The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

‘Aids to Reflection’ (1825) ‘Moral and Religious Aphorisms’ no. 25

Until you understand a writer’s ignorance, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding.

‘Biographia Literaria’ (1817) ch. 12

The primary imagination I hold to be the living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception, and as a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I am.

‘Biographia Literaria’ (1817) ch. 13

That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.

‘Biographia Literaria’ (1817) ch. 14

Our myriad-minded Shakespeare. Footnote. a phrase which I have borrowed from a Greek monk, who applies it to a Patriarch of Constantinople.

‘Biographia Literaria’ (1817) ch. 15

The dwarf sees farther than the giant, when he has the giant’s shoulder to mount on.

‘The Friend’ (1818) vol. 2 ‘On the Principles of Political Knowledge’.

Iago’s soliloquy—the motive-hunting of motiveless malignity.

‘The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’ (1836) bk. 2 ‘Notes on the Tragedies of Shakespeare: Othello’

Reviewers are usually people who would have been poets, historians, biographers, &c., if they could; they have tried their talents at one or at the other, and have failed; therefore they turn critics.

‘Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton’ (delivered 1811-12, published 1856) lecture 1

You abuse snuff! Perhaps it is the final cause of the human nose.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 4 January 1823

To see him act, is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 27 April 1823 (on Edmund Kean)

Prose = words in their best order;—poetry = the best words in the best order.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 12 July 1827

The man’s desire is for the woman; but the woman’s desire is rarely other than for the desire of the man.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 23 July 1827

Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense at all events; just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house, at least.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 9 May 1830

Swift was anima Rabelaisii habitans in sicco—the soul of Rabelais dwelling in a dry place.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 15 June 1830

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 5 October 1830

That passage is what I call the sublime dashed to pieces by cutting too close with the fiery four- in-hand round the corner of nonsense.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 20 January 1834

Shakespeare...is of no age—nor of any religion, or party or profession. The body and substance

of his works came out of the unfathomable depths of his own oceanic mind.

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 15 March 1834

Bygone images and scenes of early life have stolen into my mind, like breezes from the spiceislands of Youth and Hope—those twin realities of this phantom world!

‘Table Talk’ (1835) 10 July 1834

If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us!

In Thomas Allsop ‘Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge’ (18 December 1831)

Summer has set in with its usual severity.

Quoted in a letter from Charles Lamb to V. Novello, 9 May 1826

3.138 Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) 1873-1954

Le monde des èmotions qu’on nomme, á la lègére, physiques.

The world of the emotions that are so lightly called physical.

‘Le Blè en herbe’ (1923) p. 161

Life as a child and then as a girl had taught her patience, hope, silence; and given her a prisoner’s proficiency in handling these virtues as weapons.

‘Chèri’ (1920)

Let’s go out and buy playing-cards, good wine, bridge-scorers, knitting needles—all the paraphernalia to fill a gaping void, all that’s required to disguise that monster, an old woman.

‘Chèri’ (1920)

If one wished to be perfectly sincere, one would have to admit there are two kinds of love— well-fed and ill-fed. The rest is pure fiction.

‘La Fin de Chèri’ (1926)

3.139 Mary Collier c.1690-c.1762

So the industrious bees do hourly strive To bring their loads of honey to the hive; Their sordid owners always reap the gains,

And poorly recompense their toils and pains.

‘The Woman’s Labour’ (1739) p. 17

Though we all day with care our work attend, Such is our fate, we know when ’twill end.

When evening’s come, you homeward take your way. We, till our work is done, are forced to stay.

‘The Woman’s Labour’ (1739)

The greatest heroes that the world can know, To women their original must owe.

‘The Three Wise Sentences, from the First Book of Esdras’ (1740) l. 132

Old iron, old iron?

‘Any Old Iron’ (1911 song, popularized by Harry Champion; the second line often sung ‘Any any any old iron?’)

3.146 Churton Collins (John Churton Collins) 1848-1908

To ask advice is in nine cases out of ten to tout for flattery.

In L. C. Collins ‘Life of John Churton Collins’ (1912) p. 316

3.147 Michael Collins 1890-1922

Think—what I have got for Ireland? Something which she has wanted these past seven hundred years. Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this—early this morning I signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how odd, how ridiculous—a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago.

Letter, 6 December 1921, in T. R. Dwyer ‘Michael Collins and the Treaty’ (1981) ch. 4

3.148 William Collins 1721-59

To fair Fidele’s grassy tomb

Soft maids and village hinds shall bring Each opening sweet of earliest bloom, And rifle all the breathing spring.

‘Dirge’ (1744) from Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline’

Now air is hushed, save where the weak-eyed bat, With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing, Or where the beetle winds

His small but sullen horn,

As oft he rises ’midst the twilight path, Against the pilgrim borne in heedless hum.

‘Ode to Evening’ (1747)

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country’s wishes blest!

‘Ode Written in the Year 1746’ (1748)

By fairy hands their knell is rung, By forms unseen their dirge is sung.

‘Ode Written in the Year 1746’ (1748)

With eyes up-raised, as one inspired, Pale Melancholy sate retired,

And from her wild sequestered seat, In notes by distance made more sweet,

Poured thro’ the mellow horn her pensive soul.

‘The Passions, an Ode for Music’ (1747).

Love of peace, and lonely musing,

In hollow murmurs died away.

‘The Passions, an Ode for Music’ (1747)

Too nicely Jonson knew the critic’s part, Nature in him was almost lost in Art.

‘Verses addressed to Sir Thomas Hanmer’ (1743)

3.149 George Colman the Elder 1732-94, and David Garrick 1717-79

Love and a cottage! Eh, Fanny! Ah, give me indifference and a coach and six!

‘The Clandestine Marriage’ (1766) act 1

3.150 George Colman the Younger 1762-1836

Oh, London is a fine town, A very famous city,

Where all the streets are paved with gold, And all the maidens pretty.

‘The Heir at Law’ (performed 1797, published 1808) act 1, sc. 2

Says he, ‘I am a handsome man, but I’m a gay deceiver.’

‘Love Laughs at Locksmiths’ (1808) act 2

Johnson’s style was grand and Gibbon’s elegant; the stateliness of the former was sometimes pedantic, and the polish of the latter was occasionally finical. Johnson marched to kettle-drums and trumpets; Gibbon moved to flute and hautboys: Johnson hewed passages through the Alps, while Gibbon levelled walks through parks and gardens.

‘Random Records’ (1830) vol. 1, p. 122

My father was an eminent button maker—but I had a soul above buttons—I panted for a liberal profession.

‘Sylvester Daggerwood’ (1795) act 1, sc. 10

As the lone Angler, patient man, At Mewry-Water, or the Banne, Leaves off, against his placid wish, Impaling worms to torture fish.

‘The Lady of the Wreck’ (1813) canto 2, st. 18

And, on the label of the stuff, He wrote this verse;

Which one would think was clear enough, And terse:—

When taken,

To be well shaken.

‘The Newcastle Apothecary’ (1797)

3.151 Charles Caleb Colton c.1780-1832

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

‘Lacon’ (1820) vol. 1, no. 183

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

‘Lacon’ (1820) vol. 1, no. 322

If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city.

‘Lacon’ (1820) vol. 1, no. 334

Man is an embodied paradox, a bundle of contradictions.

‘Lacon’ (1820) vol. 1, no. 408

3.152 Betty Comden 1919-and Adolph Green 1915—

New York, New York,—a helluva town, The Bronx is up but the Battery’s down, And people ride in a hole in the ground:

New York, New York,—It’s a helluva town.

‘New York, New York’ (1945 song; music by Leonard Bernstein)

The party’s over.

Title of song (1956; music by Jule Styne)

3.153 Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884-1969

Time has too much credit...It is not a great healer. It is an indifferent and perfunctory one. Sometimes it does not heal at all. And somtimes when it seems to, no healing has been necessary.

‘Darkness and Day’ (1951) ch. 7

‘Well, of course, people are only human...But it really does not seem much for them to be.’

‘A Family and a Fortune’ (1939) ch. 2

People don’t resent having nothing nearly as much as too little.

‘A Family and a Fortune’ (1939) ch. 4

‘The more we ask, the more we have. And, it is fair enough: asking is not always easy.’ ‘And it is said to be hard to accept...So no wonder we have so little.’

‘The Mighty and their Fall’ (1961) ch. 6

There are different kinds of wrong. The people sinned against are not always the best.

‘The Mighty and their Fall’ (1961) ch. 7

We must use words as they are used or stand aside from life.

‘Mother and Son’ (1955) ch. 9

3.154 Auguste Comte 1798-1857

M. Comte used to reproach his early English admirers with maintaining the ‘conspiracy of silence’ concerning his later performances.

In J. S. Mill ‘Auguste Comte and Positivism’ (1865) p. 199

3.155 Prince de Condè 1621-86

Silence! Voilá l’ennemi!

Hush! Here comes the enemy!

As Bourdaloue mounted the pulpit at St Sulpice, in P. M. Lauras ‘Bourdalou: sa vie et ses oeuvres’ (1881) vol. 2, p. 72

3.156 William Congreve 1670-1729

It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind.

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) epistle dedicatory

Retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) act 1, sc. 1

There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh; Jesu, ’tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) act 1, sc. 4.

Tho’ marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves ’em still two fools.

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) act 2, sc. 3

She lays it on with a trowel.

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) act 3, sc. 10

See how love and murder will out.

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) act 4, sc. 6

No mask like open truth to cover lies, As to go naked is the best disguise.

‘The Double Dealer’ (1694) act 5, sc. 6

I am always of the opinion with the learned, if they speak first.

‘Incognita’ (1692)

Has he not a rogue’s face?...a hanging-look to me...has a damned Tyburn-face, without the benefit o’ the Clergy.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 2, sc. 7

I came upstairs into the world; for I was born in a cellar.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 2, sc. 7

I know that’s a secret, for it’s whispered every where.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 3, sc. 3

He that first cries out stop thief, is often he that has stolen the treasure.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 3, sc. 14

Women are like tricks by slight of hand, Which, to admire, we should not understand.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 4, sc. 21

A branch of one of your antediluvian families, fellows that the flood could not wash away.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 5, sc. 2

To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 5, sc. 2

Aye, ’tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 5, sc. 3

Nay, for my part I always despised Mr Tattle of all things; nothing but his being my husband could have made me like him less.

‘Love for Love’ (1695) act 5, sc. 11

In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 1, sc. 1

Man was by Nature Woman’s cully made: We never are, but by ourselves, betrayed.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 3, sc. 1

Bilbo’s the word, and slaughter will ensue.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 3, sc. 7

If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 3, sc. 10

Eternity was in that moment.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 4, sc. 7

Now am I slap-dash down in the mouth.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 4, sc. 9

Sharper: Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure: Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.

Setter: Some by experience find those words mis-placed: At leisure married, they repent in haste.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 5, sc. 8

I could find it in my heart to marry thee, purely to be rid of thee.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 5, sc. 10

Courtship to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.

‘The Old Bachelor’ (1693) act 5, sc. 10

They come together like the Coroner’s Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 1, sc. 1

Ay, ay, I have experience: I have a wife, and so forth.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 1, sc. 3

I always take blushing either for a sign of guilt, or of ill breeding.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 1, sc. 9

Say what you will, ’tis better to be left than never to have been loved.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 2, sc. 1.

Here she comes i’ faith full sail, with her fan spread and streamers out, and a shoal of fools for tenders.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 2, sc. 4

Witwoud: Madam, do you pin up your hair with all your letters?

Millamant: Only with those in verse, Mr Witwoud. I never pin up my hair with prose.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 2, sc. 4

Beauty is the lover’s gift.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 2, sc. 4

A little disdain is not amiss; a little scorn is alluring.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 3, sc. 5

O, nothing is more alluring than a levee from a couch in some confusion.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 4, sc. 1

Don’t let us be familiar or fond, nor kiss before folks, like my Lady Fadler and Sir Francis: nor go to Hyde-Park together the first Sunday in a new chariot, to provoke eyes and whispers, and then never be seen there together again; as if we were proud of one another the first week, and ashamed of one another ever after...Let us be very strange and well-bred: Let us be as strange as if we had been married a great while, and as well-bred as if we were not married at all.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 4, sc. 5

These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into a wife.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 4, sc. 5

I hope you do not think me prone to any iteration of nuptials.

‘The Way of the World’ (1700) act 4, sc. 12

Careless she is with artful care, Affecting to seem unaffected.

‘Amoret’ (1704)

Music alone with sudden charms can bind

The wand’ring sense, and calm the troubled mind.

‘Hymn to Harmony’

Music has charms to sooth a savage breast.

‘The Mourning Bride’ (1697) act 1, sc. 1

Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned, Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorned.

‘The Mourning Bride’ (1697) act 3, sc. 8

Is he then dead?

What, dead at last, quite, quite for ever dead!

‘The Mourning Bride’ (1697) act 5, sc. 11

Would I were free from this restraint, Or else had hopes to win her; Would she could make of me a saint, Or I of her a sinner.

‘Pious Selinda Goes to Prayers’ (song)

For ’tis some virtue, virtue to commend.

‘To Sir Godfrey Kneller’

3.157 James M. Connell 1852-1929

The people’s flag is deepest red; It shrouded oft our martyred dead,

And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold, Their heart’s blood dyed its every fold. Then raise the scarlet standard high!

Within its shade we’ll live or die. Tho’ cowards flinch and traitors sneer, We’ll keep the red flag flying here.

‘The Red Flag’ (1889) in H. E. Piggot ‘Songs that made History’ ch. 6

3.158 Billy Connolly 1942—

Marriage is a wonderful invention; but, then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.

In Duncan Campbell ‘Billy Connolly’ (1976) p. 92

3.159 Cyril Connolly 1903-74

‘I ask very little. Some fragments of Pamphilides, a Choctaw blood-mask, the prose of Scaliger the Elder, a painting by Fuseli, an occasional visit to the all-in wrestling, or to my meretrix; a cook who can produce a passable ‘poulet á la Khmer’, a Pong vase. Simple tastes, you will agree, and it is my simple habit to indulge them.’

‘The Condemned Playground’ ‘Told in Gath’, a parody of Aldous Huxley

Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.

‘Enemies of Promise’ (1938) ch. 13

There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.

‘Enemies of Promise’ (1938) ch. 14

The Mandarin style...is beloved by literary pundits, by those who would make the written word as unlike as possible to the spoken one. It is the style of those writers whose tendency is to make their language convey more than they mean or more than they feel, it is the style of most artists and all humbugs.

‘Enemies of Promise’ (1938) ch. 20

It is closing time in the gardens of the West and from now on an artist will be judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair.

‘Horizon’ December 1949—January 1950, p. 362

Life is a maze in which we take the wrong turning before we have learnt to walk.

‘The Unquiet Grave’ (1944) pt. 1

Civilization is an active deposit which is formed by the combustion of the Present with the Past.

‘The Unquiet Grave’ (1944) pt. 2