The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (104 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1860–1904
If a lot of cures are suggested for a disease, it means that the disease is incurable.
The Cherry Orchard
(1904) act 1
medvedenko
: Why do you wear black all the time?
masha
: I'm in mourning for my life, I'm unhappy.
The Seagull
(1896) act 1
Women can't forgive failure.
The Seagull
(1896) act 2
When a woman isn't beautiful, people always say, "You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair."
Uncle Vanya
(1897) act 3
Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other.
letter to A. S. Suvorin, 11 September 1888
Brevity is the sister of talent.
letter to Alexander Chekhov, 11 April 1889
1946–
If grass can grow through cement, love can find you at every time in your life.
in
The Times
30 May 1998
1823–86
Atlanta is gone. That agony is over. There is no hope but we will try to have no fear.
after the fall of Atlanta to Sherman's army in 1864
Geoffrey C. Ward
The Civil War
(1991) ch. 4
1694–1773
Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.
Letters…to his Godson and Successor
(1890) Letter 142
An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 9 October 1746
Take the tone of the company that you are in.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 16 October 1747
I recommend to you to take care of minutes: for hours will take care of themselves.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 6 November 1747.
Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 29 January 1748
Wear your learning, like your watch in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it, merely to show that you have one.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 22 February 1748
Women, then, are only children of a larger growth.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 5 September 1748.
It must be owned, that the Graces do not seem to be natives of Great Britain; and I doubt, the best of us here have more of rough than polished diamond.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 18 November 1748
It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth.
Letters to his Son
(1774) 6 February 1752
The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one.
letter to Solomon Dayrolles, 16 February 1753
The pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.
of sex
attributed
1874–1936
Talk about the pews and steeples
And the Cash that goes therewith!
But the souls of Christian peoples…
Chuck it, Smith!
satirizing F. E. Smith's response to the Welsh Disestablishment Bill
"Antichrist" (1915)
I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
The Ballad of the White Horse
(1911) bk. 1
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
The Ballad of the White Horse
(1911) bk. 2
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
"The Donkey" (1900)
They died to save their country and they only saved the world.
"English Graves" (1922)
From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord!
"A Hymn" (1915)
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass.
"Lepanto" (1915)
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war.
"Lepanto" (1915)
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
"The Rolling English Road" (1914)
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.
"The Rolling English Road" (1914)
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.
"The Rolling English Road" (1914)
Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget.
For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.
"The Secret People" (1915)
Tea, although an Oriental,
Is a gentleman at least;
Cocoa is a cad and coward,
Cocoa is a vulgar beast.
"Song of Right and Wrong" (1914)
And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
"I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."
"Wine and Water" (1914)
One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.
The Innocence of Father Brown
(1911)
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.
The Man who was Thursday
(1908) ch. 4
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.
Orthodoxy
(1908) ch. 4
They say travel broadens the mind; but you must have the mind.
"The Shadow of the Shark" (1921)
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
What's Wrong with the World
(1910) pt. 1 "The Unfinished Temple"
Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones Dead" to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.
The Wisdom of Father Brown
(1914)
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.
in
New York Times
1 February 1931, pt. 5
am in market harborough. where ought i to be?
telegram to his wife in London
Autobiography
(1936)
When men stop believing in God they don't believe in nothing; they believe in anything.
widely attributed, although not traced in his works; first recorded as "The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything" in Emile Cammaerts
Chesterton: The Laughing Prophet
(1937)