The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (276 page)
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Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
Alone from Jargon born to rescue Law,
From precedent, grave hum, and formal saw!
To strip chicanery of its vain pretence,
And marry Common Law to Common Sense!
"The Law-Student" (1762); on Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, 1756–88
While all the art of Imitation,
Is pilf'ring from the first creation.
"Shakespeare" (1762)
1863–1945
The leal and trusty mastiff which is to watch over our interests, but which runs away at the first snarl of the trade unions…A mastiff? It is the right hon. Gentleman's poodle.
on the House of Lords and A. J. Balfour respectively
in the House of Commons, 26 June 1907
A fully-equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts; and dukes are just as great a terror and they last longer.
speech at Newcastle, 9 October 1909, in
The Times
11 October 1909
At eleven o'clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.
speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1918.
What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.
speech at Wolverhampton, 23 November 1918
Unless I am mistaken, by the steps we have taken [in Ireland] we have murder by the throat.
speech at the Mansion House, 9 November 1920
Negotiating with de Valera…is like trying to pick up mercury with a fork.
to which de Valera replied, "Why doesn't he use a spoon?"
M. J. MacManus
Eamon de Valera
(1944) ch. 6
1632–1704
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding
(1690) "Dedicatory Epistle"
No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding
(1690) bk. 2, ch. 1, sect. 19
Crooked things may be as stiff and unflexible as straight: and men may be as positive in error as in truth.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding
(1690) bk. 4, ch. 19, sect. 11
All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.
An Essay concerning Human Understanding
(1690) bk. 4, ch. 20, sect. 17
The end of law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.
Second Treatise of Civil Government
(1690) ch. 6, sect. 57
The great and chief end, therefore, of men's uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property.
Second Treatise of Civil Government
(1690) ch. 9, sect. 124
1821–95
And many are afraid of God—
And more of Mrs Grundy.
"The Jester's Plea" (1868).
1794–1854
It is a better and a wiser thing to be a starved apothecary than a starved poet; so back to the shop Mr John, back to "plasters, pills, and ointment boxes."
reviewing Keats's Endymion
in
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
August 1818