Cedet amor rebus; res age, tutus eris.
You who seek an end of love, love will yield to business: be busy, and you will be safe.
‘Remedia Amoris’ l. 143
Teque, rebellatrix, tandem, Germania, magni Triste caput pedibus supposuisse ducis!
How you, rebellious Germany, laid your wretched head beneath the feet of the great general.
‘Tristia’ bk. 3, no. 12, l. 47
Sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos, Et quod temptabam dicere versus erat.
Of its own accord my song would come in the right rhythms, and what I was trying to say was
poetry.
‘Tristia’ bk. 4, no. 10, l. 25
Vergilium vidi tantum.
I just saw Virgil.
‘Tristia’ bk. 4, no. 10, l. 51
3.39 John Owen c.1560-1622
God and the doctor we alike adore But only when in danger, not before;
The danger o’er, both are alike requited, God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.
‘Epigrams’.
3.40 Robert Owen 1771-1858
All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.
To his partner W. Allen, on severing business relations at New Lanark, 1828; attributed
3.41 Wilfred Owen 1893-1918
My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.
Preface (written 1918)
All a poet can do today is warn.
Preface (written 1918)
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? —Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ (written 1917)
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ (written 1917)
Move him into the sun—
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields half-sown...
If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know.
‘Futility’ (written 1918)
Was it for this the clay grew tall? —O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth’s sleep at all?
‘Futility’ (written 1918)
Red lips are not so red
As the stained stones kissed by the English dead.
‘Greater Love’ (written 1917)
So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went. They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent.
Nor there if they yet mock what women meant
Who gave them flowers.
‘The Send-Off’ (written 1918)
It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped Through granites which titanic wars had groined.
‘Strange Meeting’ (written 1918)
‘Strange friend,’ I said, ‘here is no cause to mourn.’ ‘None,’ said that other, ‘save the undone years, The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild After the wildest beauty in the world.
‘Strange Meeting’ (written 1918)
Courage was mine, and I had mystery, Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery: To miss the march of this retreating world Into vain citadels that are not walled.
‘Strange Meeting’ (written 1918)
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark: for you so frowned Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed. I parried; but my hands were loath and cold. Let us sleep now...
‘Strange Meeting’ (written 1918)
3.42 Count Oxenstierna 1583-1654
Vet du icke, min son, med husu liten wishet verlden regeras?
Dost thou not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?
Letter to his son, 1648, in J. F. af Lundblad ‘Svensk Plutark’ (1826) pt. 2, p. 95. John Selden, in ‘Table Talk’ (1689), quotes ‘a certain Pope’ (possibly Julius III) saying: ‘Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the whole world!’
3.43 Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford 1550-1604
If women could be fair and yet not fond.
‘Women’s Changeableness’
4.0P
4.1Vance Packard 1914—
The hidden persuaders.
Title of a study of the advertising industry (1957)
4.2 William Tyler Page 1868-1942
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable, established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
‘American’s Creed’ (prize-winning competition entry, 3 April 1918) in ‘Congressional Record’ vol. 56, pt. 12 (appendix), p. 286.
4.3 Thomas Paine 1737-1809
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe.
‘The Age of Reason’ pt. 1 (1794) ch. 1
Any system of religion that has any thing in it that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true
system.
‘The Age of Reason’ pt. 1 (1794)
The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime, makes the ridiculous; and one step above the ridiculous, makes the sublime again.
‘The Age of Reason’ pt. 2 (1795) p. 20
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.
‘Common Sense’ (1776) ch. 1
As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith.
‘Common Sense’ (1776) ch. 4
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of men and women.
‘The Crisis’ (December 1776) introduction
As he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick.
On Edmund Burke losing the debate on the French Revolution to Charles James Fox, in the House of Commons; ‘Letter to the Addressers on the late Proclamation’ (1792) p. 4
The religion of humanity.
‘Letter to the People of England on the Invasion of England’ (1804)
[Edmund Burke] is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird.
‘The Rights of Man’ (1791) p. 26 (on Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790)
Lay then the axe to the root, and teach governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind.
‘The Rights of Man’ (1791) p. 33
Titles are but nick-names, and every nick-name is a title.
‘The Rights of Man’ (1791) pt. 1
[In France] All that class of equivocal generation, which in some countries is called aristocracy, and in others nobility, is done away, and the peer is exalted into MAN.
‘The Rights of Man’ (1791) pt. 1
Persecution is not an original feature of any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by law.
‘The Rights of Man’ (1791) pt. 1
All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny...To inherit a government, is to inherit the people, as if they were flocks and herds.
‘The Rights of Man’ pt. 2 (1792)
When, in countries that are called civilized, we see age going to the workhouse and youth to
the gallows, something must be wrong in the system of government.
‘The Rights of Man’ pt. 2 (1792)
I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike who think at all. It is only those who have not thought that appear to agree.
‘The Rights of Man’ pt. 2 (1792)
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
‘The Rights of Man’ pt. 2 (1792) ch. 5
A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.
Eric Foner ‘Tom Paine and Revolutionary America’ (1976) ch. 7
4.4 Josè de Palafox 1780-1847
War to the knife.
On 4 August 1808, at the siege of Saragossa, the French general Verdier sent a one-word suggestion: ‘Capitulation’. Palafox replied ‘Guerra y cuchillo [War and the knife]’, later reported as ‘Guerra a cuchillo’, as above. It subsequently appeared, at the behest of Palafox himself, on survivors’ medals. Josè Gómez de Arteche y Moro ‘Guerra de la Independencia’ (1875) vol. 2, ch. 4.
4.5 William Paley 1743-1805
Who can refute a sneer?
‘Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy’ (1785) bk. 5, ch. 9
4.6 Michael Palin 1943—
See Graham Chapman et al. (3.74) in Volume I
4.7 Lord Palmerston 1784-1865
We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual and these interests it is our duty to follow.
Speech on the Polish Question in the House of Commons, 1848
I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this House...is to give...whether, as the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say Civis Romanus sum; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong.
House of Commons, 25 June 1850, in the Don Pacifico debate.
You may call it coalition, you may call it the accidental and fortuitous concurrence of atoms.
On a projected Palmerston-Disraeli coalition. House of Commons, 5 March 1857
We do not want Egypt any more than any rational man with an estate in the north of England and a residence in the south, would have wished to possess the inns on the north road. All he could want would have been that the inns should be well kept, always accessible, and furnishing him, when he came, with mutton chops and post horses.
Letter to Earl Cowley, 25 November 1859, in Hon. Evelyn Ashley ‘Life of Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston 1846-65’ (1876) vol. 2, p. 1245
What is merit? The opinion one man entertains of another.
In Thomas Carlyle ‘Shooting Niagara: and After?’ (1867) ch. 8
The function of a government is to calm, rather than to excite agitation.
In P. Guedella ‘Gladstone and Palmerston’ (1928) p. 281
Lord Palmerston, with characteristic levity had once said that only three men in Europe had ever understood [the Schleswig-Holstein] question, and of these the Prince Consort was dead, a Danish statesman (unnamed) was in an asylum, and he himself had forgotten it.
In R. W. Seton-Watson ‘Britain in Europe 1789-1914’ (1945) p. 438
Die, my dear Doctor, that’s the last thing I shall do!
Last words; attributed
4.8 Norman Panama 1914—and Melvin Frank 1913-1988
The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
‘The Court Jester’ (1955 film); spoken by Danny Kaye
4.9 Dame Christabel Pankhurst 1880-1958
Never lose your temper with the Press or the public is a major rule of political life.
‘Unshackled’ (1959) ch. 5
We are here to claim our right as women, not only to be free, but to fight for freedom. That it is our right as well as our duty. It is our privilege, as well as our pride and our joy, to take some part in this militant movement which, as we believe, means the regeneration of all humanity.
Speech in London, 23 March 1911, in ‘Votes for Women’ 31 March 1911
4.10 Emmeline Pankhurst 1858-1928
There is something that Governments care far more for than human life, and that is the security of property, and so it is through property that we shall strike the enemy...I say to the Government: You have not dared to take the leaders of Ulster for their incitement to rebellion. Take me if you dare.
Speech at Albert Hall, 17 October 1912, in ‘My Own Story’ (1914) p. 265
The argument of the broken window pane is the most important argument in modern politics.
In George Dangerfield ‘The Strange Death of Liberal England’ (1911) ‘The Women’s Revolt’
4.11 Mitchell Parish
When the deep purple crawls over sleepy garden walls.
‘Deep Purple’ (1939 song)
4.12 Charlie Parker 1920-55
Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.
In Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff ‘Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya’ (1955) p. 358
4.13 Dorothy Parker 1893-1967
Scratch a lover, and find a foe.
‘Ballade of a Great Weariness’ (1937)
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong; And I am Marie of Roumania.
‘Comment’ (1937)
Woman wants monogamy; Man delights in novelty.
Love is woman’s moon and sun; Man has other forms of fun. Woman lives but in her lord; Count to ten, and man is bored. With this the gist and sum of it, What earthly good can come of it?
‘General Review of the Sex Situation’ (1937)
Four be the things I’d been better without: Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
‘Inventory’ (1937)
Men seldom make passes At girls who wear glasses.
‘News Item’ (1937)
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get One perfect rose.
‘One Perfect Rose’ (1937)
If, with the literate, I am Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit; We all assume that Oscar said it.
‘A Pig’s-Eye View of Literature’ (1937)
Guns aren’t lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful; You might as well live.
‘Rèsumè’ (1937)
By the time you say you’re his,
Shivering and sighing And he vows his passion is Infinite, undying—
Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying.
‘Unfortunate Coincidence’ (1937)
And I’ll stay off Verlaine too; he was always chasing Rimbauds.
‘Here Lies’ (1939) ‘The Little Hours’
Sorrow is tranquillity remembered in emotion.
‘Here Lies’ (1939) ‘Sentiment’.
She ran the whole gamut of the emotions from A to B.
Of Katherine Hepburn in a Broadway first night; attributed
How do they know?
On being told that Calvin Coolidge had died, in Malcolm Cowley ‘Writers at Work’ 1st Series (1958) p. 65
As artists they’re rot, but as providers they’re oil wells; they gush.
On lady novelists, in Malcolm Cowley ‘Writers at Work’ 1st Series (1958) p. 69
Hollywood money isn’t money. It’s congealed snow, melts in your hand, and there you are.
In Malcolm Cowley ‘Writers at Work’ 1st Series (1958) p. 81
House Beautiful is play lousy.
Review in ‘New Yorker’ (1933). Phyllis Hartnoll ‘Plays and Players’ (1984) p. 89
Brevity is the soul of lingerie, as the Petticoat said to the Chemise.
Caption written for ‘Vogue’ (1916) in John Keats ‘You Might as well Live’ (1970) p. 32.
You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.
In John Keats ‘You Might as well Live’ (1970) p. 46
It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.
On her abortion, in John Keats ‘You Might as well Live’ (1970) pt. 2, ch. 3
There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply callisthenics with words.
In ‘Paris Review’ Summer 1956, p. 81
Excuse My Dust.
Suggested epitaph for herself (1925), in Alexander Woollcott ‘While Rome Burns’ (1934) ‘Our Mrs Parker’
4.14 Martin Parker d.c.1656
You gentlemen of England Who live at home at ease, How little do you think On the dangers of the seas.
‘The Valiant Sailors’. J. O. Halliwell (ed.) ‘Early Naval Ballads’ (Percy Society, 1841) p. 34
But all’s to no end, for the times will not mend Till the King enjoys his own again.
‘Upon Defacing of Whitehall’ (1671)
4.15 Ross Parker 1914-74 and Hugh Charles 1907—
There’ll always be an England While there’s a country lane, Wherever there’s a cottage small Beside a field of grain.
‘There’ll always be an England’ (1939 song)
4.16 C. Northcote Parkinson 1909—
Expenditure rises to meet income.
‘The Law and the Profits’ (1960) opening sentence
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
‘Parkinson’s Law’ (1958) ch. 1
Time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.
‘Parkinson’s Law’ (1958) ch. 3
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.
‘Parkinson’s Law’ (1958) ch. 10
Men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.
‘Parkinson’s Law’ (1958) ch. 10
4.17 Charles Stewart Parnell 1846-91
No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country—thus far shalt thou go and no further.
Speech at Cork, 21 January 1885; in ‘The Times’ 22 January 1885
4.18 Blaise Pascal 1623-62
Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.
I have made this [letter] longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it
shorter.
‘Lettres Provinciales’ (1657) no. 16
La derniére chose qu’on trouve en faisant un ouvrage, est de savoir celle qu’il faut mettre la premiére.
The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 19
Quand on voit le style naturel, on est tout ètonnè et ravi, car on s’attendait de voir un auteur, et on trouve un homme.
When we see a natural style, we are quite surprised and delighted, for we expected to see an author and we find a man.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 29
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre.
All the misfortunes of men derive from one single thing, which is their inability to be at ease in
a room.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 139
Le nez de Clèopâtre: s’il eût ètè plus court, toute la face de la terre aurait changè.
Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 162
Le silence èternel de ces espaces infinis m’effraie.
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces [the heavens] terrifies me.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 206
Le dernier acte est sanglant, quelque belle que soit la comèdie en tout le reste.
The last act is bloody, however charming the rest of the play may be.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 210
On mourra seul.
We shall die alone.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 211
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.
The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 277
L’homme n’est qu’un roseau, le plus faible de la nature; mais c’est un roseau pensant.
Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 347
Le moi est haïssable.
The self is hateful.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 455
Console-toi, tu ne me chercherais pas si tu ne m’avais trouvè.
Comfort yourself, you would not seek me if you had not found me.
‘Pensèes’ (1670) no. 553
FEU. Dieu d’Abraham, Dieu d’Isaac, Dieu de Jacob, non des philosophes et savants. Certitude. Certitude. Sentiment. Joie. Paix.
FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars.
Certainty. Certainty. Feeling. Joy. Peace.
On a paper, dated 23 November 1654, stitched into the lining of his coat and found after his death
4.19 Louis Pasteur 1822-95
Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prèparès.
