The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (279 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
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Louis XIV
(
the "Sun King"
) 1638–1715
1
L'État c'est moi.
I
am the State.
before the Parlement de Paris, 13 April 1655

probably apocryphal; J. A. Dulaure
Histoire de Paris
(1834) vol. 6

2
Every time I create an appointment, I create a hundred malcontents and one ingrate.

Voltaire
Siècle de Louis XIV
(1768 ed.) vol. 2, ch. 26

3
Il n'y a plus de Pyrénées.The Pyrenees are no more.
on the accession of his grandson to the throne of Spain, 1700

attributed to Louis by Voltaire in
Siècle de Louis XIV
(1753) ch. 26, but to the Spanish Ambassador to France in the
Mercure Galant
(Paris) November 1700

Louis XVI
1754–93
1
diary entry for 14 July 1789, the day of the storming of the Bastille:
Rien.Nothing.

Simon Schama
Citizens
(1989) ch. 10

Louis XVIII
1755–1824
1
Remember that there is not one of you who does not carry in his cartridge-pouch the marshal's baton of the duke of Reggio; it is up to you to bring it forth.

speech to Saint-Cyr cadets, 9 August 1819

2
L'exactitude est la politesse des rois.Punctuality is the politeness of kings.

attributed in
Souvenirs de J. Lafitte
(1844) bk. 1, ch. 3

Louis Philippe
1773–1850
1
Died, has he? Now I wonder what he meant by that?
of Talleyrand

attributed, perhaps apocryphal

Louis, Joe
1914–81
1
He can run. But he can't hide.
of Billy Conn, his opponent, before a heavyweight title fight, 19 June 1946

Louis: My Life Story
(1947)

Lovelace, Ada
1815–52
1
The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.
of Babbage's mechanical computer

Luigi Menabrea
Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage
(1843), translated and annotated by Ada Lovelace, Note A

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