The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (308 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
,
Godfrey, Fred
, and
Scott, Bennett
Take me back to dear old Blighty.
title of song (1916)
1894–1985
It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing.
"It Don't Mean a Thing" (1932 song; music by Duke Ellington)
1791–1868
Ride on! ride on in majesty!
The wingèd squadrons of the sky
Look down with sad and wond'ring eyes
To see the approaching sacrifice.
"Ride on! ride on in majesty!" (1827 hymn)
1882–1956
The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there.
The House at Pooh Corner
(1928) ch. 1
"I don't
want
him," said Rabbit. "But it's always useful to know where a friend-and-relation
is
, whether you want him or whether you don't."
The House at Pooh Corner
(1928) ch. 3
A Bear of Very Little Brain.
The House at Pooh Corner
(1928) ch. 6
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace—
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
"A soldier's life is terrible hard,"
Says Alice.
When We Were Very Young
(1924) "Buckingham Palace"
James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his Mother,
Though he was only three.
James James
Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he;
"You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don't go down with me."
When We Were Very Young
(1924) "Disobedience"
The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
When We Were Very Young
(1924) "The King's Breakfast"
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
When We Were Very Young
(1924) "Vespers".
Isn't it funny
How a bear likes honey?
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
I wonder why he does?
Winnie-the-Pooh
(1926) ch. 1
Time for a little something.
Winnie-the-Pooh
(1926) ch. 6
My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.
Winnie-the-Pooh
(1926) ch. 6
1854–1925
If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it is our duty to try to prevent it and to damn the consequences.
speech in Glasgow, 26 November 1909
1608–74
Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.
"Arcades" (1645) l. 68
Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of heaven's joy,
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice, and Verse.
"At a Solemn Music" (1645)
An old and haughty nation proud in arms.
Comus
(1637) l. 33
Come, knit hands, and beat the ground,
In a light fantastic round.
Comus
(1637) l. 143
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day,
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the midday sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.
Comus
(1637) l. 381
'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that, is clad in complete steel.
Comus
(1637) l. 420
How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbèd, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute.
Comus
(1637) l. 475
Storied of old in high immortal verse
Of dire chimeras and enchanted isles,
And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to hell.
Comus
(1637) l. 516
And filled the air with barbarous dissonance.
Comus
(1637) l. 550
Against the threats
Of malice or of sorcery, or that power
Which erring men call chance, this I hold firm,
Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled.
Comus
(1637) l. 586
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair.
Comus
(1637) l. 859 "Song"
Thus I set my printless feet
O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
That bends not as I tread.
Comus
(1637) l. 897
Hence, vain deluding joys,
The brood of folly without father bred.
"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 1
Come, pensive nun, devout and pure,
Sober, steadfast, and demure.
"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 31
Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth.
"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 79
Hide me from day's garish eye.
"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 141
And storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light.
"Il Penseroso" (1645) l. 159
Hence, loathèd Melancholy,
Of Cerberus, and blackest Midnight born,
In Stygian cave forlorn
'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 1
So buxom, blithe, and debonair.
of Euphrosyne [Mirth], one of the three Graces
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 24
Nods, and becks, and wreathèd smiles.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 28
Come, and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastic toe.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 33
Meadows trim with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 75
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
The cynosure of neighbouring eyes.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 79
Then to the spicy nut-brown ale.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 100
Towered cities please us then,
And the busy hum of men.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 117
Such sights as youthful poets dream
On summer eves by haunted stream.
Then to the well-trod stage anon,
If Jonson's learnèd sock be on,
Or sweetest Shakespeare fancy's child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild.
"L'Allegro" (1645) l. 129
Let us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind,
For his mercies ay endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
"Let us with a gladsome mind" (1645); paraphrase of Psalm 136.
Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more
Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 1
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 8
For we were nursed upon the self-same hill.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 23
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 68
Fame is the spur.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 70
Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorrèd shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 75
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 125
But that two-handed engine at the door
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 130
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 142
Look homeward angel now, and melt with ruth.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 163
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore,
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 168
Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 173
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue:
Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.
"Lycidas" (1638) l. 192
For what can war, but endless war still breed?
"On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester" (written 1648)
The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet.
"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) st. 4
It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born-child
All meanly wrapped in the rude manger lies;
Nature in awe to him
Had doffed her gaudy trim,
With her great master so to sympathize.
"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 1
Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold.
"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 14
So when the sun in bed,
Curtained with cloudy red,
Pillows his chin upon an orient wave.
"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 26
Time is our tedious song should here have ending.
"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1645) "The Hymn" st. 27
New
Presbyter
is but old
Priest
writ large.
"On the New Forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament" (1646)
Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours.
"On Time" (1645)
If any ask for him, it shall be said,
Hobson has supped, and's newly gone to bed.
"On the University Carrier" (1645)
Rhyme being…but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame metre.
Paradise Lost
(1667) "The Verse" (preface, added 1668)
The troublesome and modern bondage of rhyming.
Paradise Lost
(1667) "The Verse" (preface, added 1668)
Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 1
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 16
What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 22
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 63
What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 105
And out of good still to find means of evil.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 165
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 254
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 263
A wand,
He walked with to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marl.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 292
Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades
High overarched imbower.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 302
First Moloch, horrid king besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 392
And when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 500
A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 542
Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heaven.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 678
Let none admire
That riches grow in hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 690
From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith like a falling star.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 742
Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 1, l. 756
Belial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not heaven; he seemed
For dignity composed and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason.
Paradise Lost
(1667) bk. 2, l. 109.
With grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed
A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven
Deliberation sat and public care;
And princely counsel in his face yet shone,