The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (82 page)

him occasionally reaches such a pitch, that it would positively be

a relief to me to dig him up and throw stones at him, knowing as I do how

incapable he and his worshippers are of understanding any less obvious

form of indignity.

Saturday Review 26 Sept. 1896 (reviewing a production of Cymbeline)

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.

Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet (1911) "Limits to Toleration"

"Do you know what a pessimist is?" "A man who thinks everybody is as nasty

as himself, and hates them for it."

An Unsocial Socialist (1887) ch. 5

We dont bother much about dress and manners in England, because, as a

nation, we dont dress well and weve no manners.

You Never Can Tell (1898) act 1

Well, sir, you never can tell. Thats a principle in life with me, sir, if

youll excuse my having such a thing, sir.

You Never Can Tell (1898) act 2

The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a refuge from home life.

You Never Can Tell (1898) act 2

My speciality is being right when other people are wrong.

You Never Can Tell (1898) act 4

The younger generation is knocking at the door, and as I open it there

steps spritely in the incomparable Max.

Saturday Review 21 May 1898 "Valedictory" (on handing over the theatre

review column to Max Beerbohm)

19.54 Sir Hartley Shawcross (Baron Shawcross) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1902-

"But," said Alice, "the question is whether you can make a word mean

different things." "Not so," said Humpty-Dumpty, "the question is which is

to be the master. That's all." We are the masters at the moment, and not

only at the moment, but for a very long time to come.

Hansard 2 Apr. 1946, col. 1213. Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

(1979) 135:22

19.55 Patrick Shaw-Stewart =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1917

I saw a man this morning

Who did not wish to die;

I ask and cannot answer

If otherwise wish I.

Poem (1916) in M. Baring Have You Anything to Declare? (1936) p. 39

He [Shaw-Stewart] once asked me if I knew a certain Duke's eldest son, and

when I said no, and from what I heard I didn't think we should like him if

we did, he answered: "I've yet to meet the Duke I couldn't like."

Edward Marsh A Number of People (1939) ch. 9

19.56 Gloria Shayne =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Goodbye cruel world.

Title of song (1961)

19.57 E. A. Sheppard =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See Charles Collins (3.77)

19.58 Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Burt Shevelove 1915-1982

Larry Gelbart ?1928-

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.

Title of musical (1962; music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

19.59 Emanuel Shinwell (Baron Shinwell) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1986

We know that the organised workers of the country are our friends. As for

the rest, they don't matter a tinker's cuss.

Speech to Electrical Trades Union conference at Margate, 7 May 1947, in

Manchester Guardian 8 May 1947

19.60 Jean Sibelius =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1865-1957

"Never pay any attention to what critics say," he [Sibelius] proceeded,

and expatiated on this theme. When I ventured to put in the remark that

their articles might sometimes be of great importance, he cut me short.

"Remember," he said, "a statue has never been set up in honour of a

critic!"

In Bengt de T�rne Sibelius: A Close-Up (1937) ch. 2

19.61 Walter Sickert =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1860-1942

Nothing knits man to man, the Manchester School wisely taught, like the

frequent passage from hand to hand of cash.

New Age 28 July 1910 "The Language of Art"

19.62 Maurice Sigler and Al Hoffman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Maurice Sigler 1901-1961

Al Hoffman 1902-1960

Little man, you've had a busy day.

Title of song (1934)

19.63 Alan Sillitoe =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1928-

The loneliness of the long-distance runner.

Title of novel (1959)

19.64 Frank Silver and Irving Cohn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Frank Silver 1892-1960

Irving Cohn 1898-1961

Yes! we have no bananas,

We have no bananas today.

Yes! We Have No Bananas (1923 song)

19.65 Georges Simenon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1903-1989

J'ai eu 10,000 femmes depuis l'�ge de 13 ans et demi. Ce n'�tait pas du

tout un vice. Je n'ai aucun vice sexuel, mais j'avais besoin de

communiquer.

I have made love to 10,000 women since I was 13-1/2. It wasn't in any way

vice. I've no sexual vices. But I needed to communicate.

Interview with Federico Fellini in L'Express 21 Feb. 1977

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

Interview in Paris Review Summer 1955

19.66 James Simmons =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1933-

For every year of life we light

A candle on your cake

To mark the simple sort of progress

Anyone can make,

And then, to test your nerve or give

A proper view of death,

You're asked to blow each light, each year,

Out with your own breath.

In the Wilderness and Other Poems (1969) "A Birthday Poem"

19.67 Paul Simon =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1942-

And here's to you, Mrs Robinson

Jesus loves you more than you will know.

God bless you please, Mrs Robinson

Heaven holds a place for those who pray.

Mrs Robinson (1968 song; used in the film The Graduate)

19.68 Harold Simpson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Down in the forest something stirred:

It was only the note of a bird.

Down in the Forest (1906 song; music by Landon Ronald)

19.69 Kirke Simpson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Warren] Harding of Ohio was chosen by a group of men in a smoke-filled

room early today as Republican candidate for President.

News report, 12 June 1920

19.70 N. F. Simpson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1919-

Knocked down a doctor? With an ambulance? How could she? It's a

contradiction in terms.

One Way Pendulum (1960) act 1

19.71 Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Noble Sissle 1889-1975

Eubie Blake 1883-1983

I'm just wild about Harry.

Title of song (1921)

19.72 C. H. Sisson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1914-

Here lies a civil servant. He was civil

To everyone, and servant to the devil.

In The London Zoo (1961) p. 29

19.73 Dame Edith Sitwell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1887-1964

Jane, Jane,

Tall as a crane,

The morning light creaks down again.

Bucolic Comedies (1923) "Aubade"

The fire was furry as a bear.

Bucolic Comedies (1923) "Fa�ade: Dark Song"

I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty. But I am too busy

thinking about myself.

In Observer 30 Apr. 1950

Virginia Woolf, I enjoyed talking to her, but thought nothing of her

writing. I considered her "a beautiful little knitter."

Letter to Geoffrey Singleton, 11 July 1955, in John Lehmann and Derek

Palmer (eds.) Selected Letters (1970)

Daisy and Lily,

Lazy and silly,

Walk by the shore of the wan grassy sea--

Talking once more 'neath a swan-bosomed tree.

Song of the Cold (1948) "Waltz"

Still falls the Rain--

Dark as the world of man, black as our loss--

Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails

Upon the Cross.

Street Songs (1942) "The Raids, 1940. Night and Dawn"

Mr [Percy Wyndham] Lewis's pictures appeared, as a very great painter said

to me, to have been painted by a mailed fist in a cotton glove.

Taken Care Of (1965) ch. 11

19.74 Sir Osbert Sitwell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1892-1969

The British Bourgeoise

Is not born,

And does not die,

But, if it is ill,

It has a frightened look in its eyes.

At the House of Mrs Kinfoot (1921) p. 8

In reality, killing time

Is only the name for another of the multifarious ways

By which Time kills us.

Poems about People (1958) "Milordo Inglese"

Educ: during the holidays from Eton.

Entry in Who's Who (1929)

19.75 'Red Skelton' (Richard Skelton) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1913-

Well, it only proves what they always say--give the public something they

want to see, and they'll come out for it.

Comment on crowds attending the funeral of Harry Cohn on 2 Mar. 1958, in

Bob Thomas King Cohn (1967) "Foreground"

19.76 B. F. Skinner =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1904-1990

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

New Scientist 21 May 1964

19.77 Elizabeth Smart =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1913-1986

By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept.

Title of book (1945). Cf. Psalm 137:1

19.78 Alfred Emanuel Smith =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1873-1944

No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the

municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard

Christmas.

Comment on the New Deal, in New Outlook Dec. 1933

The crowning climax to the whole situation is the undisputed fact that

William Randolph Hearst gave him [Ogden Mills] the kiss of death.

Comment on Hearst's support for Smith's unsuccessful opponent for governor

of New York State in New York Times 25 Oct. 1926

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

Speech in Albany, 27 June 1933, in New York Times 28 June 1933

19.79 Sir Cyril Smith =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1928-

This place is the longest running farce in the West End.

Comment to journalists on the House of Commons, July 1973, in Big Cyril

(1977) ch. 8

19.80 Dodie Smith =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1896-1990

And so I give you our toast. From that young man upstairs who has had the

impudence to make me a great-uncle, to Mother and Father on their Golden

Wedding; through four generations of us, and to those who have gone, and

those who are to come. To the family--that dear octopus from whose

tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite

wish to.

Dear Octopus (1938) p. 120

Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.

I Capture the Castle (1949) pt. 1, ch. 3

19.81 Edgar Smith =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1857-1938

You may tempt the upper classes

With your villainous demi-tasses,

But; Heaven will protect a working-girl!

Heaven Will Protect the Working-Girl (1909 song; music by A. Baldwin

Sloane)

19.82 F. E. Smith (Earl of Birkenhead) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1872-1930

We have the highest authority for believing that the meek shall inherit

the Earth; though I have never found any particular corroboration of this

aphorism in the records of Somerset House.

Contemporary Personalities (1924) "Marquess Curzon"

Judge Willis...after a long wrangle with F. E. Smith, whom by this time he

must have come to loathe, upon a point of procedure asked plaintively:

"What do you suppose I am on the Bench for, Mr Smith?" "It is not for me,

Your Honour, to attempt to fathom the inscrutable workings of Providence."

In Second Earl of Birkenhead F. E. The Life of F. E. Smith First Earl of

Birkenhead (1959 ed.) ch. 9

Judge: I have read your case, Mr Smith, and I am no wiser now than

I was when I started.

Smith: Possibly not, My Lord, but far better informed.

In Second Earl of Birkenhead F. E. The Life of F. E. Smith First Earl of

Birkenhead (1959 ed.) ch. 9

Judge willis: You are extremely offensive, young man.

F. e. smith: As a matter of fact, we both are, and the only difference

between us is that I am trying to be, and you can't help it.