The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (431 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
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Thomas, Brandon
1856–1914
1
I'm Charley's aunt from Brazil—where the nuts come from.

Charley's Aunt
(1892) act 1

Thomas, Dylan
1914–53
1
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

"And death shall have no dominion" (1936).

2
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" (1952)

3
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age.

"The force that through the green fuse drives the flower" (1934)

4
The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.

"The hand that signed the paper felled a city" (1936)

5
It was my thirtieth year to heaven.

"Poem in October" (1946)

6
After the first death, there is no other.

"A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" (1946)

7
Books that told me everything about the wasp, except why.

A Child's Christmas in Wales
(1954)

8
To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black.

Under Milk Wood
(1954)

9
I want, above all, to work like a fiend, a
good
fiend.

letter to Edith Sitwell, 11 April 1947

10
The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.
of Wales

in
Adam
December 1953.

11
A man you don't like who drinks as much as you do.
definition of an alcoholic

Constantine Fitzgibbon
Life of Dylan Thomas
(1965) ch. 6

12
Poetry is not the most important thing in life…I'd much rather lie in a hot bath reading Agatha Christie and sucking sweets.

Joan Wyndham
Love is Blue
(1986) 6 July 1943

Thomas, Edward
1878–1917
1
Yes; I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

"Adlestrop" (1917)

2
I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way.

"Lights Out" (1917)

3
I see and hear nothing;
Yet seem, too, to be listening, lying in wait
For what I should, yet never can, remember.

"Old Man" (1917)

4
Out in the dark over the snow
The fallow fawns invisible go.

"Out in the dark" (1917)

Thomas, Elizabeth
1675–1731
1
From marrying in haste, and repenting at leisure;
Not liking the person, yet liking his treasure:
Libera nos.

"A New Litany, occasioned by an invitation to a wedding" (1722)

Thomas, Gwyn
1913–81
1
There are still parts of Wales where the only concession to gaiety is a striped shroud.

in
Punch
18 June 1958

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