The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (327 page)

Nicias
c.
470
bc

1
For a city consists in men, and not in walls nor in ships empty of men.
speech to the defeated Athenian army at Syracuse, 413
bc

Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian Wars
bk. 7, sect. 77

 
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Nicolson, Harold
1886–1968

1
Ponderous and uncertain is that relation between pressure and resistance which constitutes the balance of power. The arch of peace is morticed by no iron tendons.

Public Faces
(1932) ch. 6

2
To be a good diarist one must have a little snouty, sneaky mind.
of Samuel Pepys

diary, 9 November 1947

3
For seventeen years he did nothing at all but kill animals and stick in stamps.
of King George V

diary, 17 August 1949

 
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Niebuhr, Reinhold
1892–1971

1
Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Children of Light and Children of Darkness
(1944) foreword

 
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Niemöller, Martin
1892–1984

1
When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church—and there was nobody left to be concerned.
often quoted in the form "In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist…" and so on

in
Congressional Record
14 October 1968

 
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Nietzsche, Friedrich
1844–1900

1
I teach you the superman. Man is something to be surpassed.

Also Sprach Zarathustra
(1883) prologue, sect. 3

2
You are going to women? Do not forget the whip!

Also Sprach Zarathustra
(1883) bk. 1 "Von Alten und jungen Weiblein"

3
God is dead: but considering the state the species Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown.

Die fröhliche Wissenschaft
(1882) bk. 3, sect. 108.

4
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.

Jenseits von Gut und Böse
(1886) ch. 4, no. 146

5
Master-morality and slave-morality.

Jenseits von Gut und Böse
(1886) ch. 9, no. 260

6
At the base of all these aristocratic races the predator is not to be mistaken, the splendorous
blond beast
, avidly rampant for plunder and victory.

Zur Genealogie der Moral
(1887) 1st treatise, no. 11

 
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Nightingale, Florence
1820–1910

1
It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm.

Notes on Hospitals
(1863 ed.) preface

2
Too kind, too kind.
on the Order of Merit being brought to her at her home, 5 December 1907

E. Cook
Life of Florence Nightingale
(1913) vol. 2, pt. 7, ch. 9

 
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