The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (130 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
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D'Avenant, Charles
1656–1714
1
Custom, that unwritten law,
By which the people keep even kings in awe.

Circe
(1677) act 2, sc. 3

D'Avenant, William
1606–68
1
The lark now leaves his wat'ry nest
And, climbing, shakes his dewy wings.

"Song: The Lark" (1638)

Davidson, John
1857–1909
1
A runnable stag, a kingly crop.

"A Runnable Stag" (1906)

2
The race is to the swift,
The battle to the strong.

"War Song" (1899) st. 1.

Davies, John
1569–1626
1
This wondrous miracle did Love devise,
For dancing is love's proper exercise.

"Orchestra, or a Poem of Dancing" (1596) st. 18

Davies, Robertson
1913–95
1
I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.

The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies
(1990)

Davies, Scrope
c.
1783–1852
1
Babylon in all its desolation is a sight not so awful as that of the human mind in ruins.
Addison, in The Spectator no. 421 (3 July 1712), also remarked of "a distracted person" that "Babylon in ruins is not so melancholy a spectacle"

letter to Thomas Raikes, May 1835, in
A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes
(1856) vol. 2

Davies, W. H.
1871–1940
1
It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues.

"Kingfisher" (1910)

2
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

"Leisure" (1911)

3
Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,
Thou knowest of no strange continent.

"Sweet Stay-At-Home" (1913)

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