Read The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations Online
Authors: Tony Augarde
Tags: #Reference, #Literary Criticism, #Dictionaries of quotations, #Dictionaries, #Reference works, #Encyclopedias & General Reference, #English, #Quotations
Good government could never be a substitute for government by the people
themselves.
Speech at Stirling, 23 Nov. 1905, in Daily News 24 Nov. 1905
3.14 Albert Camus =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1913-1960
Intellectuel = celui qui se d�double.
An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.
Carnets, 1935-42 (Notebooks, 1962) p. 41
La politique et le sort des hommes sont form�s par des hommes sans id�alet
sans grandeur. Ceux qui ont une grandeur en eux ne font pas de politique.
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.
Carnets, 1935-42 (Notebooks, 1962) p. 99
Vous savez ce qu'est le charme: une mani�re de s'entendre r�pondre oui
sans avoir pos� aucune question claire.
You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having
asked any clear question.
La Chute (The Fall, 1956) p. 62
Nous sommes tous des cas exceptionnels. Nous voulons tous faire appel de
quelque chose! Chacun exige d'�tre innocent, � tout prix, m�me si, pour
cela, il faut accuser le genre humain et le ciel.
We are all special cases. We all want to appeal to something! Everyone
insists on his innocence, at all costs, even if it means accusing the rest
of the human race and heaven.
La Chute (The Fall, 1956) p. 95
C'est si vrai que nous nous confions rarement � ceux qui sont meilleurs
que nous.
It is very true that we seldom confide in those who are better than
ourselves.
La Chute (The Fall, 1956) p. 97
Je vais vous dire un grand secret, mon cher. N'attendez pas le jugement
dernier. Il a lieu tous les jours.
I'll tell you a great secret, my friend. Don't wait for the last
judgement. It happens every day.
La Chute (The Fall, 1956) p. 129
Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-�tre hier, je ne sais pas.
Mother died today. Or perhaps it was yesterday, I don't know.
L'�tranger (The Outsider, 1944) p. 9
Qu'est-ce qu'un homme r�volt�? Un homme qui dit non.
What is a rebel? A man who says no.
L'Homme r�volt� (The Rebel, 1951) p. 25
Toutes les r�volutions modernes ont abouti � un renforcement de l' �tat.
All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the State.
L'Homme r�volt� (The Rebel, 1951) p. 221
Tout r�volutionnaire finit en oppresseur ou en h�r�tique.
Every revolutionary ends as an oppressor or a heretic.
L'Homme r�volt� (The Rebel, 1951) p. 306
La lutte elle-m�me vers les sommets suffit � remplir un c�urd'homme. Il
faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux.
The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a human heart.
One must imagine that Sisyphus is happy.
Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus, 1942) p. 168
3.15 Elias Canetti =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1905-
Alles was man vergessen hat, schreit im Traum um Hilfe.
All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.
Die Provinz der Menschen (The Human Province, 1973) p. 269
3.16 Hughie Cannon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1877-1912
Won't you come home Bill Bailey, won't you come home?
Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home (1902 song)
3.17 John R. Caples =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1900-
They laughed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play!
Advertisement for US School of Music, in Physical Culture Dec. 1925, p. 95
3.18 Al Capone =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1899-1947
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, circa 1929, in Claud Cockburn In Time of Trouble (1956) ch. 16
Once in the racket you're always in it.
Philadelphia Public Ledger 18 May 1929
3.19 Truman Capote =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1924-1984
Mr Capote...commented on the difficulty he had reading the Beat novels.
He had tried but he had been unable to finish any one of them...."None of
these people have anything interesting to say," he observed, "and none of
them can write, not even Mr Kerouac." What they do, he added, "isn't
writing at all--it's typing."
Report of television discussion, in New Republic 9 Feb. 1959
Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.
In Observer 26 Nov. 1961
Other voices, other rooms.
Title of novel (1948)
3.20 Al Capp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1909-1979
[Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to
the utterly bewildered.
In National Observer 1 July 1963
3.21 Ethna Carbery (Anna MacManus) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1866-1902
Oh, Kathaleen N� Houlihan, your road's a thorny way,
And 'tis a faithful soul would walk the flints with you for aye,
Would walk the sharp and cruel flints until his locks grew grey.
Four Winds Of Eirinn (1902) "Passing of the Gael"
3.22 Hoagy Carmichael (Hoagland Howard Carmichael) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1899-1981
See Stuart Gorrell (7.46)
3.23 Stokely Carmichael and Charles Vernon Hamilton =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Stokely Carmichael 1941-
Charles Vernon Hamilton 1929-
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) ch. 2
3.24 Dale Carnegie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1888-1955
How to win friends and influence people.
Title of book (1936)
3.25 J. L. Carr =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"I've never been spoken to like this before in all my thirty years'
experience," she wails. "You have not had thirty years' experience, Mrs
Grindle-Jones," he says witheringly. "You have had one year's experience
30 times."
Harpole Report (1972) p. 128
3.26 Edward Carson (Baron Carson) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1854-1935
My only great qualification for being put at the head of the Navy is that
I am very much at sea.
In Ian Colvin Life of Lord Carson (1936) vol. 3, ch. 23
3.27 Jimmy Carter =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1924-
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 Apr. 1976
I'm Jimmy Carter, and I'm going to be your next president.
Said to the son of a campaign supporter, Nov. 1975, in I'll Never Lie to
You (1976) ch. 1
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.
Playboy Nov. 1976
3.28 Sydney Carter =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1915-
I danced in the morning
When the world was begun
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth--
At Bethlehem I had my birth.
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.
Nine Carols or Ballads (1967) "Lord of the Dance"
It's God they ought to crucify
Instead of you and me,
I said to the carpenter
A-hanging on the tree.
Nine Carols or Ballads (1967) "Friday Morning"
3.29 Pablo Casals =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1876-1973
It [the cello] is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older, but
younger with time, more slender, more supple, more graceful.
In Time 29 Apr. 1957
3.30 Ted Castle (Baron Castle of Islington) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1907-1979
In place of strife.
Title of Labour Government's White Paper, 17 Jan. 1969, suggested by
Castle to his wife, Barbara Castle (Secretary of State for
Employment)--see Barbara Castle Diaries (1984) 15 Jan. 1969
3.31 Harry Castling and C. W. Murphy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Let's all go down the Strand!
Let's all go down the Strand!
I'll be leader, you can march behind
Come with me, and see what we can find
Let's all go down the Strand!
Let's All Go Down the Strand! (1909 song)
3.32 Fidel Castro =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1926-
La historia me absolv�ra.
History will absolve me.
Title of pamphlet (1953)
3.33 Willa Cather =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1873-1947
Religion and art spring from the same root and are close kin. Economics
and art are strangers.
Commonweal 17 Apr. 1936
The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.
O Pioneers! (1913) pt. 1, ch. 5
I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live
than other things do.
O Pioneers! (1913) pt. 2, ch. 8
3.34 Mr Justice Caulfield (Sir Bernard Caulfield) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1914-
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 News of the World,
July 1987, in The Times 24 July 1987
3.35 Charles Causley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1917-
O are you the boy
Who would wait on the quay
With the silver penny
And the apricot tree?
Farewell, Aggie Weston (1951) "Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience"
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.
Union Street (1957) "Timothy Winters"
3.36 Constantine Cavafy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1863-1933
What are we all waiting for, gathered together like this on the public
square?
The Barbarians are coming today.
(Waiting for the Barbarians, 1904) in Poems (1963)
You will find no new places, no other seas,
The town will follow you.
(Poems, 1911) ("The Town")
3.37 Edith Cavell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1865-1915
They have all been very kind to me here. But this I would say, standing,
as I do, in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not
enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.
Words spoken in prison the night before her execution, in The Times
23 Oct. 1915
3.38 Lord David Cecil =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1902-1986
The primary object of a student of literature is to be delighted. His duty
is to enjoy himself: his efforts should be directed to developing his
faculty of appreciation.
Reading as one of the Fine Arts (1949) p. 4
3.39 Patrick Reginald Chalmers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1872-1942
What's lost upon the roundabouts we pulls up on the swings!
Green Days and Blue Days (1912) "Roundabouts and Swings"
3.40 Joseph Chamberlain =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1836-1914
In politics, there is no use looking beyond the next fortnight.
In letter from A. J. Balfour to 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, 24 Mar. 1886,
in A. J. Balfour Chapters of Autobiography (1930) ch. 16
It is said that the City is the centre of the world's finance, that the
fate of our manufactures therefore is a secondary consideration; that,
provided that the City of London remains, as it is at present, the
clearing-house of the world, any other nation may be its workshop. Now
I ask you, gentlemen, whether...that is not a very short-sighted view.
Speech at the Guildhall, 19 Jan. 1904, in The Times 20 Jan. 1904
In the great revolution which separated the United States from Great
Britain the greatest man that that revolution produced...was Alexander
Hamilton...he left a precious legacy to his countrymen when he disclosed
to them the secrets of union and when he said to them, "Learn to think
continentally." And, my fellow-citizens, if I may venture to give you
a message, now I would say to you, "Learn to think Imperially."
Speech at the Guildhall, 19 Jan. 1904, in The Times 20 Jan. 1904
The day of small nations has long passed away. The day of Empires has
come.
Speech at Birmingham, 12 May 1904, in The Times 13 May 1904
We are not downhearted. The only trouble is we cannot understand what is
happening to our neighbours.
Speech at Smethwick, 18 Jan. 1906, in The Times 19 Jan. 1906
3.41 Neville Chamberlain =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1869-1940
In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners,
but all are losers.
Speech at Kettering, 3 July 1938, in The Times 4 July 1938
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 [Czechoslovakia] between people of whom we know nothing.
Broadcast speech, 27 Sept. 1938, in The Times 28 Sept. 1938
This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler,
and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine...."We
regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval
Agreement, as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war
with one another again."
Speech at Heston Airport, 30 Sept. 1938, in The Times 1 Oct. 1938
My good friends, 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. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And
now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.
Speech from window of 10 Downing Street, 30 Sept. 1938, in The Times
1 Oct. 1938
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 Sept. 1939, in The Times 4 Sept. 1939
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 Apr. 1940, in The Times 5 Apr. 1940
3.42 Harry Champion =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1866-1942
See Charles Collins, E. A. Sheppard, and Fred Terry (3.79)
3.43 Raymond Chandler =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1888-1959
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is
neither tarnished nor afraid.
Atlantic Monthly Dec. 1944 "The Simple Art of Murder"
It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not
shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills.
I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display
handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on
them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it.
The Big Sleep (1939) ch. 1
It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass
window.
Farewell, My Lovely (1940) ch. 13
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 Jan. 1947, in F. MacShane Life of Raymond
Chandler (1976) ch. 7
A big hard-boiled city with no more personality than a paper cup.
The Little Sister (1949) ch. 26 (of Los Angeles)
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 Dec. 1945, in Dorothy Gardiner and
Katherine S. Walker Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962) p. 126
3.44 Coco Chanel =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1883-1971
Youth is something very new: twenty years ago no one mentioned it.
In Marcel Haedrich Coco Chanel, Her Life, Her Secrets (1971) ch. 1
3.45 Charlie Chaplin (Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1889-1977
All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
My Autobiography (1964) ch. 10