The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

A year whose days are long.

‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ (1898) pt. 5, st. 1

How else but through a broken heart May Lord Christ enter in?

‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ (1898) pt. 5, st. 14

All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust,

She that was young and fair Fallen to dust.

‘Requiescat’

And yet, and yet,

These Christs that die upon the barricades, God knows it I am with them, in some things.

‘Sonnet to Liberty’

O Singer of Persephone!

In the dim meadows desolate Dost thou remember Sicily?

‘Theocritus’

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 2 in ‘Intentions’ (1891)

Ah! don’t say that you agree with me. When people agree with me I always feel that I must be wrong.

‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 2 in ‘Intentions’ (1891)

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 2 in ‘Intentions’ (1891)

There is no sin except stupidity.

‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 2 in ‘Intentions’ (1891)

Art never expresses anything but itself.

‘The Decay of Lying’ in ‘Intentions’ (1891)

Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them?

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1

It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1

The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1

I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1

In married life three is company and two none.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1

To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 1 (Wilde had used the same words as dialogue in ‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 2)

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.

Miss Prism on her novel, in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2

The chapter on the Fall of the Rupee you may omit. It is somewhat too sensational.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2

Charity, dear Miss Prism, charity! None of us are perfect. I myself am peculiarly susceptible to draughts.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2

On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895) act 2

I couldn’t help it. I can resist everything except temptation.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 1

Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has a least a dozen, and that they all fit.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 1

Do you know, Mr Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must be so pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 2

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3

There is nothing in the whole world so unbecoming to a woman as a Nonconformist conscience.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3

Cecil Graham: What is a cynic?

Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3

Dumby: Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. cecil graham: One shouldn’t commit any.

Dumby: Life would be very dull without them.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) act 3

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) preface

The nineteenth century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in the glass.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) preface

The moral life of man forms part of the subject matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) preface

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) ch. 1

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) ch. 1

A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) ch. 6

It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But...it is better to be good than to be ugly.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) ch. 17

Anybody can be good in the country.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) ch. 19

As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them.

‘The Soul of Man under Socialism’

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

‘The Soul of Man under Socialism’

Mrs Allonby: They say, Lady Hunstanton, that when good Americans die they go to Paris. Lady Hunstanton: Indeed? And when bad Americans die, where do they go to?

Lord Illingworth: Oh, they go to America.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 1.

The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three hundred years.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 1

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox—the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 1

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 1

Lord Illingworth: The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. Mrs Allonby: It ends with Revelations.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 1

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 2

Gerald: I suppose society is wonderfully delightful!

Lord Illingworth: To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it simply a tragedy.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 3

You should study the Peerage, Gerald...It is the best thing in fiction the English have ever done.

‘A Woman of No Importance’ (1893) act 3

No publisher should ever express an opinion of the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to decide...A publisher is simply a useful middle-man. It is not for him to anticipate the verdict of criticism.

Letter in ‘St James’s Gazette’ 28 June 1890

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

‘Sebastian Melmoth’ (1905) p. 12. Oscariana (1910) p. 8

Voulez-vous savoir le grand drame de ma vie? C’est que j’ai mis mon gènie dans ma vie; je n’ai mis que mon talent dans mes oeuvres.

Do you want to know the great drama of my life? It’s that I have put my genius into my life; all

I’ve put into my works is my talent.

Spoken to Andrè Gide, in Gide ‘Oscar Wilde: In Memoriam’

I have nothing to declare except my genius.

Said at the New York Custom House, in F. Harris ‘Oscar Wilde’ (1918) p. 75

‘Will you very kindly tell me, Mr Wilde, in your own words, your viewpoint of George Meredith?’

‘George Meredith is a prose Browning, and so is Browning.’ ‘Thank you. His style?’

‘Chaos, illumined by flashes of lightning.’

In Ada Leverson ‘Letters to the Sphinx’ (1930) ‘Reminiscences’ 1

There seems to be some curious connection between piety and poor rhymes.

In E. V. Lucas (ed.), ‘A Critic in Pall Mall’ (1919) ‘Sententiae’

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

In H. Pearson ‘Life of Oscar Wilde’ (1946) ch. 12

He has fought a good fight and has had to face every difficulty except popularity.

Unpublished character sketch of W. E. Henley written for Rothenstein’s English Portraits. W. Rothenstein ‘Men and Memories’ vol. 1, ch. 25

He [Bernard Shaw] hasn’t an enemy in the world, and none of his friends like him.

Shaw ‘Sixteen Self Sketches’ ch. 17

Ah, well, then, I suppose that I shall have to die beyond my means.

Said when a huge fee for an operation was mentioned, in R. H. Sherard ‘Life of Oscar Wilde’ (1906) p. 421

11.85 Billy Wilder (Samuel Wilder) 1906—

bugs stand as if amazed.

‘How To Be Topp’ (1954) ch. 1

There is no better xsample of a goody-goody than fotherington-tomas in the world in space. You kno he is the one who sa Hullo Clouds Hullo Sky and skip about like a girly.

‘How To Be Topp’ (1954) ch. 4

Still xmas is a good time with all those presents and good food and i hope it will never die out or at any rate not until i am grown up and hav to pay for it all.

‘How To Be Topp’ (1954) ch. 11

11.91 Emma Hart Willard 1787-1870

Rocked in the cradle of the deep.

Song

11.92 King William III 1650-1702

‘Do you not see your country is lost?’ asked the Duke of Buckingham.

‘There is one way never to see it lost’ replied William, ‘and that is to die in the last ditch.’

In Burnet ‘History of his own Times’ (1715) 1, 457

Every bullet has its billet.

In John Wesley ‘Journal’ 6 June 1765

11.93 Harry Williams 1874-1924

I’m afraid to come home in the dark.

Title of song (1907).

11.94 Kenneth Williams 1926-88

The nice thing about quotes is that they give us a nodding acquaintance with the originator which is often socially impressive.

‘Acid Drops’ (1980) preface

11.95 Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams) 1911-83

We have to distrust each other. It’s our only defence against betrayal.

‘Camino Real’ (1953) block 10

We’re all of us guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.

‘Camino Real’ (1953) block 12

What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?—I wish I knew....Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can.

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ (1955) act 1

Brick: Well, they say nature hates a vacuum, Big Daddy.

Big Daddy: That’s what they say, but sometimes I think that a vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with.

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ (1955) act 2.

Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out an’ death’s the other.

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ (1955) act 2

I didn’t go to the moon, I went much further—for time is the longest distance between two places.

‘The Glass Menagerie’ (1945) p. 123

We’re all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life! ‘Orpheus Descending’ (1958) act 2, sc. 1

Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1947) sc. 1

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1947) sc. 11 (Blanche’s final words)

11.96 William Carlos Williams 1883-1963

Minds like beds always made up, (more stony than a shore) unwilling or unable.

‘Paterson’ (1946) bk. 1, preface

so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

‘The Red Wheelbarrow’

Is it any better in Heaven, my friend Ford, Than you found it in Provence?

‘To Ford Madox Ford in Heaven’

I will teach you my townspeople how to perform a funeral

for you have it over a troop of artists—

unless one should scour the world— you have the ground sense necessary.

‘Tract’

11.97 Ted Willis (Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis of Chislehurst) 1918—

Evening, all.

Opening words spoken by Jack Warner as Sergeant Dixon in ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ (BBC television series, 1956-76)

11.98 Nathaniel Parker Willis 1806-67

At present there is no distinction among the upper ten thousand of the city.

‘Necessity for a Promenade Drive’

11.99 Wendell Willkie 1892-1944

The constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.

‘An American Programme’ (1944) ch. 2

Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the colour of their skin.

‘One World’ (1943) ch. 13

11.100 Angus Wilson 1913-91

‘God knows how you Protestants can be expected to have any sense of direction,’ she said. ‘It’s different with us, I haven’t been to mass for years, I’ve got every mortal sin on my conscience, but I know when I’m doing wrong. I’m still a Catholic, it’s there, nothing can take it away from me.’ ‘Of course, duckie,’ said Jeremy...’once a Catholic always a Catholic.’

‘The Wrong Set’ (1949) p. 168

11.101 Charles E. Wilson 1890-1961

For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country. Our contribution to the nation is quite considerable.

Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on his proposed nomination to be Secretary of Defence, 15 January 1953, in ‘New York Times’ 24 February 1953, p. 8

11.102 Edmund Wilson 1895-1972

Of all the great Victorian writers, he [Dickens] was probably the most antagonistic to the Victorian age itself.

‘The Wound and the Bow’ (1941) ‘Dickens: the Two Scrooges’

11.103 Harold Wilson (Baron Wilson of Rievaulx) 1916—

Traders and financiers all over the world had been listening to the Chancellor. For months he had said that if he could not stop the wage claims, the country was ‘facing disaster’....Rightly or wrongly these people believed him. For them, 5th September—the day that the Trades Union Congress unanimously rejected the policy of wage restraint—marked the end of an era. And all these financiers, all the little gnomes in Zurich and the other financial centres about whom we keep on hearing, started to make their dispositions in regard to sterling.

‘Hansard’ 12 November 1956, col. 578

This party [the Labour Party] is a moral crusade or it is nothing.

Speech at Labour Party Conference 1 October 1962, in ‘The Times’ 2 October 1962

The Smethwick Conservatives can have the satisfaction of having topped the poll, and of having sent here as their Member one who, until a further General Election restores him to oblivion, will serve his term here as a Parliamentary leper.

‘Hansard’ 3 November 1964, col. 71

From now the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.

Ministerial broadcast, 19 November 1967, in ‘The Times’ 20 November 1967

Everyone wanted more wage increases, he [Mr Wilson] said, believing that prices would remain stable; but one man’s wage increase was another man’s price increase.

Speech at Blackburn, 8 January 1970, in ‘The Times’ 9 January 1970

My hon. Friends know that if one buys land on which there is a slag heap 120 ft. high and it costs £100,000 to remove that slag, that is not land speculation in the sense that we condemn it. It is land reclamation.

‘Hansard’ 4 April 1974, col. 1441

If I had the choice between smoked salmon and tinned salmon, I’d have it tinned. With vinegar.

In ‘Observer’ 11 November 1962

The Monarchy is a labour-intensive industry.

In ‘Observer’ 13 February 1977

Harold Wilson...was unable to remember when he first uttered his dictum to the effect that: A week is a long time in politics....Inquiries among political journalists led to the conclusion that in its present form the phrase was probably first uttered at a meeting between Wilson and the Parliamentary lobby in the wake of the Sterling crisis shortly after he first took office as Prime Minister in 1964. However, Robert Carvel...recalled Wilson at a Labour Party conference in 1960 saying ‘Forty-eight hours is a long time in politics.’

In Nigel Rees ‘Sayings of the Century’ (1984) p. 149

The Prime Ministers [at the Lagos Conference, 9-12 January 1966] noted the statement by the British Prime Minister that on the expert advice available to him the cumulative effects of the economic and financial sanctions might well bring the rebellion to an end within a matter of weeks rather than months.

‘The Times’ 13 January 1966

11.104 Harriette Wilson 1789-1846

I shall not say why and how I became, at the age of fifteen, the mistress of the Earl of Craven.

‘Memoirs’ first sentence

11.105 John Wilson

See Christopher North (2.34)

11.106 McLandburgh Wilson 1892—

’Twixt the optimist and pessimist The difference is droll:

The optimist sees the doughnut But the pessimist sees the hole.

‘Optimist and Pessimist’

11.107 Sandy Wilson 1924—

It’s never too late to have a fling, For Autumn is just as nice as Spring, And it’s never too late to fall in love.

‘It’s Never too Late to Fall in Love’ (1953 song)

11.108 Woodrow Wilson 1856-1924

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.

Speech to New York Press Club in New York, 9 September 1912, in ‘Papers of Woodrow Wilson’ (1978) vol. 25, p. 124

No nation is fit to sit in judgement upon any other nation.

Speech in New York, 20 April 1915, in ‘Selected Addresses’ (1918) p. 79

There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight; there is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.

Speech in Philadelphia, 10 May 1915, in ‘Selected Addresses’ (1918) p. 88

We have stood apart, studiously neutral.

Speech to Congress, 7 December 1915, in ‘New York Times’ 8 December 1915, p. 4

America can not be an ostrich with its head in the sand.

Speech at Des Moines, 1 February 1916, in ‘New York Times’ 2 February 1916, p. 1

It must be a peace without victory....Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the very principle of which is equality and a common participation in a common benefit.

Speech to US Senate, 22 January 1917, in ‘Messages and Papers’ (1924) vol. 1, p. 352

A little group of wilful men representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the Great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible.

Statement, 4 March 1917, after a successful filibuster against Wilson’s bill to arm American merchant ships, in ‘New York Times’ 5 March 1917, p. 1

Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best.

Speech to Congress, 2 April 1917, in ‘Selected Addresses’ (1918) p. 190

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.

Speech to Congress, 2 April 1917, in ‘Selected Addresses’ (1918) p. 195