The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (115 page)

Compton, Denis
1918–97

1
I couldn't bat for the length of time required to score 500. I'd get bored and fall over.
to Brian Lara, who had recently scored 501 not out, a world record in first-class cricket

in
Daily Telegraph
27 June 1994

 
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Compton-Burnett, Ivy
1884–1969

1
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

2
People don't resent having nothing nearly as much as too little.

A Family and a Fortune
(1939) ch. 4

3
A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.

More Women than Men
(1933) ch. 4

 
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Condorcet, Marquis de
1743–94

1
As one meditates about the nature of the moral sciences one really cannot avoid the conclusion that since, like the physical sciences, they rest upon observation of the facts, they ought to follow the same methods, acquire a language no less exact and precise, and so attain to the same degree of certainty. If some being alien to our species were to set himself to study us he would find no difference between these two studies, and would examine human society as we do that of bees or beavers.

Discours prononcé dans l'Académie Française
21 February 1782

 
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Confucius
(
K'ung Fu-tzu
) 551
bc

textual translations are those of Wing-Tsit Chan, 1963
1
A ruler who governs his state by virtue is like the north polar star, which remains in its place while all the other stars revolve around it.

Analects
ch. 2, v. 1

2
A man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others.

Analects
ch. 2, v. 11

3
The Way of our Master is none other than conscientiousness and altruism.
the "one thread" of Confucius' doctrines

Analects
ch. 4, v. 15

 
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Congreve, William
1670–1729

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.

2
She lays it on with a trowel.

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

3
See how love and murder will out.

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

4
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

5
Music has charms to sooth a savage breast.

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

6
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

7
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. 1

8
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

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.

10
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

11
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

12
I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections.

letter to John Dennis, 10 July 1695

 
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