The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (32 page)

Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you.

Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) "The Norwood Builder"

Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department.

Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) "The Second Stain"

Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in

the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with

romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a

love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid.

Sign of Four (1890) ch. 1

Yes, I have been guilty of several monographs....Here...is one "Upon the

Distinction between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccos." In it I enumerate

a hundred and forty forms of cigar, cigarette and pipe tobacco.

Sign of Four (1890) ch. 1

In an experience of women that extends over many nations and three

separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer

promise of a refined and sensitive nature.

Sign of Four (1890) ch. 2

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible,

whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

Sign of Four (1890) ch. 6

You know my methods. Apply them.

Sign of Four (1890) ch. 6

"It is the unofficial force--the Baker Street irregulars." As he spoke,

there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of

high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs.

Sign of Four (1890) ch. 8

London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the

Empire are irresistibly drained.

Study in Scarlet (1888) ch. 1

It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It

biases the judgement.

Study in Scarlet (1888) ch. 3

Where there is no imagination there is no horror.

Study in Scarlet (1888) ch. 5

It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most

commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new

or special features from which deductions may be drawn.

Study in Scarlet (1888) ch. 7

"I am inclined to think--" said I [Dr Watson]. "I should do so," Sherlock

Holmes remarked, impatiently.

Valley of Fear (1915) ch. 1

The vocabulary of "Bradshaw" is nervous and terse, but limited. The

selection of words would hardly lend itself to the sending of general

messages.

Valley of Fear (1915) ch. 1

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly

recognizes genius.

Valley of Fear (1915) ch. 1

What of the bow?

The bow was made in England,

Of true wood, of yew wood,

The wood of English bows.

White Company (1891) "Song of the Bow"

4.43 Maurice Drake =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Beanz meanz Heinz.

Advertising slogan for Heinz baked beans circa 1967, in Nigel Rees Slogans

(1982) p. 131

4.44 William A. Drake =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-

See Greta Garbo (7.8)

4.45 John Drinkwater =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1882-1937

In the corridors under there is nothing but sleep.

And stiller than ever on orchard boughs they keep

Tryst with the moon, and deep is the silence, deep

On moon-washed apples of wonder.

Tides (1917) "Moonlit Apples"

4.46 Alexander Dubcek =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1921-

Proto veden� strany klade takov� duraz na to, aby...nase zeme hospod�rsky

a kulturne nezaost�vala a hlavne abychom ve sluzb�ch lidu delali takovou

politiku, aby socialismus neztr�cel svou lidskou tv�r.

That is why the leadership of the country has put such emphasis on

ensuring that...our land did not lag behind economically or culturally,

and, most important, why in the service of the people we followed a policy

so that socialism would not lose its human face.

In Rud� Pr�vo19 July 1968

4.47 Al Dubin =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1891-1945

Tiptoe through the tulips.

Title of song (1929; music by Joseph Burke)

4.48 W. E. B. DuBois =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1868-1963

One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human

beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life.

The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the

great end comes slowly, because time is long.

Last message (written 26 June, 1957) read at his funeral, 1963, in Journal

of Negro History Apr. 1964

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour

line--the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and

Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.

Souls of Black Folk (1903) ch. 2

4.49 Georges Duhamel =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1966

Je respecte trop l' id�e de Dieu pour la rendre responsable d'un monde

aussi absurde.

I have too much respect for the idea of God to make it responsible for

such an absurd world.

Le d�sert de Bi�vres (1937) in Chronique des Pasquier (1948) vol. 5,

p. 249

4.50 Raoul Duke =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See Hunter S. Thompson (20.17)

4.51 John Foster Dulles =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1959

You have to take chances for peace, just as you must take chances in war.

Some say that we were brought to the verge of war. Of course we were

brought to the verge of war. The ability to get to the verge without

getting into the war is the necessary art. If you cannot master it, you

inevitably get into war. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared

to go to the brink, you are lost. We've had to look it square in the

face--on the question of enlarging the Korean war, on the question of

getting into the Indochina war, on the question of Formosa. We walked to

the brink and we looked it in the face.

In Life 16 Jan. 1956

If...the European Defence Community should not become effective; if France

and Germany remain apart....That would compel an agonizing reappraisal of

basic United States policy.

Speech to NATO Council in Paris, 14 Dec. 1953, in New York Times 15 Dec.

1953, p. 14

4.52 Dame Daphne du Maurier =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1907-1989

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

Rebecca (1938) ch. 1 (opening sentence)

4.53 Isadora Duncan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1878-1927

Adieu, mes amis. Je vais � la gloire.

Farewell, my friends. I am going to glory.

Last words before her scarf caught in a car wheel and broke her neck, in

Mary Desti Isadora Duncan's End (1929) ch. 25

4.54 Ian Dunlop =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The shock of the new: seven historic exhibitions of modern art.

Title of book (1972)

4.55 Jimmy Durante =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1893-1980

Everybody wants to get inta the act!

Catch-phrase, in W. Cahn Good Night, Mrs Calabash (1963) p. 95

4.56 Leo Durocher =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-

I called off his players' names as they came marching up the steps behind

him, "Walker, Cooper, Mize, Marshall, Kerr, Gordon, Thomson. Take a look

at them. All nice guys. They'll finish last. Nice guys. Finish last."

Said on 6 July 1946, in Nice Guys Finish Last (1975) pt. 1, p. 14

(generally quoted as "Nice guys finish last")

4.57 Ian Dury =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sex and drugs and rock and roll.

Title of song (1977; music by Chaz Jankel)

I could be the catalyst that sparks the revolution.

I could be an inmate in a long term institution

I could lean to wild extremes I could do or die,

I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch them gallop by,

What a waste, what a waste, what a waste, what a waste.

What a Waste (1978 song; music by Chaz Jankel)

4.58 Lillian K. Dykstra =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

He [Thomas Dewey] is just about the nastiest little man I've ever known.

He struts sitting down.

Letter to Franz Dykstra, 8 July 1952, in James T. Patterson Mr Republican

(1972) ch. 35

4.59 Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1941-

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you can call him a man?...

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Blowin' in the Wind (1962 song)

Don't think twice, it's all right.

Title of song (1963)

I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,

I saw guns and sharp swords, in the hands of young children,

And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,

And it's a hard rain's a gonna fall.

A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall (1963 song)

Money doesn't talk, it swears.

It's Alright, Ma (1965 song)

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

Like a Rolling Stone (1965 song)

She knows there's no success like failure

And that failure's no success at all.

Love Minus Zero/ No Limit (1965 song)

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more.

Maggie's Farm (1965 song)

Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me.

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Mr Tambourine Man (1965 song)

"Equality," I spoke the word

As if a wedding vow

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

My Back Pages (1964 song)

Don't follow leaders

Watch the parkin' meters.

Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965 song)

Come mothers and fathers,

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand.

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is

Rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'!

The Times They Are A-Changing (1964 song)

But I can't think for you

You'll have to decide,

Whether Judas Iscariot

Had God on his side.

With God on our Side (1963 song)

5.0 E =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

5.1 Stephen T. Early =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1889-1951

I received a card the other day from Steve Early which said, "Don't Worry

Me--I am an 8 Ulcer Man on 4 Ulcer Pay."

William Hillman Mr President; the First Publication from the Personal

Diaries, Private Letters, Papers and Revealing Interviews of Harry S.

Truman (1952) pt. 5, p. 222

5.2 Clint Eastwood =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1930-

See Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, and Dean Riesner (6.13)

5.3 Abba Eban =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1915-

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have

exhausted all other alternatives.

Speech in London, 16 Dec. 1970, in The Times 17 Dec. 1970

5.4 Sir Anthony Eden (Earl of Avon) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1897-1977

We are in an armed conflict; that is the phrase I have used. There has

been no declaration of war.

Hansard 1 Nov. 1956, col. 1641

5.5 Clarissa Eden (Countess of Avon) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1920-

For the past few weeks I have really felt as if the Suez Canal was flowing

through my drawing room.

Speech at Gateshead, 20 Nov. 1956, in Gateshead Post 23 Nov. 1956

5.6 Marriott Edgar =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1880-1951

There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,

That's noted for fresh air and fun,

And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom

Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was young Albert,

All dressed in his best; quite a swell

With a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle,

The finest that Woolworth's could sell.

They didn't think much to the Ocean:

The waves, they were fiddlin' and small,

There was no wrecks and nobody drownded,

Fact, nothing to laugh at at all.

The Lion and Albert (1932) in Albert, 'Arold and Others (1937)--monologue

recorded by Stanley Holloway in 1932

The Magistrate gave his opinion