The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 3, sc. 3

Too civil by half.

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 3, sc. 4

Our ancestors are very good kind of folks; but they are the last people I should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with.

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 4, sc. 1

No caparisons, Miss, if you please!—Caparisons don’t become a young woman.

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 4, sc. 2

You are not like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once, are you?

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 4, sc. 2

The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands—we should only spoil it by trying to explain it.

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 4, sc. 3

My valour is certainly going!—it is sneaking off!—I feel it oozing out as it were at the palms of my hands!

‘The Rivals’ (1775) act 5, sc. 3

You shall see them on a beautiful quarto page where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 1, sc. 1

You had no taste when you married me.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 2, sc. 1

Mrs Candour: I’ll swear her colour is natural—I have seen it come and go—

Lady Teazle: I dare swear you have, ma’am; it goes of a night and comes again in the morning.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 2, sc. 2

Here is the whole set! a character dead at every word.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 2, sc. 2.

I’m called away by particular business—but I leave my character behind me.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 2, sc. 2

Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen Here’s to the widow of fifty

Here’s to the flaunting, extravagant queen; And here’s to the housewife that’s thrifty. Let the toast pass—

Drink to the lass—

I’ll warrant she’ll prove an excuse for the glass!

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 3, sc. 3

An unforgiving eye, and a damned disinheriting countenance!

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 4, sc. 1

Rowley: I believe there is no sentiment he has more faith in as that ‘Charity begins at home’. Sir Oliver Surface: And his I presume is of that domestic sort which never stirs abroad at all.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 5, sc. 1

There is no trusting appearances.

‘The School for Scandal’ (1777) act 5, sc. 2

A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.

On being encountered drinking a glass of wine in the street, while watching his theatre, the Drury Lane, burn down; in T. Moore ‘Life of Sheridan’ (1825) 2, 20

The Right Honourable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts.

Speech in reply to Mr Dundas, in T. Moore ‘Life of Sheridan’ (1825) 2, 471

Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.

To a young lady; attributed

7.80 General Sherman 1820-91

There is many a boy here to-day who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.

Speech at Columbus, Ohio, 11 August 1880, in Lloyd Lewis ‘Sherman, Fighting Prophet’ (1932)

I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.

Telegram to General Henderson on being urged to stand as Republican candidate in the US Presidential election of 1884, in ‘Memoirs’ (4th ed.); to which his children added chapter 27, in which this text appears as the recollection of Sherman’s son who was present at its drafting

7.81 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 the Electrical Trades Union conference at Margate, 7 May 1947, in ‘Manchester Guardian’ 8 May 1947

7.82 James Shirley 1596-1666

The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings: Sceptre and crown

Must tumble down,

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

‘The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses’ (1659) act 1, sc. 3

The garlands wither on your brow; Then boast no more your mighty deeds!

‘The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses’ (1659) act 1, sc. 3

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.

‘The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses’ (1659) act 1, sc. 3

I presume you’re mortal, and may err.

‘The Lady of Pleasure’ (1635) act 2, sc. 2

How little room

Do we take up in death, that, living know No bounds?

‘The Wedding’ (1626) act 4, sc. 4

7.83 The Shorter Catechism

‘Who made you?’ ‘God made me’

‘Why did God make you?’

‘God made me to know him, love him, and serve him in this life, and to be happy with him forever in the next.’

‘What is the chief end of man?’

‘To glorify God and to enjoy him for ever’.

7.84 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’

7.85 Algernon Sidney 1622-83

Liars ought to have good memories.

‘Discourses concerning Government’ (1698) ch. 2, sect. 15

Men lived like fishes; the great ones devoured the small.

‘Discourses concerning Government’ (1698) ch. 2, sect. 18

’Tis not necessary to light a candle to the sun.

‘Discourses concerning Government’ (1698) ch. 2, sect. 23.

7.86 Sir Philip Sidney 1554-86

Shallow brooks murmur most, deep silent slide away.

‘The Arcadia’ (1590) bk. 1 ‘First Eclogues: Lalus and Dorus’ st. 2

Who shoots at the mid-day sun, though he be sure he shall never hit the mark; yet as sure he is he shall shoot higher than who aims but at a bush.

‘The Arcadia’ (1590) bk. 2

My true love hath my heart and I have his, By just exchange one for the other giv’n; I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss, There never was a better bargain driv’n.

‘The Arcadia’ (1590) bk. 3

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,

‘Fool,’ said my Muse to me; ‘look in thy heart and write’.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 1

With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skies; How silently, and with how wan a face.

What, may it be that even in heavenly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries?

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 31

Do they call virtue there ungratefulness?

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 31

Come, sleep, O sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,

The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release, Th’ indifferent judge between the high and low.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 39

Take thou of me sweet pillows, sweetest bed, A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light; A rosy garland and a weary head.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 39

That sweet enemy, France.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 41

They love indeed who quake to say they love.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 54

Doubt you to whom my Muse these songs intendeth, Which now my breast, o’ercharged, to music lendeth? To you, to you, all song of praise is due;

Only in you my song begins and endeth.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) first song

Oh heav’nly fool, thy most kiss-worthy face Anger invests with such a lovely grace That Anger’s self I needs must kiss again.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 73

I never drank of Aganippe well, Nor ever did in shade of Tempe sit,

And Muses scorn with vulgar brains to dwell; Poor layman I, for sacred rites unfit...

I am no pick-purse of another’s wit.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 74

Highway, since you my chief Parnassus be, And that my Muse, to some ears not unsweet,

Tempers her words to trampling horses’ feet More oft than to a chamber melody;

Now blessed you, bear onward blessed me To her, where I my heart, safeliest, shall meet.

‘Astrophel and Stella’ (1591) sonnet 84

Leave me, O Love which reachest but to dust, And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things; Grow rich in that which never taketh rust; Whatever fades, but fading pleasure brings.

‘Certain Sonnets’ (written 1577-81; published 1598) no. 32

O fair! O sweet! When I do look on thee, In whom all joys so well agree,

Heart and soul do sing in me, Just accord all music makes.

‘To the Tune of a Spanish Song’

With a tale forsooth he [the poet] cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner.

‘The Defence of Poesie’ (1595)

Certainly I must confess mine own barbarousness, I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas, that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet.

‘The Defence of Poesie’ (1595)

Philip of Macedon reckoned a horse-race won at Olympus among his three fearful felicities.

‘The Defence of Poesie’ (1595)

I will not wish unto you the ass’s ears of Midas, nor to be driven by a poet’s verses, as Bubonax was, to hang himself, nor to be rhymed to death, as is said to be done in Ireland.

‘The Defence of Poesie’ (1595)

Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.

On giving his water-bottle to a dying soldier on the battle-field of Zutphen, 1586; in Sir Fulke Greville ‘The Life of Sir Philip Sidney’ (1652) ch. 12 (‘necessity’ more often quoted ‘need’)

7.87 Emmanuel Joseph Sieyés 1748-1836

La mort, sans phrases.

Death, without rhetoric.

Attributed to Sieyés on voting in the French Convention for the death of Louis XVI, 19 January 1793, but afterwards repudiated by him

J’ai vècu.

I survived.

When asked what he had done during the French Revolution. F. A. M. Mignet ‘Notice historique sur la vie et les travaux de M. le Comte de Sieyès’ (1836)

7.88 Maurice Sigler 1901-61 and Al Hoffman 1902-60

Little man, you’ve had a busy day.

Title of song (1934)

7.89 Alan Sillitoe 1928—

The loneliness of the long-distance runner.

Title of novel (1959)

7.90 Georges Simenon 1903-89

J’ai eu 10,000 femmes depuis l’âge de 13 ans et demi. Ce n’ètait 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. It wasn’t in any way a vice. I’ve no sexual

vices. But I needed to communicate.

Interview with Federico Fellini in ‘L’Express’ 21 February 1977

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.

Interview in ‘Paris Review’ Summer 1955

7.91 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) from ‘The Graduate’

Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down.

‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ (1970 song)

7.92 Simonides c.556-468 B.C.

Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, That here obedient to their laws we lie.

In Herodotus ‘Histories’ bk. 7, ch. 228

7.93 Harold Simpson

Down in the forest something stirred: It was only the note of a bird.

‘Down in the Forest’ (1906 song)

7.94 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

7.95 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

In sentencing a man for one crime, we may well be putting him beyond the reach of the law in respect of those crimes which he has not yet had an opportunity to commit. The law, however, is not to be cheated in this way, I shall therefore discharge you.

‘One Way Pendulum’ (1960) act 1

And suppose we solve all the problems it presents? What happens? We end up with more problems than we started with. Because that’s the way problems propagate their species. A problem left to itself dries up or goes rotten. But fertilize a problem with a solution—you’ll hatch out dozens.

‘A Resounding Tinkle’ act 1, sc. 1

7.96 George R. Sims 1847-1922

It is Christmas Day in the Workhouse.

‘In the Workhouse—Christmas Day’ (1879)

7.97 Noble Sissle 1889-1975 and Eubie Blake 1883-1983

I’m just wild about Harry.

Title of song (1921)

7.98 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

7.99 Dame Edith Sitwell 1887-1964

Jane, Jane, Tall as a crane,

The morning light creaks down again.

‘Façade’ (1923) ‘Aubade’

The fire was furry as a bear.

‘Façade’ (1923) ‘Dark Song’

Jumbo asleep!

Grey leaves thick-furred As his ears, keep Conversation blurred

‘Façade’ (1923) ‘Lullaby for Jumbo’

When

Sir

Beelzebub called for his syllabub in the hotel in Hell Where Proserpine first fell,

Blue as the gendarmerie were the waves of the sea, Rocking and shocking the barmaid.

‘Façade’ (1923) ‘When Sir Beelzebub’

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.

‘The Raids, 1940. Night and Dawn’ (1942)

Daisy and Lily, Lazy and silly,

Walk by the shore of the wan grassy sea— Talking once more ’neath a swan-bosomed tree.

‘Waltz’ (1948)

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

In ‘Observer’ 30 April 1950

I enjoyed talking to her, but thought nothing of her writing. I considered her ‘a beautiful little knitter’.

Of Virginia Woolf in a letter to Geoffrey Singleton, 11 July 1955: John Lehmann and Derek Palmer (eds.) ‘Selected Letters’ (1970)

7.100 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.

‘Milordo Inglese’.

On the coast of Coromandel Dance they to the tunes of Handel.

‘On the Coast of Coromandel’

Educ: during the holidays from Eton.

Entry in ‘Who’s Who’ (1929)

7.101 John Skelton c.1460-1529

She is the violet, The daisy delectable,

The columbine commendable, The jelofer amiable;

For this most goodly flower, This blossom of fresh colour, So Jupiter me succour,

She flourisheth new and new In beauty and virtue.

‘The Commendations of Mistress Jane Scrope’

For the soul of Philip Sparrow, That was late slain at Carrow Among the Nunnes Black, For that sweet soul’s sake And for all sparrows’ souls Set in our bead-rolls,

Pater noster qui With an Ave Mari.

‘Philip Sparrow’

With solace and gladness, Much mirth and no madness, All good and no badness; So joyously,

So maidenly, So womanly, Her demeaning.

‘To Mistress Margaret Hussey’

Far may be sought Erst that ye can find So courteous, so kind, As Merry Margaret,

This midsummer flower, Gentle as falcon

Or hawk of the tower.

‘To Mistress Margaret Hussey’

7.102 B. F. Skinner 1904-90

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

‘Contingencies of Reinforcement’ (1969) ch. 9

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