, and beauty is the joy of possessing form, and form is the key to organic life since no living thing can exist without it.
Doctor Zhivago (1958)

[Pasternak]

6
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) "Hamlet"

[Pasternak]

7
Work seethes in the hands of spring,
That strapping dairymaid.

Doctor Zhivago (1958) "March"

[Pasternak]

8
In time to come, I tell them, we'll be equal
to any living now. If cripples, then
no matter; we shall just have been run over
by "New Man" in the wagon of his "Plan".

"When I Grow Weary" (1932)

[Pasternak]

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Patil, Sadashiv Kanoji Indian politician

1 The Prime Minister is like the great banyan tree. Thousands shelter beneath it, but nothing grows.when asked in an interview who would be Nehru's successor
J. K. Galbraith A Life in Our Times (1981)

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Paton, Alan 1903– South African writer

1 Cry, the beloved country.
title of novel (1948)

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Paul, Leslie 1905–1985 Irish writer

1 Angry young man.
title of book (1951); the phrase subsequently associated with John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger (1956)

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Pauli, Wolfgang 1900–1958 Austrian-born American physicist who worked chiefly in Switzerland

1 I don't mind your thinking slowly: I mind your publishing faster than you think.
attributed

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Paulin, Tom 1949– English poet and critic

1
That stretch of water, it's always
There for you to cross over
To the other shore, observing
The light of cities on blackness.

"States" (1977)

2
Now dream
of that sweet
equal republic
where the juniper
talks to the oak,
the thistle,
the bandaged elm,
and the jolly jolly chestnut.

"The Book of Juniper" (1983)

[Paulin]

3
The owl of Minerva in a hired car.

"Desertmartin" (1983)

[Paulin]

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Paxman, Jeremy 1950– British journalist and broadcaster

1 It's like turning news into a sausage factory.on the BBC's proposed changes to radio and television news broadcasting
in Guardian 18 September 1997

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Peale, Norman Vincent 1898– American religious broadcaster and writer

1 The power of positive thinking.
title of book (1952)

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Pearse, Patrick 1879–1916 Irish nationalist leader; executed after the Easter Rising

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

2 Here be ghosts that I have raised this Christmastide, ghosts of dead men that have bequeathed a trust to us living men. Ghosts are troublesome things in a house or in a family, as we knew even before Ibsen taught us. There is only one way to appease a ghost. You must do the thing it asks you. The ghosts of a nation sometimes ask very big things and they must be appeased, whatever the cost.
on Christmas Day, 1915; Conor Cruise O'Brien Ancestral Voices (1994).

[Pearse]

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Pearson, Hesketh 1887–1964 English actor and biographer

1 Misquotation is, in fact, the pride and privilege of the learned. A widely-read man never quotes accurately, for the rather obvious reason that he has read too widely.
Common Misquotations (1934)

2 There is no stronger craving in the world than that of the rich for titles, except perhaps that of the titled for riches.
The Pilgrim Daughters (1961)

[Pearson]

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Pearson, Lester 1897–1972 Canadian diplomat and Liberal statesman, Prime Minister 1963–8

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

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Pelé 1940– Brazilian footballer

1 Football? It's the beautiful game.
attributed

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Peniakoff, Vladimir 1897–1951 Belgian soldier and writer

1 A message came on the wireless for me. It said: "spread alarm and despondency"…The date was, I think, May 18th, 1942."reports calculated to create unnecessary alarm or despondency" derives from the Army Act of 1879
Private Army (1950)

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Penrose, Roger 1931– British mathematician and theoretical physicist

1 Consciousness…is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known.
The Emperor's New Mind (1989)

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Perelman, S. J. 1904–1979 American humorist

1 Crazy like a fox.
title of book (1944)

2 God, whom you doubtless remember as that quaint old subordinate of General Douglas MacArthur.
letter to Mel Elliott, 24 April 1951

[Perelman]

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Peres, Shimon 1923– Israeli statesman

1 Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
at a Davos meeting, in Financial Times 31 January 1995

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Perkins, Anthony 1932–1992 American actor

1 I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding in this great adventure in the world of Aids than I ever did in the cut-throat, competitive world in which I spent my life.
posthumous statement, in Independent on Sunday 20 September 1992

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Perón, Eva 1919–1952 wife of Juan Perón

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)

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Perón, Juan 1895–1974 Argentine soldier and statesman, President 1946–55 and 1973–4; husband of Eva Perón

1 If I had not been born Perón, I would have liked to be Perón.
in Observer 21 February 1960

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Perot, H. Ross 1930– American businessman; independent presidential candidate in the 1992 election

1 An activist is the guy who cleans the river, not the guy who concludes it's dirty.
a favourite saying; Ken Gross Ross Perot (1992)

2 I don't have any experience in running up a $4 trillion debt.after George Bush had laid stress on the value of experience in presidential candidates
in Newsweek 19 October 1992

[Perot]

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Perry, Jimmy British songwriter

1
Who do you think you are kidding, Mister Hitler?

theme song of Dad's Army, BBC television (1968–77)

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Persons, Ted

1 Things ain't what they used to be.
title of song (1941)

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Perutz, Max 1914– Austrian-born scientist

1 The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot; the politician urges them to rebel against it; and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether.
Is Science Necessary (1989)

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Pétain, Marshal 1856–1951 French soldier and statesman

1 To write one's memoirs is to speak ill of everybody except oneself.
in Observer 26 May 1946

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Peter, Laurence J. 1919–1990 Canadian writer

1 In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
The Peter Principle (1969)

2 Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.
The Peter Principle (1969)

[Peter]

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Peters, Mike American cartoonist

1 When I go into the voting booth, do I vote for the person who is the best President? Or the slime bucket who will make my life as a cartoonist wonderful?
in Wall Street Journal 20 January 1993

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Pfeiffer, Michelle 1959– American actress

1 You can have it all, but you can't do it all.
attributed; in Guardian 4 January 1996

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Philby, Kim 1912–1988 British intelligence officer and Soviet spy

1 To betray, you must first belong.
in Sunday Times 17 December 1967

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Philip, Prince, Duke of Edinburgh 1921– husband of Elizabeth II

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

2 It is very much better to go out in a bowler and speaking Spanish than in a sombrero and speaking English.
in Observer 15 April 1962

[Philip]

3 I never see any home cooking. All I get is fancy stuff.
in Observer 28 October 1962

[Philip]

4 If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed.
remark to Edinburgh University students in Peking, 16 October 1986

[Philip]

5 I don't think doing it for money makes it any more moral. I don't think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing.comparing participation in blood sports to selling slaughtered meat
speech in London, 6 December 1988

[Philip]

6 Tolerance is the one essential ingredient…You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.his recipe for a successful marriage, during celebrations for their golden wedding anniversary
in The Times 20 November 1997

[Philip]

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Phillips, Arthur Angell 1900–1985 Australian critic and editor

1 Above our writers—and other artists—looms the intimidating mass of Anglo-Saxon culture. Such a situation almost inevitably produces the characteristic Australian Cultural Cringe—appearing either as the Cringe Direct, or as the Cringe Inverted, in the attitude of the Blatant Blatherskite, the God's-Own-Country and I'm-a-better-man-than-you-are Australian bore.
Meanjin (1950) "The Cultural Cringe".

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Phillips, Morgan 1902–1963 British Labour politician

1 The Labour Party owes more to Methodism than to Marxism.
James Callaghan Time and Chance (1987)

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Phillpotts, Eden 1862–1960 English writer

1
A little dreamin', a little dyin',
A little lew corner of airth to lie in.

"Gaffer's Song" (1942)

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Picasso, Pablo 1881–1973 Spanish painter

1 The fact that for a long time Cubism has not been understood and that even today there are people who cannot see anything in it, means nothing. I do not read English, an English book is a blank book to me. This does not mean that the English language does not exist.
interview with Marius de Zayas, 1923; Herschel B. Chipp Theories of Modern Art (1968)

2 There is nothing more dangerous than justice in the hands of judges, and a paintbrush in the hands of a painter. Just think of the danger to society! But today we haven't the heart to expel the painters and poets from society because we refuse to admit to ourselves that there is any danger in keeping them in our midst.
conversation, 1935; Herschel B. Chipp Theories of Modern Art (1968)

[Picasso]

3 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)

[Picasso]

4 When I was the age of these children I could draw like Raphael: it took me many years to learn how to draw like these children.to Herbert Read, when visiting an exhibition of children's drawings
quoted in letter from Read to The Times 27 October 1956

[Picasso]

5 I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.
John Golding Cubism (1959)

[Picasso]

6 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)

[Picasso]

7 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)

[Picasso]

8 We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.
Dore Ashton Picasso on Art (1972) "Two statements by Picasso"

[Picasso]

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Pimlott, Ben 1945– English historian and royal biographer

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"

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Pinter, Harold 1930– English dramatist

1 I can't drink Guinness from a thick mug. I only like it out of a thin glass.
The Caretaker (1960)

2 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)

[Pinter]

3 Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?
The Homecoming (1965)

[Pinter]

4 The weasel under the cocktail cabinet.on being asked what his plays were about
J. Russell Taylor Anger and After (1962)

[Pinter]

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Pirandello, Luigi 1867–1936 Italian dramatist and novelist

1 Six characters in search of an author.
title of play (1921)

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Piron, Armand J.

1
I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate,
She shivers like the jelly on a plate.

"Shimmy like Kate" (1919 song)

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Pirsig, Robert M. 1928– American writer

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)

[Pirsig]

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Pitkin, Walter B. 1878–1953

1 Life begins at forty.
title of book (1932)

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Pius XII 1876–1958 Italian cleric; Pope from 1939

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)

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Planck, Max 1858–1947 German physicist

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)

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Plath, Sylvia 1932–1963 American poet

1
Is there no way out of the mind?

"Apprehensions" (1971)

2
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

"Daddy" (1963)

[Plath]

3
Dying,
Is an art, like everything else.

"Lady Lazarus" (1963)

[Plath]

4
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.

"Morning Song" (1965)

[Plath]

5
Widow. The word consumes itself.

"Widow" (1971)

[Plath]

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Plomer, William 1903–1973 British poet

1
Out of that bungled, unwise war
An alp of unforgiveness grew.

"The Boer War" (1960)

2
A family portrait not too stale to record
Of a pleasant old buffer, nephew to a lord,
Who believed that the bank was mightier than the sword,
And that an umbrella might pacify barbarians abroad:
Just like an old liberal
Between the wars.

"Father and Son: 1939" (1945)

[Plomer]

3
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]

4
On a sofa upholstered in panther skin
Mona did researches in original sin.

"Mews Flat Mona" (1960)

[Plomer]

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Political slogans

1 All power to the Soviets.
workers in Petrograd, 1917

2 All the way with LBJ.
US Democratic Party campaign slogan, 1960

[Political slogans]

3 Ban the bomb.
US anti-nuclear slogan, adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1953 onwards

[Political slogans]

4 A bayonet is a weapon with a worker at each end.
British pacifist slogan, 1940

[Political slogans]

5 Better red than dead.
slogan of nuclear disarmament campaigners, late 1950s

[Political slogans]

6 Black is beautiful.
slogan of American civil rights campaigners, mid-1960s

[Political slogans]

7 Can't pay, won't pay.
anti-Poll Tax slogan, c.1990.

[Political slogans]

8 Burn, baby, burn.
black extremist slogan, Los Angeles riots, August 1965

[Political slogans]

9 Ein Reich, ein Volk, ein Führer.One realm, one people, one leader.
Nazi Party slogan, early 1930s

[Political slogans]

10 Fair shares for all, is Labour's call.slogan for the North Battersea by-election, 1946, coined by Douglas Jay
Douglas Jay Change and Fortune (1980)

[Political slogans]

11 Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?
anti-Vietnam marching slogan, 1960s

[Political slogans]

12 I like Ike.used when General Eisenhower was first seen as a potential presidential nominee
US button badge, 1947; coined by Henry D. Spalding (d. 1990)

[Political slogans]

13 It'll play in Peoria.
catch-phrase of the Nixon administration (early 1970s) meaning "it will be acceptable to middle America", but originating in a standard music hall joke of the 1930s

[Political slogans]

14 It's morning again in America.
Ronald Reagan's 1984 election campaign slogan; coined by Hal Riney (1932–)

[Political slogans]

15 It's the economy, stupid.
on a sign put up at the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign headquarters by campaign manager James Carville

[Political slogans]

16 Kraft durch Freude.Strength through joy.
German Labour Front slogan, from 1933; coined by Robert Ley (1890–1945)

[Political slogans]

17 Labour isn't working.on poster showing a long queue outside an unemployment office
Conservative Party slogan 1978–9

[Political slogans]

18 Labour's double whammy.
Conservative Party election slogan 1992

[Political slogans]

19 Life's better with the Conservatives. Don't let Labour ruin it.
Conservative Party election slogan, 1959

[Political slogans]

20 New Labour, new danger.
Conservative slogan, 1996

[Political slogans]

21 Power to the people.
slogan of the Black Panther movement, from c.1968.

[Political slogans]

22 Thirteen years of Tory misrule.
unofficial Labour party election slogan, also in the form "Thirteen wasted years", 1964

[Political slogans]

23 Votes for women.adopted when it proved impossible to use a banner with the longer slogan "Will the Liberal Party Give Votes for Women?" made by Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), Christabel Pankhurst (1880–1958),and Annie Kenney (1879–1953)
slogan of the women's suffrage movement, from 13 October 1905; Emmeline Pankhurst My Own Story (1914)

[Political slogans]

24 War will cease when men refuse to fight.
pacifist slogan, often quoted "Wars will cease…", from c.1936

[Political slogans]

25 Would you buy a used car from this man?
campaign slogan directed against Richard Nixon, 1968

[Political slogans]

26 Yes it hurt, yes it worked.
Conservative Party slogan, 1996.

[Political slogans]

27 Yesterday's men (they failed before!).
Labour Party slogan, referring to the Conservatives, 1970; coined by David Kingsley, Dennis Lyons, and Peter Lovell-Davis

[Political slogans]

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Pollitt, Harry 1890–1960 British Communist politician

1 on being asked by Stephen Spender in the 1930s how best a poet could serve the Communist cause:Go to Spain and get killed. The movement needs a Byron.
attributed, perhaps apocryphal

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Pollock, Jackson 1912–1956 American painter

1 There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was. It was a fine compliment.
Francis V. O'Connor Jackson Pollock (1967)

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Pompidou, Georges 1911–1974 French statesman; President of France from 1969

1 A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service.
in Observer 30 December 1973 "Sayings of the Year"

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Popper, Karl 1902–1994 Austrian-born British philosopher

1 I shall certainly admit a system as empirical or scientific only if it is capable of being tested by experience. These considerations suggest that not the verifiability but the falsifiability of a system is to be taken as a criterion of demarcation…It must be possible for an empirical scientific system to be refuted by experience.
The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934)

2 We may become the makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets.
The Open Society and its Enemies (1945)

[Popper]

3 We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945)

[Popper]

4 There is no history of mankind, there are only many histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. And one of these is the history of political power. This is elevated into the history of the world.
The Open Society and its Enemies (1945)

[Popper]

5 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]

6 For this, indeed, is the true source of our ignorance—the fact that our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.
lecture to British Academy, 20 January 1960

[Popper]

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Porter, Cole 1891–1964 American songwriter

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" song (1934)

[Porter]

3
When they begin the Beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender,
It brings back a night of tropical splendour,
It brings back a memory ever green.

"Begin the Beguine" (1935 song)

[Porter]

4
Oh, give me land, lots of land
Under starry skies above
don't fence me in.

"Don't Fence Me In" (1934 song)

[Porter]

5
There's no love song finer,
But how strange the change from major to minor
Every time we say goodbye.

"Every Time We Say Goodbye" (1944 song)

[Porter]

6
I get no kick from champagne,
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all.

"I Get a Kick Out of You" song (1934)

[Porter]

7 I've got you under my skin.
title of song (1936)

[Porter]

8
Night and day, you are the one,
Only you beneath the moon and under the sun.

"Night and Day" (1932 song)

[Porter]

9
So goodbye dear, and Amen,
Here's hoping we meet now and then,
It was great fun,
But it was just one of those things.

"Just One of Those Things" (1935 song)

[Porter]

10
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]

11 Miss Otis regrets (she's unable to lunch today).
title of song (1934)

[Porter]

12 My heart belongs to Daddy.
title of song (1938)

[Porter]

13
she: Have you heard it's in the stars,
Next July we collide with Mars?
he: well, did you evah! What a swell party this is.

"Well, Did You Evah?" (1956 song)

[Porter]

14 Who wants to be a millionaire?
title of song (1956)

[Porter]

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Potter, Dennis 1935–1994 English television dramatist

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. Things are both more trivial than they ever were, and more important than they ever were, and the difference between the trivial and the important doesn't seem to matter. But 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, in Seeing the Blossom (1994)

2 Religion to me has always been the wound, not the bandage.
interview with Melvyn Bragg on Channel 4, March 1994, in Seeing the Blossom (1994)

[Potter]

3 But the cigarette, well, I love stroking this lovely tube of delight.
interview with Melvyn Bragg on Channel 4, March 1994, in Seeing the Blossom (1994)

[Potter]

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Potter, Stephen 1900–1969 British writer

1 A good general rule is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa.on wine-tasting
One-Upmanship (1952)

2 How to be one up—how to make the other man feel that something has gone wrong, however slightly.
Lifemanship (1950)

[Potter]

3 "Yes, but not in the South", with slight adjustments, will do for any argument about any place, if not about any person.
Lifemanship (1950)

[Potter]

4 The theory and practice of gamesmanship or The art of winning games without actually cheating.
title of book (1947)

[Potter]

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Pound, Ezra 1885–1972 American poet

1
Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

"Ancient Music" (1917); see below

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

Anonymous "Cuckoo Song" (c.1250)

2
With usura hath no man a house of good stone
each block cut smooth and well fitting.

Cantos (1954) no. 45

[Pound]

3
Tching prayed on the mountain and
wrote make it new
on his bath tub.

Cantos (1954) no. 53

[Pound]

4
Bah! I have sung women in three cities,
But it is all the same;
And I will sing of the sun.

"Cino" (1908)

[Pound]

5
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]

6
Christ follows Dionysus,
Phallic and ambrosial
Made way for macerations;
Caliban casts out Ariel.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) "E. P. Ode…" pt. 3

[Pound]

7
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; see below

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Lovely and honourable it is to die for one's country.
Horace (65–8 bc) Odes.

[Pound]

8
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]

9
The tip's a good one, as for literature
It gives no man a sinecure.

And no one knows, at sight, a masterpiece.
And give up verse, my boy,
There's nothing in it.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) "Mr Nixon"

[Pound]

10
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

"In a Station of the Metro" (1916)

[Pound]

11
The ant's a centaur in his dragon world.

Pisan Cantos (1948) no. 81

[Pound]

12
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]

13
I had over-prepared the event,
that much was ominous.
With middle-ageing care
I had laid out just the right books.
I had almost turned down the pages.

"Villanelle: the psychological hour" (1916)

[Pound]

14 Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance…poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.
The ABC of Reading (1934) "Warning"

[Pound]

15 Any general statement is like a cheque drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it.
The ABC of Reading (1934)

[Pound]

16 One of the pleasures of middle age is to find out that one was right, and that one was much righter than one knew at say 17 or 23.
ABC of Reading (1934)

[Pound]

17 Literature is news that stays news.
The ABC of Reading (1934)

[Pound]

18 Real education must ultimately be limited to one who insists on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.
The ABC of Reading (1934)

[Pound]

19 Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
How To Read (1931)

[Pound]

20 Artists are the antennae of the race, but the bullet-headed many will never learn to trust their great artists.
Literary Essays (1954) "Henry James"

[Pound]

21 Poetry must be as well written as prose.
letter to Harriet Monroe, January 1915

[Pound]

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Powell, Anthony 1905–2000 English novelist

1 He fell in love with himself at first sight and it is a passion to which he has always remained faithful.
The Acceptance World (1955)

2 Dinner at the Huntercombes' possessed "only two dramatic features—the wine was a farce and the food a tragedy".
The Acceptance World (1955)

[Powell]

3 Books do furnish a room.
title of novel (1971)

[Powell]

4 Parents—especially step-parents—are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fufil the promise of their early years.
A Buyer's Market (1952)

[Powell]

5 A dance to the music of time.
title of novel sequence (1951–75), after Le 4 stagioni che ballano al suono del tempo (title given by Giovanni Pietro Bellori to a painting by Nicolas Poussin)

[Powell]

6 He's so wet you could shoot snipe off him.
A Question of Upbringing (1951)

[Powell]

7 Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed.
Temporary Kings (1973)

[Powell]

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Powell, Colin 1937– American general

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

2 My philosophy in all this is rather simple: match political expectations to military means in a wholly realistic way. Don't slide in, don't mislead yourself.speech at the National Press Club luncheon, 28 September 1993
in The National Interest Spring 1994

[Powell]

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Powell, Dilys 1902–1995 English critic and writer

1 You come out of Gone With the Wind feeling that history isn't so disturbing after all. One can always make a dress out of a curtain.
in Independent on Sunday 29 April 1990

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Powell, Enoch 1912–1998 British Conservative politician

1 History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen.
speech to Conservative Party Conference, 19 October 1967

2 Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.
speech at Annual Meeting of West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre, Birmingham, 20 April 1968

[Powell]

3 As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood".
speech at Birmingham, 20 April 1968; see below
I see wars, horrible wars, and the Tiber foaming with much blood.
Virgil (70–19 bc) Aeneid

[Powell]

4 Judas was paid! I am sacrificing my whole political life.response to a heckler's call of "Judas", having advised Conservatives to vote Labour at the coming general election
speech at Bull Ring, Birmingham, 23 February 1974

[Powell]

5 Office before honour was the password of Conservative government.of the 1970–4 Conservative administration
in Spectator 15 October 1977

[Powell]

6 To write a diary every day is like returning to one's own vomit.
interview in Sunday Times 6 November 1977

[Powell]

7 For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea.
in Guardian 3 December 1984

[Powell]

8 anne brown: How would you like to be remembered?
enoch powell: I should like to have been killed in the war.

in a radio interview, 13 April 1986

[Powell]

9 To be and to remain a member of the House of Commons was the overriding and undiscussable motivation of my life as a politician.
"Theory and Practice" 1990

[Powell]

10 What is history except a nation's collective memory?
on BBC Radio 4 10 February 1991

[Powell]

11 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]

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Powell, Vince and Driver, Harry

1 Never mind the quality, feel the width.
title of ITV comedy series, 1967–9

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Pratchett, Terry 1948– English science fiction writer

1 Most modern fantasy just rearranges the furniture in Tolkien's attic.
Stan Nicholls (ed.) Wordsmiths of Wonder (1993)

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Prescott, John 1938– British Labour politician

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; in Guardian 14 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]

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Preston, Keith 1884–1927 American poet

1
Of all the literary scenes
Saddest this sight to me:
The graves of little magazines
Who died to make verse free.

"The Liberators"

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Prévert, Jacques 1900–1977 French poet and screenwriter

1 C'est tellement simple, l'amour.It's so simple, love.
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945 film)

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Price, Anthony 1928– English thriller writer and editor

1 The Devil himself had probably redesigned Hell in the light of information he had gained from observing airport layouts.
The Memory Trap (1989)

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Priestland, Gerald 1927–1991 English writer and journalist

1 Journalists belong in the gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty secrets.
on Radio London 19 May 1988; in Observer 22 May 1988

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Priestley, J. B. 1894–1984 English novelist, dramatist, and critic

1 I never read the life of any important person without discovering that he knew more and could do more than I could ever hope to know or to do in half a dozen lifetimes.
Apes and Angels (1928)

2 The first fall of snow is not only an event, but it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, then where is it to be found?
Apes and Angels (1928) "First Snow"

[Priestley]

3 To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. For a shilling the Bruddersford United AFC offered you Conflict and Art.
Good Companions (1929)

[Priestley]

4 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)

[Priestley]

5 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.on the evacuation of Dunkirk
radio broadcast, 5 June 1940

[Priestley]

6 It is hard to tell where the MCC ends and the Church of England begins.
in New Statesman 20 July 1962

[Priestley]

7 God can stand being told by Professor Ayer and Marghanita Laski that He doesn't exist.
in Listener 1 July 1965

[Priestley]

8 The weakness of American civilization, and perhaps the chief reason why it creates so much discontent, is that it is so curiously abstract. It is a bloodless extrapolation of a satisfying life…You dine off the advertiser's "sizzling" and not the meat of the steak.
in New Statesman 10 December 1971

[Priestley]

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Pritchett, V. S. 1900–1997 English writer and critic

1 The principle of procrastinated rape is said to be the ruling one in all the great best-sellers.
The Living Novel (1946) "Clarissa"

2 What Chekhov saw in our failure to communicate was something positive and precious: the private silence in which we live, and which enables us to endure our own solitude. We live, as his characters do, beyond any tale we happen to enact.
Myth Makers (1979) "Chekhov, a doctor"

[Pritchett]

3 The detective novel is the art-for-art's-sake of our yawning Philistinism, the classic example of a specialized form of art removed from contact with the life it pretends to build on.
in New Statesman 16 June 1951 "Books in General"

[Pritchett]

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Proust, Marcel 1871–1922 French novelist

1 A la recherche du temps perdu.In search of lost time.translated by C. K. Scott-Moncrieff and S. Hudson, 1922–31, as Remembrance of things past
title of novel (1913–27); see below

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) sonnet 30

2 I have a horror of sunsets, they're so romantic, so operatic.
Cities of the Plain (1922)

[Proust]

3 Everything we think of as great has come to us from neurotics. It is they and they alone who found religions and create great works of art. The world will never realise how much it owes to them and what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it.
Guermantes Way (1921)

[Proust]

4 An artist has no need to express his thought directly in his work for the latter to reflect its quality; it has even been said that the highest praise of God consists in the denial of Him by the atheist who finds creation so perfect that it can dispense with a creator.
Guermantes Way (1921)

[Proust]

5 And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which…my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane.
Swann's Way (1913)

[Proust]

6 The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost.
Time Regained (1926)

[Proust]

7 For if unhappiness develops the forces of the mind, happiness alone is salutary to the body.
Time Regained (1926)

[Proust]

8 One becomes moral as soon as one is unhappy.
Within a Budding Grove (1918)

[Proust]

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Pudney, John 1909–1977 English poet and writer

1
Do not despair
For Johnny-head-in-air;
He sleeps as sound
As Johnny underground.

"For Johnny" (1942)

2
And keep your tears
For him in after years.

Better by far
For Johnny-the-bright-star,
To keep your head,
And see his children fed.

"For Johnny" (1942)

[Pudney]

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Puntan-Galeo, Sarah-Louise British student representative

1 There are now two classes of student—those who have enough money not to bother about the issues and those who are so skint they have to work in Tesco every afternoon, so haven't the time.on student protest
in Daily Telegraph 21 January 1997

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Purdy, Al 1918– Canadian poet and writer

1
Look here
You've never seen this country
it's not the way you thought it was
Look again.
of Canada
"The Country of the Young" (1976)

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Puzo, Mario 1920– American novelist

1 I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.
The Godfather (1969)

2 A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
The Godfather (1969)

[Puzo]

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Pym, Barbara 1913–1980 English novelist

1 She experienced all the cosiness and irritation which can come from living with thoroughly nice people with whom one has nothing in common.
Less than Angels (1955)

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Q

Quant, Mary 1934– English fashion designer

1 It was she who established the fact that this latter half of the twentieth century belongs to Youth.of her invention, the Chelsea Girl
Quant by Quant (1966)

2 Having money is rather like being a blonde. It is more fun but not vital.
in Observer 2 November 1986

[Quant]

3 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

[Quant]

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Quayle, Dan 1947– American Republican politician

1 Space is almost infinite. As a matter of fact, we think it is infinite.
in Daily Telegraph 8 March 1989

2 What a waste it is to lose one's mind, or not to have a mind. How true that is.
speech to the United Negro College Fund, whose slogan is "a mind is a terrible thing to waste"; in The Times 26 May 1989

[Quayle]

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Quennell, Peter 1905–1993 English writer

1 An elderly fallen angel travelling incognito.of André Gide
The Sign of the Fish (1960)

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Quiller-Couch, Arthur 1863–1944 English writer and academic

1 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

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Quine, W. V. O. 1908– American philosopher

1 On the doctrinal side, I do not see that we are farther along today than where Hume left us. The Humean predicament is the human predicament.
Ontological Relativity and Other Essays (1969)

2 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)

[Quine]

3 Students of the heavens are separable into astronomers and astrologers as readily as are the minor domestic ruminants into sheep and goats, but the separation of philosophers into sages and cranks seems to be more sensitive to frames of reference.
Theories and Things (1981)

[Quine]

4 Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine shape differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.
Word and Object (1960)

[Quine]

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R

Rabin, Yitzhak 1922–1995 Israeli statesman and military leader, Prime Minister 1974–7 and 1992–5

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

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Radcliffe, Lord 1899–1977 British lawyer and public servant

1 Society has become used to the standing armies of power—the permanent Civil Service, the police force, the tax-gatherer—organized on a scale which was unknown to earlier centuries.
Power and the State (BBC Reith Lectures, 1951)

2 Governments always tend to want not really a free press but a managed or well-conducted one.
in 1967; Peter Hennessy What the Papers Never Said (1985)

[Radcliffe]

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Rado, James 1939– and Ragni, Gerome 1942– American songwriters

1
When the moon is in the seventh house,
And Jupiter aligns with Mars,
Then peace will guide the planets,
And love will steer the stars;
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

"Aquarius" (1967 song)

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Rae, John 1931– English writer

1 War is, after all, the universal perversion. We are all tainted: if we cannot experience our perversion at first hand we spend our time reading war stories, the pornography of war; or seeing war films, the blue films of war; or titillating our senses with the imagination of great deeds, the masturbation of war.
The Custard Boys (1960)

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Raine, Craig 1944– English poet

1
In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps,
that snores when you pick it up.

If the ghost cries, they carry it
to their lips and soothe it to sleep

with sounds. And yet, they wake it up
deliberately, but tickling it with a finger.

"A Martian sends a Postcard Home" (1979)

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Rains, Claude

seeFilm lines

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Raleigh, Walter 1861–1922 English lecturer and critic

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;
I wish I liked the way it walks;
I wish I liked the way it talks;
And when I'm introduced to one
I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!

"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]

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Ramanujan, Srinivasa 1887–1920 Indian mathematician

1 replying to G. H. Hardy's suggestion that the number of a taxi-cab (1729) was "dull":No, it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways.the two ways being 1^3+12^3 and 9^3+10^3
in Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society 26 May 1921

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Ransom, John Crowe 1888–1974 American poet and critic

1
Two evils, monstrous either one apart,
Possessed me, and were long and loath at going:
A cry of Absence, Absence, in the heart,
And in the wood the furious winter blowing.

"Winter Remembered" (1945)

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Ransome, Arthur

seeTelegrams

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Raphael, Frederic 1931– British novelist and screenwriter

1 Your idea of fidelity is not having more than one man in bed at the same time.
Darling (1965)

2 "So this is the city of dreaming spires," Sheila said. "Theoretically speaking that's Oxford," Adam said. "This is the city of perspiring dreams."of Cambridge
The Glittering Prizes (1976); see below
And that sweet City with her dreaming spires.
Matthew Arnold (1822–88) "Thyrsis" (1866)

[Raphael]

3 I come from suburbia…and I don't ever want to go back. It's the one place in the world that's further away than anywhere else.
The Glittering Prizes (1976) "A Sex Life"

[Raphael]

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Ratner, Gerald 1949– English businessman

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

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Rattigan, Terence 1911–1977 English dramatist

1 Let us invent a character, a nice respectable, middle-class, middle-aged, maiden lady, with time on her hands and the money to help her pass it. She enjoys pictures, books, music, and the theatre and though to none of these arts (or rather, for consistency's sake, to none of these three arts and the one craft) does she bring much knowledge or discernment, at least, as she is apt to tell her cronies, she "does know what she likes". Let us call her Aunt Edna…Aunt Edna is universal, and to those who may feel that all the problems of the modern theatre might be solved by her liquidation, let me add that I have no doubt at all that she is also immortal.
Collected Plays (1953) vol. 2, preface

2 French without tears
title of play (1937)

[Rattigan]

3 Do you know what "le vice Anglais"—the English vice—really is? Not flagellation, not pederasty—whatever the French believe it to be. It's our refusal to admit our emotions. We think they demean us, I suppose.
In Praise of Love (1973)

[Rattigan]

4 You can be in the Horseguards and still be common, dear.
Separate Tables (1954) "Table Number Seven"

[Rattigan]

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Ratushinskaya, Irina 1954– Russian poet

1 Russian literature saved my soul. When I was a young girl in school and I asked what is good and what is evil, no one in that corrupt system could show me.
in Observer 15 October 1989 "Sayings of the Week"

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Raverat, Gwen 1885–1957 English wood-engraver

1 Ladies were ladies in those days; they did not do things themselves.
Period Piece (1952)

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Raymond, Derek 1931–1994 English thriller writer

1 The psychopath is the furnace that gives no heat.
The Hidden Files (1992)

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Rayner, Claire 1931– English journalist

1 I always say I don't think everyone has the right to happiness or to be loved. Even the Americans have written into their constitution that you have the right to the "pursuit of happiness". You have the right to try but that is all.
G. Kinnock and F. Miller (eds.) By Faith and Daring (1993)

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Read, Herbert 1893–1968 English art historian

1 Do not judge this movement kindly. It is not just another amusing stunt. It is defiant—the desperate act of men too profoundly convinced of the rottenness of our civilization to want to save a shred of its respectability.
International Surrealist Exhibition Catalogue, New Burlington Galleries, London, 11 June–4 July 1936, introduction

2 Art is…pattern informed by sensibility.
The Meaning of Art (1955)

[Read]

3
Lorca was killed, singing,
and Fox who was my friend.
The rhythm returns: the song
which has no end.

"The Heart Conscripted" (1938)

[Read]

4
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]

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Read, Piers Paul 1941– English novelist

1 Sins become more subtle as you grow older. You commit sins of despair rather than lust.
in Daily Telegraph 3 October 1990

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Reading, Peter 1946– English critic

1 If you want art to be like ovaltine, then clearly some art is not for you.
in Critics' Forum, Radio 3, 22 November 1986; attributed

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Reagan, Nancy 1923– American actress and wife of Ronald Reagan, First Lady of the US, 1981–9

1 A woman is like a teabag—only in hot water do you realize how strong she is.
in Observer 29 March 1981

2 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.

[Reagan]

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Reagan, Ronald 1911– American Republican statesman; 40th President of the US, 1981–9; husband of Nancy Reagan

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; Bill Adler Reagan Wit (1981)

2 You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
in New York Times 15 January 1981

[Reagan]

3 My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
said during radio microphone test, 11 August 1984

[Reagan]

4 We are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich.following the hijack of a US plane
speech, 8 July 1985

[Reagan]

5 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]

6 This mad dog of the Middle East.of Colonel Gadaffi of Libya
speech at press conference, 9 April 1986

[Reagan]

7 To grasp and hold a vision, that is the very essence of successful leadership—not only on the movie set where I learned it, but everywhere.
in The Wilson Quarterly Winter 1994; attributed

[Reagan]

8 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]

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Redmond, John 1856–1918 Irish politician and nationalist leader

1 in the spring of 1914 Redmond was asked by a friend, a priest from Tipperary, if anything could now rob them of Home Rule:A European war might do it.
in Dictionary of National Biography (1917–)

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Reed, Henry 1914–1986 English poet and dramatist

1
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.

"Lessons of the War: 1, Naming of Parts" (1946)

2
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.

"Lessons of the War: 1, Naming of Parts" (1946)

[Reed]

3 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)

[Reed]

4 Modest? My word, no…He was an all-the-lights-on man.
A Very Great Man Indeed (1953 radio play)

[Reed]

5 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)

[Reed]

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Reed, John 1887–1920 American journalist and revolutionary

1 Ten days that shook the world.
title of book (1919)

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Reid, Keith 1946– English pop singer and songwriter

1
Her face, at first…just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" (1967 song)

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Reith, Lord 1889–1971 British administrator and politician, first general manager (1922–7) and first director-general (1927–8) of the BBC

1 By the time the civil service has finished drafting a document to give effect to a principle, there may be little of the principle left.
Into the Wind (1949)

2 When people feel deeply, impartiality is bias.
Into the Wind (1949)

[Reith]

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Remarque, Erich Maria 1898–1970 German novelist

1 All quiet on the western front.
English title of Im Westen nichts Neues (1929 novel)

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Rendall, Montague John 1862–1950 Member of the first BBC Board of Governors

1 Nation shall speak peace unto nation.
motto of the BBC (1927); see below

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.

Bible Isaiah

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Renoir, Jean 1894–1979 French film director

1 Is it possible to succeed without any act of betrayal?
My Life and My Films (1974) "Nana"

2 Don't think that this is a letter. It is only a small eruption of a disease called friendship.
letter to Janine Bazin, 12 June 1974

[Renoir]

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Renoir, Pierre Auguste

seeMisquotations

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Reuben, David 1933– American psychiatrist

1 Everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask.
title of book (1969)

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Reuther, Walter 1907–1970 American labour leader

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

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Reynolds, Malvina 1900–1978 American songwriter

1
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
on the tract houses in the hills to the south of San Francisco
"Little Boxes" (1962 song)

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Rhys, Jean c.1890–1979 British novelist and short-story writer

1 We can't all be happy, we can't all be rich, we can't all be lucky—and it would be so much less fun if we were…Some must cry so that others may be able to laugh the more heartily.
Good Morning, Midnight (1939)

2 The perpetual hunger to be beautiful and that thirst to be loved which is the real curse of Eve.
The Left Bank (1927) "Illusion"

[Rhys]

3 The feeling of Sunday is the same everywhere, heavy, melancholy, standing still. Like when they say "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end."
Voyage in the Dark (1934)

[Rhys]

4 A doormat in a world of boots.describing herself
in Guardian 6 December 1990

[Rhys]

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Rice, Grantland 1880–1954 American sports writer

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]

3 Outlined against a blue-grey October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they were known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction, and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley, and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice.
report of football match between US Military Academy at West Point NY and University of Notre Dame, in New York Tribune 19 October 1924

[Rice]

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Rice, Tim 1944– English songwriter

1 Don't cry for me Argentina.
title of song (1976) from the musical Evita, based on the life of Eva Perón

2
Prove to me that you're no fool
Walk across my swimming pool.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) "Herod's Song"

[Rice]

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Rice-Davies, Mandy 1944– English model and showgirl

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

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Richards, Ann 1933– American Democratic politician

1 That dog won't hunt.of Republican policies
keynote speech at the Democratic convention, 1988; Wallace O. Chariton This Dog'll Hunt (1989)

2 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; in Independent 20 July 1988

[Richards]

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Richards, I. A. 1893–1979 English literary critic

1 We believe a scientist because he can substantiate his remarks, not because he is eloquent and forcible in his enunciation. In fact, we distrust him when he seems to be influencing us by his manner.
Science and Poetry (1926)

2 It is capable of saving us; it is a perfectly possible means of overcoming chaos.
Science and Poetry (1926)

[Richards]

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Richards, Keith 1943– English rock musician

1 Sure thing, man. I used to be a laboratory myself once.on being asked to autograph a fan's school chemistry book
in Independent on Sunday 7 August 1994

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Richardson, Justin 1900–1975 British poet

1
People who have three daughters try once more
And then it's fifty-fifty they'll have four.
Those with a son or sons will let things be.
Hence all these surplus women. Q.E.D.

"Note for the Scientist" (1959)

2
For years a secret shame destroyed my peace—
I'd not read Eliot, Auden or MacNeice.
But then I had a thought that brought me hope—
Neither had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope.

"Take Heart, Illiterates" (1966)

[Richardson]

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Richardson, Ralph 1902–1983 English actor

1 Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing.
in New York Herald Tribune 19 May 1946

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Ridley, Nicholas 1929–1993 British Conservative politician

1 of the European community:This is all a German racket, designed to take over the whole of Europe.
in Spectator 14 July 1990

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Rilke, Rainer Maria 1875–1926 German poet

1 We live our lives, for ever taking leave.

Duineser Elegien (1948) no. 8

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Ritz, César 1850–1918 Swiss hotel proprietor

1 Le client n'a jamais tort.The customer is never wrong.
R. Nevill and C. E. Jerningham Piccadilly to Pall Mall (1908)

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Riviere, Joan b. 1883

1 Civilization and its discontents.
title given to her translation of Sigmund Freud's Das Unbehagen in der Kultur (1930)

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Robbins, Lord 1898–1984 British economist

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)

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Robin, Leo 1900– American songwriter

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]

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Robinson, Edwin Arlington 1869–1935 American poet

1 I shall have more to say when I am dead.

"John Brown" (1920)

2 The world is not a "prison house", but a kind of kindergarten, where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks.
Literature in the Making (1917)

[Robinson]

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Robinson, John 1919–1983 English theologian; Bishop of Woolwich, 1959–69

1 Honest to God.
title of book (1963)

2 I think Lawrence tried to portray this relation as in a real sense an act of holy communion. For him flesh was sacramental of the spirit.as defence witness in the case against Penguin Books for publishing Lady Chatterley's Lover
comment, 27 October 1960.

[Robinson]

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Robinson, Mary 1944– Irish Labour stateswoman; President 1990–97

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

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Robinson, Sugar Ray 1920–1989 American boxer

1 when asked by the coroner if he had intended to "get Doyle in trouble":Mister, it's my business to get him in trouble.following the death of Jimmy Doyle from his injuries after fighting Robinson, 24 June 1947
Sugar Ray Robinson with Dave Anderson Sugar Ray (1970)

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Roddenberry, Gene 1921–1991 American film producer

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)

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Roddick, Anita 1942– English businesswoman

1 How do you ennoble the spirit when you are selling something as inconsequential as a cosmetic cream?
Body and Soul (1991)

2 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)

[Roddick]

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Rodriguez, Sue 1951–1994 Canadian activist for the legalization of assisted suicide

1 If I cannot give consent to my own death, then whose body is this? Who owns my life?appealing to a subcomittee of the Canadian Commons, November 1992, as the victim of a terminal illness
in Globe and Mail 5 December 1992

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Roethke, Theodore 1908–1963 American poet

1
Thought does not crush to stone.
The great sledge drops in vain.
Truth never is undone;
Its shafts remain.

"The Adamant" (1941)

2
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)

[Roethke]

3
The body and the soul know how to play
In that dark world where gods have lost their way.

"Four for Sir John Davies" (1953) no. 2

[Roethke]

4
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]

5
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

The Waking (1953)

[Roethke]

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Rogers, Will 1879–1935 American actor and humorist

1 There is only one thing that can kill the movies, and that is education.
Autobiography of Will Rogers (1949)

2 Income Tax has made more Liars out of the American people than Golf.
The Illiterate Digest (1924) "Helping the Girls with their Income Taxes"

[Rogers]

3 Everything is funny as long as it is happening to Somebody Else.
The Illiterate Digest (1924) "Warning to Jokers: lay off the prince"

[Rogers]

4 Well, all I know is what I read in the papers.
in New York Times 30 September 1923

[Rogers]

5 You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
in New York Times 31 August 1924

[Rogers]

6 Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.
newspaper article, 15 February 1925, in Paula McSpadden Grove The Will Rogers Book (1961)

[Rogers]

7 Communism is like prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work.
Weekly Articles (1981); first published 1927

[Rogers]

8 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]

9 Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
letter in New York Times 29 April 1930

[Rogers]

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Rohe, Mies van der 1886–1969 German-born architect and designer

1 Less is more.
P. Johnson Mies van der Rohe (1947).

2 God is in the details.
in New York Times 19 August 1969

[Rohe]

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Roosevelt, Eleanor 1884–1962 American humanitarian and diplomat; wife of Franklin Roosevelt

1 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
in Catholic Digest August 1960

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Roosevelt, Franklin D. 1882–1945 American Democratic statesman, 32nd President of the US, 1933–45; husband of Eleanor Roosevelt

1 These unhappy times call for the building of plans that…build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in 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 have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen 200 limping, exhausted men come out of line—the survivors of a regiment of 1,000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. 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 I am reminded of four definitions: A Radical is a man with both feet firmly planted—in the air. A Conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A Reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A Liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest—at the command—of his head.
radio address to New York Herald Tribune Forum, 26 October 1939

[Roosevelt]

8 I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.
speech in Boston, 30 October 1940.

[Roosevelt]

9 We must be the great arsenal of democracy.
broadcast, 29 December 1940

[Roosevelt]

10 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]

11 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]

12 Books can not be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man's eternal fight against tyranny of every kind. In this war, we know, books are weapons. And it is a part of your dedication always to make them weapons for man's freedom.
"Message to the Booksellers of America" 6 May 1942

[Roosevelt]

13 It is fun to be in the same decade with you.acknowledging congratulations on his 60th birthday
cabled reply to Winston Churchill, in W. S. Churchill The Hinge of Fate (1950)

[Roosevelt]

14 The work, my friend, is peace. More than an end of this war—an end to the beginnings of all wars.
undelivered address for Jefferson Day, 13 April 1945 (the day after Roosevelt died)

[Roosevelt]

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Roosevelt, Theodore 1858–1919 American Republican statesman, 26th President of the US, 1901–9

1 Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.quoting an "old adage"
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 There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.
speech in New York, 12 October 1915

[Roosevelt]

5 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]

6 I have got such a bully pulpit!his personal view of the presidency
in Outlook (New York) 27 February 1909.

[Roosevelt]

7 Foolish fanatics…the men who form the lunatic fringe in all reform movements.
Autobiography (1913)

[Roosevelt]

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Rootes, Lord 1894–1964 English motor-car manufacturer

1 No other man-made device since the shields and lances of ancient knights fulfils a man's ego like an automobile.
attributed, 1958

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Rose, Billy 1899–1966 and Bloom, Marty

1 Does the spearmint lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?revived in 1959 by Lonnie Donegan with the title "Does your chewing-gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?"
title of song (1924)

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Rosenberg, Ethel 1916–1953 and Rosenberg, Julius 1918–1953 American couple convicted of spying for the Russians, and executed for espionage

1 We are innocent, as we have proclaimed and maintained from the time of our arrest. This is the whole truth. To forsake this truth is to pay too high a price even for the priceless gift of life—for life thus purchased we could not live out in dignity and self-respect.
petition for executive clemency, filed 9 January 1953

2 Ethel wants it made known that we are the first victims of American Fascism.
letter from Julius to Emanuel Bloch before the execution, 19 June 1953

[Rosenberg]

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Ross, Harold 1892–1951 American journalist and editor

1 I understand the hero keeps getting in bed with women, and the war wasn't fought that way.of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms
James Thurber The Years with Ross (1959)

2 The New Yorker will be the magazine which is not edited for the old lady in Dubuque.
James Thurber The Years with Ross (1959)

[Ross]

3 Who he?frequent comment on manuscripts and proofs
Dale Kramer Ross and The New Yorker (1952)

[Ross]

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Rostand, Jean 1894–1977 French biologist

1 The biologist passes, the frog remains.sometimes quoted as "Theories pass. The frog remains"
Inquiétudes d'un Biologiste (1967)

2 To be adult is to be alone.
Pensées d'un biologiste (1954)

[Rostand]

3 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)

[Rostand]

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Rosten, Leo 1908–1997 American writer and social scientist

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; letter in Times Literary Supplement 24 January 1975

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Roth, Philip 1933– American novelist

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]

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Rothschild, Lord 1910–1990 British administrator and scientist

1 Politicians often believe that their world is the real one. Officials sometimes take a different view.on resigning as Director of the Central Policy Review Staff
in The Times 13 October 1974

2 The promises and panaceas that gleam like false teeth in the party manifestoes.
Meditations of a Broomstick (1977)

[Rothschild]

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Rowbottom, Matthew, Stannard, Richard, and The Spice Girls (Melanie Brown, Victoria Adams, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, and Melanie Chisholm)English songwriters and English pop singers

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)

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Rowland, Helen 1875–1950 American writer

1 A husband is what is left of a lover, after the nerve has been extracted.
A Guide to Men (1922)

2 Somehow a bachelor never quite gets over the idea that he is a thing of beauty and a boy forever.
A Guide to Men (1922); see below

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

John Keats (1795–1821) Endymion (1818)

[Rowland]

3 The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity.
A Guide to Men (1922)

[Rowland]

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Rowland, Richard c.1881–1947 American film producer

1 The lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.on the take-over of United Artists by Charles Chaplin and others
T. Ramsaye A Million and One Nights (1926)

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Royden, Maude 1876–1956 English religious writer

1 The Church should go forward along the path of progress and be no longer satisfied only to represent the Conservative Party at prayer.
in The Times 17 July 1917

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Royko, Mike 1932–1997 American journalist

1 No self-respecting fish would be wrapped in a Murdoch newspaper.resigning from the Chicago Sun-Times in 1984 when the paper was sold to Rupert Murdoch
Karl E. Meyer (ed.) Pundits, Poets, and Wits (1990)

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Rubens, Paul Alfred 1875–1917 English songwriter

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)

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Runcie, Robert 1921–99 English Protestant clergyman; Archbishop of Canterbury

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

2 In the middle ages people were tourists because of their religion, whereas now they are tourists because tourism is their religion.
speech in London, 6 December 1988

[Runcie]

3 I have done my best to die before this book is published. It now seems possible that I may not succeed.
letter to Humphrey Carpenter, July 1996, in H. Carpenter Robert Runcie (1996)

[Runcie]

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Runyon, Damon 1884–1946 American writer

1 "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"

2 I do see her in tough joints more than somewhat.
in Collier's 22 May 1930, "Social Error"

[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]

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Rushdie, Salman 1947– Indian-born British novelist

1 What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
in Weekend Guardian 10 February 1990

2 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"

[Rushdie]

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Rushton, Willie 1937–1996 British humorist and cartoonist

1 Bollocks the butler speaking. What splendid news about mad cow disease. That explains the last 20 years and I thought I was the one who was barmy. Please leave a spring-like message after the moo…Mooooooooo!recorded message on his answering machine
in The Times 12 December 1996

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Rusk, Dean 1909–1994 American politician; Secretary of State, 1961–9

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

2 Scratch any American and underneath you'll find an isolationist.
to the British Foreign Secretary, George Brown; Tony Benn, diary, 12 January 1968

[Rusk]

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Russell, Bertrand 1872–1970 British philosopher and mathematician

1 Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
Autobiography (1967)

2 I was told that the Chinese said they would bury me by the Western Lake and build a shrine to my memory. I have some slight regret that this did not happen as I might have become a god, which would have been very chic for an atheist.
Autobiography (1968)

[Russell]

3 Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

[Russell]

4 Boredom is…a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

[Russell]

5 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)

[Russell]

6 One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

[Russell]

7 A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

[Russell]

8 Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

[Russell]

9 To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization.
The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

[Russell]

10 Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths.
Impact of Science on Society (1952)

[Russell]

11 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]

12 The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Marriage and Morals (1929)

[Russell]

13 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)

[Russell]

14 Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.
Philosophical Essays (1910)

[Russell]

15 The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead, showing that a more refined view as to the uniformity of nature would have been useful to the chicken.
The Problems of Philosophy (1912)

[Russell]

16 Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.
Sceptical Essays (1928) "Dreams and Facts"

[Russell]

17 We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practise, and another which we practise but seldom preach.
Sceptical Essays (1928) "Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness"

[Russell]

18 The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them.
Sceptical Essays (1928) "Freedom versus Authority in Education"

[Russell]

19 Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful, and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous, and loathed because they impose slavery.
Sceptical Essays (1928) "Machines and Emotions"

[Russell]

20 The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
Sceptical Essays (1928) "On the Value of Scepticism"

[Russell]

21 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]

22 Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
Unpopular Essays (1950) "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

[Russell]

23 Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.
Unpopular Essays (1950) "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

[Russell]

24 "Change" is scientific, "progress" is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.
Unpopular Essays (1950) "Philosophy and Politics"

[Russell]

25 The linguistic philosophy, which cares only about language, and not about the world, is like the boy who preferred the clock without the pendulum because, although it no longer told the time, it went more easily than before and at a more exhilarating pace.
foreword to Ernest Gellner Words and Things (1959)

[Russell]

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Russell, Dora 1894–1986 English feminist

1 We want better reasons for having children than not knowing how to prevent them.
Hypatia (1925)

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Rutherford, Ernest 1871–1937 New Zealand physicist

1 All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
J. B. Birks Rutherford at Manchester (1962)

2 If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.
Norman T. J. Bailey The Mathematical Approach to Biology and Medicine (1967)

[Rutherford]

3 It was quite the most incredible event that has ever happened to me in my life. It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.on the back-scattering effect of metal foil on alpha-particles
E. N. da C. Andrade Rutherford and the Nature of the Atom (1964)

[Rutherford]

4 We haven't got the money, so we've got to think!
in Bulletin of the Institute of Physics (1962) vol. 13

[Rutherford]

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Ryle, Gilbert 1900–1976 English philosopher

1 A myth is, of course, not a fairy story. It is the presentation of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another. To explode a myth is accordingly not to deny the facts but to re-allocate them.
The Concept of Mind (1949)

2 Philosophy is the replacement of category-habits by category-disciplines.
The Concept of Mind (1949)

[Ryle]

3 The dogma of the Ghost in the Machine.the mind viewed as distinct from the body
The Concept of Mind (1949)

[Ryle]

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S

Sackville-West, Vita 1892–1962 English writer and gardener; wife of Harold Nicolson

1
The greater cats with golden eyes
Stare out between the bars.

The King's Daughter (1929)

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Sadat, Anwar al- 1918–1981 Egyptian statesman, President 1970–81

1 Peace is much more precious than a piece of land.
speech in Cairo, 8 March 1978

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Sagan, Françoise 1935– French novelist

1 To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.
La Chamade (1965)

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Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de 1900–1944 French writer and aviator

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)

2 Experience shows us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction.
Wind, Sand and Stars (1939)

[Saint-Exupéry]

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St John, Lord of Fawsley 1929– British Conservative politician and author

1 The monarchy has become our only truly popular institution at a time when the House of Commons has declined in public esteem and the Lords is a matter of controversy. The monarchy is, in a real sense, underpinning the other two estates of the realm.
in The Times 1 February 1982

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Saint Laurent, Yves 1936– French couturier

1 I don't really like knees.
in Observer 3 August 1958

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Sakharov, Andrei 1921–1989 Russian nuclear physicist

1 Every day I saw the huge material, intellectual and nervous resources of thousands of people being poured into the creation of a means of total destruction, something capable of annihilating all human civilization. I noticed that the control levers were in the hands of people who, though talented in their own ways, were cynical.
Sakharov Speaks (1974)

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Saki 1870–1916 British writer

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 people of Crete unfortunately make more history than they can consume locally.
Chronicles of Clovis (1911) "The Jesting of Arlington Stringham"

[Saki]

3 The cook was a good cook, as cooks go; and as cooks go, she went.
Reginald (1904) "Reginald on Besetting Sins"

[Saki]

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Salinger, J. D. 1919– American novelist and short-story writer

1 The catcher in the rye.
title of novel (1951)

2 What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

[Salinger]

3 Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away.
The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

[Salinger]

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Salisbury, Lord 1893–1972 British Conservative politician

1 Too clever by half.of Iain Macleod, Colonial Secretary; the term "too clever by half" had been applied by an earlier Lord Salisbury (1830–1903) to Disraeli's amendment on Disestablishment, 30 March 1868
in the House of Lords, 7 March 1961

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Sampson, Anthony 1926– British author and journalist

1 A secret tome of The Great and the Good is kept, listing everyone who has the right, safe qualifications of worthiness, soundness and discretion; and from this tome came the stage army of committee people.
Anatomy of Britain Today (1965)

2 Of all the legacies of empire, the most dangerous is surely an immobile bureaucracy which can perpetuate its own interests and values, like those ancient hierarchies which presided over declining civilizations…As the British mandarins reinforce their defences, awarding each other old imperial honours, do they hear any echoes from Castile or Byzantium?
The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Sampson]

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Samuel, Lord 1870–1963 British Liberal politician

1 A library is thought in cold storage.
A Book of Quotations (1947)

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Samuelson, Paul A. 1915– American economist

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)

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Sandburg, Carl 1878–1967 American poet

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
When Abraham Lincoln was shovelled into the tombs,
he forgot the copperheads and the assassin…
in the dust, in the cool tombs.

"Cool Tombs" (1918)

[Sandburg]

3
The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

"Fog" (1916)

[Sandburg]

4
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]

5
Why is there always a secret singing
When a lawyer cashes in?
Why does a hearse horse snicker
Hauling a lawyer away?

"The Lawyers Know Too Much" (1920)

[Sandburg]

6
I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.

"Prairie" (1918)

[Sandburg]

7 I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on the way.
Incidentals (1907)

[Sandburg]

8 Little girl…Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come.
The People, Yes (1936); "Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came?" was the title of a piece by Charlotte Keyes in McCall's October 1966; "Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?" was the title of a 1970 film.

[Sandburg]

9 Poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.
in Atlantic Monthly March 1923 "Poetry Considered"

[Sandburg]

10 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]

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Sanders, Henry "Red" 1905–1958

1 Sure, winning isn't everything. It's the only thing.
in Sports Illustrated 26 December 1955; often attributed to Vince Lombardi

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Santayana, George 1863–1952 Spanish-born philosopher and critic

1 The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.
Dialogues in Limbo (1925)

2 Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.
The Life of Reason (1905)

[Santayana]

3 Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
The Life of Reason (1905)

[Santayana]

4 Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.
The Life of Reason (1905)

[Santayana]

5 The cry was for vacant freedom and indeterminate progress: Vorwärts! Avanti! Onwards! Full speed ahead!, without asking whether directly before you was not a bottomless pit.
My Host the World (1953)

[Santayana]

6 There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
Soliloquies in England (1922) "War Shrines"

[Santayana]

7 It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.
The Unknowable (1923)

[Santayana]

8 For an idea ever to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be always old-fashioned.
Winds of Doctrine (1913)

[Santayana]

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Sargent, John Singer 1856–1925 American painter

1 Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend.
N. Bentley and E. Esar Treasury of Humorous Quotations (1951)

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Sarony, Leslie 1897–1985 British songwriter

1 Ain't it grand to be blooming well dead?
title of song (1932)

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Saro-Wiwa, Ken

seeLast words

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Sarraute, Nathalie 1902– French novelist

1 Radio and television, to which we devote so many of the leisure hours once spent listening to parlour chatter and parlour music, have succeeded in lifting the manufacture of banality out of the sphere of handicraft and placed it in that of a major industry.
in Times Literary Supplement 10 June 1960

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Sartre, Jean-Paul 1905–1980 French philosopher, novelist, dramatist, and critic

1 When the rich wage war it's the poor who die.
Le Diable et le bon Dieu (1951)

2 Nothingness haunts being.
L'être et le néant (1943)

[Sartre]

3 I am condemned to be free.
L'être et le néant (1943)

[Sartre]

4 Man is a useless passion.
L'être et le néant (1943)

[Sartre]

5 Hell is other people.
Huis Clos (1944)

[Sartre]

6 Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth.
Les Mots (1964) "Écrire"

[Sartre]

7 I confused things with their names: that is belief.
Les Mots (1964) "Écrire"

[Sartre]

8 There is no good father, that's the rule. Don't lay the blame on men but on the bond of paternity, which is rotten. To beget children, nothing better; to have them, what iniquity!
Les Mots (1964) "Lire"

[Sartre]

9 The poor don't know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity.
Les Mots (1964) "Lire"

[Sartre]

10 She believed in nothing; only her scepticism kept her from being an atheist.
Les Mots (1964) "Lire"

[Sartre]

11 Human life begins on the far side of despair.
Les Mouches (1943)

[Sartre]

12 Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.
La Nausée (Nausea, 1938) "Vendredi"

[Sartre]

13 I hate victims who respect their executioners.
Les Séquestrés d'Altona (1960)

[Sartre]

14 A writer must refuse, therefore, to allow himself to be transformed into an institution.refusing the Nobel Prize
declaration read at Stockholm, 22 October 1964

[Sartre]

15 The whole question boils down to knowing whether one is interested in talking about the flight of butterflies or the condition of the Jews.
attributed

[Sartre]

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Sassoon, Siegfried 1886–1967 English poet

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
Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,
Drawing no dividend from time's tomorrows.

"Dreamers" (1918)

[Sassoon]

4
You are too young to fall asleep for ever;
And when you sleep you remind me of the dead.

"The Dug-Out" (1919)

[Sassoon]

5
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom.

"Everyone Sang" (1919)

[Sassoon]

6
The song was wordless; the singing will never be done.

"Everyone Sang" (1919)

[Sassoon]

7
"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]

8
Here was the world's worst wound. And here with pride
"Their name liveth for ever" the Gateway claims.
Was ever an immolation so belied
As these intolerably nameless names?

"On Passing the New Menin Gate" (1928).

[Sassoon]

9
Who will remember, passing through this Gate,
The unheroic Dead who fed the guns?

"On Passing the New Menin Gate" (1928)

[Sassoon]

10 I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
"A Soldier's Declaration" addressed to his commanding officer and sent to the Bradford Pioneer July 1917; Stanley Jackson The Sassoons (1968)

[Sassoon]

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Sayers, Dorothy L. 1893–1957 English writer of detective fiction

1 A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, and such a society is a house built upon sand.
Creed or Chaos? (1947)

2 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)

[Sayers]

3 I always have a quotation for everything—it saves original thinking.
Have His Carcase (1932)

[Sayers]

4
As I grow older and older,
And totter towards the tomb,
I find that I care less and less
Who goes to bed with whom.

"That's Why I Never Read Modern Novels", in Janet Hitchman Such a Strange Lady (1975)

[Sayers]

5 Those who prefer their English sloppy have only themselves to thank if the advertisement writer uses his mastery of vocabulary and syntax to mislead their weak minds…The moral of all this…is that we have the kind of advertising we deserve.
in Spectator 19 November 1937 "The Psychology of Advertising"

[Sayers]

6 Perhaps it is no wonder that women were first at the Cradle and the Cross. They had never known a man like this man—there has never been such another…who never made jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us", or "The ladies, God bless them!"
J. Morley and H. Ward (eds.) Celebrating Women (1986); attributed

[Sayers]

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Sayings and slogans

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

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

[Sayings and slogans]

3 Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
"been there, done that" recorded from 1980s, expanded form from 1990s

[Sayings and slogans]

4 Burn your bra.
feminist slogan, 1970s

[Sayings and slogans]

5 Business is like a car: it will not run by itself except downhill.
American saying

[Sayings and slogans]

6 Children: one is one, two is fun, three is a houseful.
American

[Sayings and slogans]

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

[Sayings and slogans]

8 Crime doesn't pay.
a slogan of the FBI and the cartoon detective Dick Tracy

[Sayings and slogans]

9 Daddy, what did you do in the Great War?
daughter to father in First World War recruiting poster

[Sayings and slogans]

10 nature's way of telling you to slow down.
life insurance proverb; in Newsweek 25 April 1960

[Sayings and slogans]

11 The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.
US Armed Forces slogan

[Sayings and slogans]

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

[Sayings and slogans]

13 The family that prays together stays together.
motto devised by Al Scalpone for the Roman Catholic Family Rosary Crusade, 1947

[Sayings and slogans]

14 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

[Sayings and slogans]

15 Garbage in, garbage out.
in computing, incorrect or faulty input will always cause poor output; origin of the acronym gigo

[Sayings and slogans]

16 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

[Sayings and slogans]

17 If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Bert Lance (1931–), in Nation's Business May 1977

[Sayings and slogans]

18 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; P. Dickson The Official Rules (1978)

[Sayings and slogans]

19 If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
recorded from the mid 1960s, and most commonly associated with pay negotiations

[Sayings and slogans]

20 Ils ne passeront pas.They shall not pass.
slogan of the French army at the defence of Verdun 1916; variously attributed to Marshal Pétain and to General Robert Nivelle, and taken up by the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

[Sayings and slogans]

21 I'm backing Britain.
slogan coined by workers at the Colt factory, Surbiton, Surrey and subsequently used in a national campaign, in The Times 1 January 1968

[Sayings and slogans]

22 It takes 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat, but only one to wear it.
slogan of an anti-fur campaign poster, 1980s; sometimes attributed to David Bailey

[Sayings and slogans]

23 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 was well-known by the 1870s

[Sayings and slogans]

24 Lousy but loyal.
London East End slogan at George V's Jubilee (1935)

[Sayings and slogans]

25 Make love not war.
student slogan, 1960s

[Sayings and slogans]

26 The opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.
Dan Cook, in Washington Post 3 June 1978

[Sayings and slogans]

27 Pile it high, sell it cheap.
slogan coined by John Cohen (1898–1979), founder of Tesco

[Sayings and slogans]

28 Save the whale.
environmental slogan associated with alarm over the rapidly declining whale population which led in 1985 to a moratorium on commercial whaling

[Sayings and slogans]

29 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

[Sayings and slogans]

30 There's no such thing as a free lunch.
colloquial axiom in US economics from the 1960s, much associated with Milton Friedman; recorded in form "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" from 1938, which gave rise to the acronym tanstaafl in Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)

[Sayings and slogans]

31 Think globally, act locally.
Friends of the Earth slogan, c.1985

[Sayings and slogans]

32 To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer.
Farmers' Almanac for 1978 "Capsules of Wisdom"; see below

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) An Essay on Criticism (1711)

[Sayings and slogans]

33 We shall not be moved.
title of labour and civil rights song (1931) adapted from an earlier gospel hymn

[Sayings and slogans]

34 We shall overcome.
title of song, originating from before the American Civil War, adapted as a Baptist hymn ("I'll Overcome Some Day", 1901) by C. A. Tindley; revived in 1946 as a protest song by black tobacco workers, and in 1963 during the black Civil Rights Campaign

[Sayings and slogans]

35 What you see is what you get.
often shortened to the acronym wysiwyg, especially in Computing

[Sayings and slogans]

36 When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
attributed to Joseph P. Kennedy (1888–1969), and also to Knute Rockne

[Sayings and slogans]

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

[Sayings and slogans]

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

[Sayings and slogans]

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Scarfe, Gerald 1936– English caricaturist

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)

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Scargill, Arthur 1938– British trades-union leader

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

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Scarman, Lord 1911– British judge

1 The people as a source of sovereign power are in truth only occasional partners in the constitutional minuet danced for most of the time by Parliament and the political party in power.
The Shape of Things to Come (1989)

2 A government above the law is a menace to be defeated.
Why Britain Needs a Written Constitution (1992)

[Scarman]

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Scheck, Barry American lawyer

1 It is not a question of how skilfully we played our cards but of whether we were given a fair deck.appealing against the conviction of Louise Woodward for second-degree murder, asserting that photographic evidence had not been made available to the defence at an early enough stage
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 4 November 1997

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Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. 1917– American historian

1 The answer to the runaway Presidency is not the messenger-boy Presidency. The American democracy must discover a middle way between making the President a czar and making him a puppet.
The Imperial Presidency (1973); preface

2 Suppose…that Lenin had died of typhus in Siberia in 1895 and Hitler had been killed on the western front in 1916. What would the twentieth century have looked like now?
The Cycles of American History (1986)

[Schlesinger]

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Schlick, Moritz 1882–1936 German philosopher

1 The meaning of a proposition is the method of its verification.
in Philosophical Review (1936) vol. 45

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Schnabel, Artur 1882–1951 Austrian-born pianist

1 Children are given Mozart because of the small quantity of the notes; grown-ups avoid Mozart because of the great quality of the notes.
My Life and Music (1961)

2 I know two kinds of audiences only—one coughing, and one not coughing.
My Life and Music (1961)

[Schnabel]

3 Applause is a receipt, not a note of demand.
in Saturday Review of Literature 29 September 1951

[Schnabel]

4 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

[Schnabel]

5 Too easy for children, and too difficult for artists.of Mozart's sonatas
Nat Shapiro (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Quotations about Music (1978

[Schnabel]

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Schoenberg, Arnold 1874–1951 Austrian-born American composer and musical theorist

1 If it is art, it is not for the masses. "If it is for the masses it is not art" is a topic which is rather similar to a word of yourself.
letter to W. S. Schlamm, 1 July 1945

2 I am delighted to add another unplayable work to the repertoire. I want the Concerto to be difficult and I want the little finger to become longer. I can wait.of his Violin Concerto
Joseph Machlis Introduction to Contemporary Music (1963)

[Schoenberg]

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Schroeder, Patricia 1940– American Democratic politician

1 Ronald Reagan…is attempting a great breakthrough in political technology—he has been perfecting the Teflon-coated Presidency. He sees to it that nothing sticks to him.
speech in the US House of Representatives, 2 August 1983

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Schulz, Charles Monroe 1922–2000 American cartoonist

1 Happiness is a warm puppy.
title of book (1962).

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Schumacher, E. F. 1911–1977 German-born economist

1 It was not the power of the Spaniards that destroyed the Aztec Empire but the disbelief of the Aztecs in themselves.
Roots of Economic Growth (1962)

2 Small is beautiful. A study of economics as if people mattered.
title of book (1973)

[Schumacher]

3 Call a thing immoral or ugly, soul-destroying or a degradation of man, a peril to the peace of the world or to the well-being of future generations: as long as you have not shown it to be "uneconomic" you have not really questioned its right to exist, grow, and prosper.
Small is Beautiful (1973)

[Schumacher]

4 The most striking thing about modern industry is that it requires so much and accomplishes so little. Modern industry seems to be inefficient to a degree that surpasses one's ordinary powers of imagination. Its inefficiency therefore remains unnoticed.
Small is Beautiful (1973)

[Schumacher]

5 It is of little use trying to suppress terrorism if the production of deadly devices continues to be deemed a legitimate employment of man's creative powers.
Small is Beautiful (1973)

[Schumacher]

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Schumpeter, J. A. 1883–1950 American economist

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)

2 One servant is worth a thousand gadgets.
J. K. Galbraith A Life in our Times (1981)

[Schumpeter]

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Schweitzer, Albert 1875–1965 Franco-German missionary

1 "Hullo! friend," I call out, "Won't you lend us a hand?" "I am an intellectual and don't drag wood about," came the answer. "You're lucky," I reply. "I too wanted to become an intellectual, but I didn't succeed."
More from the Primeval Forest (1931)

2 Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase, "Reverence for Life".
My Life and Thought (1933)

[Schweitzer]

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Schwitters, Kurt 1887–1948 German painter

1 I am a painter and I nail my pictures together.
R. Hausmann Am Anfang war Dada (1972)

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Scott, C. P. 1846–1932 British journalist; editor of the Manchester Guardian, 1872–1929

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]

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Scott, Robert Falcon 1868–1912 English polar explorer

1 Great God! this is an awful place.of the South Pole
diary, 17 January 1912

2 We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint.
"The Last Message" in Scott's Last Expedition (1913)

[Scott]

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Seeger, Alan 1888–1916 American poet

1
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade.

"I Have a Rendezvous with Death" (1916)

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Seeger, Pete 1919– American folk singer and songwriter

1 Where have all the flowers gone?
title of song (1961)

2 Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
L. Botts Loose Talk (1980)

[Seeger]

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Segal, Erich 1937– American novelist

1 Love means not ever having to say you're sorry.
Love Story (1970)

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Seikaly, Rony American basketball player

1 The NBA players are smart enough to know you get the virus from unprotected sex, and we're not going to have unprotected sex on the basketball court.on the return of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who is HIV-positive
in San Francisco Chronicle 8 February 1996

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Seldon, Arthur 1916– British economist

1 Government of the busy by the bossy for the bully.on over-government
Capitalism (1990)

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Self, Will 1961– English novelist and journalist

1 So I was smacked out on the Prime Minister's jet, big deal.having been dismissed as a columnist by the Observer after taking heroin on John Major's plane during the election campaign
in Independent on Sunday 20 April 1997

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Sellar, W. C. 1898–1951 and Yeatman, R. J. 1898–1968 British writers

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 The Roman Conquest was, however, a Good Thing, since the Britons were only natives at the time.
1066 and All That (1930)

[Sellar]

4 The Cavaliers (Wrong but Wromantic) and the Roundheads (Right but Repulsive).
1066 and All That (1930)

[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)

[Sellar]

6 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)

[Sellar]

7 america was thus clearly top nation, and History came to a .
1066 and All That (1930)

[Sellar]

8 Do not on any account attempt to write on both sides of the paper at once.
1066 and All That (1930) "Test Paper 5"

[Sellar]

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Sereny, Gitta 1923– Hungarian-born British writer and journalist

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

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Service, Robert W. 1874–1958 Canadian poet

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]

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Sexton, Anne 1928–1974 American poet

1
God owns heaven
but He craves the earth.

"The Earth" (1975)

2 In a dream you are never eighty.
"Old" (1962)

[Sexton]

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Shaffer, Peter 1926– English dramatist

1 The Normal is the good smile in a child's eyes—all right. It is also the dead stare in a million adults. It both sustains and kills—like a God. It is the Ordinary made beautiful; it is also the Average made lethal.
Equus (1983 ed.)

2 That's the main trouble with the two nations: bad Brits are snobs, bad Americans are slobs.
Whom Do I Have the Honour of Addressing? (1990)

[Shaffer]

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Shankly, Bill 1914–1981 Scottish footballer and club manager

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

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Shapiro, Robert 1942– American lawyer

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

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Shaw, George Bernard 1856–1950 Irish dramatist and writer

1 You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
Back to Methuselah (1921)

2 I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes illness worth while.
Back to Methuselah (1921)

[Shaw]

3 The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
The Devil's Disciple (1901)

[Shaw]

4 Martyrdom…the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.
The Devil's Disciple (1901)

[Shaw]

5 The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office.
The Devil's Disciple (1901)

[Shaw]

6 There is at bottom only one genuinely scientific treatment for all diseases, and that is to stimulate the phagocytes.
The Doctor's Dilemma (1911)

[Shaw]

7 All professions are conspiracies against the laity.
The Doctor's Dilemma (1911)

[Shaw]

8 Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children.
Everybody's Political What's What? (1944)

[Shaw]

9 A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
Everybody's Political What's What? (1944)

[Shaw]

10 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]

11 The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years.
Heartbreak House (1919)

[Shaw]

12 The captain is in his bunk, drinking bottled ditch-water; and the crew is gambling in the forecastle. She will strike and sink and split. Do you think the laws of God will be suspended in favour of England because you were born in it?
Heartbreak House (1919)

[Shaw]

13 What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.
John Bull's Other Island (1907)

[Shaw]

14 The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.
Major Barbara (1907) preface

[Shaw]

15 I am a Millionaire. That is my religion.
Major Barbara (1907)

[Shaw]

16 I can't talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes.
Major Barbara (1907)

[Shaw]

17 Wot prawce Selvytion nah?
Major Barbara (1907)

[Shaw]

18 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)

[Shaw]

19 He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
Major Barbara (1907)

[Shaw]

20 Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
Major Barbara (1907)

[Shaw]

21 But a lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

22 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)

[Shaw]

23 Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

24 Englishmen never will be slaves: they are free to do whatever the Government and public opinion allow them to do.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

25 An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

26 In the arts of peace Man is a bungler.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

27 When the military man approaches, the world locks up its spoons and packs off its womankind.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

28 Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

29 There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it.
Man and Superman (1903)

[Shaw]

30 Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists: The Golden Rule"

[Shaw]

31 The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists: The Golden Rule"

[Shaw]

32 The art of government is the organization of idolatry.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Idolatry"

[Shaw]

33 Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Democracy"

[Shaw]

34 Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Liberty and Equality"

[Shaw]

35 He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Education"

[Shaw]

36 Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Marriage"

[Shaw]

37 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]

38 Beware of the man whose god is in the skies.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Religion"

[Shaw]

39 Self-denial is not a virtue: it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Virtues and Vice"

[Shaw]

40 The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Reason"

[Shaw]

41 Decency is Indecency's conspiracy of silence.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Decency"

[Shaw]

42 Home is the girl's prison and the woman's workhouse.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Women in the Home"

[Shaw]

43 Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims: Stray Sayings"

[Shaw]

44 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]

45 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]

46 Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you.
Misalliance (1914)

[Shaw]

47 You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
O'Flaherty V.C. (1919)

[Shaw]

48 A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell.
Parents and Children (1914) "Children's Happiness"

[Shaw]

49 It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.
Pygmalion (1916) preface

[Shaw]

50 Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.
Pygmalion (1916)

[Shaw]

51 I don't want to talk grammar, I want to talk like a lady.
Pygmalion (1916)

[Shaw]

52 I'm one of the undeserving poor…up agen middle-class morality all the time…What is middle-class morality? Just an excuse for never giving me anything.
Pygmalion (1916)

[Shaw]

53 Gin was mother's milk to her.
Pygmalion (1916)

[Shaw]

54 Walk! Not bloody likely.
Pygmalion (1916)

[Shaw]

55 No Englishman is ever fairly beaten.
Saint Joan (1924)

[Shaw]

56 Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?
Saint Joan (1924)

[Shaw]

57 Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet (1911) "Limits to Toleration"

[Shaw]

58 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; Bill Jay and Margaret Moore Bernard Shaw and Photography (1989)

[Shaw]

59 We must use the war to give the coup-de-grace to medieval diplomacy, medieval autocracy, and anarchic export of capital, and make its conclusion convince the world that Democracy is invincible, and Militarism a rusty sword that breaks in the hand.
in Current History December 1914 "Common Sense about the War"

[Shaw]

60 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
A. Johnson The Great Goldwyn (1937)

[Shaw]

61 replying to a lady's proposal "You have the greatest brain in the world, and I have the most beautiful body; so we ought to produce the most perfect child":What if the child inherits my body and your brains?
Hesketh Pearson Bernard Shaw (1942)

[Shaw]

62 a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.
in New Statesman 23 March 1962; attributed

[Shaw]

63 England and America are two countries divided by a common language.
attributed in this and other forms, but not found in Shaw's published writings

[Shaw]

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Shawcross, Hartley 1902– British Labour politician and lawyer

1 I don't think it was right. It was victors' justice.of the Nuremberg trials, at which he appeared for the prosecution
interviewed on his 95th birthday, in Daily Telegraph 10 February 1997

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Shaw-Stewart, Patrick 1888–1917 English poet

1
I saw a man this morning
Who did not wish to die;
I ask and cannot answer
If otherwise wish I.

written 1916; M. Baring Have You Anything to Declare? (1936)

2
Stand in the trench, Achilles,
Flame-capped, and shout for me.

written 1916; M. Baring Have You Anything to Declare? (1936)

[Shaw-Stewart]

3 I continue to believe that the luck of my generation must change…nowadays we who are alive have the sense of being old, old survivors.
letter from Gallipoli, where he was killed; Brian Gardner (ed.) Up the Line to Death (rev. ed., 1976)

[Shaw-Stewart]

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Shevelove, Burt 1915–1982 and Gelbart, Larry ?1928–

1 A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.
title of musical (1962)

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Shinwell, Emanuel 1884–1986 British Labour politician

1 We know that the organized workers of the country are our friends. As for the rest, they don't matter a tinker's cuss.
speech to the Electrical Trades Union conference at Margate, 7 May 1947

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Sholokhov, Mikhail 1905–1984 Russian novelist

1 And quiet flows the Don.
title of novel (1934)

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Short, Clare 1946– British Labour politician

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]

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Sibelius, Jean 1865–1957 Finnish composer

1 Remember, a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic!
Bengt de Törne Sibelius: A Close-Up (1937)

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Sigler, Maurice 1901–1961 and Hoffman, Al 1902–1960 American songwriters

1 Little man, you've had a busy day.
title of song (1934)

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Sillitoe, Alan 1928– English writer

1 The loneliness of the long-distance runner.
title of novel (1959)

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Silver, Frank 1892–1960 and Cohn, Irving 1898–1961

1
Yes! we have no bananas,
We have no bananas today.

"Yes! We Have No Bananas" (1923 song)

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Simenon, Georges 1903–1989 Belgian novelist

1 Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.
interview in Paris Review Summer 1955

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Simon, Neil 1927– American dramatist

1 I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they've come up with so far.
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1970)

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Simon, Paul 1942– American singer and songwriter

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
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening…
"Fools," said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows."

"Sound of Silence" (1964 song)

[Simon]

4 Improvisation is too good to leave to chance.
in International Herald Tribune 12 October 1990

[Simon]

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Simpson, John 1944– British journalist

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

2 You might get bigger audiences for "Noble Rover, the labrador, who saved beautiful baby in fire", but that ain't news—just an insidious form of patronising propaganda.on the desirability of promoting "good news" stories
interview in Radio Times 9 August 1997

[Simpson]

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Simpson, Kirke 1881–1972 American journalist

1 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; W. Safire New Language of Politics (1968)

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Sisson, C. H. 1914– English poet

1
Here lies a civil servant. He was civil
To everyone, and servant to the devil.

The London Zoo (1961)

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Sitwell, Edith 1887–1964 English poet and critic

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
Still falls the Rain—
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss—
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross.

"Still Falls the Rain" (1942)

[Sitwell]

4 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]

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Sitwell, Osbert 1892–1969 English writer

1
The British Bourgeoise
Is not born,
And does not die,
But, if it is ill,
It has a frightened look in its eyes.

At the House of Mrs Kinfoot (1921)

2
On the coast of Coromandel
Dance they to the tunes of Handel.

"On the Coast of Coromandel" (1943)

[Sitwell]

3 Educ: during the holidays from Eton.
entry in Who's Who (1929)

[Sitwell]

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Skelton, "Red" 1913– American comedian

1 Well, it only proves what they always say—give the public something they want to see, and they'll come out for it.on crowds attending the funeral of Harry Cohn
comment, on 2 March 1958; Bob Thomas King Cohn (1967)

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Skinner, B. F. 1904–1990 American psychologist

1 The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do.
Contingencies of Reinforcement (1969)

2 Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
in New Scientist 21 May 1964

[Skinner]

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Slovo, Gillian 1952– South African writer

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)

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Smith, Alfred Emanuel 1873–1944 American politician

1 All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
speech in Albany, 27 June 1933

2 No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.on the New Deal
in New Outlook December 1933

[Smith]

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Smith, Delia English cookery expert

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"

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Smith, Dodie 1896–1990 English novelist and dramatist

1 The family—that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape.
Dear Octopus (1938)

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Smith, F. E., Lord Birkenhead 1872–1930 British Conservative politician and lawyer

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)

[Smith]

3 judge darling: And who is George Robey?
smith: Mr George Robey is the Darling of the music halls, m'lud.

A. E. Wilson The Prime Minister of Mirth (1956)

[Smith]

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Smith, Godfrey 1926– English journalist and columnist

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

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Smith, Ian 1919– Rhodesian statesman; Prime Minister, 1964–79

1 I don't believe in black majority rule in Rhodesia—not in a thousand years.
broadcast speech, 20 March 1976

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Smith, Logan Pearsall 1865–1946 American-born man of letters

1 What music is more enchanting than the voices of young people, when you can't hear what they say?
Afterthoughts (1931) "Age and Death"

2 The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists the circulation of their blood.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Age and Death"

[Smith]

3 A best-seller is the gilded tomb of a mediocre talent.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Art and Letters"

[Smith]

4 People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Myself"

[Smith]

5 Thank heavens, the sun has gone in, and I don't have to go out and enjoy it.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Myself"

[Smith]

6 When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, Idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Other People"

[Smith]

7 All Reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
Afterthoughts (1931) "Other People"

[Smith]

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Smith, Stevie 1902–1971 English poet and novelist

1
Oh I am a cat that likes to
Gallop about doing good.

"The Galloping Cat" (1972)

2
Why does my Muse only speak when she is unhappy?
She does not, I only listen when I am unhappy
When I am happy I live and despise writing
For my Muse this cannot but be dispiriting.

"My Muse" (1964)

[Smith]

3
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

"Not Waving but Drowning" (1957)

[Smith]

4
People who are always praising the past
And especially the times of faith as best
Ought to go and live in the Middle Ages
And be burnt at the stake as witches and sages.

"The Past" (1957)

[Smith]

5
Private Means is dead
God rest his soul, officers and fellow-rankers said.

"Private Means is Dead" (1962)

[Smith]

6
This Englishwoman is so refined
She has no bosom and no behind.

"This Englishwoman" (1937)

[Smith]

7
I long for the Person from Porlock
To bring my thoughts to an end,
I am growing impatient to see him
I think of him as a friend.

"Thoughts about the "Person from Porlock” " (1962); see below
At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) "Kubla Khan" (1816) preliminary note

[Smith]

8 A good time was had by all.
title of book (1937)

[Smith]

9 If there wasn't death, I think you couldn't go on.
in Observer 9 November 1969

[Smith]

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Smuts, Jan Christiaan 1870–1950 South African soldier and statesman, Prime Minister 1919–24 and 1939–48

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)

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Snagge, John 1904–1996 English sports commentator

1 I can't see who's in the lead but it's either Oxford or Cambridge.commentary on the 1949 Boat Race
C. Dodd Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race (1983)

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Snow, C. P. 1905–1980 English novelist and scientist

1 The official world, the corridors of power.
Homecomings (1956)

2 The two cultures and the scientific revolution.
title of The Rede Lecture (1959)

[Snow]

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Solzhenitsyn, Alexander 1918– Russian novelist

1 If decade after decade the truth cannot be told, each person's mind begins to roam irretrievably. One's fellow countrymen become harder to understand than Martians.
Cancer Ward (1968)

2 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)

[Solzhenitsyn]

3 The Gulag archipelago.
title of book (1973–5)

[Solzhenitsyn]

4 Work was like a stick. It had two ends. When you worked for the knowing you gave them quality; when you worked for a fool you simply gave him eye-wash.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)

[Solzhenitsyn]

5 How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)

[Solzhenitsyn]

6 The thoughts of a prisoner—they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)

[Solzhenitsyn]

7 In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.
1974 interview, printed in appendix to The Oak and the Calf (1975)

[Solzhenitsyn]

8 After the suffering of decades of violence and oppression, the human soul longs for higher things, warmer and purer than those offered by today's mass living habits, introduced as by a calling card by the revolting invasion of commercial advertising, by TV stupor and by intolerable music.
speech in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 8 June 1978

[Solzhenitsyn]

9 Yes, we are still the prisoners of communism, and yet, for us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while for many people in the West it is still a living lion.
broadcast on BBC Russian Service, in Listener 15 February 1979

[Solzhenitsyn]

10 The clock of communism has stopped striking. But its concrete building has not yet come crashing down. For that reason, instead of freeing ourselves, we must try to save ourselves being crushed by the rubble.
in Komsomolskaya Pravda 18 September 1990

[Solzhenitsyn]

11 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]

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Somoza, Anastasio 1925–1980 Nicaraguan dictator

1 You won the elections, but I won the count.replying to an accusation of ballot-rigging
in Guardian 17 June 1977

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Sondheim, Stephen 1930– American songwriter

1
I like to be in America!
OK by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!

"America" (1957 song)

2 Everything's coming up roses.
title of song (1959)

[Sondheim]

3
A toast to that invincible bunch
The dinosaurs surviving the crunch
Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch.

"The Ladies who Lunch" (1970)

[Sondheim]

4 Send in the clowns
title of song (1973)

[Sondheim]

5
Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground, you in mid-air.

"Send in the Clowns" (1973 song)

[Sondheim]

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Sontag, Susan 1933– American writer

1 Societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to its "victims".
AIDS and its Metaphors (1989)

2 Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.
in Evergreen Review December 1964

[Sontag]

3 What pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death.
in Partisan Review Spring 1967

[Sontag]

4 The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine ballet et al., don't redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history, it is the white race, and it alone—its ideologies and inventions—which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself.
in Partisan Review Winter 1967

[Sontag]

5 The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own.
in New York Review of Books 18 April 1974

[Sontag]

6 Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.
in New York Review of Books 26 January 1978

[Sontag]

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Sorley, Charles Hamilton 1895–1915 English poet

1
We swing ungirded hips,
And lightened are our eyes,
The rain is on our lips,
We do not run for prize.

"Song of the Ungirt Runners" (1916)

2
When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you'll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know
It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?

"A Sonnet" (1916)

[Sorley]

3 I do wish people would not deceive themselves by talk of a just war. There is no such thing as a just war. What we are doing is casting out Satan by Satan.
letter to his mother from Aldershot, March 1915

[Sorley]

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Sousa, John Philip 1854–1932 American composer and conductor

1 Jazz will endure, just as long as people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.
Nat Shapiro (ed.) An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music (1978)

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Spark, Muriel 1918– British novelist

1 From my experience of life I believe my personal motto should be "Beware of men bearing flowers."
Curriculum Vitae (1992)

2 I am a hoarder of two things: documents and trusted friends.
Curriculum Vitae (1992)

[Spark]

3 I used to think it a pity that her mother rather than she had not thought of birth control.of Marie Stopes
Curriculum Vitae (1992)

[Spark]

4 Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.
The Comforters (1957)

[Spark]

5 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)

[Spark]

6 Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)

[Spark]

7 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)

[Spark]

8 If you're going to do a thing, you should do it thoroughly. If you're going to be a Christian, you may as well be a Catholic.
in Independent 2 August 1989

[Spark]

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Sparrow, John 1906–1992 English barrister and academic, Warden of All Souls College, Oxford, 1952–77

1 That indefatigable and unsavoury engine of pollution, the dog.
letter to The Times 30 September 1975

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Spector, Phil 1940– American record producer and songwriter

1 I'm dealing in rock'n'roll. I'm, like, I'm not a bona fide human being.
attributed

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Spencer, Lord 1964– English peer

1 I always believed the press would kill her in the end. But not even I could believe they would take such a direct hand in her death as seems to be the case…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]

3 A girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.funeral tribute, 7 September 1997
in Guardian 8 September 1997

[Spencer]

4 We, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.referring to his nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry; funeral tribute, 7 September 1997
in Guardian 8 September 1997

[Spencer]

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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).

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Spencer, Stanley 1891–1959 English painter

1 Painting is saying "Ta" to God.
letter from Spencer's daughter Shirin, in Observer 7 February 1988

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Spender, Stephen 1909–1995 English poet

1
After the first powerful plain manifesto
The black statement of pistons, without more fuss
But gliding like a queen, she leaves the station.

"The Express" (1933)

2 I think continually of those who were truly great.
"I think continually of those who were truly great" (1933)

[Spender]

3
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]

4
My parents kept me from children who were rough
And who threw words like stones and who wore torn clothes.

"My parents kept me from children who were rough" (1933)

[Spender]

5
Never being, but always at the edge of Being.

title of poem (1933)

[Spender]

6
Their collected
Hearts wound up with love, like little watch springs.

"The Past Values" (1939)

[Spender]

7
Pylons, those pillars
Bare like nude, giant girls that have no secret.

"The Pylons" (1933)

[Spender]

8
But far above and far as sight endures
Like whips of anger
With lightning's danger
There runs the quick perspective of the future.

"The Pylons" (1933)

[Spender]

9
Consider: only one bullet in ten thousand kills a man.
Ask: was so much expenditure justified
On the death of one so young and so silly
Stretched under the olive trees, Oh, world, Oh, death?

"Regum Ultimo Ratio" (1939)

[Spender]

10
What I had not foreseen
Was the gradual day
Weakening the will
Leaking the brightness away.

"What I expected, was" (1933)

[Spender]

11
Who live under the shadow of a war,
What can I do that matters?

"Who live under the shadow of a war" (1933)

[Spender]

12 People sometimes divide others into those you laugh at and those you laugh with. The young Auden was someone you could laugh-at-with.
W. H. Auden (address delivered at Auden's memorial service in Oxford, 27 October 1973)

[Spender]

13 The nineties is a good time to die.
Joseph Brodsky On Grief and Reason (1996)

[Spender]

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Spengler, Oswald 1880–1936 German philosopher

1 Socialism is nothing but the capitalism of the lower classes.
The Hour of Decision (1933)

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Spice Girls

see Chisholm, Rowbottom

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Spock, Benjamin 1903– American paediatrician and writer

1 You know more than you think you do.
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946) , opening words

2 To win in Vietnam, we will have to exterminate a nation.
Dr Spock on Vietnam (1968)

[Spock]

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Spooner, William Archibald 1844–1930 English clergyman and scholar; Warden of New College, Oxford, 1903–24

1 Her late husband, you know, a very sad death—eaten by missionaries—poor soul!
William Hayter Spooner (1977)

2 Our queer old dean.toast said to have been proposed by Spooner
Oxford University What's What (1948); William Hayter in Spooner (1977) maintains this saying is apocryphal

[Spooner]

3 You have tasted your worm, you have hissed my mystery lectures, and you must leave by the first town drain.to an undergraduate
Oxford University What's What (1948); William Hayter in Spooner (1977) maintains this saying is apocryphal

[Spooner]

4 You will find as you grow older that the weight of rages will press harder and harder upon the employer.
William Hayter Spooner (1977)

[Spooner]

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Spring-Rice, Cecil 1859–1918 British diplomat; Ambassador to Washington from 1912

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)

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Springsteen, Bruce 1949– American rock singer and songwriter

1 Born in the USA.
title of song (1984)

2
Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.

"Born in the USA" (1984 song)

[Springsteen]

3
We gotta get out while we're young,
'Cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to run.

"Born to Run" (1974 song)

[Springsteen]

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Squire, J. C. 1884–1958 English man of letters

1 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 below

Nature, and Nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) "Epitaph: Intended for Sir Isaac Newton" (1730)

[Squire]

3
God heard the embattled nations sing and shout
"Gott strafe England!" and "God save the King!"
God this, God that, and God the other thing—
"Good God!" said God, "I've got my work cut out."

"The Dilemma" (1916).

[Squire]

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Stalin, Joseph 1879–1953 Soviet dictator

1 The State is an instrument in the hands of the ruling class, used to break the resistance of the adversaries of that class.
Foundations of Leninism (1924)

2 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; A. Kemp-Welch Stalin and the Literary Intelligentsia, 1928–39 (1991).

[Stalin]

3 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)

[Stalin]

4 One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.
attributed

[Stalin]

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Stanton, Charles E. 1859–1933 American soldier

1 Lafayette, nous voilà!Lafayette, we are here.
at the tomb of Lafayette in Paris, 4 July 1917

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Stark, Freya 1893–1993 English writer and traveller

1 The great and almost only comfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised.
The Valleys of the Assassins (1934)

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Starkie, Enid 1897–1970 English academic

1 Unhurt people are not much good in the world.
letter, 18 June 1943; Joanna Richardson Enid Starkie (1973).

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Stead, Christina 1902–1983 Australian novelist

1 If all the rich people in the world divided up their money among themselves there wouldn't be enough to go round.
House of All Nations (1938)

2 A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
House of All Nations (1938)

[Stead]

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Steel, David 1938– British Liberal politician; Leader of the Liberal Party 1976–88

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

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Steffens, Lincoln 1866–1936 American journalist

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

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Stein, Gertrude 1874–1946 American writer

1 Remarks are not literature.
Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933)

2 In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is.
The Geographical History of America (1936)

[Stein]

3 Disillusionment in living is the finding out nobody agrees with you not those that are and were fighting with you. Disillusionment in living is the finding out nobody agrees with you not those that are fighting for you. Complete disillusionment is when you realise that no one can for they can't change.
Making of Americans (1934)

[Stein]

4 Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose, is a rose.
Sacred Emily (1913)

[Stein]

5 You are all a lost generation.of the young who served in the First World War
subsequently taken by Ernest Hemingway as epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926)

[Stein]

6 A village explainer, excellent if you were a village, but if you were not, not.of Ezra Pound
Janet Hobhouse Everyone who was Anybody (1975)

[Stein]

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Steinbeck, John 1902–1968 American novelist

1 Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

2 I know this—a man got to do what he got to do.
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

[Steinbeck]

3 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)

[Steinbeck]

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Steinem, Gloria 1934– American journalist

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]

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Steiner, George 1926– American French-born critic and writer

1 Nothing is more symptomatic of the enervation, of the decompression of the Western imagination, than our incapacity to respond to the landings on the Moon. Not a single great poem, picture, metaphor has come of this breathtaking act, of Prometheus' rescue of Icarus or of Phaeton in flight towards the stars.
"Modernity, Mythology and Magic", lecture at the 1994 Salzburg Festival; in Guardian 6 August 1994

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Stengel, Casey 1891–1975 American baseball player and manager

1 All you have to do is keep the five players who hate your guts away from the five who are undecided.
John Samuel (ed.) The Guardian Book of Sports Quotes (1985)

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Stephens, James 1882–1950 Irish poet and writer

1
Finality is death. Perfection is finality.
Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.

The Crock of Gold (1912)

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]

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Stevens, Anthony

1 Whereas nature turns girls into women, society has to make boys into men.
Archetype (1982)

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Stevens, Brooks 1911– American industrial designer

1 Our whole economy is based on planned obsolescence.
V. Packard The Waste Makers (1960)

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Stevens, Wallace 1879–1955 American poet

1
The poet is the priest of the invisible.

"Adagia" (1957)

2
Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftan
Of tan with henna hackles, halt!

"Bantams in Pine Woods" (1923)

[Stevens]

3
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.

"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" (1923)

[Stevens]

4
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" (1923)

[Stevens]

5 Frogs eat butterflies. Snakes eat frogs. Hogs eat snakes. Men eat hogs.
title of poem (1923)

[Stevens]

6 Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
"A High-Toned old Christian Woman" (1923)

[Stevens]

7
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]

8
Twenty men crossing a bridge,
Into a village,
Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges,
Into twenty villages,
Or one man
Crossing a single bridge into a village.

"Metaphors of a Magnifico" (1923)

[Stevens]

9
The inconceivable idea of the sun.

You must become an ignorant man again
And see the sun again with an ignorant eye
And see it clearly in the idea of it.

Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1947) "It Must Be Abstract" no. 1

[Stevens]

10
They will get it straight one day at the Sorbonne.
We shall return at twilight from the lecture
Pleased that the irrational is rational.

Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1947) "It Must Give Pleasure" no. 10

[Stevens]

11
Music is feeling, then, not sound.

"Peter Quince at the Clavier" (1923)

[Stevens]

12
Beauty is momentary in the mind—
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.
The body dies; the body's beauty lives.

"Peter Quince at the Clavier" (1923)

[Stevens]

13
Complacencies of the peignoir, and late
Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair,
And the green freedom of a cockatoo
Upon a rug mingle to dissipate
The holy hush of ancient sacrifice.

"Sunday Morning" (1923)

[Stevens]

14
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]

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Stevenson, Adlai 1900–1965 American Democratic politician

1 I suppose flattery hurts no one, that is, if he doesn't inhale.
television broadcast, 30 March 1952

2 If they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
speech during 1952 Presidential campaign; J. B. Martin Adlai Stevenson and Illinois (1976)

[Stevenson]

3 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, 26 July 1952

[Stevenson]

4 A hungry man is not a free man.
speech at Kasson, Minnesota, 6 September 1952

[Stevenson]

5 There is no evil in the atom; only in men's souls.
speech at Hartford, Connecticut, 18 September 1952

[Stevenson]

6 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]

7 A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
speech in Detroit, 7 October 1952

[Stevenson]

8 The young man who asks you to set him one heart-beat from the Presidency of the United States.commonly quoted as "just a heart-beat away…"
speech at Cleveland, Ohio, 23 October 1952

[Stevenson]

9 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.

[Stevenson]

10 She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world.on learning of Eleanor Roosevelt's death
in New York Times 8 November 1962

[Stevenson]

11 The kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, and then mount the stump and make a speech on conservation.of Richard Nixon
Fawn M. Brodie Richard Nixon (1983)

[Stevenson]

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Stevenson, Anne 1933– English poet

1
Blackbirds are the cellos of the deep farms.

"Green Mountain, Black Mountain" (1982)

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Sting 1951– English rock singer, songwriter, and actor

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

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Stockwood, Mervyn 1913–1995 English Anglican clergyman, Bishop of Southwark 1959–80

1 A psychiatrist is a man who goes to the Folies-Bergère and looks at the audience.
in Observer 15 October 1961

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Stokowski, Leopold 1882–1977 Polish-born American conductor

1 On matters of intonation and technicalities I am more than a martinet—I am a martinetissimo!
Nat Shapiro (ed.) An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music (1978)

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Stopes, Marie 1880–1958 Scottish pioneer of birth-control clinics

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)

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Stoppard, Tom 1937– Czechoslovakian-born British dramatist

1 It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.
Jumpers (1972)

2 My problem is that I am not frightfully interested in anything, except myself. And of all forms of fiction autobiography is the most gratuitous.
Lord Malquist and Mr Moon (1966)

[Stoppard]

3 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).

[Stoppard]

4 The media. It sounds like a convention of spiritualists.
Night and Day (1978)

[Stoppard]

5 I'm with you on the free press. It's the newspapers I can't stand.
Night and Day (1978)

[Stoppard]

6 Comment is free but facts are on expenses.
Night and Day (1978).

[Stoppard]

7 Save the gerund and screw the whale.
The Real Thing (1982).

[Stoppard]

8 We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967)

[Stoppard]

9 I can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and I can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory—they're all blood, you see.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967)

[Stoppard]

10 We're actors—we're the opposite of people!…Think, in your head, now, think of the most…private…secret…intimate thing you have ever done secure in the knowledge of its privacy…Are you thinking of it?…Well, I saw you do it!
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967)

[Stoppard]

11 Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967)

[Stoppard]

12 The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967)

[Stoppard]

13 Life is a gamble at terrible odds—if it was a bet, you wouldn't take it.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967)

[Stoppard]

14 War is capitalism with the gloves off and many who go to war know it but they go to war because they don't want to be a hero.
Travesties (1975)

[Stoppard]

15 Childhood is Last Chance Gulch for happiness. After that, you know too much.
Where Are They Now? (1973)

[Stoppard]

16 Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up.
Where Are They Now? (1973)

[Stoppard]

17 I doubt that art needed Ruskin any more than a moving train needs one of its passengers to shove it.
in Times Literary Supplement 3 June 1977

[Stoppard]

18 I don't think I can be expected to take seriously any game which takes less than three days to reach its conclusion.a cricket enthusiast on baseball
in Guardian 24 December 1984 "Sports Quotes of the Year"

[Stoppard]

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Strachey, Lytton 1880–1932 English biographer

1 Ignorance is the first requisite of the historian—ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection unattainable by the highest art.
Eminent Victorians (1918) preface

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)

[Strachey]

3 Discretion is not the better part of biography.
M. Holroyd Lytton Strachey (1967) vol. 1

[Strachey]

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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

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Stravinsky, Igor 1882–1971 Russian composer

1 Tradition is entirely different from habit, even from an excellent habit, since habit is by definition an unconscious acquisition and tends to become mechanical, whereas tradition results from a conscious and deliberate acceptance…Tradition presupposes the reality of what endures.
Poetics of Music (1947)

2 Conductors' careers are made for the most part with "romantic" music. "Classic" music eliminates the conductor; we do not remember him in it.
Robert Craft Conversations with Stravinsky (1958)

[Stravinsky]

3 My music is best understood by children and animals.
in Observer 8 October 1961

[Stravinsky]

4 Academism results when the reasons for the rule change, but not the rule.
attributed

[Stravinsky]

5 Music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all…music expresses itself.
in Esquire December 1972

[Stravinsky]

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Straw, John Whitaker ("Jack") 1946– British Labour politician

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

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Street-Porter, Janet 1946– English broadcaster and programme-maker

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

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Strong, Roy 1935– English art historian

1 You've got to have two out of death, sex and jewels.the ingredients for a successful exhibition
in Sunday Times 23 January 1994

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Stross, Randall E.

1 American anti-intellectualism will never again be the same because of Bill Gates. Gates embodies what was supposed to be impossible—the practical intellectual.
The Microsoft Way (1996)

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Strunsky, Simeon 1879–1948

1 People who want to understand democracy should spend less time in the library with Aristotle and more time on the buses and in the subway.
No Mean City (1944)

2 Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly.
No Mean City (1944)

[Strunsky]

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Struther, Jan 1901–1953 English-born novelist and hymn-writer

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)

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Studdert Kennedy, G. A. 1883–1929 British poet

1
When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by,
They never hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die.

"Indifference" (1921)

2
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of youth's most precious years,
Waste of ways the saints have trod,
Waste of Glory, waste of God,
War!

"Waste" (1919)

[Studdert Kennedy]

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Sullivan, Andrew 1963– British journalist

1 Faces you had got used to seeing in the gym kept turning up on the obit pages.
in Independent on Sunday 16 February 1997

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Sullivan, J. W. N. 1886–1937

1 It is much easier to make measurements than to know exactly what you are measuring.
comment, 1928; R. L. Weber More Random Walks in Science (1982)

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Sullivan, Louis Henri 1856–1924 American architect

1 Form follows function.
The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered (1896)

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Sulzberger, Arthur Hays 1891–1968 American newspaper proprietor

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

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Summerskill, Edith 1901–1980 British Labour politician

1 Nagging is the repetition of unpalatable truths.
speech to the Married Women's Association, 14 July 1960

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Susann, Jacqueline 1921–1974 American novelist

1 Valley of the dolls.
title of novel (1966)

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Sutton, David 1944– English poet

1
Sorrow in all lands, and grievous omens.
Great anger in the dragon of the hills,
And silent now the earth's green oracles
That will not speak again of innocence.

"Geomancies" (1991)

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Swaffer, Hannen 1879–1962 English journalist and critic

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)

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Swanson, Gloria 1899–1983 American actress

1 There's a man here whose eyes are hurting me. Throw him out.of John Grierson
Forsyth Hardy John Grierson (1979)

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Swope, Herbert Bayard 1882–1958 American journalist and editor

1 The First Duty of a newspaper is to be Accurate. If it is Accurate, it follows that it is Fair.
letter to New York Herald Tribune 16 March 1958

2 He enunciated no rules for success, but offered a sure formula for failure: Just try to please everyone.
E. J. Kahn Jr. World of Swope (1965)

[Swope]

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Szasz, Thomas 1920– Hungarian-born psychiatrist

1 A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
The Second Sin (1973) "Childhood"

2 A teacher should have maximal authority and minimal power.
The Second Sin (1973) "Education"

[Szasz]

3 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"

[Szasz]

4 The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
The Second Sin (1973) "Personal Conduct"

[Szasz]

5 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]

6 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]

7 Traditionally, sex has been a very private, secretive activity. Herein perhaps lies its powerful force for uniting people in a strong bond. As we make sex less secretive, we may rob it of its power to hold men and women together.
The Second Sin (1973) "Sex"

[Szasz]

8 Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse.
The Second Sin (1973) "Social Relations"

[Szasz]

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Szell, George 1897–1970 American conductor

1 Conductors must give unmistakable and suggestive signals to the orchestra—not choreography to the audience.
in Newsweek 28 January 1963

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Szent-Györgyi, Albert von 1893–1986 Hungarian-born biochemist

1 Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
I. Good (ed.) The Scientist Speculates (1962)

2 Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.
in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine Winter 1971

[Szent-Györgyi]

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T

Tagore, Rabindranath 1861–1941 Bengali poet and philosopher

1
Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand
With a grip that kills it.

Fireflies (1928)

2 Man goes into the noisy crowd to drown his own clamour of silence.
"Stray Birds" (1916)

[Tagore]

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Talbot, Nellie

1 Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.
title of hymn (1921)

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Tangye, Derek 1912–1996 English writer

1 The twentieth century decorates life like a Christmas cake, but it still cannot do anything about the basic ingredients.
A Gull on the Roof (1961)

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Tansi, Sony Labou 1947–1995 African writer

1 What good is an ounce of justice in an ocean of shit?
The Antipeople (1983)

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Taupin, Bernie

seeElton John and Bernie Taupin

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Tawney, R. H. 1880–1962 British economic historian

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)

2 Those who dread a dead-level of income or wealth…do not dread, it seems, a dead-level of law and order, and of security for life and property.
Equality (4th ed., 1931)

[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)

[Tawney]

4 To take usury is contrary to Scripture; it is contrary to Aristotle; it is contrary to nature, for it is to live without labour; it is to sell time, which belongs to God, for the advantage of wicked men.
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926)

[Tawney]

5 What harm have I ever done to the Labour Party?declining the offer of a peerage
in Evening Standard 18 January 1962

[Tawney]

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Taylor, A. J. P. 1906–1990 English historian

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.
The First World War (1963)

[Taylor]

3 A racing tipster who only reached Hitler's level of accuracy would not do well for his clients.
Origins of the Second World War (1962)

[Taylor]

4 If men are to respect each other for what they are, they must cease to respect each other for what they own.
Politicians, Socialism and Historians (1980)

[Taylor]

5 Crimea: the war that would not boil.
Rumours of Wars (1952)

[Taylor]

6 The glories of his revolutionary triumph pale before the nobility of his later defeats.on Trotsky
in New Statesman and Nation 20 February 1954

[Taylor]

7 The magic of Shaw's words may still bewitch posterity…but it will find that he has nothing to say.
in Observer 22 July 1956

[Taylor]

8 Like most of those who study history, he learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.
in Listener 6 June 1963 "Mistaken Lessons from the Past"

[Taylor]

9 A great showman whose technique improved as the real situation deteriorated.of Mussolini
in Observer 28 February 1982

[Taylor]

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Taylor, Ron Scottish headteacher

1 Evil visited us yesterday. We don't know why.following the murder of sixteen children and their teacher at Dunblane primary school
in Daily Telegraph 15 March 1996

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Tebbit, Norman 1931– British Conservative politician

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, 15 October 1981

2 The trigger of today's outburst of crime and violence…lies in the era and attitudes of postwar funk which gave birth to the "permissive society".
in Guardian 4 November 1985

[Tebbit]

3 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]

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Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre 1881–1955 French Jesuit philosopher and palaeontologist

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)

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Telegrams

1 am in market harborough. where ought i to be?sent by G. K. Chesterton to his wife in London
G. K. Chesterton Autobiography (1936)

2 better drowned than duffers if not duffers wont drown.
Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons (1930)

[Telegrams]

3 good work, mary. we all knew you had it in you.from Dorothy Parker to Mrs Sherwood on the arrival of her baby
Alexander Woollcott While Rome Burns (1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

[Telegrams]

4 how dare you become prime minister when i'm away great love constant thought violet.from Violet Bonham Carter (1887–1969) to her father, H. H. Asquith, 7 April 1908
Mark Bonham Carter and Mark Pottle (eds.) Lantern Slides (1996)

[Telegrams]

5 in response to a telegraphic enquiry,how old cary grant?:old cary grant fine. how you?from Cary Grant (1904–86)
R. Schickel Cary Grant (1983)

[Telegrams]

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

[Telegrams]

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Temple, William 1881–1944 English theologian; Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942

1 In place of the conception of the power-state we are led to that of the welfare-state.
Citizen and Churchman (1941)

2 Christianity is the most materialistic of all great religions.
Readings in St John's Gospel (1939) vol. 1

[Temple]

3 Personally, I have always looked on cricket as organized loafing.
attributed

[Temple]

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Teresa, Mother 1910–1997 Roman Catholic nun and missionary, born in what is now Macedonia of Albanian parentage

1 We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.
A Gift for God (1975)

2 Now let us do something beautiful for God.
letter to Malcolm Muggeridge before making a BBC TV programme about the Missionaries of Charity, 1971.

[Teresa]

3 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]

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Tessimond, A. S. J. 1902–1962

1
Cats, no less liquid than their shadows,
Offer no angles to the wind.

Cats (1934)

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Thatcher, Margaret 1925– British Conservative stateswoman; Prime Minister, 1979–90

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.

[Thatcher]

4
Where there is discord may we bring harmony.
Where there is error may we bring truth.
Where there is doubt may we bring faith.
Where there is despair may we bring hope.

Downing Street, London, 4 May 1979; see below

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.

St Francis of Assisi (1181–1226) "Prayer of St Francis" (attributed)

[Thatcher]

5 Pennies don't fall from heaven. They have to be earned on earth.
in Observer 18 November 1979 "Sayings of the Week".

[Thatcher]

6 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]

7 I don't mind how much my Ministers talk, as long as they do what I say.
in Observer 27 January 1980

[Thatcher]

8 We have to get our production and our earnings in balance. There's no easy popularity in what we are proposing, but it is fundamentally sound. Yet I believe people accept there is no real alternative.popularly encapsulated in the acronym tina
speech at Conservative Women's Conference, 21 May 1980

[Thatcher]

9 To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catch-phrase, 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]

10 Economics are the method; the object is to change the soul.
in Sunday Times 3 May 1981

[Thatcher]

11 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]

12 It is exciting to have a real crisis on your hands, when you have spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment.on the Falklands campaign, 1982
speech to Scottish Conservative Party conference, 14 May 1982; Hugo Young One of Us (1990)

[Thatcher]

13 We have to see that the spirit of the South Atlantic—the real spirit of Britain—is kindled not only by war but can now be fired by peace. We have the first prerequisite. We know that we can do it—we haven't lost the ability. That is the Falklands Factor.
speech in Cheltenham, 3 July 1982

[Thatcher]

14 Let me make one thing absolutely clear. The National Health Service is safe with us.
speech at Conservative Party Conference, 8 October 1982

[Thatcher]

15 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 with Brian Walden on 17 January 1983

[Thatcher]

16 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]

17 In church on Sunday morning—it was a lovely morning and we haven't had many lovely days—the sun was coming through a stained glass window and falling on some flowers, falling right across the church. It just occurred to me that this was the day I was meant not to see.after the Brighton bombing
television interview, 15 October 1984

[Thatcher]

18 We can do business together.of Mikhail Gorbachev
in The Times 18 December 1984

[Thatcher]

19 We must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.
speech, 15 July 1985

[Thatcher]

20 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]

21 We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the State in Britain only to see them reimposed at European level, with a European super-State exercising a new dominance from Brussels.
speech in Bruges, 20 September 1988

[Thatcher]

22 We have become a grandmother.
in The Times 4 March 1989

[Thatcher]

23 I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
in Observer 4 April 1989

[Thatcher]

24 Advisers advise and ministers decide.on the respective roles of the her personal economic adviser, Alan Walters, and her Chancellor, Nigel Lawson (who resigned the following day)
in the House of Commons, 26 October 1989

[Thatcher]

25 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]

26 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]

27 I fight on, I fight to win.having failed to win outright in the first ballot for party leader
comment, 21 November 1990

[Thatcher]

28 It's a funny old world.on withdrawing from the contest for leadership of the Conservative party
comment, 22 November 1990.

[Thatcher]

29 I shan't be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.after leaving office as Prime Minister
in Independent 27 November 1990

[Thatcher]

30 Home is where you come to when you have nothing better to do.
in Vanity Fair May 1991

[Thatcher]

31 of the poll tax:Given time, it would have been seen as one of the most far-reaching and beneficial reforms ever made in the working of local government.
The Downing Street Years (1993)

[Thatcher]

32 I think sometimes the Prime Minister should be intimidating. There's not much point being a weak, floppy thing in the chair, is there?
on "The Thatcher Years" (BBC 1), 21 October 1993

[Thatcher]

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Thomas, Dylan 1914–1953 Welsh poet

1
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

"And death shall have no dominion" (1936); see below

Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Bible Romans

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
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green.

"Fern Hill" (1946)

[Thomas]

4
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age.

"The force that through the green fuse" (1934)

[Thomas]

5
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]

6
The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand that holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.

"The hand that signed the paper felled a city" (1936)

[Thomas]

7
Light breaks where no sun shines;
Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart
Push in their tides.

"Light breaks where no sun shines" (1934)

[Thomas]

8
It was my thirtieth year to heaven.

"Poem in October" (1946)

[Thomas]

9
There could I marvel
My birthday
Away but the weather turned around.

"Poem in October" (1946)

[Thomas]

10
After the first death, there is no other.

"A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" (1946)

[Thomas]

11 I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.
A Child's Christmas in Wales (1954)

[Thomas]

12 Books that told me everything about the wasp, except why.
A Child's Christmas in Wales (1954)

[Thomas]

13 Too many of the artists of Wales spend too much time talking about the position of the artists of Wales. There is only one position for an artist anywhere: and that is, upright.
Quite Early One Morning (1954)

[Thomas]

14 To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black.
Under Milk Wood (1954)

[Thomas]

15 Chasing the naughty couples down the grassgreen gooseberried double bed of the wood.
Under Milk Wood (1954)

[Thomas]

16 Before you let the sun in, mind it wipes its shoes.
Under Milk Wood (1954)

[Thomas]

17 Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?
Under Milk Wood (1954)

[Thomas]

18 The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.of Wales
in Adam December 1953

[Thomas]

19 A man you don't like who drinks as much as you do.definition of an alcoholic
Constantine Fitzgibbon Life of Dylan Thomas (1965)

[Thomas]

20 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]

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Thomas, Edward 1878–1917 English poet

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
The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.

"Early one morning in May I set out" (1917)

[Thomas]

3
If I should ever by chance grow rich
I'll buy Codham, Cockridden, and Childerditch,
Roses, Pyrgo, and Lapwater,
And let them all to my elder daughter.

"Household Poems: Bronwen" (1917)

[Thomas]

4
I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way.

"Lights Out" (1917)

[Thomas]

5
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]

6
Out in the dark over the snow
The fallow fawns invisible go.

"Out in the dark" (1917)

[Thomas]

7
As well as any bloom upon a flower
I like the dust on the nettles, never lost
Except to prove the sweetness of a shower.

"Tall Nettles" (1917)

[Thomas]

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Thomas, Gwyn 1913–1981 Welsh novelist and dramatist

1 I wanted a play that would paint the full face of sensuality, rebellion and revivalism. In South Wales these three phenomena have played second fiddle only to Rugby Union which is a distillation of all three.
introduction to Jackie the Jumper (1962)

2 There are still parts of Wales where the only concession to gaiety is a striped shroud.
in Punch 18 June 1958

[Thomas]

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Thomas, Irene British writer and broadcaster

1 Protestant women may take the pill. Roman Catholic women must keep taking The Tablet.
in Guardian 28 December 1990

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Thomas, R. S. 1913–2000 Welsh poet and clergyman

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
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]

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Thompson, Emma 1959– English actress

1 of Jane Austen:I hope she knows how big she is in Uruguay.accepting an Oscar for the screenplay of Sense and Sensibility (1995 film)
in Los Angeles, 26 March 1996

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Thompson, E. P. 1924– British social historian

1 Humankind must at last grow up. We must recognize that the Other is ourselves.
Beyond the Cold War (1982)

2 This "going into Europe" will not turn out to be the thrilling mutual exchange supposed. It is more like nine middle-aged couples with failing marriages meeting in a darkened bedroom in a Brussels hotel for a Group Grope.
in Sunday Times 27 April 1975

[Thompson]

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Thompson, Hunter S. 1939– American writer

1 Fear and loathing in Las Vegas.
title of two articles in Rolling Stone 11 and 25 November 1971 (under the pseudonym "Raoul Duke")

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Thompson, Julian 1934– British soldier, second-in-command of the land forces during the Falklands campaign.

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.

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Thomson, David 1941– film critic

1 looms over the real world like an abandoned space station—eternal, expensive and forsaken.
A Biographical Dictionary of Film (1994)

2 There is nothing funnier than a huge man trying to inspire order in the world.of John Cleese
A Biographical Dictionary of Film

[Thomson]

3 Fiction is the great virus waiting to do away with fact—that is one of the most ominous meanings of the film.of Citizen Kane
Rosebud: the Story of Orson Welles (1996)

[Thomson]

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Thomson, Roy 1894–1976 Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor

1 Like having your own licence to print money.on the profitability of commercial television in Britain
R. Braddon Roy Thomson (1965)

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Thorpe, Jeremy 1929– British Liberal politician

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 A. King General Election of 1964 (1965); see below

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Bible St John

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Thurber, James 1894–1961 American humorist

1 I suppose that the high-water mark of my youth in Columbus, Ohio, was the night the bed fell on my father.
My Life and Hard Times (1933)

2 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)

[Thurber]

3 All right, have it your own way—you heard a seal bark!
cartoon caption in New Yorker 30 January 1932

[Thurber]

4 The war between men and women.
cartoon series title in New Yorker 20 January–28 April 1934

[Thurber]

5 It's a naive domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.
cartoon caption in New Yorker 27 March 1937

[Thurber]

6 Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
cartoon caption in New Yorker 5 June 1937

[Thurber]

7 Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.
"The Shrike and the Chipmunks" in New Yorker 18 February 1939

[Thurber]

8 Then, with that faint fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty, the undefeated, inscrutable to the last.
in New Yorker 18 March 1939 "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

[Thurber]

9 Humour is emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity.
in New York Post 29 February 1960; see below
Poetry…takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) Lyrical Ballads (2nd ed., 1802)

[Thurber]

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Thwaite, Anthony 1930– English writer

1
The name is history.
The thick Miljacka flows
Under its bridges through a canyon's breadth
Fretted with minarets and plump with domes,
Cupped in its mountains, caught on a drawn breath.

"Sarajevo: I" (1973)

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Tiger, Lionel 1937– American anthropologist

1 Male bonding.
Men in Groups (1969)

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Tillich, Paul 1886–1965 German-born Protestant theologian

1 Neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being.
The Courage To Be (1952)

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Toffler, Alvin 1928– American writer

1 Future shock.defined by Toffler as "the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future" in Horizon Summer 1965
title of book (1970)

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Tolkien, J. R. R. 1892–1973 British philologist and writer

1 In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
The Hobbit (1937)

2 Never laugh at live dragons.
The Hobbit (1937)

[Tolkien]

3
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The Lord of the Rings pt. 1 The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) epigraph

[Tolkien]

4 Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
The Lord of the Rings pt. 1 The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

[Tolkien]

5 Bingo Bolger-Baggins a bad name. Let Bingo = Frodo.on the first draft of The Lord of the Rings
note, c.1938; Humphrey Carpenter J. R. R. Tolkien (1977)

[Tolkien]

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Torke, Michael 1961–

1 Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?
in Observer 23 September 1990 "Sayings of the Week"

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Toscanini, Arturo 1867–1957 Italian conductor

1 I smoked my first cigarette and kissed my first woman on the same day. I have never had time for tobacco since.
in Observer 30 June 1946

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Townsend, Sue 1946– English writer

1 The secret diary of Adrian Mole aged 133/4.
title of book (1982)

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Townshend, Pete 1945– British rock musician and songwriter

1
Hope I die before I get old.

"My Generation" (1965 song)

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Toynbee, Arnold 1889–1975 English historian

1 The twentieth century will be remembered chiefly, not as an age of political conflicts and technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the health of the whole human race as a practical objective.
attributed

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Toynbee, Polly 1946– English journalist

1 Feminism is the most revolutionary idea there has ever been. Equality for women demands a change in the human psyche more profound than anything Marx dreamed of. It means valuing parenthood as much as we value banking.
in Guardian 19 January 1987

2 of daytime television:It is Stupidvision—where most of the presenters look like they have to pretend to be stupid because they think their audience is…It patronises. It talks to the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine and the microwave without much contact with the human brain.
in Radio Times 11 May 1996

[Toynbee]

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Travis, Merle 1917–1983 American country singer

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)

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Tree, Herbert Beerbohm 1852–1917 English actor–manager

1 Ladies, just a little more virginity, if you don't mind.to a motley collection of females, assembled to play ladies-in-waiting to a queen
Alexander Woollcott Shouts and Murmurs (1923)

2 Sirs, I have tested your machine. It adds a new terror to life and makes death a long-felt want.when pressed by a gramophone company for a written testimonial
Hesketh Pearson Beerbohm Tree (1956)

[Tree]

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Trend, Lord 1914–1987 British civil servant; Cabinet Secretary 1963–73

1 The acid test of any political decision is, "What is the alternative?"
attributed, 1975

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Trevelyan, G. M. 1876–1962 English historian

1 Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization.
English Social History (1942)

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)

[Trevelyan]

3 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)

[Trevelyan]

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Trevelyan, John British film censor

1 We are paid to have dirty minds.
in Observer 15 November 1959 "Sayings of the Week"

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Trevor, William 1928– Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer

1 A disease in the family that is never mentioned.of the troubles in Northern Ireland
in Observer 18 November 1990

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Trillin, Calvin 1935– American journalist and writer

1 The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yoghurt.
in Sunday Times 9 June 1991; attributed

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Trimble, David 1944– Northern Irish politician, leader of the Ulster Unionists

1 We are not here to negotiate with them, but to confront them.on entering the Mitchell talks on Northern Ireland with Sinn Fein
in Guardian 18 September 1997

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Trinder, Tommy 1909–1989 British comedian

1 Overpaid, overfed, oversexed, and over here.of American troops in Britain during the Second World War
associated with Trinder, but probably not original

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Trotsky, Leon 1879–1940 Russian revolutionary

1 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)

2 You 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)

[Trotsky]

3 Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a manoeuvre, a blow with an agreement.
What Next? (1932)

[Trotsky]

4 It was the supreme expression of the mediocrity of the apparatus that Stalin himself rose to his position.
My Life (1930)

[Trotsky]

5 Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.
diary, 8 May 1935

[Trotsky]

6 Not believing in force is the same thing as not believing in gravitation.
G. Maximov The Guillotine at Work (1940)

[Trotsky]

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Trudeau, Pierre 1919–2000 Canadian Liberal statesman, Prime Minister, 1968–79 and 1980–4

1 The state has no place in the nation's bedrooms.
interview, Ottawa, 22 December 1967

2 The twentieth century really belongs to those who will build it. The future can be promised to no one.
in 1968; see below
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.
Wilfrid Laurier (1841–1919) speech, Ottawa, 18 January 1904

[Trudeau]

3 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]

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Truffaut, François 1932–1984 French film director

1 I've always had the impression that real militants are like cleaning women, doing a thankless, daily but necessary job.
letter to Jean-Luc Godard, May-June 1973

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Truman, Harry S. 1884–1972 American Democratic statesman, 33rd President of the US, 1945–53

1 All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.
letter to his sister, 14 November 1947

2 Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
address at the National Archives, Washington, D.C., 15 December 1952

[Truman]

3 I never give them hell. I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell.
in Look 3 April 1956

[Truman]

4 A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.
in New York World Telegram and Sun 12 April 1958

[Truman]

5 It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.
in Observer 13 April 1958

[Truman]

6 Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
lecture at Columbia University, 28 April 1959

[Truman]

7 Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.
attributed

[Truman]

8 The buck stops here.
unattributed motto on Truman's desk

[Truman]

9 I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.
Merle Miller Plain Speaking (1974)

[Truman]

10 If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.attributed by Truman himself to Harry Vaughan, his "military jester"
in Time 28 April 1952

[Truman]

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Trump, Donald 1946– American businessman

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)

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Tsvetaeva, Marina 1892–1941 Russian poet

1
In this
most Christian of worlds all poets
are Jews.

"Poem of the End" (1924)

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Tuchman, Barbara W. 1912–1989 American historian and writer

1 Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip and Germans, no less than other peoples, prepare for the last war.
August 1914 (1962)

2 For one August in its history Paris was French—and silent.
August 1914 (1962)

[Tuchman]

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Tucker, Sophie 1884–1966 Russian-born American vaudeville artiste

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.
M. Freedland Sophie (1978)

2 I've been rich and I've been poor: rich is better.
attributed

[Tucker]

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Turing, Alan 1912–1954 English mathematician and codebreaker

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)

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Turkle, Sherry 1948– American sociologist

1 Like the anthropologist returning home from a foreign culture, the voyager in virtuality can return home to a real world better equipped to understand its artifices.
Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (1995)

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Turner, Walter James Redfern 1889–1946 British writer and critic

1
When I was but thirteen or so
I went into a golden land,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
Took me by the hand.

"Romance" (1916)

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Tusa, John 1936– British broadcaster and radio journalist

1 Management that wants to change an institution must first show it loves that institution.
in Observer 27 February 1994 "Sayings of the Week"

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Tweedie, Jill 1936–1993 British journalist

1 My boredom threshold is low at the best of times but I have spent more time being slowly and excruciatingly bored by children than any other section of the human race.
It's Only Me (1980)

2 I blame the women's movement for ten years in a boiler suit.
attributed, 1989

[Tweedie]

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Twiggy 1949– English model and actress

1 It always makes me laugh when people ask why anyone would want to do a sitcom in America. If it runs five years, you never have to work again.
in Independent 4 October 1997 "Quote Unquote"

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Tynan, Kenneth 1927–1980 English theatre critic

1 Forty years ago he was Slightly in Peter Pan, and you might say that he has been wholly in Peter Pan ever since.of Noel Coward
Curtains (1961)

2 What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober.
Curtains (1961)

[Tynan]

3 He walks top-heavily, like a salmon standing on its tail.
Profiles (ed. Kathleen Tynan, 1989) "Charles Laughton"

[Tynan]

4 A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.
Tynan Right and Left (1967)

[Tynan]

5 A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car.
in New York Times Magazine 9 January 1966

[Tynan]

6 "Sergeant Pepper"—a decisive moment in the history of Western Civilization.
in 1967; Howard Elson McCartney (1986)

[Tynan]

7 A neurosis is a secret you don't know you're keeping.
Kathleen Tynan Life of Kenneth Tynan (1987)

[Tynan]

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U

Unamuno, Miguel de 1864–1937 Spanish philosopher and writer

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.

"Salmo II" (1907)

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Updike, John 1932– American novelist and short-story writer

1 A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.
Assorted Prose (1965) "Confessions of a Wild Bore"

2 The heart prefers to move against the grain of circumstance; perversity is the soul's very life.
Assorted Prose (1965) "More Love in the Western World"

[Updike]

3 A soggy little island huffing and puffing to keep up with Western Europe.of England
Picked Up Pieces (1976) "London Life" (written 1969)

[Updike]

4 America is a land whose centre is nowhere; England one whose centre is everywhere.
Picked Up Pieces (1976) "London Life" (written 1969)

[Updike]

5 America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.
Problems (1980) "How to love America and Leave it at the Same Time"

[Updike]

6 Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.
Self-Consciousness: Memoirs (1989)

[Updike]

7
Neutrinos, they are very small
They have no charge and have no mass
And do not interact at all.

"Cosmic Gall " (1964)

[Updike]

8 The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and…he does it without destroying something else.
George Plimpton (ed.) Writers at Work (4th series, 1977)

[Updike]

9 I've never much enjoyed going to plays…The unreality of painted people standing on a platform saying things they've said to each other for months is more than I can overlook.
George Plimpton (ed.) Writers at Work 4th Series (1977)

[Updike]

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Ustinov, Peter 1921– Russian-born actor, director, and writer

1 Laughter…the most civilized music in the world.
Dear Me (1977)

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)

[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)

[Ustinov]

4 A diplomat these days is nothing but a head-waiter who's allowed to sit down occasionally.
Romanoff and Juliet (1956)

[Ustinov]

5 Laughter would be bereaved if snobbery died.
in Observer 13 March 1955

[Ustinov]

6 If Botticelli were alive today he'd be working for Vogue.
in Observer 21 October 1962 "Sayings of the Week"

[Ustinov]

7 Pavarotti is not vain, but conscious of being unique.
in Independent on Sunday 12 September 1993

[Ustinov]

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V

Valéry, Paul 1871–1945 French poet, critic, and man of letters

1 A poem is never finished; it's always an accident that puts a stop to it—that is to say, gives it to the public.
Littérature (1930)

2 Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. The rest is literature.
Moralités (1932)

[Valéry]

3 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]

4 Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
Tel Quel 2 (1943) "Rhumbs"

[Valéry]

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Vance, Paul and Pockriss, Lee American singer and American songwriter

1 Itsy bitsy teenie weenie, yellow polkadot bikini.
title of song (1960)

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van Damm, Vivian c.1889–1960 British theatre manager

1 We never closed.of the Windmill Theatre, London, during the Second World War
Tonight and Every Night (1952)

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van der Post, Laurens 1906–1996 South African explorer and writer

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]

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Van Dyke, Henry 1852–1933 American Presbyterian minister and writer

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"

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Vaneigem, Raoul 1934– Belgian philosopher

1 Never before has a civilization reached such a degree of a contempt for life; never before has a generation, drowned in mortification, felt such a rage to live.of the 1960s
The Revolution of Everyday Life (1967)

2 The same people who are murdered slowly in the mechanized slaughterhouses of work are also arguing, singing, drinking, dancing, making love, holding the streets, picking up weapons and inventing a new poetry.
The Revolution of Everyday Life (1967)

[Vaneigem]

3 Work to survive, survive by consuming, survive to consume: the hellish cycle is complete.
The Revolution of Everyday Life (1967)

[Vaneigem]

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Vanzetti, Bartolomeo 1888–1927 American anarchist, born in Italy

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,; M. D. Frankfurter and G. Jackson Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti (1928); see below
A man is a wolf rather than a man to another man, when he hasn't yet found out what he's like.
Plautus (c.250–184 bc) Asinaria; often quoted as "A man is a wolf to another man"

2 If it had not been for these thing, I might have live out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have die, unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph. Never in our full life could we hope to do such work for tolerance, for joostice, for man's onderstanding of man as now we do by accident.
statement after being sentenced to death, 9 April 1927

[Vanzetti]

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Vaughan, Janet-Maria 1899–1993 English scientist

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; P. A. Adams (ed.) Janet-Maria Vaughan (1993)

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Vaughan Williams, Ralph 1872–1958 English composer

1 I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I meant.on his 4th symphony
Christopher Headington Bodley Head History of Western Music (1974)

2 on being asked by a reporter, "What do you think about music?":It's a Rum Go!
Leslie Ayr The Wit of Music (1966)

[Vaughan Williams]

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Venturi, Robert 1925– American architect

1 Less is a bore.
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966).

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Versace, Gianni 1949–1996 Italian designer

1 I like to dress egos. If you haven't got an ego today, you can forget it.
in Guardian 16 July 1997; obituary

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Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch 1901–1966 South African statesman; Prime Minister from 1958

1 Up till now he has been subjected to a school system which drew him away from his own community and practically misled him by showing him the green pastures of the European but still did not allow him to graze there…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

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Vicious, Sid 1957–1979 British rock musician

1 You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music.
attributed

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Vidal, Gore 1925– American novelist and critic

1 What other culture could have produced someone like Hemingway and not seen the joke?
Pink Triangle and Yellow Star (1982)

2 American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Two Sisters (1970)

[Vidal]

3 It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true.
in Encounter December 1967, "French Letters: Theories of the New Novel"

[Vidal]

4 I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.
in Sunday Times Magazine 16 September 1973

[Vidal]

5 Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.
in Sunday Times Magazine 16 September 1973

[Vidal]

6 doing well that which should not be done at all.
in Listener 7 August 1975

[Vidal]

7 It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
G. Irvine Antipanegyric for Tom Driberg 8 December 1976

[Vidal]

8 A triumph of the embalmer's art.of Ronald Reagan
in Observer 26 April 1981

[Vidal]

9 on being asked what would have happened in 1963, had Khrushchev and not Kennedy been assassinated:With history one can never be certain, but I think I can safely say that Aristotle Onassis would not have married Mrs Khrushchev.
in Sunday Times 4 June 1989

[Vidal]

10 A genius with the IQ of a moron.of Andy Warhol
in Observer 18 June 1989

[Vidal]

11 of Truman Capote's death:Good career move.
attributed

[Vidal]

12 He will lie even when it is inconvenient: the sign of the true artist.
attributed

[Vidal]

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Viera Gallo, José Antonio 1943– Chilean politician

1 Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.
Ivan Illich Energy and Equity (1974) epigraph

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W

Wain, John 1925–1994 English poet and novelist

1 Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking.
BBC radio broadcast, 13 January 1976

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Walcott, Derek 1930– West Indian poet and dramatist

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
Famine sighs like scythe
across the field of statistics and the desert
is a moving mouth.

"The Fortunate Traveller" (1981)

[Walcott]

3 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]

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Waldegrave, William 1946– British Conservative politician

1 In exceptional circumstances it is necessary to say something that is untrue in the House of Commons.
in Guardian 9 March 1994

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Wasa, Lech 1943– Polish trade unionist and statesman, President since 1990

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

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Waley, Arthur 1889–1966 English orientalist and poet

1
What is hard today is to censor one's own thoughts—
To sit by and see the blind man
On the sightless horse, riding into the bottomless abyss.

Censorship

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Walker, Alice 1944– American poet

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
We have a beautiful
mother
Her green lap
immense
Her brown embrace
eternal
Her blue body
everything
we know.

"We Have a Beautiful Mother" (1991)

[Walker]

5 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]

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Wallace, Edgar 1875–1932 English thriller writer

1 What is a highbrow? He is a man who has found something more interesting than women.
in New York Times 24 January 1932

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Wallace, George 1919– American Democratic politician

1 Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever!
inaugural speech as Governor of Alabama, January 1963

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Wallace, Henry 1888–1965 American Democratic politician

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

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Wallas, Graham 1858–1932 British politicial scientist

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)

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Ward, Barbara 1914–1981 British author and educator

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)

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Warhol, Andy 1927–1987 American artist

1 In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.
Andy Warhol (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]

3 Buying is much more American than thinking and I'm as American as they come.
Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) (1975)

[Warhol]

4 An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he—for some reason—thinks it would be a good idea to give them.
Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) (1975)

[Warhol]

5 Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?
Victor Bokris Andy Warhol (1989)

[Warhol]

6 The things I want to show are mechanical. Machines have less problems.
Mike Wrenn Andy Warhol: In His Own Words (1991)

[Warhol]

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Warner, Jack 1892–1978 American film producer

1 on hearing that Ronald Reagan was seeking nomination as Governor of California:No, no. Jimmy Stewart for governor—Reagan for his best friend.
Max Wilk The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood (1972)

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Warner, Sylvia Townsend 1893–1978 English writer

1 I discovered that dinners follow the order of creation—fish first, then entrées, then joints, lastly the apple as dessert. The soup is chaos.
diary, 26 May 1929

2 One need not write in a diary what one is to remember for ever.
diary, 22 October 1930

[Warner]

3 An old teapot, used daily, can tell me more of my past than anything I recorded of it. Continuity…continuity…it is that which we cannot write down, it is that we cannot compass, record or control.
letter to Alyse Gregory, 26 May 1953

[Warner]

4 One cannot overestimate the power of a good rancorous hatred on the part of the stupid. The stupid have so much more industry and energy to expend on hating. They build it up like coral insects.
diary, 26 September 1954

[Warner]

5 Total grief is like a minefield. No knowing when one will touch the tripwire.
diary, 11 December 1969

[Warner]

6 The present civilization is riddled by the do-ers and the done-by. Do you know what George Sand said as she lay dying? Laissez verdurer. Idiots suppose that she was giving directions about her grave.
letter, 21 February 1972

[Warner]

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Warren, Frank British boxing promoter

1 I have lost half a stone. The Lead Plan Diet I call it.after recovering from being shot in the chest
attributed, 1989

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Warren, Robert Penn 1905–1989 American poet, novelist, and critic

1
Long ago in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.

Audubon (1969) "Tell Me a Story"

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Washington, Ned 1901–1976 American songwriter

1 Hi diddle dee dee (an actor's life for me).
title of song from the film Pinocchio (1940)

2
The night is like a lovely tune,
Beware my foolish heart!
How white the ever-constant moon,
Take care, my foolish heart!

"My Foolish Heart" (1949 song)

[Washington]

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Waterhouse, Keith 1929– English novelist, dramatist, and screenwriter

1 Jeffery Bernard is unwell.from the Spectator's habitual explanation for the non-appearance of Jeffery Bernard's column
title of play (1989)

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Watson, James D. 1928– American biologist

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]

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Watson, Thomas Snr. 1874–1956 American businessman; Chairman of IBM 1914–52

1 Clothes don't make the man…but they go a long way toward making a businessman.
Robert Sobel IBM: Colossus in Transition (1981)

2 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)

[Watson]

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Waugh, Evelyn 1903–1966 English novelist

1 I am not I: thou art not he or she: they are not they.
Brideshead Revisited (1945) "Author's Note"

2 Charm is the great English blight. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and kills anything it touches. It kills love, it kills art.
Brideshead Revisited (1945)

[Waugh]

3 The sound of English county families baying for broken glass.
Decline and Fall (1928).

[Waugh]

4 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)

[Waugh]

5 "I often think," he continued, "that we can trace almost all the disasters of English history to the influence of Wales!"
Decline and Fall (1928)

[Waugh]

6 There is a species of person called a "Modern Churchman" who draws the full salary of a beneficed clergyman and need not commit himself to any religious belief.
Decline and Fall (1928)

[Waugh]

7 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)

[Waugh]

8 Only when one has lost all curiosity about the future has one reached the age to write an autobiography.
A Little Learning (1964)

[Waugh]

9 You never find an Englishman among the underdogs—except in England, of course.
The Loved One (1948)

[Waugh]

10 In the dying world I come from quotation is a national vice. No one would think of making an after-dinner speech without the help of poetry. It used to be the classics, now it's lyric verse.
The Loved One (1948)

[Waugh]

11 He abhorred plastics, Picasso, sunbathing and jazz—everything in fact that had happened in his own lifetime.
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (1957)

[Waugh]

12 The Beast stands for strong mutually antagonistic governments everywhere…Self-sufficiency at home, self-assertion abroad.
Scoop (1938)

[Waugh]

13 Up to a point, Lord Copper.
Scoop (1938)

[Waugh]

14 Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole.
Scoop (1938)

[Waugh]

15 News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read. And it's only news until he's read it. After that it's dead.
Scoop (1938)

[Waugh]

16 I will not stand for being called a woman in my own house.
Scoop (1938)

[Waugh]

17 Other nations use "force"; we Britons alone use "Might".
Scoop (1938)

[Waugh]

18 All this fuss about sleeping together. For physical pleasure I'd sooner go to my dentist any day.
Vile Bodies (1930)

[Waugh]

19 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]

20 Impotence and sodomy are socially O.K. but birth control is flagrantly middle-class.
"An Open Letter" in Nancy Mitford (ed.) Noblesse Oblige (1956)

[Waugh]

21 Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
diary, 26 March 1962

[Waugh]

22 Manners are especially the need of the plain. The pretty can get away with anything.
in Observer 15 April 1962

[Waugh]

23 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
diary, March 1964

[Waugh]

24 You have no idea how much nastier I would be if I was not a Catholic. Without supernatural aid I would hardly be a human being.
Noel Annan Our Age (1990)

[Waugh]

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Weatherly, Frederick 1848–1929 English songwriter

1
Roses are flowering in Picardy,
But there's never a rose like you.

"Roses of Picardy" (1916 song)

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Webb, Beatrice 1858–1943 English socialist

1 I never visualised labour as separate men and women of different sorts and kinds…labour was an abstraction, which seemed to denote an arithmetically calculable mass of human beings, each individual a repetition of the other.
My Apprenticeship (1926)

2 If I ever felt inclined to be timid as I was going into a room full of people, I would say to myself, "You're the cleverest member of one of the cleverest families in the cleverest class of the cleverest nation in the world, why should you be frightened?"
Bertrand Russell Autobiography (1967)

[Webb]

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Webb, Sidney 1859–1947 English socialist

1 The inevitability of gradualness.
Presidential address to the annual conference of the Labour Party, 26 June 1923

2 Marriage is the waste-paper basket of the emotions.
Bertrand Russell Autobiography (1967)

[Webb]

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Weil, Simone 1909–1943 French essayist and philosopher

1 An obligation which goes unrecognized by anybody loses none of the full force of its existence. A right which goes unrecognized by anybody is not worth very much.
L'Enracinement (1949) "Les Besoins de l'âme"

2 All sins are attempts to fill voids.
La Pesanteur et la grâce (1948)

[Weil]

3 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]

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Weisskopf, Victor 1908– American physicist

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

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Weissmuller, Johnny

seeMisquotations

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Weizmann, Chaim 1874–1952 Russian-born Israeli statesman, President 1949–52

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

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Weldon, Fay 1931– British novelist and scriptwriter

1 Natalie had left the wives and joined the women.
Heart of the Country (1987)

2 The life and loves of a she-devil.
title of novel (1984)

[Weldon]

3 Reading about sex in yesterday's novels is like watching people smoke in old films.
in Guardian 1 December 1989

[Weldon]

4 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]

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Welland, Colin 1934– English actor and scriptwriter

1 The British are coming.
speech accepting an Oscar for his Chariots of Fire screenplay, 30 March 1982

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Welles, Orson 1915–1985 American actor and film director

1 The biggest electric train set any boy ever had!of the RKO studios
Peter Noble The Fabulous Orson Welles (1956)

2 I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
in New York Herald Tribune 12 October 1956

[Welles]

3 There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.
interview to celebrate his 70th birthday, in The Times 6 May 1985

[Welles]

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Wells, H. G. 1866–1946 English novelist and political writer

1 It is leviathan retrieving pebbles. It is a magnificent but painful hippopotamus resolved at any cost, even at the cost of its dignity, upon picking up a pea which has got into a corner of its den.of Henry James
Boon (1915)

2 He had read Shakespeare and found him weak in chemistry.
Complete Short Stories (1927) "Lord of the Dynamos"

[Wells]

3 "Sesquippledan," he would say. "Sesquippledan verboojuice."
The History of Mr Polly (1909)

[Wells]

4 "I'm a Norfan, both sides," he would explain, with the air of one who had seen trouble.
Kipps (1905)

[Wells]

5 I was thinking jest what a Rum Go everything is.
Kipps (1905)

[Wells]

6 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)

[Wells]

7 Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
The Outline of History (1920)

[Wells]

8 The shape of things to come.
title of book (1933)

[Wells]

9 The war that will end war.
title of book (1914).

[Wells]

10 Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)

[Wells]

11 In England we have come to rely upon a comfortable time-lag of fifty years or a century intervening between the perception that something ought to be done and a serious attempt to do it.
The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1931)

[Wells]

12 If Max gets to Heaven he won't last long. He will be chucked out for trying to pull off a merger between Heaven and Hell…after having secured a controlling interest in key subsidiary companies in both places, of course.
A. J. P. Taylor Beaverbrook (1972)

[Wells]

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Welsh, Irvine 1957– Scottish novelist

1 It's nae good blamin' it oan the English fir colonising us. Ah don't hate the English. They're just wankers. We can't even pick a decent vibrant, healthy culture to be colonised by.
Trainspotting (1994)

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Wesker, Arnold 1932– English dramatist

1 Chips with every damn thing. You breed babies and you eat chips with everything.
Chips with Everything (1962)

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]

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Wesley, Mary 1912– English novelist

1 When people discussed tonics, pick-me-ups after a severe illness, she kept to herself the prescription of a quick dip in bed with someone you liked but were not in love with. A shock of sexual astonishment which could make you feel astonishingly well and high spirited.
Not That Sort of Girl (1987)

2 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"

[Wesley]

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West, Mae 1892–1980 American film actress

1 It's better to be looked over than overlooked.
Belle of the Nineties (1934 film)

2 A man in the house is worth two in the street.
Belle of the Nineties (1934 film)

[West]

3 I always say, keep a diary and some day it'll keep you.
Every Day's a Holiday (1937 film)

[West]

4 Beulah, peel me a grape.
I'm No Angel (1933 film)

[West]

5 I've been things and seen places.
I'm No Angel (1933 film)

[West]

6 When I'm good, I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better.
I'm No Angel (1933 film)

[West]

7 It's not the men in my life that counts—it's the life in my men.
I'm No Angel (1933 film)

[West]

8 Give a man a free hand and he'll try to put it all over you.
Klondike Annie (1936 film)

[West]

9 Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
Klondike Annie (1936 film)

[West]

10 "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!"
"Goodness had nothing to do with it."

Night After Night (1932 film)

[West]

11 I've been in Who's Who, and I know what's what, but it'll be the first time I ever made the dictionary.letter to the RAF, early 1940s, on having an inflatable life jacket named after her
Fergus Cashin Mae West (1981)

[West]

12 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…"
J. Weintraub Peel Me a Grape (1975)

[West]

13 I used to be Snow White…but I drifted.
Joseph Weintraub Peel Me a Grape (1975)

[West]

14 A hard man is good to find.
attributed

[West]

15 It's not what I do, but the way I do it. It's not what I say, but the way I say it.
G. Eells and S. Musgrove Mae West (1989)

[West]

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West, Rebecca 1892–1983 English novelist and journalist

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.)

2 She was not so much a person as an implication of dreary poverty, like an open door in a mean house that lets out the smell of cooking cabbage and the screams of children.
The Return of the Soldier (1918)

[West]

3 The point is that nobody likes having salt rubbed into their wounds, even if it is the salt of the earth.
The Salt of the Earth (1935)

[West]

4 God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
The Strange Necessity (1928) "The Tosh Horse"

[West]

5 It is queer how it is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster.
There is No Conversation (1935)

[West]

6 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]

7 It was in dealing with the early feminist that the Government acquired the tact and skilfulness with which it is now handling Ireland.
in Daily News 7 August 1916

[West]

8 Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the truth about his or her love affairs.
in Vogue 1 November 1952

[West]

9 Journalism—an ability to meet the challenge of filling the space.
in New York Herald Tribune 22 April 1956

[West]

10 There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that sometimes one needs help with moving the piano.
in Sunday Telegraph 28 June 1970

[West]

11 Any writer worth his salt knows that only a small proportion of literature does more than partly compensate people for the damage they have suffered in learning to read.
Peter Vansittart Path from a White Horse (1985), author's note

[West]

12 Whatever happens, never forget that 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]

13 Every other inch a gentleman.of Michael Arlen; the phrase is also attributed to Arlen himself
Victoria Glendinning Rebecca West (1987)

[West]

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Westminster, Loelia, Duchess of 1902–1993 English aristocrat

1 Anybody seen in a bus over the age of thirty has been a failure in life.
Cocktails and Laughter (1983); habitual remark

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Weston, R. P. 1878–1936 and Lee, Bert 1880–1947 British songwriters

1
Good-bye-ee!—Good-bye-ee!
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee.
Tho' it's hard to part, I know,
I'll be tickled to death to go.
Don't cry-ee—don't sigh-ee!
There's a silver lining in the sky-ee!
Bonsoir, old thing! cheerio! chin-chin!
Nahpoo! Toodle-oo! Good-bye-ee!

"Good-bye-ee!" (c.1915 song)

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Wharton, Alan 1923– English cricketer

1 It's a well-known fact that, when I'm on 99, I'm the best judge of a run in all the bloody world.
to Cyril Washbrook; Freddie Trueman You Nearly Had Me That Time (1978)

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Wharton, Edith 1862–1937 American novelist

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)

2 If he paid for each day's comfort with the small change of his illusions, he grew daily to value the comfort more and set less store upon the coin.
The Descent of Man (1904) "The Other Two"

[Wharton]

3 Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
The Writing of Fiction (1925)

[Wharton]

4 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]

5 To your generation, I must represent the literary equivalent of tufted furniture and gas chandeliers.
letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, 8 June 1925

[Wharton]

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White, E. B. 1899–1985 American humorist

1 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

2 The so-called science of poll-taking is not a science at all but a mere necromancy. People are unpredictable by nature, and although you can take a nation's pulse, you can't be sure that the nation hasn't just run up a flight of stairs.
in New Yorker 13 November 1948

[White]

3
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)

[White]

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White, Edmund 1940– American writer and critic

1 The Aids epidemic has rolled back a big rotting log and revealed all the squirming life underneath it, since it involves, all at once, the main themes of our existence: sex, death, power, money, love, hate, disease and panic. No American phenomenon has been so compelling since the Vietnam War.
States of Desire: Travels in Gay America (afterword to 1986 edition)

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White, Patrick 1912–1990 Australian novelist

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)

2 In all directions stretched the great Australian Emptiness, in which the mind is the least of possessions.
The Vital Decade (1968) "The Prodigal Son"

[White]

3 that hateful religion of ordinariness.
letter to Ben Huebsch, 20 January 1960

[White]

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White, T. H. 1906–1964 English novelist

1 The once and future king.taken from Sir Thomas Malory Le Morte d'Arthur: "Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus"
title of novel (1958)

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White, Theodore H. 1915–1986 American writer and journalist

1 America is a nation created by all the hopeful wanderers of Europe, not out of geography and genetics, but out of purpose.
The Making of the President (1960)

2 Johnson's instinct for power is as primordial as a salmon's going upstream to spawn.of Lyndon Johnson
The Making of the President (1964)

[White]

3 The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.
in Time 19 November 1984

[White]

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Whitehead, Alfred North 1861–1947 English philosopher and mathematician

1 Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the Universe.
Adventures of Ideas (1933)

2 It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. This statement is almost a tautology. For the energy of operation of a proposition in an occasion of experience is its interest, and is its importance. But of course a true proposition is more apt to be interesting than a false one.
Adventures of Ideas (1933)

[Whitehead]

3 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

[Whitehead]

4 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]

5 What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike.
Dialogues (1954) 30 August 1941

[Whitehead]

6 Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.
Dialogues (1954) 10 June 1943

[Whitehead]

7 Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.
Introduction to Mathematics (1911)

[Whitehead]

8 No more impressive warning can be given to those who would confine knowledge and research to what is apparently useful, than the reflection that conic sections were studied for eighteen hundred years merely as an abstract science, without regard to any utility other than to satisfy the craving for knowledge on the part of mathematicians, and that then at the end of this long period of abstract study, they were found to be the necessary key with which to attain the knowledge of the most important laws of nature.
Introduction to Mathematics (1911)

[Whitehead]

9 The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.
Process and Reality (1929)

[Whitehead]

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Whitehorn, Katharine 1928– English journalist

1 Children and zip fasteners do not respond to force…Except occasionally.
Observations (1970)

2 In our society mothers take the place elsewhere occupied by the Fates, the System, Negroes, Communism or Reactionary Imperialist Plots; mothers go on getting blamed until they're eighty, but shouldn't take it personally.
Observations (1970)

[Whitehorn]

3 Being young is not having any money; being young is not minding not having any money.
Observations (1970)

[Whitehorn]

4 Like a monkey scratching for the wrong fleas, every age assiduously seeks out in itself those vices which it does not in fact have, while ignoring the large, red, beady-eyed crawlers who scuttle around unimpeded.
Observations (1970)

[Whitehorn]

5 An office party is not, as is sometimes supposed, the Managing Director's chance to kiss the tea-girl. It is the tea-girl's chance to kiss the Managing Director.
Roundabout (1962) "The Office Party"

[Whitehorn]

6 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"

[Whitehorn]

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Whitlam, Gough 1916– Australian Labor statesman, Prime Minister 1972–5

1 Well may he say "God Save the Queen". But after this nothing will save the Governor-General.having been dismissed from office by the Governor-General
speech in Canberra, 11 November 1975

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Whittaker, Ben 1934–

1 We can no more hope to end drug abuse by eliminating heroin and cocaine than we could alter the suicide rate by outlawing high buildings or the sale of rope.
The Global Fix (1987)

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Whitton, Charlotte 1896–1975 Canadian writer and politician

1 Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.
in Canada Month June 1963

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Whyte, William H. 1917– American writer

1 This book is about the organization man…I can think of no other way to describe the people I am talking about. They are not the workers, nor are they the white-collar people in the usual, clerk sense of the word. These people only work for the Organization. The ones I am talking about belong to it as well.
The Organization Man (1956)

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Widdecombe, Ann 1947– British Conservative politician

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)

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Wiesel, Elie 1928– Romanian-born American writer and Nobel Prize winner; Auschwitz survivor

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 Remember the nocturnal processions of children and more children and more children, frightened, quiet, so quiet and so beautiful.at an unofficial ceremony at Auschwitz on 26 January 1995, commemorating the 50th anniversary of its liberation
in Independent 27 January 1995

[Wiesel]

3 God of forgiveness, do not forgive those murderers of Jewish children here.at Auschwitz
in The Times 27 January 1995

[Wiesel]

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Wilbur, Richard 1921– American poet

1
Spare us all word of the weapons, their force and range,
The long numbers that rocket the mind.

"Advice to a Prophet" (1961)

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
Mind in its purest play is like some bat
That beats about in caverns all alone,
Contriving by a kind of senseless wit
Not to conclude against a wall of stone.

"Mind" (1956)

[Wilbur]

4
The good grey guardians of art
Patrol the halls on spongy shoes.

"Museum Piece" (1950)

[Wilbur]

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Wilcox, Toyah British television presenter, actress, and singer

1 Sex has never been an act of freedom for me. Robert and I climb into the bath together, but we tend to talk about quantum physics.
in Independent on Sunday 29 December 1996 "Comment"

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Wilder, Billy 1906– American screenwriter and director

1 It used to be that we in films were the lowest form of art. Now we have something to look down on.of television
A. Madsen Billy Wilder (1968)

2 What they call dirty in our pictures, they call lusty in foreign films.
A. Madsen Billy Wilder (1968)

[Wilder]

3 Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
J. R. Columbo Wit and Wisdom of the Moviemakers (1979)

[Wilder]

4 on Marilyn Monroe's unpunctuality:My Aunt Minnie would always be punctual and never hold up production, but who would pay to see my Aunt Minnie?
P. F. Boller and R. L. Davis Hollywood Anecdotes (1988)

[Wilder]

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Wilder, Thornton 1897–1975 American novelist and dramatist

1 Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she's a householder.
The Merchant of Yonkers (1939)

2 Literature is the orchestration of platitudes.
in Time 12 January 1953

[Wilder]

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Wilensky, Robert 1951– American academic

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".

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Willans, Geoffrey 1911–1958 and Searle, Ronald 1920– English humorous writers

1 As any fule kno.
Down with Skool! (1953)

2 History started badly and hav been geting steadily worse.
Down with Skool! (1953)

[Willans]

3 There is no better xsample of a goody-goody than fotherington-tomas in the world in space. You kno he is the one who sa Hullo Clouds Hullo Sky and skip about like a girly.
How To Be Topp (1954)

[Willans]

4 Still xmas is a good time with all those presents and good food and i hope it will never die out or at any rate not until i am grown up and hav to pay for it all.
How To Be Topp (1954)

[Willans]

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Williams, Heathcote 1941– British dramatist and poet

1
Whales play, in an amniotic paradise.
Their light minds shaped by buoyancy, unrestricted by gravity,
Somersaulting.
Like angels, or birds;
Like our own lives, in the womb.

Whale Nation (1988)

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Williams, Kenneth 1926–1988 English actor

1 The nice thing about quotes is that they give us a nodding acquaintance with the originator which is often socially impressive.
Acid Drops (1980)

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Williams, R. J. P. 1926– English chemist

1 Biology is the search for the chemistry that works.
lecture in Oxford, June 1996

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Williams, Shirley 1930– British Labour and Social Democrat politician

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

2 The Catholic Church has never really come to terms with women. What I object to is being treated either as Madonnas or Mary Magdalenes.
in Observer 22 March 1981

[Williams]

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Williams, Tennessee 1911–1983 American dramatist

1 We're all of us guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.
Camino Real (1953)

2 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)

[Williams]

3 brick: Well, they say nature hates a vacuum, Big Daddy.
big daddy: That's what they say, but sometimes I think that a vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

[Williams]

4 Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out an' death's the other.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

[Williams]

5 I didn't go to the moon, I went much further—for time is the longest distance between two places.
The Glass Menagerie (1945)

[Williams]

6 We're all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life!
Orpheus Descending (1958)

[Williams]

7 Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this merciless glare!
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

[Williams]

8 blanche: I don't want realism.
mitch: Naw, I guess not.
blanche: I'll tell you what I want. Magic!

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

[Williams]

9 I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

[Williams]

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Williams, William Carlos 1883–1963 American poet

1
Minds like beds always made up,
(more stony than a shore)
unwilling or unable.

Paterson (1946)

2
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

"The Red Wheelbarrow" (1923)

[Williams]

3
Is it any better in Heaven, my friend Ford,
Than you found it in Provence?

"To Ford Madox Ford in Heaven" (1944)

[Williams]

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Williamson, Marianne 1953– American writer and philanthropist

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)

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Williamson, Roy 1936–1990 Scottish folksinger and musician

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)

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Willkie, Wendell 1892–1944 American lawyer and politician

1 The constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.
An American Programme (1944)

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Wilson, Angus 1913–1991 English novelist and short-story writer

1 Once a Catholic always a Catholic.
The Wrong Set (1949)

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Wilson, Charles E. 1890–1961 American industrialist; President of General Motors, 1941–53

1 For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa.
testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on his proposed nomination for Secretary of Defence, 15 January 1953

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Wilson, Edward O. 1929– sociobiologist

1 Every human brain is born not as a blank tablet (a tabula rasa) waiting to be filled in by experience but as "an exposed negative waiting to be slipped into developer fluid".on the nature v. nurture debate
attributed; Tom Wolfe in Independent on Sunday 2 February 1997

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Wilson, Harold 1916– British Labour statesman; Prime Minister, 1964–70, 1974–6

1 All these financiers, all the little gnomes in Zurich.
speech, House of Commons, 12 November 1956

2 I myself have always deprecated…in crisis after crisis, appeals to the Dunkirk spirit as an answer to our problems.
in the House of Commons, 26 July 1961

[Wilson]

3 This party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.
speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1962

[Wilson]

4 If I had the choice between smoked salmon and tinned salmon, I'd have it tinned. With vinegar.
in Observer 11 November 1962

[Wilson]

5 The university of the air.an early term for the Open University
in Glasgow Herald 9 September 1963

[Wilson]

6 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]

7 the natural party of government.
in 1965; Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain

[Wilson]

8 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]

9 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]

10 The Monarchy is a labour-intensive industry.
in Observer 13 February 1977

[Wilson]

11 This party is a bit like an old stagecoach. If you drive along at a rapid rate, everyone aboard is either so exhilarated or so seasick that you don't have a lot of difficulty.of the Labour Party
Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Wilson]

12 Whichever party is in office, the Treasury is in power.while in opposition
Anthony Sampson The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)

[Wilson]

13 I'm at my best in a messy, middle-of-the-road muddle.
remark in Cabinet, 21 January 1975; Philip Ziegler Wilson (1993)

[Wilson]

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Wilson, Sandy 1924– English songwriter

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

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Wilson, Woodrow 1856–1924 American Democratic statesman, 28th President of the US, 1913–21

1 The future is not for parties "playing politics", but for measures conceived in the largest spirit, pushed by parties whose leaders are statesmen, not demagogues, who love, not their offices, but their duty and their opportunity for service
speech at Trenton, New Jersey, 5 September 1910

2 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

[Wilson]

3 No nation is fit to sit in judgement upon any other nation.
speech in New York, 20 April 1915

[Wilson]

4 There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight.
speech in Philadelphia, 10 May 1915

[Wilson]

5 We have stood apart, studiously neutral.
speech to Congress, 7 December 1915

[Wilson]

6 It must be a peace without victory…Only a peace between equals can last.
speech to US Senate, 22 January 1917

[Wilson]

7 Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best.
speech to Congress, 2 April 1917

[Wilson]

8 The world must be made safe for democracy.
speech to Congress, 2 April 1917

[Wilson]

9 Once lead this people into war and they will forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance.
John Dos Passos Mr Wilson's War (1917)

[Wilson]

10 Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at.first of Fourteen Points
speech to Congress, 8 January 1918

[Wilson]

11 America is the only idealistic nation in the world.
speech at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 8 September 1919

[Wilson]

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Windsor, Duchess of (Wallis Simpson) 1896–1986 wife of the former Edward VIII

1 You can never be too rich or too thin.
attributed

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Windsor, Duke of

seeEdward VIII

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Winterson, Jeanette 1959– English novelist and critic

1 gave us the term "Post-Impressionist", without realising that the late twentieth century would soon be entirely fenced in with posts.
Art Objects (1995)

2 No one working in the English language now comes close to my exuberance, my passion, my fidelity to words.on being asked to name the best living author writing in English
in Sunday Times 13 March 1994

[Winterson]

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Wittgenstein, Ludwig 1889–1951 Austrian-born philosopher

1 Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.
Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953)

2 What is your aim in philosophy?—To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.
Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953)

[Wittgenstein]

3 What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

[Wittgenstein]

4 The world is everything that is the case.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

[Wittgenstein]

5 The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)

[Wittgenstein]

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Wodehouse, P. G. 1881–1975 English writer; an American citizen from 1955

1 Chumps always make the best husbands…All the unhappy marriages come from the husbands having brains.
The Adventures of Sally (1920)

2 It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935) "The Custody of the Pumpkin"

[Wodehouse]

3 There was another ring at the front door. Jeeves shimmered out and came back with a telegram.
Carry On, Jeeves! (1925) "Jeeves Takes Charge"

[Wodehouse]

4 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)

[Wodehouse]

5 Slice him where you like, a hellhound is always a hellhound.
The Code of the Woosters (1938)

[Wodehouse]

6 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)

[Wodehouse]

7 Roderick Spode? Big chap with a small moustache and the sort of eye that can open an oyster at sixty paces?
The Code of the Woosters (1938)

[Wodehouse]

8 To my daughter Leonora without whose never-failing sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time.
The Heart of a Goof (1926) dedication

[Wodehouse]

9 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)

[Wodehouse]

10 When Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps.
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)

[Wodehouse]

11 It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of medical thought.
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)

[Wodehouse]

12 It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
The Man Upstairs (1914)

[Wodehouse]

13 He trusted neither of them as far as he could spit, and he was a poor spitter, lacking both distance and control.
Money in the Bank (1946)

[Wodehouse]

14 She fitted into my biggest armchair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing armchairs tight about the hips that season.
My Man Jeeves (1919) "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"

[Wodehouse]

15 Ice formed on the butler's upper slopes.
Pigs Have Wings (1952)

[Wodehouse]

16 The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say "When!"
Very Good, Jeeves (1930) "Jeeves and the Impending Doom"

[Wodehouse]

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Wogan, Terry 1938– Irish broadcaster

1 Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it.
in Observer 30 December 1984 "Sayings of the Year"

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Wolf, Naomi 1962–

1 To ask women to become unnaturally thin is to ask them to relinquish their sexuality.
The Beauty Myth (1990)

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Wolfe, Humbert 1886–1940 British poet

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)

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Wolfe, Thomas 1900–1938 American novelist

1 Most of the time we think we're sick, it's all in the mind.
Look Homeward, Angel (1929)

2 "Where they got you stationed now, Luke?"…"In Norfolk at the Navy base," Luke answered, "m-m-making the world safe for hypocrisy."
Look Homeward, Angel (1929).

[Wolfe]

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Wolfe, Tom 1931– American writer

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)

[Wolfe]

3 Electric Kool-Aid Acid test.
title of novel on hippy culture (1968)

[Wolfe]

4 By day, Structuralists constructed the structure of meaning and pondered the meaning of structure. By night, Deconstructionists pulled the cortical edifice down. And the next day the Structuralists started in again.
From Bauhaus to Our House (1981)

[Wolfe]

5 We are now in the Me Decade—seeing the upward roll of…the third great religious wave in American history…and this one has the mightiest, holiest roll of all, the beat that goes…Me…Me…Me…Me.
Mauve Gloves and Madmen (1976) "The Me Decade"

[Wolfe]

6 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]

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Wolpert, Lewis 1929– English biologist

1 If Watson and Crick had not discovered the nature of DNA, one can be virtually certain that other scientists would eventually have determined it. With art—whether painting, music or literature—it is quite different. If Shakespeare had not written Hamlet, no other playwright would have done so.
The Unnatural Nature of Science (1993)

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Wolstenholme, Kenneth 1920–2002 English sports commentator

1 They think it's all over—it is now.
television commentary in closing moments of the World Cup Final, 30 July 1966

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Woods, Tiger American golfer

1 Growing up, I came up with this name: I'm a Cablinasian.explaining his rejection of "African-American" as the term to describe his Caucasian, Afro-American, Native American, Thai, and Chinese ancestry
interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, 21 April 1997

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Woodcock, George 1912–1995 Canadian writer

1 Canadians do not like heroes, and so they do not have them.
Canada and the Canadians (1970)

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Woodrooffe, Thomas 1899–1978 British naval officer

1 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

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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)

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Woolf, Virginia 1882–1941 English novelist

1 Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.
The Common Reader (1925) "Modern Fiction"

2 Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title.
Jacob's Room (1922)

[Woolf]

3 On or about December 1910 human nature changed…All human relations have shifted—those between masters and servants, husbands and wives, parents and children. And when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature.
"Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown" (1924)

[Woolf]

4 A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.
A Room of One's Own (1929)

[Woolf]

5 Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural size.
A Room of One's Own (1929)

[Woolf]

6 Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.
A Room of One's Own (1929)

[Woolf]

7 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)

[Woolf]

8 So that is marriage, Lily thought, a man and a woman looking at a girl throwing a ball.
To the Lighthouse (1927)

[Woolf]

9 I have lost friends, some by death…others through sheer inability to cross the street.
The Waves (1931)

[Woolf]

10 The vast events now shaping across the Channel are towering over us too closely and too tremendously to be worked into fiction without a painful jolt in the perspective.
in Times Literary Supplement 1 March 1917

[Woolf]

11 What sort of diary should I like mine to be?…I should like it to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through.
diary, 20 April 1919

[Woolf]

12 One likes people much better when they're battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.
diary, 13 August 1921

[Woolf]

13 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]

14 I enjoy almost everything. Yet I have some restless searcher in me. Why is there not a discovery in life? Something one can lay one's hands on and say "This is it”?
diary, 27 February 1926

[Woolf]

15 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]

16 And now with some pleasure I find that it's seven; and must cook dinner. Haddock and sausage meat. I think it is true that one gains a certain hold on sausage and haddock by writing them down.
diary, 8 March 1941

[Woolf]

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Woollcott, Alexander 1887–1943 American writer

1 She was like a sinking ship firing on the rescuers.of Mrs Patrick Campbell
While Rome Burns (1944) "The First Mrs Tanqueray"

2 She is so odd a blend of Little Nell and Lady Macbeth. It is not so much the familiar phenomenon of a hand of steel in a velvet glove as a lacy sleeve with a bottle of vitriol concealed in its folds.of Dorothy Parker
While Rome Burns (1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

[Woollcott]

3 A broker is a man who takes your fortune and runs it into a shoestring.
S. Hopkins Adams Alexander Woollcott (1945)

[Woollcott]

4 All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.
R. E. Drennan Wit's End (1973)

[Woollcott]

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Worrall, Terry spokesman for British Rail

1 It was the wrong kind of snow.explaining disruption on British Rail
in The Independent 16 February 1991

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Wran, Neville 1926– Australian politician

1 The average footslogger in the New South Wales Right…generally speaking carries a dagger in one hand and a Bible in the other and doesn't put either to really elegant use.
in 1973; Michael Gordon A Question of Leadership (1993)

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Wright, Frank Lloyd 1867–1959 American architect

1 The necessities were going by default to save the luxuries until I hardly knew which were necessities and which luxuries.
Autobiography (1945)

2 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

[Wright]

3 The modern city is a place for banking and prostitution and very little else.
Robert C. Twombly Frank Lloyd Wright (1973)

[Wright]

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Wu, Harry Chinese-born American political activist

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

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Wynette, Tammy 1942–1998 and Sherrill, Billy c.1938–

1 Stand by your man.
title of song (1968)

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Y

Yates, John 1925– English theologian; Bishop of Gloucester from 1975

1 There is a lot to be said in the Decade of Evangelism for believing more and more in less and less.
in Gloucester Diocesan Gazette August 1991

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Yeats, W. B. 1865–1939 Irish poet

1
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

"Among School Children" (1928)

2
Only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.

"Anne Gregory" (1932)

[Yeats]

3
The unpurged images of day recede;
The Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed.

"Byzantium" (1933)

[Yeats]

4
A starlit or a moonlit dome distains
All that man is;
All mere complexities,
The fury and the mire of human veins.

"Byzantium" (1933)

[Yeats]

5
Those images that yet
Fresh images beget,
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.

"Byzantium" (1933)

[Yeats]

6
Now that my ladder's gone
I must lie down where all ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.

"The Circus Animals' Desertion" (1939)

[Yeats]

7
We were the last romantics—chose for theme
Traditional sanctity and loveliness.

"Coole and Ballylee, 1931" (1933)

[Yeats]

8
The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

"Coole Park and Ballylee, 1932" (1933)

[Yeats]

9
A woman can be proud and stiff
When on love intent;
But 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]

10
Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all.

"Death" (1933)

[Yeats]

11
He knows death to the bone—
Man has created death.

"Death" (1933)

[Yeats]

12
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

"Easter, 1916" (1921)

[Yeats]

13
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.

"Easter, 1916" (1921)

[Yeats]

14
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]

15
The rhetorician would deceive his neighbours,
The sentimentalist himself; while art
Is but a vision of reality.

"Ego Dominus Tuus" (1917)

[Yeats]

16
The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.

"The Fascination of What's Difficult" (1910)

[Yeats]

17
The friends that have it I do wrong
When ever I remake a song,
Should know what issue is at stake:
It is myself that I remake.

"The friends that have it I do wrong" (1908)

[Yeats]

18
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;
The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.

"From Oedipus at Colonus" (1928); see below
Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.
Sophocles (c.496–406 bc) Oedipus Coloneus

[Yeats]

19
The ghost of Roger Casement
Is beating on the door.

"The Ghost of Roger Casement" (1939)

[Yeats]

20
The innocent and the beautiful
Have no enemy but time.

"In Memory of Eva Gore Booth and Con Markiewicz" (1933)

[Yeats]

21
My country is Kiltartan Cross;
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor!

"An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" (1919)

[Yeats]

22
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds.

"An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" (1919)

[Yeats]

23
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

"An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" (1919)

[Yeats]

24
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.

"Leda and the Swan" (1928)

[Yeats]

25
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.

"Long-Legged Fly" (1939)

[Yeats]

26
Did that play of mine send out
Certain men the English shot?

"The Man and the Echo" (1939)

[Yeats]

27
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]

28
Think where man's glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.

"The Municipal Gallery Re-visited" (1939)

[Yeats]

29
I think it better that at times like these
We poets keep our mouths shut, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
He's had enough of meddling who can please
A young girl in the indolence of her youth
Or an old man upon a winter's night.

"On being asked for a War Poem" (1919)

[Yeats]

30
Where, where but here have Pride and Truth,
That long to give themselves for wage,
To shake their wicked sides at youth
Restraining reckless middle age?

"On hearing that the Students of our New University have joined the Agitation against Immoral Literature" (1910)

[Yeats]

31
An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.

"A Prayer for My Daughter" (1920)

[Yeats]

32
Out of Ireland have we come.
Great hatred, little room,
Maimed us at the start.

"Remorse for Intemperate Speech" (1933)

[Yeats]

33
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees—
Those dying generations—at their song.

"Sailing to Byzantium" (1928)

[Yeats]

34
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.

"Sailing to Byzantium" (1928)

[Yeats]

35
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

"Sailing to Byzantium" (1928)

[Yeats]

36
All shuffle there; all cough in ink;
All wear the carpet with their shoes;
All think what other people think;
All know the man their neighbour knows.
Lord, what would they say
Did their Catullus walk that way?

"The Scholars" (1919)

[Yeats]

37
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]

38
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

"The Second Coming" (1921)

[Yeats]

39
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

"September, 1913" (1914)

[Yeats]

40
Oh, who could have foretold
That the heart grows old?

"A Song" (1919)

[Yeats]

41
You think it horrible that lust and rage
Should dance attendance upon my old age;
They were not such a plague when I was young;
What else have I to spur me into song?

"The Spur" (1939)

[Yeats]

42
Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast.

"Swift's Epitaph" (1933); see below
Ubi saeva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit.Where fierce indignation can no longer tear his heart.
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) epitaph

[Yeats]

43
But where's the wild dog that has praised his fleas?

"To a Poet, Who would have Me Praise certain bad Poets, Imitators of His and of Mine" (1910)

[Yeats]

44
Michaelangelo left a proof
On the Sistine Chapel roof,
Where but half-awakened Adam
Can disturb globe-trotting Madam.

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939)

[Yeats]

45
Irish poets, learn your trade,
Sing whatever is well made.

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939)

[Yeats]

46
Cast your mind on other days
That we in coming days may be
Still the indomitable Irishry.

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939)

[Yeats]

47
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman pass by!

"Under Ben Bulben" (1939)

[Yeats]

48 We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.
Essays (1924) "Anima Hominis"

[Yeats]

49 Even when the poet seems most himself…he is never the bundle of accident and incoherence that sits down to breakfast; he has been reborn as an idea, something intended, complete.
Essays and Introductions (1961) "A General Introduction for my Work"

[Yeats]

50 In dreams begins responsibility.
Responsibilities (1914) epigraph

[Yeats]

51 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, in the debate on divorce

[Yeats]

52 Think like a wise man but express yourself like the common people.
letter to Dorothy Wellesley, 21 December 1935; see below
He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do; and so should every man understand him, and the judgement of wise men allow him.
Roger Ascham (1515–68) Toxophilus (1545)

[Yeats]

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Yeltsin, Boris 1931– Russian statesman, President of the Russian Federation since 1991

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 Europe is in danger of plunging into a cold peace.at the summit meeting of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
in Newsweek 19 December 1994.

[Yeltsin]

3 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]

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Yesenin, Sergei 1895–1925 Russian poet

1
It's always the good feel rotten.
Pleasure's for those who are bad.

"Pleasure's for the Bad" (1923)

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Yevtushenko, Yevgeny 1933– Russian poet

1
Over Babiy Yar
There are no memorials.
The steep hillside like a rough inscription.

"Babiy Yar" (1961)

2
So on and on
we walked without thinking of rest
passing craters, passing fire,
under the rocking sky of '41
tottering crazy on its smoking columns.

"The Companion" (1954)

[Yevtushenko]

3 Life is a rainbow which also includes black.
in Guardian 11 August 1987

[Yevtushenko]

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Yokoi, Shoichi 1915–1997 Japanese soldier

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

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York, Sarah, Duchess of 1959–

1 I think it's a fresh, clean page. I think I go onwards and upwards.the day before her divorce was made absolute
in an interview on Sky News 29 May 1996; in Daily Telegraph 30 May 1996

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Young, Andrew 1932– American clergyman and diplomat

1 Nothing is illegal if one hundred well-placed business men decide to do it.
Morris K. Udall Too Funny to be President (1988)

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Young, G. M. 1882–1959 English historian

1 Being published by the Oxford University Press is rather like being married to a duchess: the honour is almost greater than the pleasure.
Rupert Hart-Davis, letter to George Lyttelton, 29 April 1956

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Young, Neil 1945– and Blackburn, Jeff Canadian singer and songwriter

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)

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Z

Zamyatin, Yevgeny 1884–1937 Russian writer

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) introduction

2 Yesterday there was a tsar and there were slaves; today there is no tsar, but the slaves remain; tomorrow there will be only tsars…We have lived through the epoch of suppression of the masses; we are living in an epoch of suppression of the individual in the name of the masses; tomorrow will bring the liberation of the individual—in the name of man.
"Tomorrow" (1919) in A Soviet Heretic (1970)

[Zamyatin]

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Zangwill, Israel 1864–1926 Jewish spokesman and writer

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)

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Zapata, Emiliano 1879–1919 Mexican revolutionary

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

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Zappa, Frank 1940–1993 American rock musician and songwriter

1 A drug is neither moral or immoral—it's a chemical compound. The compound itself is not a menace to society until a human being treats it as if consumption bestowed a temporary licence to act like an asshole.
The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989)

2 Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read.
L. Botts Loose Talk (1980)

[Zappa]

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Zephaniah, Benjamin 1958– British poet

1 I think poetry should be alive. You should be able to dance it.
in Sunday Times 23 August 1987

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Zhvanetsky, Mikhail 1934– Russian writer

1 We enjoyed…his slyness. He mastered the art of walking backward into the future. He would say "After me". And some people went ahead, and some went behind, and he would go backward.of Mikhail Gorbachev
in Time 12 September 1994; attributed

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Ziegler, Philip 1929– British historian

1 Remember. In Spite of Everything, He Was A Great Man.notice kept on his desk while working on his biography of Mountbatten (published 1985)
Andrew Roberts Eminent Churchillians (1994)

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Ziegler, Ronald L. 1939– American government spokesman

1 is the Operative White House Position…and all previous statements are inoperative.at the time of the Watergate Affair
in Boston Globe 18 April 1973

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Zinoviev, Grigori 1883–1936 Soviet politician

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; the "Zinoviev Letter", said by some to be a forgery

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Zobel, Hiller B. American judge

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.
In this country, we do not administer justice by plebiscite. A judge…is a public servant who must follow his conscience, whether or not he counters the manifest wishes of those he serves; whether or not his decision seems a surrender to prevalent demands.
judicial ruling reducing the conviction of Louise Woodward from murder to manslaughter, 10 November 1997

[Zobel]

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OXFORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations

Project Team
Managing Editor

Elizabeth Knowles

Senior Editor

Susan Ratcliffe

Index Editor

Christina Malkowska Zaba

Library Research

Ralph Bates

Marie G. Diaz

Reading Programme

Charlotte Graves Taylor

Jean Harker

Verity Mason

Penelope Newsome

Helen Rappaport

Data Capture

Sandra Vaughan

Proof-reading

Fabia Claris

Penny Trumble

We are grateful to Gerald Blick for additional research.

Edited by Elizabeth Knowles
The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations aims to provide the reader with an accurate snapshot of the developments and the spirit of the century. A collection of over 5,000 quotations, it covers the arts and popular culture, as well as scientific, social, and historical fields. Coverage is also given to quotations not primarily recognized by their author, such as advertising and political slogans, catchphrases, film lines, and common misquotations.
Elizabeth Knowles has been managing Editor of Oxford Quotations Dictionaries since 1993 and is a historical lexicographer, having previously worked for ten years on the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

ISBN 0198608551

First published 1998. First published as an Oxford University Press paperback 1999

E-book copyright © 2003.

© Oxford University Press 1998, 2002