The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (29 page)

essential thing is not to have won but to be well beaten.

Speech at government banquet in London, 24 July 1908, in T. A. Cook Fourth

Olympiad (1909) p. 793

3.102 �mile Cou� =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1857-1926

Tous les jours, � tous points de vue, je vais de mieux en mieux.

Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.

De la suggestion et de ses applications (On Suggestion and its

Applications, 1915) p. 17 (Cou� advised his patients to repeat this phrase

15 to 20 times, morning and evening)

3.103 No�l Coward =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-1973

Let's drink to the spirit of gallantry and courage that made a strange

Heaven out of unbelievable Hell, and let's drink to the hope that one day

this country of ours, which we love so much, will find dignity and

greatness and peace again.

Cavalcade (1932) act 3

Dance, dance, dance, little lady!

Dance, dance, dance, little lady!

Leave tomorrow behind.

Dance, Little Lady (1928 song)

Don't let's be beastly to the Germans

When our Victory is ultimately won.

Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans (1943 song)

I believe that since my life began

The most I've had is just

A talent to amuse.

Heigho, if love were all!

If Love Were All (1929 song)

I'll see you again,

Whenever Spring breaks through again.

I'll See You Again (1929 song)

Dear 338171 (May I call you 338?)

Letter to T. E. Lawrence, 25 Aug. 1930, in D. Garnett (ed.) Letters of T.

E. Lawrence (1938) p. 696

London Pride has been handed down to us.

London Pride is a flower that's free.

London Pride means our own dear town to us,

And our pride it for ever will be.

London Pride (1941 song)

Mad about the boy,

It's pretty funny but I'm mad about the boy.

He has a gay appeal

That makes me feel

There may be something sad about the boy.

Mad about the Boy (1932 song)

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Go out in the midday sun.

The Japanese don't care to,

The Chinese wouldn't dare to,

The Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one,

But Englishmen detest a siesta.

In the Philippines, there are lovely screens

To protect you from the glare;

In the Malay states, they have hats like plates

Which the Britishers won't wear.

At twelve noon, the natives swoon,

And no further work is done;

But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1931 song)

Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington,

Don't put your daughter on the stage.

Mrs Worthington (1935 song)

Poor little rich girl

You're a bewitched girl,

Better beware!

Poor Little Rich Girl (1925 song)

Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.

Private Lives (1930) act 1 (in a gramophone recording also made in 1930,

Gertrude Lawrence spoke the line as "Strange how potent cheap music is")

Amanda: I've been brought up to believe that it's beyond the pale, for

a man to strike a woman.

Elyot: A very poor tradition. Certain women should be struck regularly,

like gongs.

Private Lives (1930) act 3

Someday I'll find you,

Moonlight behind you,

True to the dream I am dreaming.

Someday I'll Find You (1930 song)

Dear Mrs A.,

Hooray, hooray,

At last you are deflowered.

On this as every other day

I love you--Noel Coward.

Telegram to Gertrude Lawrence, 5 July 1940 (the day after her wedding), in

Gertrude Lawrence A Star Danced (1945) p. 201

The Stately Homes of England,

How beautiful they stand,

To prove the upper classes

Have still the upper hand;

Though the fact that they have to be rebuilt

And frequently mortgaged to the hilt

Is inclined to take the gilt

Off the gingerbread,

And certainly damps the fun

Of the eldest son.

The Stately Homes of England (1938 song). Cf. Oxford Dictionary of

Quotations (1979) 244:21

Tho' the pipes that supply the bathroom burst

And the lavatory makes you fear the worst,

It was used by Charles the First

Quite informally,

And later by George the Fourth

On a journey North.

The Stately Homes of England (1938 song)

The Stately Homes of England,

Tho' rather in the lurch,

Provide a lot of chances

For Psychical Research--

There's the ghost of a crazy younger son

Who murdered, in thirteen fifty-one,

An extremely rowdy Nun

Who resented it,

And people who come to call

Meet her in the hall.

The Stately Homes of England (1938 song)

3.104 Hart Crane =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-1932

Cowslip and shad-blow, flaked like tethered foam

Around bared teeth of stallions, bloomed that spring

When first I read thy lines, rife as the loam

Of prairies, yet like breakers cliffward leaping!

...My hand

in yours,

Walt Whitman--

so--

The Bridge (1930) pt. 4

O Sleepless as the river under thee,

Vaulting the sea, the prairies' dreaming sod,

Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend

And of the curveship lend a myth to God.

Dial June 1927, p. 490 "To Brooklyn Bridge"

You who desired so much--in vain to ask--

Yet fed your hunger like an endless task,

Dared dignify the labor, bless the quest--

Achieved that stillness ultimately best,

Being, of all, least sought for: Emily, hear!

Nation 29 June 1927, p. 718 "To Emily Dickinson"

3.105 James Creelman and Ruth Rose =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

James Creelman 1901-1941

Oh no, it wasn't the aeroplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.

King Kong (1933 film; final words)

3.106 Bishop Mandell Creighton =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1843-1901

No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.

In Louise Creighton Life (1904) vol. 2, p. 503

3.107 Quentin Crisp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-

There was no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years

the dirt doesn't get any worse.

Naked Civil Servant (1968) ch. 15

I became one of the stately homos of England.

Naked Civil Servant (1968) ch. 24

An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last instalment

missing.

Naked Civil Servant (1968) ch. 29

3.108 Julian Critchley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1930-

The only safe pleasure for a parliamentarian is a bag of boiled sweets.

Listener 10 June 1982

She [Margaret Thatcher] has been beastly to the Bank of England, has

demanded that the BBC "set its house in order" and tends to believe the

worst of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She cannot see an

institution without hitting it with her handbag.

The Times 21 June 1982

3.109 Richmal Crompton (Richmal Crompton Lamburn) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1890-1969

"If anyone trith to hang me," said Violet Elizabeth complacently, "I'll

thcream and thcream and thcream till I'm thick. I can."

Still--William (1925) ch. 8

3.110 Bing Crosby (Harry Lillis Crosby) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1903-1977

Half joking, he [Crosby] asked that his epitaph read, "He was an average

guy who could carry a tune."

Newsweek 24 Oct. 1977, p. 102

3.111 Bing Crosby, Roy Turk, and Fred Ahlert =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Bing Crosby 1903-1977

Roy Turk 1892-1934

Fred Ahlert 1892-1933

Where the blue of the night

Meets the gold of the day,

Someone waits for me.

Where the Blue of the Night (1931 song)

3.112 Richard Crossman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1907-1974

The Civil Service is profoundly deferential--"Yes, Minister! No, Minister!

If you wish it, Minister!"

Diary, 22 Oct. 1964, in Diaries of a Cabinet Minister (1975) vol. 1, p. 21

3.113 Aleister Crowley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1875-1947

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Book of the Law (1909) l. 40. Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979)

403:28

3.114 Leslie Crowther =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1933-

Come on down!

Catch-phrase in "The Price is Right," ITV programme, 1984 onwards.

3.115 Robert Crumb =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1943-

Keep on truckin'.

Catch-phrase used in cartoons from circa 1972

3.116 Bruce Frederick Cummings =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See W. N. P. Barbellion (2.14)

3.117 e. e. cummings =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1894-1962

anyone lived in a pretty how town

(with up so floating many bells down)

spring summer autumn winter

he sang his didn't he danced his did.

50 Poems (1949) no. 29

Humanity i love you because

when you're hard up you pawn your

intelligence to buy a drink.

XLI Poems (1925) "La Guerre," no. 2

"next to of course god america i

love you land of the pilgrims" and so forth oh

say can you see by the dawn's early my

country 'tis of centuries come and go

and are no more what of it we should worry

in every language even deafanddumb

thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry

by jingo by gee by gosh by gum

why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-

iful than these heroic happy dead

who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter

they did not stop to think they died instead

then shall the voices of liberty be mute?

He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water.

is 5 (1926) p. 62

Buffalo Bill's

defunct

who used to

ride a watersmooth-silver

stallion

and break onetwothreefourfive pigeons-

justlikethat

Jesus

he was a handsome man

and what i want to know is

how do you like your blueeyed boy

Mister Death.

Tulips and Chimneys (1923) "Portraits" no. 8

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls

are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds.

Tulips and Chimneys (1923) "Sonnets-Realities" no. 1

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens; only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all noses)

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.

W (1931) "somewhere I have never travelled"

a politician is an arse upon

which everyone has sat except a man.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 10

pity this busy monster, manunkind,

not. Progress is a comfortable disease.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 14

We doctors know

a hopeless case if--listen: there's a hell

of a good universe next door; let's go.

1 x 1 (1944) no. 14

3.118 William Thomas Cummings =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1903-1945

There are no atheists in the foxholes.

In Carlos P. Romulo I Saw the Fall of the Philippines (1943) ch. 15

3.119 Will Cuppy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1949

The Dodo never had a chance. He seems to have been invented for the sole

purpose of becoming extinct and that was all he was good for.

How to Become Extinct (1941) p. 163

3.120 Edwina Currie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1946-

Good Christian people who wouldn't dream of misbehaving will not catch

Aids. My message to the businessmen of this country when they go abroad

on business is that there is one thing above all they can take with them

to stop them catching Aids--and that is the wife.

Speech at Runcorn, 12 Feb. 1987, in Guardian 13 Feb. 1987

We have problems here of high smoking and alcoholism. Some of these

problems are things we can tackle by impressing on people the need to look

after themselves better. That is something which is taken more seriously

down South....I honestly don't think the problem has anything to do with

poverty....The problem very often for people is, I think, just ignorance

and failing to realise that they do have some control over their lives.

Speech at Newcastle upon Tyne, 23 Sept. 1986, in Guardian 24 Sept. 1986

3.121 Michael Curtiz =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1962