Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Self-Reliance’
To fill the hour—that is happiness.
‘Essays. Second Series’ (1844) ‘Experience’
The years teach much which the days never know.
‘Essays. Second Series’ (1844) ‘Experience’
Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are conservatives after dinner.
‘Essays. Second Series’ (1844) ‘New England Reformers’
Every man is wanted, and no man is wanted much.
‘Essays. Second Series’ (1844) ‘Nominalist and Realist’
Language is fossil poetry.
‘Essays. Second Series’ (1844) ‘The Poet’
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.
‘Fortune of the Republic’ (1878) p. 3
Old age brings along with its uglinesses the comfort that you will soon be out of it,—which ought to be a substantial relief to such discontented pendulums as we are. To be out of the war, out of debt, out of the drouth, out of the blues, out of the dentist’s hands, out of the second thoughts, mortifications, and remorses that inflict such twinges and shooting pains,—out of the next winter, and the high prices, and company below your ambition,—surely these are soothing hints.
Journal, 1864, in Linda Allardt et al. (eds.) ‘The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson’ vol. 15, 1860-6 (1982) p. 428
Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out; and such as are out wish to get in.
‘Representative Men’ (1850) ‘Montaigne’
Every hero becomes a bore at last.
‘Representative Men’ (1850) ‘Uses of Great Men’
Hitch your wagon to a star.
‘Society and Solitude’ (1870) ‘Civilization’
We boil at different degrees.
‘Society and Solitude’ (1870) ‘Eloquence’
America is a country of young men.
‘Society and Solitude’ (1870) ‘Old Age’
Glittering generalities! They are blazing ubiquities.
On Choate (attributed).
If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho’ he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
Attributed to Emerson in Sarah S. B. Yule ‘Borrowings’ (1889). Mrs Yule states in The Docket February
1912 that she copied this in her handbook from a lecture delivered by Emerson; the quotation was the occasion of a long controversy, owing to Elbert Hubbard’s claim to its authorship
5.36 Sir William Empson 1906-84
Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end.
‘Just a smack at Auden’
It is this deep blankness is the real thing strange. The more things happen to you the more you can’t Tell or remember even what they were.
The contradictions cover such a range. The talk would talk and go so far about.
You don’t want madhouse and the whole thing there.
‘Let it Go’
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.
‘Missing Dates’ (1935)
Seven types of ambiguity.
Title of book (1930)
5.37 Friedrich Engels 1820-95
Der Staat wird nicht ‘abgeschaft’, er stirbt ab.
The State is not ‘abolished’, it withers away.
‘Anti-Dühring’ (1878) pt. 3, ch. 2
See also Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1.86) in Volume II
5.38 Thomas Dunn English 1819-1902
Oh! don’t you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt, Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown,
Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile, And trembled with fear at your frown?
‘Ben Bolt’
5.39 Ennius 239-169 B.C.
O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti!
O tyrant Titus Tatius, what a lot you brought upon yourself!
‘Annals’ bk. 1 (l. 104 in O. Skutch (ed.) ‘The Annals of Q. Ennius’, 1985)
Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque.
The Roman state survives by its ancient customs and its manhood.
‘Annals’ bk. 5 (l. 156 in O. Skutch (ed.) ‘The Annals of Q. Ennius’, 1985)
Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem.
One man by delaying put the state to rights for us.
‘Annals’ bk. 12 (l. 363 in O. Skutch (ed.) ‘The Annals of Q. Ennius’, 1985); referring to the Roman general Fabius Cunctator (‘The Delayer’)
At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara dixit.
And the trumpet in terrible tones went taratantara.
‘Annals’ (l. 451 in O. Skutch (ed.) ‘The Annals of Q. Ennius’, 1985)
5.40 Ephelia fl. 1679
And yet I love this false, this worthless man, With all the passion that a woman can; Dote on his imperfections, though I spy Nothing to love; I love, and know not why.
‘Female Poems’ (1679) ‘To one that asked me why I loved J.G.’
5.41 Sir Jacob Epstein 1880-1959
Why don’t they stick to murder and leave art to us?
Telegram sent to the Warden of New College, Oxford, on hearing of Kruscher’s derogatory remarks on his ‘Lazarus’ in the College chapel
5.42 Julius J. Epstein 1909-, Philip G. Epstein 1909-52, and Howard Koch 1902—
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
‘Casablanca’ (1942 film); spoken by Humphrey Bogart
If she can stand it, I can. Play it!
‘Casablanca’ (1942 film); spoken by Humphrey Bogart and usually misquoted as ‘Play it again, Sam’. Earlier in the film Ingrid Bergman says, ‘Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’’.
Here’s looking at you, kid.
‘Casablanca’ (1942 film); spoken by Humphrey Bogart
Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects.
‘Casablanca’ (1942 film); spoken by Claude Rains
5.43 Olaudah Equiano c.1745-c.1797
We are...a nation of dancers, singers and poets.
‘Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ (1789) ch. 1 (the Ibo people)
When I recovered a little I found some black people about me...I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair.
‘Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ (1789) ch. 3
5.44 Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus) c.1467-1536
In regione caecorum rex est lustus.
In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
‘Adages’
5.45 Susan Ertz 1894-1985
Someone has somewhere commented on the fact that millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
‘Anger in the Sky’ (1943) p. 137
5.46 Robert Devereux, Earl Of Essex 1566-1601
Reasons are not like garments, the worse for wearing.
Letter to Lord Willoughby, 4 January 1599, in ‘Notes and Queries’ 10th Series, vol. 2 (1904) p. 23
5.47 Henri Estienne 1531-98
Si jeunesse savoit; si vieillesse pouvoit.
If youth knew; if age could.
‘Les Prèmices’ (1594) bk. 4, epigram 4
5.48 Sir George Etherege (or Etheredge) c.1635-91
I walk within the purlieus of the Law.
‘Love in a Tub’ (1664) act 1, sc. 3
When love grows diseased, the best thing we can do is put it to a violent death; I cannot endure the torture of a lingering and consumptive passion.
‘The Man of Mode’ (1676) act 2, sc. 2
Writing, Madam, ’s a mechanic part of wit! A gentleman should never go beyond a song or a billet.
‘The Man of Mode’ (1676) act 4, sc. 1
Fear not, though love and beauty fail, My reason shall my heart direct: Your kindness now will then prevail, And passion turn into respect: Chloris, at worst, you’ll in the end But change your Lover for a friend.
‘New Academy of Compliments’ (1671) ‘Chloris, ’tis not in your power’
5.49 Euclid fl. c.300 B.C.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
Which was to be proved.
‘Elementa’ bk. 1, proposition 5 and passim (Latin translation from the Greek)
A line is length without breadth.
‘Elementa’ bk. 1, definition 2
There is no ‘royal road’ to geometry.
Said to Ptolemy I, in Proclus ‘Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elementa’ prologue, pt. 2
5.50 Euripides c.485-406 B.C.
My tongue swore, but my mind’s unsworn.
‘Hippolytus’ l. 612 (Hippolytus, justifying his breaking of an oath)
5.51 Abel Evans 1679-1737
Under this stone, Reader, survey
Dead Sir John Vanbrugh’s house of clay. Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he
Laid many heavy loads on thee!
‘Epitaph on Sir John Vanbrugh, Architect of Blenheim Palace’
5.52 John Evelyn 1620-1706
This knight was indeed a valiant Gent: but not a little given to romance, when he spake of himself.
E. S. de Beer (ed.) ‘The Diary of John Evelyn’ (1955) vol. 3, p. 40 (6 September 1651)
Mulberry Garden, now the only place of refreshment about the town for persons of the best quality to be exceedingly cheated at.
E. S. de Beer (ed.) ‘The Diary of John Evelyn’ (1955) vol. 3, p. 96 (10 May 1654)
That miracle of a youth, Mr Christopher Wren.
E. S. de Beer (ed.) ‘The Diary of John Evelyn’ (1955) vol. 3, p. 106 (11 July 1654)
I saw Hamlet Prince of Denmark played, but now the old play began to disgust this refined age.
E.S. de Beer (ed.) ‘The Diary of John Evelyn’ (1955) vol. 3, p. 304 (26 November 1661)
5.53David Everett 1769-1813
You’d scarce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage; And if I chance to fall below Demosthenes or Cicero,
Don’t view me with a critic’s eye, But pass my imperfections by.
Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.
‘Lines Written for a School Declamation’
5.54 Viscount Eversley
See Charles Shaw-Lefevre (7.71) in Volume II
5.55 William Norman Ewer 1885-1976
I gave my life for freedom—This I know: For those who bade me fight had told me so.
‘Five Souls’ (1917)
How odd Of God To choose The Jews.
In ‘Week-End Book’ (1924) p. 117.
6.0F
6.1F. W. Faber 1814-63
The music of the Gospel leads us home.
‘Oratory Hymns’ (1854) ‘The Pilgrims of the Night’
My God, how wonderful Thou art! Thy Majesty how bright!
‘Oratory Hymns’ (1854) ‘The Eternal Father’
6.2 Robert Fabyan d. 1513
Finally he paid the debt of nature.
‘The New Chronicles of England and France’ (1516) pt. 1, ch. 41
King Henry [I] being in Normandy, after some writers, fell from or with his horse, whereof he caught his death; but Ranulphe says he took a surfeit by eating of a lamprey, and thereof died.
‘The New Chronicles of England and France’ pt. 1, ch. 229. Ranulphus Higden’s account, Polychronicon vol. 7, p. 42, does not attribute Henry’s death to any direct cause. Fabyan may have derived the notion of ‘surfeit’ from an anonymous and rather fanciful translation of Higden’s nocuerat as ‘chargede his stomake’. Harleian MS 2261, f. 354 b.
The Duke of Clarence...then being a prisoner in the Tower, was secretly put to death and drowned in a barrel of Malmesey wine within the said Tower.
‘The New Chronicles of England and France’ pt. 2 (1477); early editions have the spelling malvesye
6.3 Clifton Fadiman 1904—
Milk’s leap toward immortality.
‘Any Number Can Play’ (1957) p. 105 (definition of cheese)
The mama of dada.
‘Party of One’ (1955) p. 90 (of Gertrude Stein)
6.4 Lucius Cary (second Viscount Falkland) 1610-43
When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.
‘Discourses of Infallibility’ (1660) ‘A Speech concerning Episcopacy’ 1641
6.5 Sir Richard Fanshawe 1605-66
Ten years the world upon him falsely smiled, Sheathing in fawning looks the deadly knife Long aimed at his head; that so beguiled
It more securely might bereave his life: Then threw him to a scaffold from a throne. Much doctrine lies under this little stone.
‘Il Pastor Fido’ (1648) ‘The Fall’
White Peace (the beautiful’st of things) Seems here her everlasting rest
To fix, and spreads her downy wings over the nest.
‘Il Pastor Fido’ (1648) ‘An Ode, upon occasion of His Majesty’s Proclamation in the Year 1630’
6.6 Michael Faraday 1791-1867
Tyndall, I must remain plain Michael Faraday to the last; and let me now tell you, that if I accepted the honour which the Royal Society desires to confer upon me, I would not answer for the integrity of my intellect for a single year.
On being offered the Presidency of the Royal Society, in J. Tyndall ‘Faraday as a Discoverer’ (1868) ‘Illustrations of Character’
6.7 Eleanor Farjeon 1881-1965
Morning has broken Like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken Like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing Fresh from the Lord!
‘Children’s Bells’ (1957) ‘A Morning Song (for the First Day of Spring)’
6.8 Edward Farmer c.1809-76
I have no pain, dear mother, now; But oh! I am so dry:
Just moisten poor Jim’s lips once more; And, mother, do not cry!
‘The Collier’s Dying Child’
6.9 King Farouk of Egypt 1920-65
The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left—the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts and the King of Diamonds.
Said to Lord Boyd-Orr at a conference in Cairo, 1948, in Lord Boyd-Orr ‘As I Recall’ (1966) ch. 21
6.10 George Farquhar c.1677-1707
Sir, you shall taste my Anno Domini.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 1, sc. 1
I have fed purely upon ale; I have eat my ale, drank my ale, and I always sleep upon ale.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 1, sc. 1
My Lady Bountiful.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 1, sc. 1
There is no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 1, sc. 1
There’s some diversion in a talking blockhead; and since a woman must wear chains, I would have the pleasure of hearing ’em rattle a little.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 2, sc. 2
No woman can be a beauty without a fortune.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 2, sc. 2
I believe they talked of me, for they laughed consumedly.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 3, sc. 1
’Twas for the good of my country that I should be abroad.—Anything for the good of one’s country—I’m a Roman for that.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 3, sc. 2
Aimwell: Then you understand Latin, Mr Bonniface?
Bonniface: Not I, Sir, as the saying is, but he talks it so very fast that I’m sure it must be good.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 3, sc. 2
Spare all I have, and take my life.
‘The Beaux’ Stratagem’ (1707) act 5, sc. 2
I hate all that don’t love me, and slight all that do.
‘The Constant Couple’ (1699) act 1, sc. 2
Grant me some wild expressions, Heavens, or I shall burst—...Words, words or I shall burst.
‘The Constant Couple’ (1699) act 5, sc. 3
Charming women can true converts make, We love the precepts for the teacher’s sake.
‘The Constant Couple’ (1699) act 5, sc. 3.
Crimes, like virtues, are their own rewards.
‘The Inconstant’ (1702) act 4, sc. 2
Money is the sinews of love, as of war.
‘Love and a Bottle’ (1698) act 2, sc. 1.
Poetry’s a mere drug, Sir.
‘Love and a Bottle’ (1698) act 3, sc. 2.
Hanging and marriage, you know, go by Destiny.
‘The Recruiting Officer’ (1706) act 3, sc. 2
I could be mighty foolish, and fancy my self mighty witty; Reason still keeps its throne, but it nods a little, that’s all.
‘The Recruiting Officer’ (1706) act 3, sc. 2
A lady, if undressed at Church, looks silly, One cannot be devout in dishabilly.
‘The Stage Coach’ (1704) prologue
I’m privileged to be very impertinent, being an Oxonian.
‘Sir Harry Wildair’ (1701) act 2, sc. 1
6.11 David Glasgow Farragut 1801-70
Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead.
At the battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 (‘torpedoes’ were mines). Capt. A. T. Mahan ‘Admiral Farragut’ (1892) ch. 10
6.12 William Faulkner 1897-1962
He [the writer] must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed —love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.
Nobel Prize speech, 1950, in ‘Les Prix Nobel en 1950’ (1951) p. 71
I believe man will not merely endure, he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he, alone among creatures, has an inexhaustible voice but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
Nobel Prize speech, 1950, in ‘Les Prix Nobel en 1950’ (1951) p. 71
The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board...If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies.
In ‘Paris Review’ Spring 1956, p. 30
A man shouldn’t fool with booze until he’s fifty; then he’s a damn fool if he doesn’t.
In James M. Webb and A. Wigfall Green ‘William Faulkner of Oxford’ (1965) p. 110
6.13 Guy Fawkes 1570-1606
A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.
6 November 1605. ‘Dictionary of National Biography’.
6.14 James Fenton 1949—
It is not what they built. It is what they knocked down. It is not the houses. It is the spaces between the houses.
It is not the streets that exist. It is the streets that no longer exist.
‘German Requiem’ (1981) p. 1
6.15 Edna Ferber 1887-1968
Being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation after you cease to struggle.
In R. E. Drennan ‘Wit’s End’ (1973)
6.16 Emperor Ferdinand I 1503-64
Fiat justitia et pereat mundus.
Let justice be done, though the world perish.
Motto. Johannes Manlius ‘Locorum Communium Collectanea’ (Basle, 1563) vol. 2, p. 290.
6.17 Robert Fergusson 1750-74
For thof ye had as wise a snout on As Shakespeare or Sir Isaac Newton,
Your judgement fouk woud hae a doubt on, I’ll tak my aith,
Till they could see ye wi’ a suit on O’ gude Braid Claith.
‘Braid Claith’
The Lawyers may revere that tree Where thieves so oft have swung, Since, by the Law’s most wise decree, Her thieves are never hung.
‘Epigram on a Lawyer’s desiring one of the Tribe to look with respect to a Gibbet’
6.18 Ludwig Feuerbach 1804-72
Der Mensch ist, was er isst.
Man is what he eats.
In Jacob Moleschott ‘Lehre der Nahrungsmittel: Für das Volk’ (1850) ‘Advertisement’.
6.19 Eric Field
Your King and Country need you.
World War I recruitment slogan, in ‘Advertising’ (1959) ch. 2
6.20 Eugene Field 1850-95
But I, when I undress me Each night, upon my knees, Will ask the Lord to bless me, With apple pie and cheese.
