The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (353 page)

Potter, Beatrix
1866–1943

1
It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is "soporific".

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies
(1909)

2
Don't go into Mr McGregor's garden: your father had an accident there, he was put into a pie by Mrs McGregor.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit
(1902)

 
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Potter, Dennis
1935–94

1
Below my window…the blossom is out in full now…I
see
it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomiest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it…The nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous.
on his heightened awareness of things, in the face of his imminent death

interview with Melvyn Bragg on Channel 4, March 1994

2
Religion to me has always been the wound, not the bandage.

interview with Melvyn Bragg on Channel 4, March 1994

 
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Potter, Stephen
1900–69

1
How to be one up
—how to make the other man feel that something has gone wrong, however slightly.

Lifemanship
(1950)

2
"Yes, but not in the South", with slight adjustments, will do for any argument about any place, if not about any person.

Lifemanship
(1950) p. 43

3
A good general rule is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa.
on wine-tasting

One-Upmanship
(1952) ch. 14

4
The theory and practice of gamesmanship or The art of winning games without actually cheating.

title of book (1947)

 
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Pound, Ezra
1885–1972

1
Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

"Ancient Music" (1917).

2
Tching prayed on the mountain and
wrote
make it new
on his bath tub.

Cantos
(1954) no. 53.

3
Hang it all, Robert Browning,
There can be but the one "Sordello".

Draft of XXX Cantos
(1930) no. 2

4
And even I can remember
A day when the historians left blanks in their writings,
I mean for things they didn't know.

Draft of XXX Cantos
(1930) no. 13

5
Died some, pro patria,
non "dulce" non "et decor"…
walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men's lies, the unbelieving
came home, home to a lie.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
(1920) "E. P.
Ode…
" pt. 4.

6
There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
(1920) "E. P.
Ode…
" pt. 5

7
The ant's a centaur in his dragon world.

Pisan Cantos
(1948) no. 81

8
Pull down thy
vanity
Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail,
A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,
Half black half white
Nor knowst'ou wing from tail.

Pisan Cantos
(1948) no. 81

9
Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.

The ABC of Reading
(1934) "Warning"

10
Literature is news that
stays
news.

The ABC of Reading
(1934) ch. 2

11
Poetry must be
as well written as prose
.

letter to Harriet Monroe, January 1915

 
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Poussin, Nicolas
1594–1665

1
An imitation in lines and colours on any surface of all that is to be found under the sun.
of painting

letter to M. de Chambray, 1665

 
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