The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (264 page)
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Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1870–1950
Keep right on to the end of the road,
Keep right on to the end.
Tho' the way be long, let your heart be strong,
Keep right on round the bend.
"The End of the Road" (1924 song)
I love a lassie, a bonnie, bonnie lassie,
She's as pure as the lily in the dell.
She's as sweet as the heather, the bonnie bloomin' heather—
Mary, ma Scotch Bluebell.
"I Love a Lassie" (1905 song)
Roamin' in the gloamin'.
"Roamin' in the Gloamin'" (1911 song)
1890–1965
Another nice mess you've gotten me into.
often "another fine mess"
Another Fine Mess
(1930 film) and many other Laurel and Hardy films; spoken by Oliver Hardy
1841–1919
The nineteenth century was the century of the United States. I think we can claim that it is Canada that shall fill the twentieth century.
speech in Ottawa, 18 January 1904
1885–1930
To the Puritan all things are impure, as somebody says.
Etruscan Places
(1932) "Cerveteri".
It was in 1915 the old world ended.
Kangaroo
(1923)
John Thomas says good-night to Lady Jane, a little droopingly, but with a hopeful heart.
Lady Chatterley's Lover
(1928) ch. 19
Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it.
Phoenix
(1936) "Pornography and Obscenity" ch. 3
Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.
Studies in Classic American Literature
(1923) ch. 1
Be a good animal, true to your instincts.
The White Peacock
(1911) pt. 2, ch. 2
Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?
Women in Love
(1920) ch. 11
Men! The only animal in the world to fear!
"Mountain Lion" (1923)
I never saw a wild thing
Sorry for itself.
"Self-Pity" (1929)
Now it is autumn and the falling fruit
And the long journey towards oblivion…
Have you built your ship of death, O have you?
O build your ship of death, for you will need it.
"Ship of Death" (1932)
Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
"Song of a Man who has Come Through" (1917)
When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder
That such trivial people should muse and thunder
In such lovely language.
"When I Read Shakespeare" (1929)
Tragedy ought really to be a great kick at misery.
letter to A. W. McLeod, 6 October 1912
The dead don't die. They look on and help.
letter to J. Middleton Murry, 2 February 1923
1888–1935
Many men would take the death-sentence without a whimper to escape the life-sentence which fate carries in her other hand.
The Mint
(1955) pt. 1, ch. 4
I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars.
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
(1926) dedication