The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (11 page)

How much they cost each other and the gods!

A culture is no better than its woods.

Shield of Achilles (1955) "Bucolics"

To save your world you asked this man to die:

Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

Shield of Achilles (1955) "Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier"

Out of the air a voice without a face

Proved by statistics that some cause was just

In tones as dry and level as the place.

Shield of Achilles (1955) "The Shield of Achilles"

Tomorrow for the young the poets exploding like bombs,

The walks by the lake, the weeks of perfect communion;

Tomorrow the bicycle races

Through the suburbs on summer evenings. But today the struggle.

Spain (1937) p. 11

The stars are dead. The animals will not look:

We are left alone with our day, and the time is short, and

History to the defeated

May say Alas but cannot help nor pardon.

Spain (1937) p. 12

In a garden shady this holy lady

With reverent cadence and subtle psalm,

Like a black swan as death came on

Poured forth her song in perfect calm:

And by ocean's margin this innocent virgin

Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer,

And notes tremendous from her great engine

Thundered out on the Roman air.

Blonde Aphrodite rose up excited,

Moved to delight by the melody,

White as an orchid she rode quite naked

In an oyster shell on top of the sea.

Three Songs for St Cecilia's Day (1941). Dedicated to Benjamin Britten,

and set to music by Britten as Hymn to St Cecilia , op. 27 (1942)

Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions

To all musicians, appear and inspire:

Translated Daughter, come down and startle

Composing mortals with immortal fire.

Three Songs for St Cecilia's Day (1941)

No opera plot can be sensible, for in sensible situations people do not

sing. An opera plot must be, in both senses of the word, a melodrama.

Times Literary Supplement 2 Nov. 1967, p. 1038

Your cameraman might enjoy himself because my face looks like a

wedding-cake left out in the rain.

In Humphrey Carpenter W. H. Auden (1981) pt. 2, ch. 6

You [Stephen Spender] are so infinitely capable of being humiliated. Art

is born of humiliation.

In Stephen Spender World Within World (1951) ch. 2

1.68 W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

W. H. Auden 1907-1973

Christopher Isherwood 1904-1986

Happy the hare at morning, for she cannot read

The Hunter's waking thoughts.

Dog beneath the Skin (1935) chorus following act 2, sc. 2

1.69 Tex Avery (Fred Avery) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1907-1980

What's up, Doc?

Catch-phrase in Bugs Bunny cartoons, from circa 1940

1.70 Earl of Avon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See Sir Anthony Eden (5.4)

1.71 Revd W. Awdry =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1911-

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) p. 46

1.72 Alan Ayckbourn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1939-

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) act 2

This place, you tell them you're interested in the arts, you get messages

of sympathy.

Chorus of Disapproval (1986) act 2

Do you realize, Mrs Foster, the hours I've put into that woman? When I

met her, you know, she was nothing. Nothing at all. With my own hands I

have built her up. Encouraging her to join the public library and make

use of her non-fiction tickets.

How the Other Half Loves (1972) act 2, sc. 1

I only wanted to make you happy.

Round and Round the Garden (1975) act 2, sc. 2

If you gave Ruth a rose, she'd peel all the petals off to make sure there

weren't any greenfly. And when she'd done that, she'd turn round and say,

do you call that a rose? Look at it, it's all in bits.

Table Manners (1975) act 1, sc. 2

I always feel with Norman that I have him on loan from somewhere. Like one

of his library books.

Table Manners (1975) act 2, sc. 1

1.73 A. J. Ayer =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1910-1989

No moral system can rest solely on authority.

Humanist Outlook (1968) introduction

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 Aug. 1986

1.74 Pam Ayres =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1947-

I am a bunny rabbit,

Sitting in me hutch,

I like to sit up this end,

I don't care for that end, much,

I'm glad tomorrow's Thursday,

'Cause with a bit of luck,

As far as I remember,

That's the day they pass the buck.

Some of Me Poetry (1976) "The Bunny Poem"

Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth,

And spotted the perils beneath,

All the toffees I chewed,

And the sweet sticky food,

Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth.

Some of Me Poetry (1976) "Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth"

I might have been a farmyard hen,

Scratchin' in the sun,

There might have been a crowd of chicks,

After me to run,

There might have been a cockerel fine,

To pay us his respects,

Instead of sittin' here,

Till someone comes and wrings our necks.

I see the Time and Motion clock,

Is sayin' nearly noon,

I 'spec me squirt of water,

Will come flyin' at me soon,

And then me spray of pellets,

Will nearly break me leg,

And I'll bite the wire nettin'

And lay one more bloody egg.

Some of Me Poetry (1976) "The Battery Hen"

Medicinal discovery,

It moves in mighty leaps,

It leapt straight past the common cold

And gave it us for keeps.

Now I'm not a fussy woman,

There's no malice in me eye

But I wish that they could cure

the common cold. That's all. Goodbye.

Some of Me Poetry (1976) "Oh no, I got a cold"

2.0 B =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

2.1 Robert Baden-Powell (Baron Baden-Powell) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1857-1941

The scouts' motto is founded on my initials, it is: be prepared, which

means, you are always to be in a state of readiness in mind and body to do

your duty.

Scouting for Boys (1908) pt. 1

2.2 Joan Baez =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1941-

The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of

non-violence has been the organization of violence.

Daybreak (1970) "What Would You Do If?"

2.3 Sydney D. Bailey =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1916-

It has been said that this Minister [the Lord Privy Seal] is neither a

Lord, nor a privy, nor a seal.

British Parliamentary Democracy (ed. 3, 1971) ch. 8

2.4 Bruce Bairnsfather =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1959

Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it.

Fragments from France (1915) p. 1

2.5 Hylda Baker =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1986

She knows, you know!

Catch-phrase used in comedy act, about her friend Cynthia

2.6 James Baldwin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1924-1987

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.

Esquire May 1961 "Black Boy looks at the White Boy"

The fire next time.

Title of book (1963). Cf. Anonymous 6:12

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.

Harper's Magazine Oct. 1953 "Stranger in a Village"

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.

New Yorker 17 Nov. 1962 "Down at the Cross"

If they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.

New York Review of Books 7 Jan. 1971 "Open Letter to my Sister, Angela

Davis"

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.

Speech at Cambridge University, 17 Feb. 1965, in New York Times Magazine 7

March 1965, p. 32

The situation of our youth is not mysterious. 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"

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"

Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something

people take and people are as free as they want to be.

Nobody Knows My Name (1961) "Notes for a Hypothetical Novel"

2.7 Stanley Baldwin (Earl Baldwin of Bewdley) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1867-1947

Do not run up your nose dead against the Pope or the NUM!

In Lord Butler Art of Memory (1982) p. 110

You will find in politics that you are much exposed to the attribution of

false motive. Never complain and never explain.

In Harold Nicolson Diary (1967) 21 July 1943

They [parliament] are a lot of hard-faced men who look as if they had done

very well out of the war.

In J. M. Keynes Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919) ch. 5

A platitude is simply a truth repeated until people get tired of hearing

it.

Hansard 29 May 1924, col. 727

I think it is well also for the man in the street to realize that there is

no power on earth that can protect him from being bombed. Whatever people

may tell him, 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.

Hansard 10 Nov. 1932, col. 632

Let us never forget this; 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.

Hansard 30 July 1934, col. 2339

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 case, and I guarantee that not a man would go into the lobby against

us.

Hansard 10 Dec. 1935, col. 856

I put before the whole House my own views with an appalling frankness.

...Supposing I had gone to the country and said that Germany was rearming

and that we must rearm, does anybody think that this pacific democracy

would have rallied to that cry at that moment? I cannot think of anything

that would have made the loss of the election from my point of view more

certain.

Hansard 12 Nov. 1936, col. 1144

There are three classes which need sanctuary more than others--birds, wild

flowers, and Prime Ministers.

In Observer 24 May 1925

Then comes Winston with his hundred-horse-power mind and what can I do?

In G. M. Young Stanley Baldwin (1952) ch. 11

The intelligent are to the intelligentsia what a gentleman is to a gent.

In G. M. Young Stanley Baldwin (1952) ch. 13

"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.

The Times 21 May 1929

Had the employers of past generations all of them dealt fairly with their

men there would have been no unions.

Speech in Birmingham, 14 Jan. 1931, in The Times 15 Jan. 1931

2.8 Arthur James Balfour (Earl of Balfour) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1848-1930

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.

Letter to Lord Rothschild 2 Nov. 1917, in K. Young A. J. Balfour (1963) p.

478

Frank Harris...said..."The fact is, Mr Balfour, all the faults of the age

come from Christianity and journalism." To which Arthur

replied..."Christianity, of course...but why journalism?"

Margot Asquith Autobiography (1920) vol. 1, ch. 10

I never forgive but I always forget.

In R. Blake Conservative Party (1970) ch. 7

I thought he [Churchill] was a young man of promise, but it appears he is

a young man of promises.

In Winston Churchill My Early Life (1930) ch. 17