The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (125 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1890–1969
I'll thcream and thcream and thcream till I'm thick.
Violet Elizabeth's habitual threat
Still—William
(1925) ch. 8
1599–1658
I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call "a gentleman" and is nothing else.
letter to William Spring, September 1643
Cruel necessity.
on the execution of Charles I
Joseph Spence
Anecdotes
(1820)
I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.
letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, 3 August 1650
The dimensions of this mercy are above my thoughts. It is, for aught I know, a crowning mercy.
letter to William Lenthall, Speaker of the Parliament of England, 4 September 1651
You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!
addressing the Rump Parliament, 20 April 1653; oral tradition.
Take away that fool's bauble, the mace.
often quoted as, "Take away these baubles"
at the dismissal of the Rump Parliament, 20 April 1653
Your poor army, those poor contemptible men, came up hither.
speech to Parliament, 21 April 1657.
Hell or Connaught.
summary of the choice offered to the Catholic population of Ireland, transported to the western counties to make room for settlers
traditionally attributed
Mr Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me; otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.
often summarized as, "Warts and all"
Horace Walpole
Anecdotes of Painting in England
vol. 3 (1763) ch. 1
My design is to make what haste I can to be gone.
last words; John Morley
Oliver Cromwell
(1900) bk. 5, ch. 10
1903–77
Where the blue of the night meets the gold of the day.
title of song (1931), with Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert
I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill it calls to me.
To be where little cable cars climb half-way to the stars,
The morning fog may chill the air—
I don't care!
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1954 song)
1823–1914
I hear a smile.
when the House of Lords laughed at his speech in favour of Spiritual Peers
G. W. E. Russell
Collections and Recollections
(1898) ch. 29
1907–74
The Civil Service is profoundly deferential — "Yes, Minister! No, Minister! If you wish it, Minister!"
Diaries of a Cabinet Minister
vol. 1 (1975) 22 October 1964
