The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (443 page)

Van Gogh, Vincent
1853–90

1
I cannot help it that my pictures do not sell. Nevertheless the time will come when people will see that they are worth more than the price of the paint.

letter to his brother Theo, 20 October 1888

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Vanzetti, Bartolomeo
1888–1927

1
Sacco's name will live in the hearts of the people and in their gratitude when Katzmann's and yours bones will be dispersed by time, when your name, his name, your laws, institutions, and your false god are but a deem rememoring of a cursed past in which man was wolf to the man.
statement disallowed at his trial, with Nicola Sacco, for murder and robbery; both were sentenced to death on 9 April 1927, and executed on 23 August 1927

M. D. Frankfurter and G. Jackson
Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti
(1928)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

1
Non! rien de rien,
Non! je ne regrette rien.
No, no regrets,
No, we will have no regrets.

"
Non, je ne regrette rien
" (1960 song); sung by Edith Piaf

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Vaughan, Henry
1622–95

1
Wise Nicodemus saw such light
As made him know his God by night.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "The Night"

2
My soul, there is a country
Far beyond the stars,
Where stands a wingèd sentry
All skilful in the wars.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "Peace"

3
Happy those early days, when I
Shined in my angel-infancy.
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race,
Or taught my soul to fancy aught
But a white, celestial thought.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "The Retreat"

4
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "The Retreat"

5
They are all gone into the world of light,
And I alone sit lingering here.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "They are all gone"

6
Dear, beauteous death! the jewel of the just,
Shining nowhere but in the dark.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "They are all gone"

7
I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright.

Silex Scintillans
(1650–5) "The World"

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Vaughan, Janet-Maria
1899–1993

1
I am here—trying to do science in hell.
working as a doctor in Belsen at the end of the war

letter to a friend, 12 May 1945

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Vaux, Thomas, Lord
1510–56

1
For age with stealing steps
Hath clawed me with his clutch.

"The Aged Lover Renounceth Love" (1557); a garbled version is sung by the gravedigger in
Hamlet

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search