The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

An idea cannot well be accompanied by a stronger kind of interest than the earnest wish to escape from it.

‘Essays’ (1805) ‘On the Aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Religion’

They [the wealthy] are in a religious diving-bell; religion is not circumambient, but a little is conveyed down into the worldly depth, where they breathe by a sort of artificial inlet—a tube.

‘Journal’ item 420

Is not the pleasure of feeling and exhibiting power over other beings, a principal part of the gratification of cruelty?

‘Journal’ item 772

6.66 Stephen Collins Foster 1826-64

Beautiful dreamer.

Title of song (1864)

Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day!

I’ll bet my money on de bobtail nag— Somebody bet on de bay.

‘De Camptown Races’ (1850) chorus

I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair, Floating, like a vapour, on the soft summer air.

‘Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair’ (1854)

Way down upon the Swanee River, Far, far, away,

There’s where my heart is turning ever; There’s where the old folks stay.

‘The Old Folks at Home’ (1851)

All the world is sad and dreary Everywhere I roam,

Oh! darkies, how my heart grows weary, Far from the old folks at home.

‘The Old Folks at Home’ (1851) chorus

6.67 Charles Fourier 1772-1837

L’extension des priviléges des femmes est le principe gènèral de tous progrés sociaux.

The extension of women’s rights is the basic principle of all social progress.

‘Thèorie des Quatre Mouvements’ (1808) vol. 2, ch. 4

6.68 Charles James Fox 1749-1806

No man could be so wise as Thurlow looked.

In Campbell ‘Lives of the Lord Chancellors’ (1846) vol. 5, p. 661

He was uniformly of an opinion which, though not a popular one, he was ready to aver, that the right of governing was not property but a trust.

On Pitt’s scheme of Parliamentary Reform, in J. L. Hammond ‘C. J. Fox’ (1903) p. 75

How much the greatest event it is that ever happened in the world! and how much the best!

On the fall of the Bastille, in a letter to Richard Fitzpatrick, 30 July 1789: Lord John Russell ‘Life and Times of C. J. Fox’ vol. 2, p. 361

I die happy.

Last words, in Lord John Russell ‘Life and Times of C. J. Fox’ vol. 3, ch. 69

6.69 George Fox 1624-91

I told them I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars.

On being offered, in 1651, a captaincy in the army of the Commonwealth, against the forces of the King, in N. Penney (ed.) ‘Journal’ (1911) vol. 1, p. 11

I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.

‘Journal’ (ed. J. L. Nickalls, 1952, p. 19) 1647

Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.

‘Journal’ (ed. J. L. Nickalls, 1952, p. 263) 1656

Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God to turn thy mind to the Lord God.

‘Journal’ (ed. J. L. Nickalls, 1952, p. 346) 1658

All bloody principles and practices, we, as to our own particulars, do utterly deny, with all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world.

‘Journal’ (ed. J. L. Nickalls, 1952, p. 399) 1661

6.70 Henry Fox

See 1st Lord Holland (8.119)

6.71Henry Richard Vassall Fox

See 3rd Lord Holland (8.120)

6.72Henry Stephen Fox 1791-1846

I am so changed that my oldest creditors would hardly know me.

After an illness; quoted by Byron in a letter to John Murray, 8 May 1817

6.73 Anatole France (Jacques-Anatole-François Thibault) 1844-1924

Dans tout Ètat policè, la richesse est chose sacrèe; dans les dèmocraties elle est la seule chose sacrèe.

In every well-governed state, wealth is a sacred thing; in democracies it is the only sacred thing.

‘L’Ile des pingouins’ (1908) pt. 6, ch. 2

Ils [les pauvres] y doivent travailler devant la majestueuse ègalitè des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain.

They [the poor] have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the

rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

‘Le Lys rouge’ (1894) ch. 7

Le bon critique est celui qui raconte les aventures de son âme au milieu des chefs-d’oeuvre.

The good critic is he who relates the adventures of his soul among masterpieces.

‘La Vie littèraire’ (1888) dedicatory letter

6.74 Francis I 1494-1547

De toutes choses ne m’est demeurè que l’honneur et la vie qui est saulve.

Of all I had, only honour and life have been spared.

Letter to his mother after his defeat at Pavia, 1525, in ‘Collection des Documents Inèdits sur l’Histoire de France’ (1847) vol. 1, p. 129 (usually cited Tout est perdu fors l’honneur All is lost save honour)

6.75 St Francis de Sales 1567-1622

Ce sont les grans feux qui s’enflamment au vent, mais les petits s’esteignent si on ne les y porte a couvert.

Big fires flare up in a wind, but little ones are blown out unless they are carried in under cover.

‘Introduction á la vie dèvote’ (1609) pt. 3, ch. 34.

6.76Georges Franju 1912—

See Jean-Luc Godard (7.53)

6.77Benjamin Franklin 1706-90

Remember that time is money.

‘Advice to a Young Tradesman’ (1748)

Some are weather-wise, some are otherwise.

‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’ (1735) February

Necessity never made a good bargain.

‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’ (1735) April

At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgement.

‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’ (1741) June

A little neglect may breed mischief...for want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.

‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’ (1758) ‘Maxims’

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’ (1758) preface

Here Skugg

Lies snug As a bug In a rug.

Letter to Georgiana Shipley on the death of her squirrel, 26 September 1772 (skug squirrel)

We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

To John Hancock, at the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776

There never was a good war, or a bad peace.

Letter to Josiah Quincy, 11 September 1783

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy, 13 November 1789

Man is a tool-making animal.

In James Boswell ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson’ (1934 ed.) 7 April 1778

What is the use of a new-born child?

On being asked what was the use of a new invention, in J. Parton ‘Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin’ (1864) pt. 4, ch. 17

The body of

Benjamin Franklin, printer, (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents worn out,

And stript of its lettering and gilding) Lies here, food for worms!

Yet the work itself shall not be lost,

For it will, as he believed, appear once more In a new

And more beautiful edition, Corrected and amended By its Author!

Epitaph for himself.

6.78 Oliver Franks (Baron Franks)

The Pentagon, that immense monument to modern man’s subservience to the desk.

In ‘Observer’ 30 November 1952

A secret in the Oxford sense: you may tell it to only one person at a time.

In ‘Sunday Telegraph’ 30 January 1977

6.79 Sir James George Frazer 1854-1941

The awe and dread with which the untutored savage contemplates his mother-in-law are amongst the most familiar facts of anthropology.

‘The Golden Bough’ (2nd ed., 1900) vol. 1, p. 288

6.80 Frederick the Great 1712-86

My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

Attributed

Ihr Racker, wollt ihr ewig leben?

Rascals, would you live for ever?

Addressed to hesitant Guards at Kolin, 18 June 1757

6.81 Cliff Freeman

Where’s the beef?

Advertising slogan for Wendy’s Hamburgers in campaign launched 9 Jan. 1984 (taken up by Walter Mondale in a televised debate with Gary Hart from Atlanta, 11 March 1984: ‘When I hear your new ideas I’m reminded of that ad, “Where’s the beef?”’)

6.82 E. A. Freeman 1823-92

History is past politics, and politics is present history.

‘Methods of Historical Study’ (1886) p. 44

A saying which fell from myself in one of the debates in Congregation on the Modern Language Statute has been quoted in several places...’chatter about Shelley’...I mentioned that I had lately read a review of a book about Shelley in which the critic...praised or blamed the author...for his ‘treatment of the Harriet problem’.

‘Literature and Language’ in Contemporary Review October 1887 (often telescoped as ‘chatter about Harriet’)

6.83 John Freeth c.1731-1808

The loss of America what can repay? New colonies seek for at Botany Bay.

‘Botany Bay’ in ‘New London Magazine’ (1786)

6.84 John Hookham Frere 1769-1846

The feathered race with pinions skim the air— Not so the mackerel, and still less the bear!

‘The Progress of Man’ l. 34

Ah! who has seen the mailed lobster rise,

Clap her broad wings, and soaring claim the skies?

‘The Progress of Man’ l. 44

6.85 Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

‘Itzig, wohin reit’st Du?’ ‘Weiss ich, frag das Pferd.’

‘Itzig, where are you riding to?’ ‘Don’t ask me, ask the horse.’

Letter to Wilhelm Fliess, 7 July 1898, in ‘Aus den Anfängen der Psychoanalyse’ (Origins of Psychoanalysis, 1950) p. 275

Die Anatomie ist das Schicksal.

Anatomy is destiny.

‘Gesammelte Schriften’ (1924) vol. 5, p. 210

Vergleiche entscheiden nichts, das ist wahr, aber sie können machen, dass man sich heimischer fühlt.

Analogies decide nothing, that is true, but they can make one feel more at home.

‘Neue Folge der Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse’ (New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, 1933) ch. 31

Wir sind so eingerichtet, dass wir nur den Kontrast intensiv geniessen können, den Zustand nur sehr wenig.

We are so made, that we can only derive intense enjoyment from a contrast, and only very little

from a state of things.

‘Das Unbehagen in der Kultur’ (Civilization and its Discontents, 1930) ch. 2

The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?’

Letter to Marie Bonaparte, in Ernest Jones ‘Sigmund Freud: Life and Work’ (1955) vol. 2, pt. 3, ch. 16

6.86 Betty Friedan 1921—

The problem that has no name—which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities.

‘The Feminine Mystique’ (1963) ch. 14

6.87 Max Frisch 1911—

Technik...Kniff, die Welt so einzurichten, dass wir sie nicht erleben müssen.

Technology...the knack of so arranging the world that we need not experience it.

‘Homo Faber’ (1957) pt. 2

6.88 Charles Frohman 1860-1915

Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

Last words before drowning in the ‘Lusitania’, 7 May 1915, in I. F. Marcosson and D. Frohman ‘Charles Frohman’ (1916) ch. 19.

6.89 Erich Fromm 1900-80

Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.

‘Man for Himself’ (1947) ch. 4

In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead. In the nineteenth century inhumanity meant cruelty; in the twentieth century it means schizoid self-alienation. The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots.

‘The Sane Society’ (1955) ch. 9

6.90 Robert Frost 1874-1963

I have been one acquainted with the night.

‘Acquainted with the Night’ (1928)

I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate wilfully misunderstand me

And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love:

I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.

‘Birches’ (1916)

Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths being in and out of favour.

‘The Black Cottage’ (1914)

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee And I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.

‘Cluster of Faith’ (1962)

And nothing to look backward to with pride, And nothing to look forward to with hope.

‘The Death of the Hired Man’ (1914)

‘Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.’

‘I should have called it

Something you somehow haven’t to deserve.’

‘The Death of the Hired Man’ (1914)

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces Between stars—on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home

To scare myself with my own desert places.

‘Desert Places’ (1936)

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire. But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great

And would suffice.

‘Fire and Ice’ (1923)

And that has made all the difference.

‘The Road Not Taken’ (1916)

We dance round in a ring and suppose,

But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

‘The Secret Sits’ (1942)

I’ve broken Anne of gathering bouquets.

It’s not fair to the child. It can’t be helped though: Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.

‘The Self-Seeker’ (1914)

Len says one steady pull more ought to do it. He says the best way out is always through.

‘A Servant to Servants’ (1914)

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ (1923)

It should be of the pleasure of a poem itself to tell how it can. The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom. The figure is the same as for love.

‘Collected Poems’ (1939) ‘The Figure a Poem Makes’

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.

‘Collected Poems’ (1939) ‘The Figure a Poem Makes’

Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting. A poem may be worked over once it is in being, but may not be worried into being.

‘Collected Poems’ (1939) ‘The Figure a Poem Makes’

I’d as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down.

In Edward Lathem ‘Interviews with Robert Frost’ (1966) p. 203

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.

In Elizabeth S. Sergeant ‘Robert Frost: the Trial by Existence’ (1960) ch. 18

Poetry is what is lost in translation. It is also what is lost in interpretation.

In Louis Untermeyer ‘Robert Frost: a Backward Look’ (1964) p. 18

6.91 Christopher Fry 1907—

The dark is light enough.

Title of play (1954)

What after all

Is a halo? It’s only one more thing to keep clean.

‘The Lady’s not for Burning’ (1949) act 1

What is official

Is incontestable. It undercuts

The problematical world and sells us life At a discount.

‘The Lady’s not for Burning’ (1949) act 1

Where in this small-talking world can I find A longitude with no platitude?

‘The Lady’s not for Burning’ (1949) act 3

The best

Thing we can do is to make wherever we’re lost in Look as much like home as we can.

‘The Lady’s not for Burning’ (1949) act 3

I hope

I’ve done nothing so monosyllabic as to cheat, A spade is never so merely a spade as the word Spade would imply.

‘Venus Observed’ (1950) act 2, sc. 1

6.92 Roger Fry 1866-1934

Art is significant deformity.

In Virginia Woolf ‘Roger Fry’ (1940) ch. 8

6.93 R. Buckminster Fuller 1895-1983

Either war is obsolete or men are.

In ‘New Yorker’ 8 January 1966, p. 93

God, to me, it seems, is a verb

not a noun,

proper or improper.

‘No More Secondhand God’ (1963) p. 28, poem written in 1940.

Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.

‘Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth’ (1969) ch. 4

6.94 Sam Fuller

When you’re in the battlefield, survival is all there is. Death is the only great emotion.

In ‘Guardian’ 26 February 1991

6.95 Thomas Fuller 1608-61

But our captain counts the Image of God nevertheless his image, cut in ebony as if done in ivory.

‘The Holy State and the Profane State’ (1642) bk. 2 ‘The Good Sea-Captain’