The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (184 page)
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Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
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Gibran, Kahlil
1883–1931
1883–1931
1
Are you a politician who says to himself: "I will use my country for my own benefit"?…Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers in the ear of his inner self: "I love to serve my country as a faithful servant."
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They came through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
Are you a politician who says to himself: "I will use my country for my own benefit"?…Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers in the ear of his inner self: "I love to serve my country as a faithful servant."
The New Frontier
(1931), tr. Anthony R. Ferris in
The Voice of the Master
(1958).
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They came through you but not from you
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
The Prophet
(1923) "On Children"
Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson
1878–1962
1878–1962
1
Nor feel the heart-break in the heart of things.
Nor feel the heart-break in the heart of things.
"Lament" (1918)
Gide, André
1869–1951
1869–1951
1
Hugo—alas!
when asked who was the greatest 19th-century poet
Hugo—alas!
when asked who was the greatest 19th-century poet
Claude Martin
La Maturité d'André Gide
(1977)
Gilbert, Humphrey
c.
1537–83
c.
1537–83
1
We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!
We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!
Richard Hakluyt
Third and Last Volume of the Voyages…of the English Nation
(1600).
Gilbert, W. S.
1836–1911
1836–1911
1
That celebrated,
Cultivated,
Underrated
Nobleman,
The Duke of Plaza Toro!
Of that there is no manner of doubt—
No probable, possible shadow of doubt—
No possible doubt whatever.
Take a pair of sparkling eyes.
When every one is somebodee,
Then no one's anybody.
The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that's excellent.
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law.
I often think it's comical
How Nature always does contrive
That every boy and every gal,
That's born into the world alive,
Is either a little Liberal,
Or else a little Conservative!
The prospect of a lot
Of dull MPs in close proximity,
Áll thinking for themselves is what
No man can face with equanimity.
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well.
When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is taboo'd by anxiety,
I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in, without impropriety.
A wandering minstrel I—
A thing of shreds and patches.
Of ballads, songs and snatches,
And dreamy lullaby!
I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something in-conceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering.
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list—I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be under ground
And who never would be missed—who never would be missed!
The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own.
Three little maids from school are we.
Modified rapture!
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.
Here's a how-de-doo!
Here's a state of things!
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime.
I have a left shoulder-blade that is a miracle of loveliness. People come miles to see it. My right elbow has a fascination that few can resist.
Something lingering, with boiling oil in it, I fancy.
Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,
Have nothing to do with the case.
On a tree by a river a little tom-tit
Sang "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
There's a fascination frantic
In a ruin that's romantic;
Do you think you are sufficiently decayed?
If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare.
The meaning doesn't matter if it's only idle chatter of a transcendental kind.
An attachment à la Plato for a bashful young potato, or a not too French French bean!
If you walk down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in your medieval hand.
Francesca di Rimini, miminy, piminy,
Je-ne-sais-quoi
young man!
A greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery,
Foot-in-the-grave young man!
I'm called Little Buttercup—dear Little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why.
And so do his sisters, and his cousins and his aunts!
His sisters and his cousins,
Whom he reckons up by dozens,
And his aunts!
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.
For he himself has said it,
And it's greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman!
For he might have been a Roosian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Ital-ian!
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!
It is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
When constabulary duty's to be done,
A policeman's lot is not a happy one.
He combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist.
Some word that teems with hidden meaning—like Basingstoke.
This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter
Isn't generally heard, and if it is it doesn't matter.
She may very well pass for forty-three
In the dusk with a light behind her!
That celebrated,
Cultivated,
Underrated
Nobleman,
The Duke of Plaza Toro!
The Gondoliers
(1889) act 1
Of that there is no manner of doubt—
No probable, possible shadow of doubt—
No possible doubt whatever.
The Gondoliers
(1889) act 1
Take a pair of sparkling eyes.
The Gondoliers
(1889) act 2
When every one is somebodee,
Then no one's anybody.
The Gondoliers
(1889) act 2
The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that's excellent.
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law.
Iolanthe
(1882) act 1
I often think it's comical
How Nature always does contrive
That every boy and every gal,
That's born into the world alive,
Is either a little Liberal,
Or else a little Conservative!
Iolanthe
(1882) act 2
The prospect of a lot
Of dull MPs in close proximity,
Áll thinking for themselves is what
No man can face with equanimity.
Iolanthe
(1882) act 2
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well.
Iolanthe
(1882) act 2
When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is taboo'd by anxiety,
I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in, without impropriety.
Iolanthe
(1882) act 2
A wandering minstrel I—
A thing of shreds and patches.
Of ballads, songs and snatches,
And dreamy lullaby!
The Mikado
(1885) act 1.
I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something in-conceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering.
The Mikado
(1885) act 1
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list—I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be under ground
And who never would be missed—who never would be missed!
The Mikado
(1885) act 1
The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own.
The Mikado
(1885) act 1
Three little maids from school are we.
The Mikado
(1885) act 1
Modified rapture!
The Mikado
(1885) act 1
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.
The Mikado
(1885) act 1
Here's a how-de-doo!
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
Here's a state of things!
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime.
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
I have a left shoulder-blade that is a miracle of loveliness. People come miles to see it. My right elbow has a fascination that few can resist.
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
Something lingering, with boiling oil in it, I fancy.
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,
Have nothing to do with the case.
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
On a tree by a river a little tom-tit
Sang "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
There's a fascination frantic
In a ruin that's romantic;
Do you think you are sufficiently decayed?
The Mikado
(1885) act 2
If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare.
Patience
(1881) act 1
The meaning doesn't matter if it's only idle chatter of a transcendental kind.
Patience
(1881) act 1
An attachment à la Plato for a bashful young potato, or a not too French French bean!
Patience
(1881) act 1
If you walk down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in your medieval hand.
Patience
(1881) act 1
Francesca di Rimini, miminy, piminy,
Je-ne-sais-quoi
young man!
Patience
(1881) act 2
A greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery,
Foot-in-the-grave young man!
Patience
(1881) act 2
I'm called Little Buttercup—dear Little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why.
HMS Pinafore
(1878) act 1
And so do his sisters, and his cousins and his aunts!
His sisters and his cousins,
Whom he reckons up by dozens,
And his aunts!
HMS Pinafore
(1878) act 1
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
HMS Pinafore
(1878) act 1
I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.
HMS Pinafore
(1878) act 1
For he himself has said it,
And it's greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman!
HMS Pinafore
(1878) act 2
For he might have been a Roosian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Ital-ian!
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!
HMS Pinafore
(1878) act 2
It is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
The Pirates of Penzance
(1879) act 1
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
The Pirates of Penzance
(1879) act 1
When constabulary duty's to be done,
A policeman's lot is not a happy one.
The Pirates of Penzance
(1879) act 2
He combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist.
Ruddigore
(1887) act 1
Some word that teems with hidden meaning—like Basingstoke.
Ruddigore
(1887) act 2
This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter
Isn't generally heard, and if it is it doesn't matter.
Ruddigore
(1887) act 2
She may very well pass for forty-three
In the dusk with a light behind her!
Trial by Jury
(1875)
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