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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

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‘To a Haggis’ (1787)

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us, And foolish notion.

‘To a Louse’ (1786)

Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie, O what a panic’s in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi’ bickering brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee, Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

‘To a Mouse’ (1786)

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, An’ justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle,

At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An’ fellow-mortal!

‘To a Mouse’ (1786)

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft a-gley.

‘To a Mouse’ (1786)

Come, Firm Resolve, take thou the van, Thou stalk o’ carl-hemp in man!

And let us mind, faint heart ne’er wan A lady fair;

Wha does the utmost that he can, Will whyles do mair.

‘To Dr Blacklock’ (1800)

Just now I’ve taen the fit o’ rhyme, My barmie noddle’s working prime.

‘To J. S[mith]’ (1786) st. 4

Some rhyme a neebor’s name to lash;

Some rhyme (vain thought!) for needfu’ cash; Some rhyme to court the countra clash,

An’ raise a din;

For me, an aim I never fash; I rhyme for fun.

‘To J. S[mith]’ (1786) st. 5

An’ fareweel dear, deluding woman, The joy of joys!

‘To J. S[mith]’ (1786) st. 14

Their sighan’, cantan’, grace-proud faces, Their three-mile prayers, and half-mile graces.

‘To the Rev. John M’Math’ (published 1808)

We labour soon, we labour late, To feed the titled knave, man; And a’ the comfort we’re to get, Is that ayont the grave, man.

‘The Tree of Liberty’ (published 1838)

His lockéd, lettered, braw brass collar, Shew’d him the gentleman and scholar.

‘The Twa Dogs’ (1786) l. 13

An’ there began a lang digression About the lords o’ the creation.

‘The Twa Dogs’ (1786) l. 45

Rejoiced they were na men, but dogs.

‘The Twa Dogs’ (1786) l. 236

All in this mottie, misty clime,

I backward mus’d on wasted time, How I had spent my youthfu’ prime

An’ done nae-thing,

But stringing blethers up to rhyme For fools to sing.

‘The Vision’ (1785)

What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, What can a young lassie do wi’ an auld man?

‘What can a Young Lassie do wi’ an Auld Man’ (1792)

O whistle, an’ I’ll come to you, my lad: O whistle, an’ I’ll come to you, my lad:

Tho’ father and mither and a’ should gae mad, O whistle, and I’ll come to you, my lad.

‘Whistle, an’ I’ll come to you, my Lad’ (1788).

It is the moon, I ken her horn, That’s blinkin in the lift sae hie;

She shines sae bright to wyle us hame, But by my sooth she’ll wait a wee!

‘Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut’ (1790)

Don’t let the awkward squad fire over me.

As he was dying, in A. Cunningham ‘The Works of Robert Burns; with his Life’ vol. 1 (1834) p. 344

2.258 William S. Burroughs 1914—

What we on earth call God is a little tribal God who has made an awful mess.

‘Paris Review’ Fall 1965

2.259 Sir Fred Burrows 1887-1973

Unlike my predecessors I have devoted more of my life to shunting and hooting than to hunting and shooting.

Speech as last Governor of undivided Bengal (1946-7), having been a former President of the National Union of Railwaymen. ‘Daily Telegraph’ 24 April 1973, obituary notice

2.260 Benjamin Hapgood Burt 1880-1950

One evening in October, when I was one-third sober, An’ taking home a ‘load’ with manly pride;

My poor feet began to stutter, so I lay down in the gutter, And a pig came up an’ lay down by my side;

Then we sang ‘It’s all fair weather when good fellows get together,’ Till a lady passing by was heard to say:

‘You can tell a man who “boozes” by the company he chooses’ And the pig got up and slowly walked away.

‘The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away’ (1933 song)

When you’re all dressed up and no place to go.

Title of song (1913)

2.261 Nat Burton

There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, Tomorrow, just you wait and see.

‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ (1941 song)

2.262 Sir Richard Burton 1821-90

Don’t be frightened; I am recalled. Pay, pack, and follow at convenience.

Note to Isabel Burton, 19 August 1871, on being replaced as British Consul to Damascus, in Isabel Burton ‘The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton’ (1893) vol. 1, ch. 21

2.263 Robert Burton (‘Democritus Junior’) 1577-1640

All my joys to this are folly, Naught so sweet as Melancholy.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘The Author’s Abstract of Melancholy’

I write of melancholy, by being busy to avoid melancholy.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’

They lard their lean books with the fat of others’ works.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’

I had not time to lick it into form, as she [a bear] doth her young ones.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’

Like watermen, that row one way and look another.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’.

Him that makes shoes go barefoot himself.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’

Frascatorius...freely grants all poets to be mad, so doth Scaliger, and who doth not.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’.

A loose, plain, rude writer.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) ‘Democritus to the Reader’

What, if a dear year come or dearth, or some loss? And were it not that they are loath to lay out money on a rope, they would be hanged forthwith, and sometimes die to save charges.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 1, sect. 2, member 3, subsect. 12

I may not here omit those two main plagues, and common dotages of human kind, wine and women, which have infatuated and besotted myriads of people. They go commonly together.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 1, sect. 2, member 3, subsect. 13

Hinc quam sit calamus saevior ense patet.

From this it is clear how much the pen is worse than the sword.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 1, sect. 2, member 4, subsect. 4.

See one promontory (said Socrates of old), one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 1, sect. 2, member 4, subsect. 7

One was never married, and that’s his hell; another is, and that’s his plague.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 1, sect. 2, member 4, subsect. 7

The gods are well pleased when they see great men contending with adversity.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 2, sect. 3, member 1, subsect. 1

Every thing, saith Epictetus, hath two handles, the one to be held by, the other not.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 2, sect. 3, member 3, subsect. 1

Who cannot give good counsel? ’tis cheap, it costs them nothing.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 2, sect. 3, member 3, subsect. 1

What is a ship but a prison?

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 2, sect. 3, member 4, subsect. 1.

All places are distant from Heaven alike.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 2, sect. 3, member 4, subsect. 1

‘Let me not live,’ saith Aretine’s Antonia, ‘if I had not rather hear thy discourse than see a play!’

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 1, member 1, subsect. 1

To enlarge or illustrate this power and effect of love is to set a candle in the sun.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 2, member 1, subsect. 2.

No cord nor cable can so forcibly draw, or hold so fast, as love can do with a twined thread.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 2, member 1, subsect. 2

To these crocodile’s tears they will add sobs, fiery sighs, and sorrowful countenance, pale colour, leanness.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 2, member 2, subsect. 4

Diogenes struck the father when the son swore.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 2, member 2, subsect. 4

England is a paradise for women, and hell for horses: Italy a paradise for horses, hell for women, as the diverb goes.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 3, member 1, subsect. 2

One religion is as true as another.

‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 4, member 2, subsect. 1

Be not solitary, be not idle.

Final words, in ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ (1621-51) pt. 3, sect. 4, member 2, subsect. 6

2.264 Hermann Busenbaum 1600-68

Cum finis est licitus, etiam media sunt licita.

The end justifies the means.

‘Medulla Theologiae Moralis’ (1650)

2.265 Comte de Bussy-Rabutin 1618-1693

L’amour vient de l’aveuglement, L’amitiè de la connaissance.

Love comes from blindness,

Friendship from knowledge.

‘Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules: Maximes d’Amour’ (1665) pt. 1

L’absence est á l’amour ce qu’est au feu le vent; Il èteint le petit, il allume le grand.

Absence is to love what wind is to fire;

It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

‘Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules: Maximes d’Amour’ (1665) pt. 2.

Comme vous savez, Dieu est d’ordinaire pour les gros escadrons contre les petits.

As you know, God is usually on the side of the big squadrons against the small.

Letter to the Comte de Limoges, 18 October 1677, in ‘Lettres de...Comte de Bussy’ (1697) vol. 4.

2.266 Joseph Butler 1692-1752

It has come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious.

‘The Analogy of Religion’ (1736) ‘Advertisement’

But to us, probability is the very guide of life.

‘The Analogy of Religion’ (1736) ‘Introduction’

Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be: why then should we desire to be deceived?

‘Fifteen Sermons preached at the Rolls Chapel’ (1726) no. 7

2.267 Nicholas Murray Butler 1862-1947

No artificial class distinction can long prevail in a society like ours [the USA] of which it is truly said to be often but three generations ‘from shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves’.

‘True and False Democracy’ (1907) ch. 2

An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.

Commencement address at Columbia University

2.268 Samuel Butler 1612-80

He’d run in debt by disputation, And pay with ratiocination.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 77

For rhetoric he could not ope

His mouth, but out there flew a trope.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 81

For all a rhetorician’s rules

Teach nothing but to name his tools.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 89

A Babylonish dialect

Which learned pedants much affect.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 93

What ever sceptic could inquire for; For every why he had a wherefore.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 131

He knew what’s what, and that’s as high As metaphysic wit can fly.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 149

Such as take lodgings in a head That’s to be let unfurnished.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 159

And still be doing, never done: As if Religion were intended

For nothing else but to be mended.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 202

Compound for sins, they are inclined to,

By damning those they have no mind to.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 213

The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, For want of fighting was grown rusty, And eat into it self, for lack

Of some body to hew and hack.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 357

For rhyme the rudder is of verses,

With which like ships they steer their courses.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 457

Great actions are not always true sons Of great and mighty resolutions.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 1, l. 877

Cleric before, and Lay behind; A lawless linsy-woolsy brother, Half of one order, half another.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 3, l. 1226

Learning, that cobweb of the brain, Profane, erroneous, and vain.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 1 (1663), canto 3, l. 1339

She that with poetry is won, Is but a desk to write upon.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 2 (1664), canto 1, l. 591

Love is a boy, by poets styled,

Then spare the rod, and spoil the child.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 2 (1664), canto 1, l. 843

Oaths are but words, and words but wind.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 2 (1664), canto 2, l. 107

Doubtless the pleasure is as great Of being cheated, as to cheat. As lookers-on feel most delight,

That least perceive a juggler’s sleight; And still the less they understand,

The more th’ admire his sleight of hand.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 2 (1664), canto 3, l. 1

What makes all doctrines plain and clear? About two hundred pounds a year.

And that which was proved true before, Prove false again? Two hundred more.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 3 (1680), canto 1, l. 1277

He that complies against his will, Is of his own opinion still.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 3 (1680), canto 3, l. 547

For Justice, though she’s painted blind, Is to the weaker side inclined.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 3 (1680), canto 3, l. 709

For money has a power above The stars and fate, to manage love.

‘Hudibras’ pt. 3 (1680) ‘The Lady’s Answer to the Knight’ l. 131

All love at first, like generous wine, Ferments and frets, until ’tis fine; But when ’tis settled on the lee, And from th’ impurer matter free, Becomes the richer still, the older,

And proves the pleasanter, the colder.

‘Genuine Remains’ (1759) ‘Miscellaneous Thoughts’

The law can take a purse in open court, Whilst it condemns a less delinquent for’t.

‘Genuine Remains’ (1759) ‘Miscellaneous Thoughts’

2.269 Samuel Butler 1835-1902

It has been said that though God cannot alter the past, historians can; it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence.

‘Erewhon Revisited’ (1901) ch. 14.

Adversity, if a man is set down to it by degrees, is more supportable with equanimity by most people than any great prosperity arrived at in a single lifetime.

‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903) ch. 5

All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.

‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903) ch. 19

The advantage of doing one’s praising for oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places.

‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903) ch. 34

Young as he was, his instinct told him that the best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.

‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903) ch. 39

’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.

‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903) ch. 67.

It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry one another and so make only two people miserable instead of four, besides being very amusing.

‘Letters between Samuel Butler and Miss E. M. A. Savage 1871-1885’ (1935) 21 November 1884

Life is one long process of getting tired.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 1

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 1

The history of art is the history of revivals.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 8

An apology for the Devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 14

A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 14

To live is like to love—all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 14

The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do this than to keep a cow. So it is, but the milk is more likely to be watered.

‘Notebooks’ (1912) ch. 17

An honest God’s the noblest work of man.

‘Further Extracts from Notebooks’ (1934) p. 26.

The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.

‘Further Extracts from Notebooks’ (1934) p. 93

Jesus! with all thy faults I love thee still.

‘Further Extracts from Notebooks’ (1934) p. 117

Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.

‘Further Extracts from Notebooks’ (1934) p. 279

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.

Speech at the Somerville Club, 27 February 1895, in R. A. Streatfield ‘Essays on Life, Art and Science’ (1904) p. 69

Dusty, cobweb-covered, maimed, and set at naught, Beauty crieth in an attic, and no man regardeth.

O God! O Montreal!

‘Psalm of Montreal’, in ‘Spectator’ 18 May 1878

Yet meet we shall, and part, and meet again Where dead men meet, on lips of living men.

‘Athenaeum’ 4 January 1902

2.270 William Butler 1535-1618

Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.

On the strawberry, in Izaak Walton ‘The Compleat Angler’ (3rd ed., 1661) pt. 1, ch. 5

2.271 Max Bygraves 1922—

See Eric Sykes and Max Bygraves (7.193) in Volume II

2.272 John Byrom 1692-1763

I am content, I do not care, Wag as it will the world for me.

‘Careless Content’

Some say, that Signor Bononcini, Compared to Handel’s a mere ninny; Others aver, to him, that Handel

Is scarcely fit to hold a candle.

Strange! that such high dispute should be ’Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

‘Miscellaneous Poems’ (1773) ‘On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini’

Stones towards the earth descend; Rivers to the ocean roll;

Ev’ry motion has some end;— What is thine, beloved soul?

‘The Soul’s Tendency towards its True Centre’

God bless the King, I mean the Faith’s Defender; God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender; But who Pretender is, or who is King,

God bless us all—that’s quite another thing.

‘Miscellaneous Poems’ (1773) vol. 1 ‘To an Officer in the Army, Extempore, Intended to allay the Violence of Party-Spirit’

2.273 Lord Byron (George Gordon, Sixth Baron Byron) 1788-1824

Proud Wellington, with eagle beak so curled, That nose, the hook where he suspends the world!

‘The Age of Bronze’ (1823) st. 13

For what were all these country patriots born? To hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn?

‘The Age of Bronze’ (1823) st. 14

Year after year they voted cent per cent

Blood, sweat, and tear-wrung millions—why? for rent!

‘The Age of Bronze’ (1823) st. 14

Did’st ever see a gondola?...

It glides along the water looking blackly,

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