The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (19 page)

attributed to Charles A. Dana)

2.97 Niels Bohr =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1885-1962

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.

In S. Rozental Niels Bohr (1967) p. 328

2.98 Alan Bold =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1943-

They mattered more than they should have. It is so

In Scotland, land of the omnipotent No.

Perpetual Motion Machine (1969) "A Memory of Death"

2.99 Robert Bolt =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1924-

Morality's not practical. Morality's a gesture. A complicated gesture

learned from books.

A Man for All Seasons (1960) act 2

2.100 Andrew Bonar Law =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1858-1923

If, therefore, war should ever come between these two countries [Great

Britain and Germany], which Heaven forbid! it will not, I think, be due to

irresistible natural laws; it will be due to the want of human wisdom.

Hansard 27 Nov. 1911, col. 167

If I am a great man, then all great men are frauds.

In Lord Beaverbrook Politicians and the War (1932) vol. 2, ch. 4

2.101 Carrie Jacobs Bond =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1862-1946

When you come to the end of a perfect day,

And you sit alone with your thought,

While the chimes ring out with a carol gay

For the joy that the day has brought,

Do you think what the end of a perfect day

Can mean to a tired heart,

When the sun goes down with a flaming ray,

And the dear friends have to part?

Well, this is the end of a perfect day,

Near the end of a journey, too;

But it leaves a thought that is big and strong,

With a wish that is kind and true.

For mem'ry has painted this perfect day

With colours that never fade,

And we find, at the end of a perfect day,

The soul of a friend we've made.

A Perfect Day (1910 song)

2.102 Sir David Bone =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1874-1959

It's "Damn you, Jack--I'm all right!" with you chaps.

Brassbounder (1910) ch. 3

2.103 Dietrich Bonhoeffer =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-1945

Es ist der Vorzug und das Wesen der Starken, dass sie die grossen

Entscheidungsfragen stellen und zu ihnen klar Stellung nehmen k�nnen. Die

Schwachen m�ssen sich immer zwischen Alternativen entscheiden, die nicht

die ihren sind.

It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring

out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak

always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.

Widerstand und Ergebung (Resistance and Submission, 1951) "Ein paat

Gedanken �ber Verschiedenes"

Jesus nur "f�r andere da ist."...Gott in Menschengestalt!...nicht die

griechische Gott-Menschgestalt des "Menschen an sich," sondern "der Mensch

f�r andere," darum der Gekreuzigte.

Jesus is there only for others....God in human form! not...in the Greek

divine-human form of "man in himself," but "the man for others," and

therefore the crucified.

Widerstand und Ergebung (Resistance and Submission, 1951) "Entwurf einer

Arbeit"

2.104 Sonny Bono (Salvatore Bono) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1953-

The beat goes on.

Title of song (1966)

2.105 Daniel J. Boorstin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1914-

The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.

The Image (1961) ch. 2

A bestseller was a book which somehow sold well simply because it was

selling well.

The Image (1961) ch. 4

2.106 James H. Boren =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1925-

Guidelines for bureaucrats: (1) When in charge, ponder. (2) When in

trouble, delegate. (3) When in doubt, mumble.

In New York Times 8 Nov. 1970, p. 45

2.107 Jorge Luis Borges =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-1986

El original es infiel a la traducci�n.

The original is unfaithful to the translation [Henley's translation of

Beckford's Vathek].

Sobre el "Vathek"de William Beckford (1943) in Obras Completas (1974)

p. 730

Para uno de esos gn�sticos, el visible universo era una ilusi�n � (mas

precisamente) un sofisma. Los espejos y la paternidad son abominables

porque lo multiplican y lo divulgan.

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.

Tl�n, Uqbar, Orbis, Tertius (1941) in Obras Completas (1974) p. 431

The Falklands thing [the Falklands War of 1982] was a fight between two

bald men over a comb.

In Time 14 Feb. 1983

2.108 Max Born =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1882-1970

The human race has today the means for annihilating itself--either in

a fit of complete lunacy, i.e., in a big war, by a brief fit of

destruction, or by careless handling of atomic technology, through a slow

process of poisoning and of deterioration in its genetic structure.

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (1957) vol. 13, p. 186

2.109 John Collins Bossidy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1860-1928

And this is good old Boston,

The home of the bean and the cod,

Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots

And the Cabots talk only to God.

Verse spoken at Holy Cross College alumni dinner in Boston, Mass., 1910,

in Springfield Sunday Republican 14 Dec. 1924

2.110 Gordon Bottomley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1874-1948

When you destroy a blade of grass

You poison England at her roots:

Remember no man's foot can pass

Where evermore no green life shoots.

Chambers of Imagery (1912) "To Ironfounders and Others"

Your worship is your furnaces,

Which, like old idols, lost obscenes,

Have molten bowels; your vision is

Machines for making more machines.

Chambers of Imagery (1912) "To Ironfounders and Others"

2.111 Horatio Bottomley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1860-1933

During his incarceration at the Scrubbs [1922-3], Bottomley was largely

employed in the making of mail-bags. It was while he was so engaged one

afternoon that a prison visitor...saw him busily stitching away. "Ah,

Bottomley," he remarked brightly, "sewing? " "No," grunted the old man

without looking up, "reaping."

In S.T. Felstead Horatio Bottomley (1936) ch. 16

Gentlemen: I have not had your advantages. What poor education I have

received has been gained in the University of Life.

Speech at Oxford Union, 2 Dec. 1920, in Beverley Nichols 25 (1926) ch. 7

2.112 Sir Harold Edwin Boulton =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1859-1935

When Adam and Eve were dispossessed

Of the garden hard by Heaven,

They planted another one down in the west,

'Twas Devon, glorious Devon!

Lyrics and other Poems (1902) "Glorious Devon"

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,

"Onward," the sailors cry;

Carry the lad that's born to be king,

Over the sea to Skye.

National Songs and Some Ballads (1908) "Skye Boat Song"

2.113 Elizabeth Bowen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-1973

Experience isn't interesting till it begins to repeat itself--in fact,

till it does that, it hardly is experience.

Death of the Heart (1938) pt. 1, ch. 1

In fact, 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.

Death of the Heart (1938) pt. 2, ch. 1

Some people are moulded by their admirations, others by their hostilities.

Death of the Heart (1938) pt. 2, ch. 2

The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots

people out. We have really no absent friends.

Death of the Heart (1938) pt. 2, ch. 2

Elizabeth Bowen said that she [Edith Sitwell] looked like "a high altar on

the move."

V. Glendinning Edith Sitwell (1981) ch. 25

I suppose art is the only thing that can go on mattering once it has

stopped hurting.

Heat of the Day (1949) ch. 16

There is no end to the violations committed by children on children,

quietly talking alone.

House in Paris (1935) pt. 1, ch. 2

Nobody speaks the truth when there's something they must have.

House in Paris (1935) pt. 1, ch. 5

Meetings that do not come off keep a character of their own. They stay as

they were projected.

House in Paris (1935) pt. 2, ch. 1

Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.

House in Paris (1935) pt. 2, ch. 2

Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.

House in Paris (1935) pt. 2, ch. 8

My failing to have a nice ear for vowel sounds, and the Anglo-Irish

slurred, hurried way of speaking made me take the words "Ireland" and

"island" to be synonymous. Thus, all other countries quite surrounded by

water took (it appeared) their generic name from ours.

Seven Winters (1942) p. 12

2.114 David Bowie (David Jones) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1947-

Ground control to Major Tom.

Space Oddity (1969 song)

2.115 Sir Maurice Bowra =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1898-1971

There is also that story, perhaps apocryphal, of Maurice [Bowra]'s

decision to get married. When he announced that he had at last chosen

a girl, a friend remonstrated: "But you can't marry anyone as plain as

that." Maurice answered: "My dear fellow, buggers can't be choosers."

Francis King in Hugh Lloyd-Jones Maurice Bowra: a Celebration (1974)

p. 150

I'm a man more dined against than dining.

In John Betjeman Summoned by Bells (1960) ch. 9

2.116 Charles Boyer =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1898-1978

Come with me to the Casbah.

Catch-phrase often attributed to Boyer, but L. Swindell Charles Boyer

(1983) ch. 7 says: Algiers...is the picture in which Charles Boyer did not

say "Come wiz me to zee Casbah" to Hedy Lamarr....Boyer and Lamarr were in

the Casbah in most of their Algiers scenes, and they did have an important

scene in which they were not in the Casbah, but the dialogue was nowhere

close.

2.117 Lord Brabazon (Baron Brabazon of Tara) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1964

I take the view, and always have, that if you cannot say what you are

going to say in twenty minutes you ought to go away and write a book about

it.

Hansard (Lords) 21 June 1955, col. 207

2.118 Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Charles Brackett 1892-1969

Billy Wilder 1906-

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)

All right, Mr de Mille, I'm ready for my close-up now.

Sunset Boulevard (1950 film)

2.119 Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and Walter Reisch =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Charles Brackett 1892-1969

Billy Wilder 1906-

Walter Reisch 1903-1983

Iranoff: What a charming idea for Moscow to surprise us with a lady

Comrade.

Kopalski: If we had known we would have greeted you with flowers.

Iranoff: Ahh--yes.

Ninotchka: Don't make an issue of my womanhood.

Ninotchka (1939 film)

Ninotchka: Why should you carry other people's bags?

Porter: Well, that's my business, Madame.

Ninotchka: That's no business. That's social injustice.

Porter: That depends on the tip.

Ninotchka (1939 film)

2.120 F. H. Bradley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1846-1924

The propriety of some persons seems to consist in having improper thoughts

about their neighbours.

Aphorisms (1930) no. 9

True penitence condemns to silence. What a man is ready to recall he would

be willing to repeat.

Aphorisms (1930) no. 10

The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not