The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (8 page)

My father knows Lloyd George.

Comic song consisting of these two lines sung over and over again to the

tune of Onward, Christian Soldiers, perhaps originally by Tommy Rhys

Roberts (1910-75); sometimes with "knew" instead of "knows"

Lousy but loyal.

London East End slogan at George V's Jubilee (1935), in Nigel Rees Slogans

(1982)

Mademoiselle from Armenteers,

Hasn't been kissed for forty years,

Hinky, dinky, parley-voo.

Song of World War I, variously ascribed to Edward Rowland and Harry

Carlton

Make do and mend.

Wartime slogan, 1940s

Make love not war.

Student slogan, 1960s

The man from Del Monte says "Yes."

Advertising slogan for tinned fruit, 1985

The man you love to hate.

Billing for Erich von Stroheim in the film The Heart of Humanity (1918),

in Peter Noble Hollywood Scapegoat (1950) ch. 2

Mother may I go and bathe?

Yes, my darling daughter.

Hang your clothes on yonder tree,

But don't go near the water.

In Iona and Peter Opie Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) p. 314.

Cf. Walter de la Mare 66:20

The nearest thing to death in life

Is David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe,

Though underneath that gloomy shell

He does himself extremely well.

In E. Grierson Confessions of a Country Magistrate (1972) p. 35 (rhyme

about Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, said to have been current on the Northern

circuit in the late 1930s)

Nil carborundum illegitimi.

Mock-Latin proverb translated as "Don't let the bastards grind you down";

often simply "nil carborundum" or "illegitimi non carborundum"

No manager ever got fired for buying IBM.

IBM advertising slogan

Nice one, Cyril.

1972 television advertising campaign for Wonderloaf; taken up by

supporters of Cyril Knowles, Tottenham Hotspur footballer; the Spurs team

later made a record featuring the line

No more Latin, no more French,

No more sitting on a hard board bench.

Rhyme used by children at the end of school term: see Iona and Peter Opie

Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959) ch. 13; also found with

variants such as: No more Latin, no more Greek, No more cares to make me

squeak

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Graffito, used as title of book by Simone Signoret

Not so much a programme, more a way of life!

Title of BBC television series, 1964

O Death, where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling,

O grave, thy victory?

The bells of Hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling

For you but not for me.

For You But Not For Me (song of World War I) in S. Louis Guiraud (ed.)

Songs That Won the War (1930). Cf. Corinthians 15:55

Once again we stop the mighty roar of London's traffic and from the great

crowds we bring you some of the interesting people who have come by land,

sea and air to be in town tonight.

In Town Tonight (BBC radio series, 1933-60) introductory words

Power to the people.

Slogan of the Black Panther movement, circa 1968 onwards, in Black Panther

14 Sept. 1968

Puella Rigensis ridebat

Quam tigris in tergo vehebat;

Externa profecta,

Interna revecta,

Risusque cum tigre manebat.

There was a young lady of Riga

Who went for a ride on a tiger;

They returned from the ride

With the lady inside,

And a smile on the face of the tiger.

In R. L. Green (ed.) A Century of Humorous Verse (1959) p. 285

The [or A] quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Sentence used by typists etc. to ensure that all letters of the alphabet

are printing properly: see R. Hunter Middleton's introduction to The Quick

Brown Fox (1945) by Richard H. Templeton Jr.

The rabbit has a charming face:

Its private life is a disgrace.

I really dare not name to you

The awful things that rabbits do.

The Rabbit, in The Week-End Book (1925) p. 171

See the happy moron,

He doesn't give a damn,

I wish I were a moron,

My God! perhaps I am!

Eugenics Review July 1929

She was poor but she was honest

Victim of a rich man's game.

First he loved her, than he left her,

And she lost her maiden name. save

See her on the bridge at midnight,

Saying "Farewell, blighted love."

Then a scream, a splash and goodness,

What is she a-doin' of?

It's the same the whole world over,

It's the poor wot gets the blame,

It's the rich wot gets the gravy.

Ain't it all a bleedin shame?

She was Poor but she was Honest (song sung by British soldiers in World

War I)

Shome mishtake, shurely?

Catch-phrase in Private Eye magazine, 1980s

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Slogan for Kellogg's Rice Krispies, from circa 1928

So farewell then....

Frequent opening of poems by "E. J. Thribb" in Private Eye magazine, 1970s

onwards, usually as an obituary

Some television programmes are so much chewing gum for the eyes.

John Mason Brown, quoting a friend of his young son, in interview 28 July

1955, in James Beasley Simpson Best Quotes of '50, '55, '56 (1957) p. 233

Sticks nix hick pix.

Variety 17 July 1935 (headline on lack of interest for farm dramas in

rural areas)

Stop-look-and-listen.

Safety slogan current in the US from 1912

Take me to your leader.

Catch-phrase from science-fiction stories

Tell Sid.

Advertising slogan for the privatization of British Gas, 1986, in Philip

Kleinman The Saatchi and Saatchi Story (1987) ch. 11

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world; and that is

an idea whose time has come.

Nation 15 Apr. 1943. Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 267:11

There is so much good in the worst of us,

And so much bad in the best of us,

That it hardly becomes [or saveoves] any of us

To talk about the rest of us.

Attributed to many authors, especially Edward Wallis Hoch (1849-1945)

because printed in the Marion Record (Kansas) which he owned, but

disclaimed by him

There was a faith-healer of Deal

Who said, "Although pain isn't real,

If I sit on a pin

And it punctures my skin,

I dislike what I fancy I feel."

The Week-End Book (1925) p. 158

They [Jacob Epstein's sculptures for the former BMA building in the

Strand] are a form of statuary which no careful father would wish his

daughter, or no discerning young man his fianc�e, to see.

Evening Standard 19 June 1908

They come as a boon and a blessing to men,

The Pickwick, the Owl, and the Waverley pen.

Advertisement by MacNiven and H. Cameron Ltd., circa 1920

[This film] is so cryptic as to be almost meaningless. If there is a

meaning, it is doubtless objectionable.

The British Board of Film Censors, banning Jean Cocteau's film The

Seashell and the Clergyman (1929), in J. C. Robertson Hidden Cinema (1989)

ch. 1

Though I yield to no one in my admiration for Mr Coolidge, I do wish he

did not look as if he had been weaned on a pickle.

Anonymous remark reported in Alice Roosevelt Longworth Crowded Hours

(1933) ch. 21

To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer.

Farmers' Almanac for 1978 (1977) "Capsules of Wisdom"

Top people take The Times.

Advertising slogan for The Times newspaper from Jan. 1959: see I.

McDonald History of The Times (1984) vol. 5, ch. 16

Tous les �tres humains naissent libres et �gaux en dignit� et en droits.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) Article 1 (modified from a

draft by Ren� Cassin)

Ulster says no.

Slogan coined in response to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 15 Nov. 1985,

in Irish Times 25 Nov. 1985

Vorsprung durch Technik.

Progress through technology.

Advertising slogan for Audi cars, from 1986

Vote early. Vote often.

Chicago (and Irish) election proverb, in David Frost and Michael Shea

Mid-Atlantic Companion (1986) p. 95

Wall St. lays an egg.

Variety 30 Oct. 1929 (headline on the Wall Street Crash)

War will cease when men refuse to fight.

Pacifist slogan, from circa 1936 (often "Wars will cease..."): see

Birmingham Gazette 21 Nov. 1936, p. 3, and Peace News 15 Oct. 1938, p. 12

We are the Ovaltineys,

Little [or Happy] girls and boys.

We are the Ovaltineys (song promoting the drink Ovaltine, from circa

1935)

The weekend starts here.

Catch-phrase of Ready, Steady, Go, British television series, circa 1963

We're number two. We try harder.

Advertising slogan for Avis car rentals

We're here

Because

We're here

Because

We're here

Because we're here.

In John Brophy and Eric Partridge Songs and Slang of the British Soldier

1914-18 (1930) p. 33 (sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne )

We shall not be moved.

Title of song (1931)

We shall not pretend that there is nothing in his long career which those

who respect and admire him would wish otherwise.

The Times 23 Jan. 1901 (leading article on the accession of Edward VII)

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome some day.

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

We Shall Overcome (song derived from several sources, notably the singers

Zilphia Horton and Pete Seeger)

Who dares wins.

Motto on badge of British Special Air Service regiment, from 1942 (see J.

L. Collins Elite Forces: the SAS (1986) introduction)

Whose finger do you want on the trigger?

Daily Mirror 21 Sept. 1951

Winston is back.

Board of Admiralty signal to the Fleet on Winston Churchill's

reappointment as First Sea Lord, 3 Sept. 1939, in Martin Gilbert Winston

S. Churchill (1976) vol. 5, ch. 53

Would you like to sin

With Elinor Glyn

On a tiger skin?

Or would you prefer

To err

With her

On some other fur?

In A. Glyn Elinor Glyn (1955) bk. 2

1.44 Jean Anouilh =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1910-1987

Dieu est avec tout le monde....Et, en fin de compte, il est toujours avec

ceux qui ont beaucoup d'argent et de grosses arm�es.

God is on everyone's side....And, in the last analysis, he is on the side

with plenty of money and large armies.

L'Alouette (The Lark, 1953) p. 120

Il y a l'amour bien s�r. Et puis il y a la vie, son ennemie.

There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.

Ard�le(1949) p. 8

Vous savez bien que l'amour, c'est avant tout le don de soi!

You know very well that love is, above all, the gift of oneself!

Ard�le(1949) p. 79

C'est tr�s jolie la vie, mais cela n'a pas de forme. L'art a pour objet de

lui en donner une pr�cis�ment et de faire par tous les artifices

possibles--plus vrai que le vrai.

Life is very nice, but it has no shape. The object of art is actually to

give it some and to do it by every artifice possible--truer than the

truth.

La R�p�tition (The Rehearsal, 1950) act 2

1.45 Guillaume Apollinaire =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1880-1918

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine.

Et nos amours, faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne?

La joie venait toujours apr�s la peine.

Vienne la nuit, sonne l'heure,

Les jours s'en vont, je demeure.

Under Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine.

And our loves, must I remember them?

Joy always comes after pain.

Let night come, ring out the hour,

The days go by, I remain.

Les Soir�es de Paris Feb. 1912 "Le Pont Mirabeau"

Les souvenirs sont cors de chasse

Dont meurt le bruit parmi le vent.

Memories are hunting horns

Whose sound dies on the wind.

Les Soir�es de Paris Sept. 1912 "Cors de Chasse"

1.46 Sir Edward Appleton =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1892-1965

I do not mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a

language I don't understand.

In Observer 28 Aug. 1955

1.47 Louis Aragon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1897-1982

O mois des floraisons mois des m�tamorphoses

Mai qui fut sans nuage et Juin poignard�

Je n'oublierai jamais les lilas ni les roses

Ni ceux que le printemps dans ses plis a gard�.

O month of flowerings, month of metamorphoses,

May without cloud and June that was stabbed,

I shall never forget the lilac and the roses

Nor those whom spring has kept in its folds.

Le Cr�ve-C�ur(Heartbreak, 1940) "Les lilas et les roses"

1.48 Hannah Arendt =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-1975

Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.

In W. H. Auden A Certain World (1970) p. 369

It was as though in those last minutes he [Eichmann] was summing up the