The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (15 page)

Do you remember an Inn?

And the tedding and the spreading

Of the straw for a bedding,

And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees

And the wine that tasted of the tar?

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "Tarantella"

When I am dead, I hope it may be said:

"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "On His Books"

The Devil, having nothing else to do,

Went off to tempt My Lady Poltagrue.

My Lady, tempted by a private whim,

To his extreme annoyance, tempted him.

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "On Lady Poltagrue"

Of this bad world the loveliest and the best

Has smiled and said "Good Night," and gone to rest.

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "On a Dead Hostess"

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).

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "On a Great Election"

Lady, when your lovely head

Droops to sink among the Dead,

And the quiet places keep

You that so divinely sleep;

Then the dead shall bless�d be

With a new solemnity,

For such Beauty, so descending,

Pledges them that Death is ending,

Sleep your fill--but when you wake

Dawn shall over Lethe break.

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "On a Sleeping Friend"

I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.

But Money gives me pleasure all the time.

Sonnets and Verse (1923) "Fatigued"

Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,

But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

Sonnets and Verse (ed. 2, 1938) "The Pacifist"

I am a sundial, and I make a botch

Of what is done much better by a watch.

Sonnets and Verse (ed. 2, 1938) "On a Sundial"

From the towns all Inns have been driven: from the villages most....Change

your hearts or you will lose your Inns and you will deserve to have lost

them. But when you have lost your Inns drown your empty selves, for you

will have lost the last of England.

This and That (1912) "On Inns"

When I am living in the Midlands

That are sodden and unkind,

I light my lamp in the evening:

My work is left behind;

And the great hills of the South Country

Come back into my mind.

Verses (1910) "The South Country"

If I ever become a rich man,

Or if ever I grow to be old,

I will build a house with deep thatch

To shelter me from the cold,

And there shall the Sussex songs be sung

And the story of Sussex told.

I will hold my house in the high wood

Within a walk of the sea,

And the men that were boys when I was a boy

Shall sit and drink with me.

Verses (1910) "The South Country"

Of Courtesy, it is much less

Than Courage of Heart or Holiness,

Yet in my Walks it seems to me

That the Grace of God is in Courtesy.

Verses (1910) "Courtesy"

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.

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

From quiet homes and first beginning,

Out to the undiscovered ends,

There's nothing worth the wear of winning,

But laughter and the love of friends.

Verses (1910) "Dedicatory Ode"

Remote and ineffectual Don

That dared attack my Chesterton.

Verses (1910) "Lines to a Don"

Don different from those regal Dons!

With hearts of gold and lungs of bronze,

Who shout and bang and roar and bawl

The Absolute across the hall,

Or sail in amply billowing gown

Enormous through the Sacred Town,

Bearing from College to their homes

Deep cargoes of gigantic tomes;

Dons admirable! Dons of Might!

Uprising on my inward sight

Compact of ancient tales, and port

And sleep--and learning of a sort.

Verses (1910) "Lines to a Don"

A smell of burning fills the startled Air--

The Electrician is no longer there!

Verses (1910) "Newdigate Poem"

I said to Heart, "How goes it?" Heart replied:

"Right as a Ribstone Pippin!" But it lied.

Verses (1910) "The False Heart"

The Moon on the one hand, the Dawn on the other;

The Moon is my sister, the Dawn is my brother.

The Moon on my Left and the Dawn on my right.

My Brother, good morning: my Sister good night.

Verses and Sonnets (1896) "The Early Morning"

2.46 Saul Bellow =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1915-

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

Herzog (1961) p. 1 (opening sentence)

The idea, anyway, was to ward off trouble. But now the moronic inferno had

caught up with me. My elegant car...was mutilated.

Humboldt's Gift (1975) p. 35

The only real distinction at this dangerous moment in human history and

cosmic development has nothing to do with medals and ribbons. Not to fall

asleep is distinguished. Everything else is mere popcorn.

Humboldt's Gift (1975) p. 283

I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in

the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the

eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of

attention in the midst of distraction.

In George Plimpton Writers at Work (1967) 3rd series, p. 190

2.47 Robert Benchley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1889-1945

I haven't been abroad in so long that I almost speak English without an

accent now.

After 1903--What? (1938) p. 241

On a summer vacation trip Benchley arrived in Venice and immediately wired

a friend: "streets flooded. please advise."

In R. E. Drennan Algonquin Wits (1968) p. 45

I do most of my work sitting down; that's where I shine.

In R. E. Drennan Algonquin Wits (1968) p. 55

My only solution for the problem of habitual accidents and, so far, nobody

has asked me for my solution, is to stay in bed all day. Even then, there

is always the chance that you will fall out.

Chips off the old Benchley (1949) "Safety Second"

I had just dozed off into a stupor when I heard what I thought was myself

talking to myself. I didn't pay much attention to it, as I knew

practically everything I would have to say to myself, and wasn't

particularly interested.

Chips off the old Benchley (1949) "First Pigeon of Spring"

A great many people have come up to me and asked how I manage to get so

much work done and still keep looking so dissipated.

Chips off the old Benchley (1949) "How to get things Done"

The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing

a typewriter ribbon.

Chips off the old Benchley (1949) "Learn to Write"

Bob Benchley was one of the few writers I knew who always laughed at other

writers' lines. I always laughed at one of his. When he returned for his

twenty-fifth homecoming at Harvard [in 1937], he stated to underclassmen,

"I feel as I always have, except for an occasional heart attack."

Groucho Marx Grouchophile (1976) p. 204

The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him.

My Ten Years in a Quandary (1936) p. 204

Tell us your phobias and we will tell you what you are afraid of.

My Ten Years in a Quandary (1936) p. 295

He [Benchley] came out of a night club one evening and, tapping a

uniformed figure on the shoulder, said, "Get me a cab." The uniformed

figure turned around furiously and informed him that he was not a doorman

but a rear admiral. "O.K.," said Benchley, "Get me a battleship."

New Yorker 5 Jan. 1946

The famous office that Benchley and Dorothy Parker shared in the

Metropolitan Opera House...was a cramped triangle stolen from a hallway.

"One square foot less and it would be adulterous," said Benchley.

New Yorker 5 Jan. 1946

In America there are two classes of travel--first class, and with

children.

Pluck and Luck (1925) p. 6

Often Daddy sat up very late working on a case of Scotch.

Pluck and Luck (1925) p. 198

A friend told him that the particular drink he was drinking was slow

poison, and he replied, "So who's in a hurry?"

Nathaniel Benchley Robert Benchley (1955) ch. 1

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.

In Nathaniel Benchley Robert Benchley (1955) ch. 1

See also Mae West (23.29)

2.48 Julien Benda =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1867-1956

La trahison des clercs.

The treachery of the intellectuals.

Title of book (1927)

2.49 Stephen Vincent Ben�t =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1898-1943

We thought we were done with these things but we were wrong.

We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.

Atlantic Monthly Sept. 1935 "Litany for Dictatorships"

I have fallen in love with American names,

The sharp, gaunt names that never get fat,

The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,

The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat,

Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.

Yale Review (1927) vol. 17, p. 63 "American Names"

I shall not rest quiet in Montparnasse.

I shall not lie easy at Winchelsea.

You may bury my body in Sussex grass,

You may bury my tongue at Champm�dy.

I shall not be there, I shall rise and pass.

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.

Yale Review (1927) vol. 17, p. 64 "American Names"

2.50 William Rose Ben�t =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1886-1950

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.

Burglar of Zodiac (1918) "Mad Blake"

2.51 Tony Benn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1925-

A holy war with atom bombs could end the human family for ever. I say this

as a socialist whose political commitment owes much more to the teachings

of Jesus--without the mysteries within which they are presented--than to

the writings of Marx whose analysis seems to lack an understanding of the

deeper needs of humanity.

Arguments for Democracy (1981) ch. 7

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.

In Alan Freeman The Benn Heresy (1982) p. 172

In developing our industrial strategy for the period ahead, we have the

benefit of much experience. Almost everything has been tried at least

once.

Hansard 13 Mar. 1974, col. 197

Broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcasters.

In Anthony Sampson The New Anatomy of Britain (1971) ch. 24

It is arguable that what has really happened has amounted to such a

breakdown in the social contract, upon which parliamentary democracy by

universal suffrage was based, that that contract now needs to be

re-negotiated on a basis that shares power much more widely, before it can

win general assent again.

The New Politics (1970) ch. 4

The British House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired

politicians.

In Observer 4 Feb. 1962

We thought we could put the economy right in five years. We were wrong.

It will probably take ten.

Speech at Bristol, 18 Apr. 1968, in The Times 19 Apr. 1968

2.52 George Bennard =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1873-1958

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it some day for a crown.

The Old Rugged Cross (1913 hymn)

2.53 Alan Bennett =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1934-

Life, you know, is rather like opening a tin of sardines. We are all of

us looking for the key. And, I wonder, how many of you here tonight have

wasted years of your lives looking behind the kitchen dressers of this

life for that key. I know I have. Others think they've found the key,

don't they? They roll back the lid of the sardine tin of life, they reveal

the sardines, the riches of life, therein, and they get them out, they

enjoy them. But, you know, there's always a little bit in the corner you

can't get out. I wonder--I wonder, is there a little bit in the corner of

your life? I know there is in mine.

Beyond the Fringe (1961 revue) "Take a Pew," in Roger Wilmut Complete

Beyond the Fringe (1987) p. 104

I have never understood this liking for war. It panders to instincts

already catered for within the scope of any respectable domestic