The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (65 page)

13.132 Lord Louis Mountbatten (Viscount Mountbatten of Burma) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1900-1979

I can't think of a more wonderful thanksgiving for the life I have had

than that everyone should be jolly at my funeral.

In Richard Hough Mountbatten (1980) p. 3

As a military man who has given half a century of active service, I say in

all sincerity that the nuclear arms race has no military purpose. Wars

cannot be fought with nuclear weapons. Their existence only adds to our

perils because of the illusions which they have generated.

Speech at Strasbourg, 11 May 1979, in P. Ziegler Mountbatten (1985) ch. 52

13.133 Lord Moynihan (Berkeley Moynihan, Baron Moynihan) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1865-1936

Lord Dawson of Penn

Has killed lots of men.

So that's why we sing

God save the King.

In Kenneth Rose King George V (1983) ch. 9

13.134 Robert Mugabe =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1924-

Cricket civilizes people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to

play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.

In Sunday Times 26 Feb. 1984

13.135 Kitty Muggeridge =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

David Frost has risen without trace.

Said circa 1965 to Malcolm Muggeridge

13.136 Malcolm Muggeridge =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1903-1990

An orgy looks particularly alluring seen through the mists of righteous

indignation.

The Most of Malcolm Muggeridge (1966) "Dolce Vita in a Cold Climate"

Once in the lobby of the Midland Hotel in Manchester when I happened to be

in some public disfavour, a man came up to me, grasped my hand and

observed: "Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream."

Radio Times 9 July 1964

Good taste and humour...are a contradiction in terms, like a chaste whore.

Time 14 Sept. 1953

The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of

fulfilment.

Tread Softly (1966) p. 46

As has truly been said in his days as an active politician, he [Sir

Anthony Eden] was not only a bore; he bored for England.

Tread Softly (1966) p. 147

13.137 Edwin Muir =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1887-1959

And without fear the lawless roads

Ran wrong through all the land.

Journeys and Places (1937) "H�lderlin's Journey"

13.138 Herbert J. Muller =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1905-

Few have heard of Fra Luca Pacioli, the inventor of double-entry

book-keeping; but he has probably had much more influence on human life

than has Dante or Michelangelo.

Uses of the Past (1957) ch. 8

13.139 Ethel Watts Mumford, Oliver Herford, and Addison Mizner =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ethel Watts Mumford 1878-1940

Oliver Herford 1863-1935

Addison Mizner 1872-1933

In the midst of life we are in debt.

Altogether New Cynic's Calendar (1907)--a parody of Book of Common

Prayer: see Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 389:12

God gives us our relatives--thank God we can choose our friends.

Cynic's Calendar (1903)

13.140 Lewis Mumford =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1895-

Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its

grandfathers.

The Brown Decades (1931) p. 3

Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.

Quote Magazine 8 Oct. 1961

13.141 Sir Alfred Munnings =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1878-1959

I find myself a President of a body of men who are what I call

shilly-shallying. They feel that there is something in this so-called

modern art....I myself would rather have--excuse me, my Lord Archbishop--a

damned bad failure, a bad, dusty old picture where somebody has tried to

do something, to set down something that they have seen and felt, than all

this affected juggling, this following of well--shall we call it the

school of Paris?...Anthony Blunt...once stood in this room with me when

the King's pictures were here. And there was a Reynolds hanging there and

he said, "That Reynolds isn't as great as a Picasso." Believe me, what an

extraordinary thing for a man to say.

Speech at Royal Academy, 28 Apr. 1949, in The Finish (1952) ch. 22

13.142 Richard Murdoch, and Kenneth Horne =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Richard Murdoch 1907-1990

Kenneth Horne 1900-1969

Have you read any good books lately?

Catch-phrase used by Richard Murdoch in radio comedy series

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (started 2 Jan. 1947)

Good morning, sir--was there something?

Catch-phrase used by Sam Costa in radio comedy series

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (started 2 Jan. 1947), in Norman Hackforth Solo

for Horne (1976) p. 58

13.143 C. W. Murphy and Will Letters =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Has anybody here seen Kelly?

Kelly from the Isle of Man?

Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1909 song)

13.144 Ed Murphy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I was project manager at Edwards Airforce Base during Colonel J. P.

Stapp's experimental crash research testing on the track at North Base.

The law's namesake was Captain Ed Murphy--a development engineer from

Wright aircraft lab. Frustration with a strap transducer which was

malfunctioning due to an error by a lab technician in the wiring of the

strain gauge bridges caused Murphy to remark: "If there's any way to do it

wrong, he will!" I assigned Murphy's Law to the statement and the

associated variations.

George E. Nichols in Listener 16 Feb. 1984

13.145 Fred Murray =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ginger, you're balmy!

Title of song (1910)

I'm Henery the Eighth, I am!

Henery the Eighth, I am, I am!

I got married to the widow next door,

She's been married seven times before.

Every one was a Henery,

She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam.

I'm her eighth old man named Henery

I'm Henery the Eighth, I am!

I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am! (1911 song)

13.146 Edward R. Murrow =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1965

As Ed Murrow once said about Vietnam, anyone who isn't confused doesn't

really understand the situation.

Walter Bryan The Improbable Irish (1969) ch. 1

This--is London.

Words used to open his broadcasts from London, 1938-45: see E. R. Murrow

In Search of Light (1967) p. 7

He [Winston Churchill] mobilized the English language and sent it into

battle to steady his fellow countrymen and hearten those Europeans upon

whom the long dark night of tyranny had descended.

Broadcast, 30 Nov. 1954, in In Search of Light (1967) p. 276

13.147 Benito Mussolini =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1883-1945

Voglio partire in perfetto orario....D'ora innanzi ogni cosa deve

camminare alla perfezione.

We must leave exactly on time....From now on everything must function to

perfection.

Giorgio Pini Mussolini (1939) vol. 2, ch. 6, p. 251 (said to

a station-master). Cf. HRH Infanta Eulalia of Spain Courts and Countries

after the War (1925) ch. 13: "The first benefit of Benito Mussolini's

direction in Italy begins to be felt when one crosses the Italian Frontier

and hears "Il treno arriva all'orario" [i.e. "the train is arriving on

time"]

13.148 A. J. Muste =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1885-1967

There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.

In New York Times 16 Nov. 1967, p. 46

14.0 N =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

14.1 Vladimir Nabokov =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1899-1977

Her exotic daydreams do not prevent her from being small-town bourgeois at

heart, clinging to conventional ideas or committing this or that

conventional violation of the conventional, adultery being a most

conventional way to rise above the conventional.

Lectures on Literature (1980) "Madame Bovary"

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta:

the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap,

at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

Lolita (1955) ch. 1

Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even

greater one.

Pale Fire (1962) p. 225

The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our

existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of

darkness.

Speak, Memory (1951) ch. 1

I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak

like a child.

Strong Opinions (1973) foreword

A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important

to the individual, and only the individual reader is important to me.

Strong Opinions (1973) p. 33

14.2 Ralph Nader =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1934-

Unsafe at any speed.

Title of book (1965)

14.3 Sarojini Naidu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1879-1949

If only Bapu [Gandhi] knew the cost of setting him up in poverty!

In A. Campbell-Johnson Mission with Mountbatten (1951) ch. 12

14.4 Fridtjof Nansen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1861-1930

He [Nansen] once told me the rules by which, in his explorations and at

Geneva, his work was done. There were three of them, and they were very

simple: "Never stop because you are afraid--you are never so likely to be

wrong." "Never keep a line of retreat: it is a wretched invention." "The

difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes

a little longer."

Philip Noel-Baker in Listener 14 Dec. 1939

14.5 Ogden Nash =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1902-1971

The camel has a single hump;

The dromedary, two;

Or else the other way around,

I'm never sure. Are you?

Bad Parents' Garden of Verse (1936) "The Camel"

The trouble with a kitten is

THAT

Eventually it becomes a

CAT

The Face is Familiar (1940) "The Kitten"

Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave

When they think that their children are na�ve.

The Face is Familiar (1940) "Baby, What Makes the Sky Blue"

Sure, deck your lower limbs in pants;

Yours are the limbs, my sweeting.

You look divine as you advance--

Have you seen yourself retreating?

The Face is Familiar (1940) "What's the Use?"

The cow is of the bovine ilk;

One end is moo, the other, milk;

Free Wheeling (1931) "The Cow"

A bit of talcum

Is always walcum.

Free Wheeling (1931) "The Baby"

Life is not having been told that the man has just waxed the floor.

Good Intentions (1942) "You and Me and P. B. Shelley"

Beneath this slab

John Brown is stowed.

He watched the ads,

And not the road.

Good Intentions (1942) "Lather as You Go"

I have a bone to pick with Fate.

Come here and tell me, girlie,

Do you think my mind is maturing late,

Or simply rotted early?

Good Intentions (1942) "Lines on Facing Forty"

I test my bath before I sit,

And I'm always moved to wonderment

That what chills the finger not a bit

Is so frigid upon the fundament.

Good Intentions (1942) "Samson Agonistes"

Women would rather be right than be reasonable.

Good Intentions (1942) "Frailty, Thy Name is a Misnomer"

Parsley

Is gharsley.

Good Intentions (1942) "Further Reflections on Parsley"

God in His wisdom made the fly

And then forgot to tell us why.

Good Intentions (1942) "The Fly"

Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,

But hating, my boy, is an art.

Happy Days (1933) "Plea for Less Malice Toward None"

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,

I'll never see a tree at all.

Happy Days (1933) "Song of the Open Road." Cf. Joyce Kilmer 121:8

Children aren't happy with nothing to ignore,

And that's what parents were created for.

Happy Days (1933) "The Parent"

One would be in less danger

From the wiles of the stranger

If one's own kin and kith

Were more fun to be with.

Hard Lines (1931) "Family Court"