The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (30 page)

Bring on the empty horses!

In David Niven Bring on the Empty Horses (1975) ch. 6 (said while Curtiz

was directing the 1936 film, The Charge of the Light Brigade)

3.122 Lord Curzon (George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1859-1925

Not even a public figure. A man of no experience. And of the utmost

insignificance.

In Harold Nicolson Curzon: the Last Phase (1934) ch. 12 (said of Stanley

Baldwin on his being appointed Prime Minister in 1923)

The Domestic Bursar of Balliol (according to his own story) sent Curzon

a specimen menu [for a luncheon for Queen Mary in 1921], beginning with

soup. The menu came back with one sentence written across the corner in

Curzon's large and old-fashioned hand: "Gentlemen do not take soup at

luncheon."

E. L. Woodward Short Journey (1942) ch. 7

Dear me, I never knew that the lower classes had such white skins.

In K. Rose Superior Person (1969) ch. 12 (words supposedly said by Curzon

when watching troops bathing during the First World War)

4.0 D =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

4.1 Paul Daniels =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1938-

You're going to like this...not a lot...but you'll like it!

Catch-phrase used in his conjuring act, especially on television from 1981

onwards

4.2 Charles Brace Darrow =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1889-1967

Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect �200.

Instructions on "Community Chest" card in the game "Monopoly," invented by

Darrow in 1931

4.3 Clarence Darrow =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1857-1938

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I'm

beginning to believe it.

In Irving Stone Clarence Darrow for the Defence (1941) ch. 6

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an

agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure--that

is all that agnosticism means.

Speech at trial of John Thomas Scopes, 15 July 1925, in The World's Most

Famous Court Trial (1925) ch. 4

4.4 Sir Francis Darwin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1848-1925

In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the

man to whom the idea first occurs.

Eugenics Review Apr. 1914, "Francis Galton"

4.5 Jules Dassin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1911-

Never on Sunday.

Title of film (1959)

4.6 Worton David and Lawrence Wright =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Not tonight, Josephine.

Title of song (1915; popularized by Florrie Forde)

4.7 Jack Davies and Ken Annakin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Those magnificent men in their flying machines, or How I flew from London

to Paris in 25 hours and 11 minutes.

Title of film (1965)

4.8 W. H. Davies =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1871-1940

A rainbow and a cuckoo's song

May never come together again;

May never come

This side the tomb.

Bird of Paradise (1914) "A Great Time"

And hear the pleasant cuckoo, loud and long--

The simple bird that thinks two notes a song.

Child Lovers (1916) "April's Charms"

Girls scream,

Boys shout;

Dogs bark,

School's out.

Complete Poems (1963) "School's Out"

It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,

And left thee all her lovely hues.

Farewell to Poesy (1910) "Kingfisher"

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,

Thou knowest of no strange continent:

Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep

A gentle motion with the deep;

Thou hast not sailed in Indian Seas,

Where scent comes forth in every breeze.

Foliage (1913) "Sweet Stay-At-Home"

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Songs of Joy (1911) "Leisure"

4.9 Bette Davis (Ruth Elizabeth Davis) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1989

See Lenore Coffee (3.72), Joseph L. Mankiewicz (13.52), and Olive Higgins

Prouty (16.66)

4.10 Lord Dawson of Penn (Bertrand Edward Dawson, Viscount Dawson of Penn) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1864-1945

The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close.

Bulletin on George V, 20 Jan. 1936, in History Today Dec. 1986, p. 28

4.11 C. Day-Lewis =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1904-1972

Do not expect again a phoenix hour,

The triple-towered sky, the dove complaining,

Sudden the rain of gold and heart's first ease

Traced under trees by the eldritch light of sundown.

Collected Poems, 1929-33 (1935) "From Feathers to Iron"

Hurry! We burn

For Rome so near us, for the phoenix moment

When we have thrown off this traveller's trance,

And mother-naked and ageless-ancient

Wake in her warm nest of renaissance.

Italian Visit (1953) "Flight to Italy"

Tempt me no more; for I

Have known the lightning's hour,

The poet's inward pride,

The certainty of power.

Magnetic Mountain (1933) pt. 3, no. 24

You that love England, who have an ear for her music,

The slow movement of clouds in benediction,

Clear arias of light thrilling over her uplands,

Over the chords of summer sustained peacefully.

Magnetic Mountain (1933) pt. 4, no. 32

It is the logic of our times,

No subject for immortal verse--

That we who lived by honest dreams

Defend the bad against the worse.

Word over All (1943) "Where are the War Poets?"

4.12 Simone de Beauvoir =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1986

On ne na�t pas femme: on le devient. Aucun destin biologique, psychique,

�conomique ne d�finit la figure que rev�t au sein de la soci�t� la femelle

humaine.

One is not born a woman: one becomes a woman. No biological, psychological

or economic destiny can determine how the human female will appear in

society.

Le deuxi�me sexe (The Second Sex, 1949) vol. 2, pt. 1, ch. 1

4.13 Edward de Bono =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1933-

Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our

expectations.

In Observer 12 June 1977

4.14 Eugene Victor Debs =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1855-1926

I said then, I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it;

while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in

prison, I am not free.

Speech at trial in Cleveland, Ohio, 14 Sept. 1918, in Liberator Nov. 1918,

p. 12

When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved,

as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.

Speech at Federal Court, Cleveland, Ohio, 11 Sept. 1918, in Speeches

(1928) p. 66

4.15 Edgar Degas =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1834-1917

L'art, c'est le vice. On ne l'�pouse pas l�gitimement, on le viole.

Art is vice. You don't marry it legitimately, you rape it.

In Paul Lafond Degas (1918) p. 140

4.16 Charles de Gaulle =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1890-1970

Les trait�s, voyez-vous, sont comme les jeunes filles et comme les roses:

�a dure ce que �a dure.

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

Speech at Elys�e Palace, 2 July 1963, in Andr� Passeron De Gaulle parle

1962-6 (1966) p. 340

Vive Le Qu�bec Libre.

Long Live Free Quebec.

Speech in Montreal, 24 July 1967, in Discours et messages (1970) p. 192

La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre!

France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war!

Proclamation, 18 June 1940, in Discours, messages et d�clarations du

G�n�ral de Gaulle (1941)

Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six

vari�t�s de fromage?

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?

In Ernest Mignon Les Mots du G�n�ral (1962) p. 57

Comme un homme politique ne croit jamais ce qu'il dit, il est tout �tonn�

quand il est cru sur parole.

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to

be taken at his word.

In Ernest Mignon Les Mots du G�n�ral (1962) p. 67

I reviewed a book of his after the war. I said, "General de Gaulle is

a very good soldier and a very bad politician." So he wrote back to me and

said, "I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious

a matter to be left to the politicians."

Clement Attlee Prime Minister Remembers (1961) ch. 4

4.17 J. de Knight (James E. Myers) and M. Freedman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

J. de Knight 1919-

M. Freedman 1893-1962

(We're gonna) rock around the clock.

Title of song (1953)

4.18 Walter de la Mare =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1873-1956

Oh, no man knows

Through what wild centuries

Roves back the rose.

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912) "All That's Past"

Softly along the road of evening,

In a twilight dim with rose,

Wrinkled with age, and drenched with dew,

Old Nod, the shepherd, goes.

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912) "Nod"

He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia,

They have stolen his wits away.

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912) "Arabia"

"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,

Knocking on the moonlit door;

And his horse in the silence champed the grasses

Of the forest's ferny floor.

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912) "The Listeners"

"Tell them I came, and no one answered,

That I kept my word," he said.

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912) "The Listeners"

Here lies a most beautiful lady,

Light of step and heart was she;

I think she was the most beautiful lady

That ever was in the West Country.

But beauty vanishes; beauty passes;

However rare--rare it be;

And when I crumble, who will remember

This lady of the West Country?

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912) "Epitaph"

A face peered. All the grey night

In chaos of vacancy shone;

Nought but vast Sorrow was there--

The sweet cheat gone.

Motley and Other Poems (1918) "The Ghost"

Look thy last on all things lovely,

Every hour. Let no night

Seal thy sense in deathly slumber

Till to delight

Thou have paid thy utmost blessing;

Since that all things thou wouldst praise

Beauty took from those who loved them

In other days.

Motley and Other Poems (1918) "Fare Well"

Ann, Ann!

Come! quick as you can!

There's a fish that talks

In the frying-pan.

Peacock Pie (1913) "Alas, Alack"

Three jolly gentlemen,

In coats of red,

Rode their horses

Up to bed.

Peacock Pie (1913) "The Huntsmen"

It's a very odd thing--

As odd as can be--

That whatever Miss T eats

Turns into Miss T.

Peacock Pie (1913) "Miss T"

Three jolly Farmers

Once bet a pound

Each dance the others would

Off the ground.

Peacock Pie (1913) "Off the Ground"

Slowly, silently, now the moon

Walks the night in her silver shoon.

Peacock Pie (1913) "Silver"

What is the world, O soldiers?

It is I:

I, this incessant snow,

This northern sky;

Soldiers, this solitude

Through which we go

Is I.

Poems (1906) "Napoleon"

Hi! handsome hunting man

Fire your little gun.

Bang! Now the animal

Is dead and dumb and done.

Nevermore to peep again, creep again, leap again,

Eat or sleep or drink again, Oh, what fun!

Poems for Children (1930) "Hi!"

"Holiday tasks always remind me, my dear, of the young lady who wanted

to go out to swim:

Mother may I go out to swim?

Yes, my darling daughter.

Fold your clothes up neat and trim,

And don't go near the water."

"The rhyme I know," said Laetitia, "is, Hang your clothes on a hickory

limb."

"That's all very well," said her uncle, "but just you show me one!"

The Scarecrow (1945) p. 11. Cf. Anonymous 7:25

4.19 Shelagh Delaney =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1939-

Women never have young minds. They are born three thousand years old.