The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (20 page)

happiness.

Aphorisms (1930) no. 33

Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon

instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.

Appearance and Reality (1893) preface

Of Optimism I have said that "The world is the best of all possible

worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil."

Appearance and Reality (1893) preface

That the glory of this world...is appearance leaves the world more

glorious, if we feel it is a show of some fuller splendour; but the

sensuous curtain is a deception...if it hides some colourless movement of

atoms, some...unearthly ballet of bloodless categories.

Principles of Logic (1883) bk. 3, pt. 2, ch. 4

2.121 Omar Bradley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1893-1981

The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.

Speech to Boston Chamber of Commerce, 10 Nov. 1948, in Collected Writings

(1967) vol. 1, p. 588

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the

Mount.

Speech to Boston Chamber of Commerce, 10 Nov. 1948, in Collected Writings

(1967) vol. 1, p. 588

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 Cong. Senate Comm. on Armed Services (1951) vol. 2, p. 732

2.122 Caryl Brahms (Doris Caroline Abrahams) and S. J. Simon (Simon Jasha Skidelsky) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Caryl Brahms 1901-1982

The suffragettes were triumphant. Woman's place was in the gaol.

No Nightingales (1944) pt. 6, ch. 37

2.123 John Braine =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1922-

Room at the top.

Title of novel (1957). Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 566:9

2.124 Ernest Bramah (Ernest Bramah Smith) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1868-1942

It is a mark of insincerity of purpose to spend one's time in looking for

the sacred Emperor in the low-class tea-shops.

Wallet of Kai Lung (1900) p. 6

In his countenance this person read an expression of no-encouragement

towards his venture.

Wallet of Kai Lung (1900) p. 224

The whole narrative is permeated with the odour of joss-sticks and

honourable high-mindedness.

Wallet of Kai Lung (1900) p. 330

2.125 Georges Braque =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1882-1963

L'Art est fait pour troubler, la Science rassure.

Art is meant to disturb, science reassures.

Le Jour et la nuit: Cahiers 1917-52 (Day and Night, Notebooks, 1952)

p. 11

La v�rit� existe; on n'invente que le mensonge.

Truth exists; only lies are invented.

Le Jour et la nuit: Cahiers 1917-52 (Day and Night, Notebooks, 1952)

p. 20

2.126 John Bratby =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1928-

A real art student wears coloured socks, has a fringe and a beard, wears

dirty jeans and an equally dirty seaman's pullover, carries a sketch-book,

is despised by the rest of society, and loafs in a coffee bar.

Breakdown (1960) ch. 8

2.127 Irving Brecher =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1914-

I'll bet your father spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at

the stork.

(Marx Brothers) At the Circus (1939 film)

Time wounds all heals.

Marx Brothers Go West (1940 film)

2.128 Bertolt Brecht =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1898-1956

Und der Haifisch, der hat Z�hne

Und die tr�gt er im Gesicht

Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer

Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.

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.

Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera, 1928) prologue

Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.

Food comes first, then morals.

Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera, 1928) act 2, sc. 3

Was ist ein Einbruch in eine Bank gegen die Gr�ndung einer Bank?

What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?

Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera, 1928) act 3, sc. 3

Andrea: Ungl�cklich das Land, das keine Helden hat!...

Galilei: Nein. Ungl�cklich das Land, das Helden n�tig hat.

Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes!...

Galileo: No. Unhappy the land that needs heroes.

Leben des Galilei (Life of Galileo, 1939) sc. 13

Man merkts, hier ist zu lang kein Krieg gewesen. Wo soll da Moral

herkommen, frag ich? Frieden, das ist nur Schlamperei, erst der Krieg

schafft Ordnung.

One observes, they have gone too long without a war here. What is the

moral, I ask? Peace is nothing but slovenliness, only war creates order.

Mutter Courage (Mother Courage, 1939) sc. 1

Weil ich ihm nicht trau, wir sind befreundet.

Because I don't trust him, we are friends.

Mutter Courage (Mother Courage, 1939) sc. 3

Die sch�nsten Pl�n sind schon zuschanden geworden durch die Kleinlichheit

von denen, wo sie ausf�hren sollten, denn die Kaiser selber k�nnen ja nix

machen.

The finest plans are always ruined by the littleness of those who ought to

carry them out, for the Emperor himself can actually do nothing.

Mutter Courage (Mother Courage, 1939) sc. 6

Der Krieg findet immer einen Ausweg.

War always finds a way.

Mutter Courage (Mother Courage, 1939) sc. 6

Sagen Sie mir nicht, dass Friede ausgebrochen ist, wo ich eben neue

Vorr�te eingekauft hab.

Don't tell me peace has broken out, when I've just bought some new

supplies.

Mutter Courage (Mother Courage, 1939) sc. 8

2.129 Gerald Brenan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1894-

Those who have some means think that the most important thing in the world

is love. The poor know that it is money.

Thoughts in a Dry Season (1978) p. 22

Religions are kept alive by heresies, which are really sudden explosions

of faith. Dead religions do not produce them.

Thoughts in a Dry Season (1978) p. 45

2.130 Aristide Briand =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1862-1932

Les hautes parties contractantes d�clarent solennellement...qu'elles

condamnent le recours � la guerre...et y renoncent en tant qu'instrument

de politique nationale dans leurs relations mutuelles...le r�glement ou la

solution de tous les diff�rends ou conflits--de quelque nature ou de

quelque origine qu'ils puissent �tre--qui pourront surgir entre elles ne

devra jamais �tre cherch� que par des moyens pacifiques.

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, which became part of the Kellogg Pact, 1928 , in Le

Temps 13 Apr. 1928

2.131 Vera Brittain =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1893-1970

Politics are usually the executive expression of human immaturity.

Rebel Passion (1964) ch. 1

2.132 David Broder =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1929-

Anybody that wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years

organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.

Washington Post 18 July 1973, p. A 25

2.133 Jacob Bronowski =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1974

We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by

contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye....The hand is the

cutting edge of the mind.

Ascent of Man (1973) ch. 3

That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are

on the way to a pertinent answer.

Ascent of Man (1973) ch. 4

The wish to hurt, the momentary intoxication with pain, is the loophole

through which the pervert climbs into the minds of ordinary men.

Face of Violence (1954) ch. 5

The world is made of people who never quite get into the first team and

who just miss the prizes at the flower show.

Face of Violence (1954) ch. 6

Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science

has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to

cast on nature.

Universities Quarterly (1956) vol. 10, no. 3, p. 252

2.134 Rupert Brooke =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1887-1915

Breathless, we flung us on the windy hill,

Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass.

Cambridge Review 8 Dec. 1910, "Sonnet"

Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon

Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss

Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is

Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen

Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;

The benison of hot water; furs to touch;

The good smell of old clothes.

New Numbers no. 3 (1914) "The Great Lover"

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,

Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary,

Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move,

And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary,

And all the little emptiness of love!

Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there,

Where there's no ill, no grief, but sleep has mending,

Naught broken save this body, lost but breath;

Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there

But only agony, and that has ending;

And the worst friend and enemy is but Death.

New Numbers no. 4 (1914) "Peace"

War knows no power. Safe shall be my going,

Secretly armed against all death's endeavour;

Safe though all safety's lost; safe where men fall;

And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.

New Numbers no. 4 (1914) "Safety"

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.

New Numbers no. 4 (1914) "The Dead"

Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,

And paid his subjects with a royal wage;

And Nobleness walks in our ways again;

And we have come into our heritage.

New Numbers no. 4 (1914) "The Dead"

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,

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of England's, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

New Numbers no. 4 (1914) "The Soldier"

Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond;

But is there anything Beyond?

1914 and Other Poems (1915) "Heaven"

But somewhere, beyond Space and Time

Is wetter water, slimier slime!

1914 and Other Poems (1915) "Heaven"

Oh! never fly conceals a hook,

Fish say, in the Eternal Brook,

But more than mundane weeds are there,

And mud, celestially fair;

Fat caterpillars drift around,

And Paradisal grubs are found;

Unfading moths, immortal flies,

And the worm that never dies.

And in that Heaven of all their wish,

There shall be no more land, say fish.

1914 and Other Poems (1915) "Heaven"

But there's wisdom in women, of more than they have known,

And thoughts go blowing through them, are wiser than their own.

1914 and Other Poems (1915) "There's Wisdom in Women"

Just now the lilac is in bloom,

All before my little room.

1914 and Other Poems (1915) "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester"

Here tulips bloom as they are told;

Unkempt about those hedges blows

An English unofficial rose;