The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (368 page)

Robins, Elizabeth
1862–1952

1
To say in print what she thinks is the last thing the woman novelist or journalist is so rash as to attempt…Her publishers are not women.

in 1908, as first president of the Women Writers' Suffrage League

 
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Robinson, Edwin Arlington
1869–1935

1
I shall have more to say when I am dead.

"John Brown" (1920)

2
Go to the western gate, Luke Havergal,
There where the vines cling crimson on the wall,
And in the twilight wait for what will come.

"Luke Havergal" (1896)

3
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

"Richard Cory" (1897)

 
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Robinson, John
1919–83

1
Honest to God.

title of book (1963)

 
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Robinson, Mary
1758–1800

1
Pavement slippery, people sneezing,
Lords in ermine, beggars freezing;
Titled gluttons dainties carving,
Genius in a garret starving.

"January, 1795"

 
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Robinson, Mary
1944–

1
Instead of rocking the cradle, they rocked the system.
in her victory speech, paying tribute to the women of Ireland

in
The Times
10 November 1990.

 
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Roche, Boyle
1743–1807

1
A disorderly set of people whom no king can govern and no God can please.
of the Ulster Protestants

attributed

2
Mr Speaker, I smell a rat; I see him forming in the air and darkening the sky; but I'll nip him in the bud.

attributed

 
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Rochester, Lord
1647–80

1
"Is there then no more?"
She cries. "All this to love and rapture's due;
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?"

"The Imperfect Enjoyment" (1680)

2
Here lies a great and mighty king
Whose promise none relies on;
He never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
of Charles II; an alternative first line reads: "Here lies our sovereign lord the King"

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester "The King's Epitaph".

3
Natural freedoms are but just:
There's something generous in mere lust.

"A Ramble in St James' Park" (1680)

4
Reason, an
ignis fatuus
of the mind,
Which leaves the light of nature, sense, behind.

"A Satire against Mankind" (1679) l. 11

5
Then Old Age, and Experience, hand in hand,
Lead him to Death, and make him understand…
Huddled in dirt the reasoning engine lies,
Who was so proud, so witty and so wise.

"A Satire against Mankind" (1679) l. 25

6
For all men would be cowards if they durst.

"A Satire against Mankind" (1679) l. 158

7
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.

"A Satire on King Charles II" (1697)

8
Ancient person, for whom I
All the flattering youth defy,
Long be it ere thou grow old,
Aching, shaking, crazy, cold;
But still continue as thou art,
Ancient person of my heart.

"A Song of a Young Lady to her Ancient Lover" (1691)

 
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