The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (260 page)

Laforgue, Jules
1860–87

1
Ah! que la vie est quotidienne.
Oh, what a day-to-day business life is.

Complainte sur certains ennuis
(1885)

 
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La Guardia, Fiorello
1882–1947

1
When I make a mistake, it's a beaut!
on the appointment of Herbert O'Brien as a judge in 1936

William Manners
Patience and Fortitude
(1976)

 
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Lahr, John
1941–

1
Criticism is a life without risk.

Light Fantastic
(1996)

2
Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising.

in
Guardian
2 August 1989

 
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Laing, R. D.
1927–89

1
The divided self.

title of book (1960) on schizophrenia

2
Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through.

The Politics of Experience
(1967) ch. 6

 
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Lamartine, Alphonse de
1790–1869

1
Ô temps! suspend ton vol, et vous, heures propices! Suspendez votre cours.
O Time! arrest your flight, and you, propitious hours, stay your course.

Le Lac
(1820) st. 6

 
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Lamb, Lady Caroline
1785–1828

1
Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
of Byron, after their first meeting at a ball

diary, March 1812; in Elizabeth Jenkins
Lady Caroline Lamb
(1932)

 
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Lamb, Charles
1775–1834

1
Presents, I often say, endear Absents.

Essays of Elia
(1823) "A Dissertation upon Roast Pig"

2
Your
borrowers of books
—those mutilators of collections, spoilers of the symmetry of shelves, and creators of odd volumes.

Essays of Elia
(1823) "The Two Races of Men"

3
Not many sounds in life…exceed in interest a knock at the door.

Essays of Elia
(1823) "Valentine's Day"

4
[A pun] is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.

Last Essays of Elia
(1833) "Popular Fallacies" no. 9

5
Gone before
To that unknown and silent shore.

"Hester" (1803) st. 7

6
I have had playmates, I have had companions,
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days,—
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

"The Old Familiar Faces"

7
A child's a plaything for an hour.

"Parental Recollections" (1809); often attributed to Lamb's sister Mary

8
I have something more to do than feel.
on the death of his mother, at his sister Mary's hands

letter to S. T. Coleridge, 27 September 1796

9
Cultivate simplicity, Coleridge.

letter to S. T. Coleridge, 8 November 1796

10
This very night I am going to leave off tobacco! Surely there must be some other world in which this unconquerable purpose shall be realized.

letter to Thomas Manning, 26 December 1815

11
An Archangel a little damaged.
of Coleridge

letter to Wordsworth, 26 April 1816

12
When my sonnet was rejected, I exclaimed, "Damn the age; I will write for Antiquity!"

letter to B. W. Proctor, 22 January 1829

 
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