The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (5 page)

Stephen Sondheim 19.91

Susan Sontag 19.92

Donald Soper (Baron Soper) 19.93

Charles Hamilton Sorley 19.94

Henry D. Spalding 19.95

Muriel Spark 19.96

John Sparrow 19.97

Countess Spencer (Raine Spencer) 19.98

Sir Stanley Spencer 19.99

Stephen Spender 19.100

Oswald Spengler 19.101

Steven Spielberg 19.102

Dr Benjamin Spock 19.103

William Archibald Spooner 19.104

Sir Cecil Spring Rice 19.105

Bruce Springsteen 19.106

Sir J. C. Squire 19.107

Joseph Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) 19.108

Charles E. Stanton 19.109

Frank L. Stanton 19.110

Dame Freya Stark 19.111

Enid Starkie 19.112

Christina Stead 19.113

Sir David Steel 19.114

Lincoln Steffens 19.115

Gertrude Stein 19.116

John Steinbeck 19.117

Gloria Steinem 19.118

James Stephens 19.119

Andrew B. Sterling 19.120

Wallace Stevens 19.121

Adlai Stevenson 19.122

Anne Stevenson 19.123

Caskie Stinnett 19.124

Rt. Revd Mervyn Stockwood 19.125

Tom Stoppard 19.126

Lytton Strachey 19.127

Igor Stravinsky 19.128

Simeon Strunsky 19.129

G. A. Studdert Kennedy 19.130

Terry Sullivan 19.131

Arthur Hays Sulzberger 19.132

Edith Summerskill 19.133

Jacqueline Susann (Mrs Irving Mansfield) 19.134

Hannen Swaffer 19.135

Herbert Bayard Swope 19.136

Eric Sykes and Max Bygraves 19.137

John Millington Synge 19.138

Thomas Szasz 19.139

George Szell 19.140

Albert von Szent-Gy�rgyi 19.141

T 20.0

Sir Rabindranath Tagore 20.1

Nellie Talbot 20.2

S. G. Tallentyre (E. Beatrice Hall) 20.3

Booth Tarkington 20.4

A. J. P. Taylor 20.5

Bert Leston Taylor 20.6

Norman Tebbit 20.7

Archbishop William Temple 20.8

A. S. J. Tessimond 20.9

Margaret Thatcher 20.10

Sam Theard and Fleecie Moore 20.11

Diane Thomas 20.12

Dylan Thomas 20.13

Edward Thomas 20.14

Gwyn Thomas 20.15

Francis Thompson 20.16

Hunter S. Thompson 20.17

Lord Thomson (Roy Herbert Thomson, Baron Thomson of Fleet) 20.18

Jeremy Thorpe 20.19

James Thurber 20.20

Paul Tillich 20.21

Dion Titheradge 20.22

Alvin Toffler 20.23

J. R. R. Tolkien 20.24

Nicholas Tomalin 20.25

Barry Took and Marty Feldman 20.26

Sue Townsend 20.27

Pete Townshend 20.28

Polly Toynbee 20.29

Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree 20.30

Herbert Trench 20.31

G. M. Trevelyan 20.32

Lionel Trilling 20.33

Tommy Trinder 20.34

Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) 20.35

Harry S. Truman 20.36

Barbara W. Tuchman 20.37

Sophie Tucker 20.38

Walter James Redfern Turner 20.39

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) 20.40

Kenneth Tynan 20.41

U 21.0

Miguel de Unamuno 21.1

John Updike 21.2

Sir Peter Ustinov 21.3

V 22.0

Paul Val�ry 22.1

Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss 22.2

Vivien van Damm 22.3

Laurens van der Post 22.4

Bartolomeo Vanzetti 22.5

Harry Vaughan 22.6

Ralph Vaughan Williams 22.7

Thorstein Veblen 22.8

Gore Vidal 22.9

King Vidor 22.10

Jos� Antonio Viera Gallo 22.11

W 23.0

John Wain 23.1

Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay 23.2

Prince of Wales 23.3

Arthur Waley 23.4

Edgar Wallace 23.5

George Wallace 23.6

Henry Wallace 23.7

Graham Wallas 23.8

Sir Hugh Walpole 23.9

Andy Warhol 23.10

Jack Warner (Horace Waters) 23.11

Ned Washington 23.12

Sir William Watson 23.13

Evelyn Waugh 23.14

Frederick Weatherly 23.15

Beatrice Webb 23.16

Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason 23.17

Jim Webb 23.18

Sidney Webb (Baron Passfield) 23.19

Sidney Webb (Baron Passfield) and Beatrice Webb 23.20

Simone Weil 23.21

Johnny Weissmuller 23.22

Thomas Earle Welby 23.23

Fay Weldon 23.24

Colin Welland 23.25

Orson Welles 23.26

H. G. Wells 23.27

Arnold Wesker 23.28

Mae West 23.29

Dame Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Fairfield) 23.30

Edith Wharton 23.31

E. B. White 23.32

T. H. White 23.33

Alfred North Whitehead 23.34

Bertrand Whitehead 23.35

Katharine Whitehorn 23.36

George Whiting 23.37

Gough Whitlam 23.38

Charlotte Whitton 23.39

William H. Whyte 23.40

Anna Wickham (Edith Alice Mary Harper) 23.41

Richard Wilbur 23.42

Billy Wilder (Samuel Wilder) 23.43

Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond 23.44

Thornton Wilder 23.45

Kaiser Wilhelm II 23.46

Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle 23.47

Harry Williams 23.48

Kenneth Williams 23.49

Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams) 23.50

William Carlos Williams 23.51

Ted Willis (Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis of Chislehurst) 23.52

Wendell Willkie 23.53

Angus Wilson 23.54

Charles E. Wilson 23.55

Edmund Wilson 23.56

Harold Wilson (Baron Wilson of Rievaulx) 23.57

McLandburgh Wilson 23.58

Sandy Wilson 23.59

Woodrow Wilson 23.60

Robb Wilton 23.61

Arthur Wimperis 23.62

Owen Wister 23.63

Ludwig Wittgenstein 23.64

P. G. Wodehouse 23.65

Humbert Wolfe 23.66

Thomas Wolfe 23.67

Tom Wolfe 23.68

Woodbine Willie 23.69

Lt.-Commander Thomas Woodroofe 23.70

Harry Woods 23.71

Virginia Woolf 23.72

Alexander Woollcott 23.73

Frank Lloyd Wright 23.74

Woodrow Wyatt (Baron Wyatt) 23.75

Laurie Wyman 23.76

George Wyndham 23.77

Tammy Wynette (Wynette Pugh) and Billy Sherrill 23.78

Y 24.0

R. J. Yeatman 24.1

W. B. Yeats 24.2

Jack Yellen 24.3

Michael Young 24.4

Waldemar Young et al. 24.5

Z 25.0

Darryl F. Zanuck 25.1

Emiliano Zapata 25.2

Frank Zappa 25.3

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale 25.4

Ronald L. Ziegler 25.5

Grigori Zinoviev 25.6

1.0 A =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1.1 Bud Abbott and Lou Costello (Louis Francis Cristillo) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Bud Abbott 1895-1974

Lou Costello 1906-1959

Abbott: Now, on the St Louis team we have Who's on first, What's on

second, I Don't Know is on third.

Costello: That's what I want to find out.

Naughty Nineties (1945 film), in R. J. Anobile Who's On First? (1973)

p. 224

1.2 Dannie Abse =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1923-

I know the colour rose, and it is lovely,

But not when it ripens in a tumour;

And healing greens, leaves and grass, so springlike,

In limbs that fester are not springlike.

A Small Desperation (1968) "Pathology of Colours"

So in the simple blessing of a rainbow,

In the bevelled edge of a sunlit mirror,

I have seen visible, Death's artifact

Like a soldier's ribbon on a tunic tacked.

A Small Desperation (1968) "Pathology of Colours"

That Greek one then is my hero, who watched the bath water rise above his

navel and rushed out naked, "I found it, I found it" into the street in

all his shining, and forgot that others would only stare at his genitals.

Walking under Water (1952) "Letter to Alex Comfort"

1.3 Goodman Ace =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-1982

Jane and I got mixed up with a television show--or as we call it back east

here: TV--a clever contraction derived from the words Terrible Vaudeville.

However, it is our latest medium--we call it a medium because nothing's

well done. It was discovered, I suppose you've heard, by a man named

Fulton Berle, and it has already revolutionized social grace by cutting

down parlour conversation to two sentences: "What's on television?" and

"Good night."

Letter to Groucho Marx, in The Groucho Letters (1967) p. 114

1.4 Dean Acheson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1893-1971

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull. This is not

always easy to achieve.

In Observer 21 June 1970

I will undoubtedly have to seek what is happily known as gainful

employment, which I am glad to say does not describe holding public

office.

In Time 22 Dec. 1952

Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.

Speech at the Military Academy, West Point, 5 Dec. 1962, in Vital

Speeches 1 Jan. 1963, p. 163

A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the

writer.

In Wall Street Journal 8 Sept. 1977

1.5 J. R. Ackerley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1896-1967

I was born in 1896 and my parents were married in 1919.

My Father and Myself (1968) ch. 1

1.6 Douglas Adams =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1952-

Don't panic.

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) preface

"Life," said Marvin, "don't talk to me about Life."

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) ch. 11

And of course I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left

hand side.

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) ch. 13

The Answer to the Great Question Of....Life, the Universe and

Everything....Is....Forty-two.

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) ch. 27

"The first ten million years were the worst," said Marvin, "and the second

ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't

enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline."

Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980) ch. 18

1.7 Frank Adams and Will M. Hough =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I wonder who's kissing her now.

Title of song (1909)

1.8 Franklin P. Adams =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1881-1960

When the political columnists say "Every thinking man" they mean

themselves, and when candidates appeal to "Every intelligent voter" they

mean everybody who is going to vote for them.

Nods and Becks (1944) p. 3

Years ago we discovered the exact point, the dead centre of middle age. It

occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to

the net.

Nods and Becks (1944) p. 53

The trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who

believe, with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all of

the people all of the time.

Nods and Becks (1944) p. 74

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote

against somebody rather than for somebody.

Nods and Becks (1944) p. 206

1.9 Henry Brooks Adams =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1838-1918

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the

systematic organization of hatreds.

Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 1

A friend in power is a friend lost.

Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 7

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 16

One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.

Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought, a

rivalry of aim.

Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 20

What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know

how to learn.

Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 21

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.

Education of Henry Adams (1907) ch. 22

Some day science may have the existence of mankind in its power, and the

human race commit suicide, by blowing up the world.

Letter 11 Apr. 1862, in Letters of Henry Adams (1982) vol. 1, p. 290

1.10 Harold Adamson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-1980

Comin' in on a wing and a pray'r.

Title of song (1943)

1.11 George Ade =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1866-1944

"Whom are you?" he asked, for he had attended business college.

Chicago Record 16 Mar. 1898, "The Steel Box"

Anybody can Win, unless there happens to be a Second Entry.

Fables in Slang (1900) p. 133

After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to write

for posterity.

Fables in Slang (1900) p. 158

If it were not for the presents, an elopement would be preferable.

Forty Modern Fables (1901) p. 218

R-E-M-O-R-S-E!

Those dry Martinis did the work for me;

Last night at twelve I felt immense,

Today I feel like thirty cents.