The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (296 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1852–1940
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes,
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox?
"The Man with the Hoe" (1899)
1909–85
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1949 song)
1660–1744
The Duke returned from the wars today and did pleasure me in his top-boots.
oral tradition
1945–81
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Never give up the fight.
"Get up, Stand up" (1973 song)
I shot the sheriff
But I swear it was in self-defence
I shot the sheriff
And they say it is a capital offence.
"I Shot the Sheriff" (1974 song)
1564–93
Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Doctor Faustus
(1604) act 1, sc. 3
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Doctor Faustus
(1604) act 5, sc. 1
O lente lente currite noctis equi
.
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
O I'll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?
See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament.
One drop would save my soul, half a drop, ah my Christ.
Doctor Faustus
(1604) act 5, sc. 2.
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat feet dance an antic hay.
Edward II
(1593) act 1, sc. 1
Where both deliberate, the love is slight;
Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?
Hero and Leander
(1598) First Sestiad, l. 175
I count religion but a childish toy,
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.
The Jew of Malta
(
c.
1592) prologue
Thus methinks should men of judgement frame
Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade,
And, as their wealth increaseth, so enclose
Infinite riches in a little room.
The Jew of Malta
(
c.
1592) act 1, sc. 1
barnardine
: Thou hast committed—
barabas
: Fornication? But that was in another country: and besides, the wench is dead.
The Jew of Malta
(
c.
1592) act 4, sc. 1
Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
"The Passionate Shepherd to his Love"
Our swords shall play the orators for us.
Tamburlaine the Great
(1590) pt. 1, act 1, sc. 2
Is it not passing brave to be a king,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?
Tamburlaine the Great
(1590) pt. 1, act 2, sc. 5
The ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.
Tamburlaine the Great
(1590) pt. 1, act 2, sc. 7
Virtue is the fount whence honour springs.
Tamburlaine the Great
(1590) pt. 1, act 4, sc. 4
Now walk the angels on the walls of heaven,
As sentinels to warn th' immortal souls,
To entertain divine Zenocrate.
Tamburlaine the Great
(1590) pt. 2, act 2, sc. 4
Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia!
What, can ye draw but twenty miles a day…?
Tamburlaine the Great
(1590) pt. 2, act 4, sc. 3.