The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (336 page)

Ovid
43–17

1
Lente currite noctis equi.
Run slowly, horses of the night.

Amores
bk. 1, no. 13, l. 40.

2
Iuppiter ex alto periuria ridet amantum.
Jupiter from on high laughs at lovers' perjuries.

Ars Amatoria
bk. 1, l. 633

3
Expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus.It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are.

Ars Amatoria
bk. 1, l. 637.

4
Gutta cavat lapidem, consumitur anulus usu.
Dripping water hollows out a stone, a ring is worn away by use.

Epistulae Ex Ponto
bk. 4, no. 10, l. 5.

5
Medio tutissimus ibis.
You will go most safely by the middle way.

Metamorphoses
bk. 2, l. 137

6
Video meliora, proboque;
Deteriora sequor.
I see the better things, and approve; I follow the worse.

Metamorphoses
bk. 7, l. 20.

7
Tempus edax rerum.
Time the devourer of everything.

Metamorphoses
bk. 15, l. 234

8
Teque, rebellatrix, tandem, Germania, magni
Triste caput pedibus supposuisse ducis!
How you, rebellious Germany, laid your wretched head beneath the feet of the great general.

Tristia
bk. 3, no. 12, l. 47

 
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Owen, John
c.
1563–1622

1
God and the doctor we alike adore
But only when in danger, not before;
The danger o'er, both are alike requited,
God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.

Epigrams
.

 
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Owen, Robert
1771–1858

1
All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.
to his partner W. Allen, on severing business relations at New Lanark, 1828

attributed

 
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Owen, Wilfred
1893–1918

1
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity.

Preface (written 1918) in
Poems
(1963)

2
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

3
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

4
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" (written 1917)

5
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

"Dulce et Decorum Est" (1963 ed.).

6
Was it for this the clay grew tall?

"Futility" (written 1918)

7
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

8
Let us sleep now.

"Strange Meeting" (written 1918)

 
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Oxenstierna, Count
1583–1654

1
Dost thou not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?

letter to his son, 1648, in J. F. af Lundblad
Svensk Plutark
(1826) pt. 2; an alternative attribution quotes "a certain Pope" (possibly Julius III, 1487–1555) saying, "Thou little thinkest what
a little foolery governs the whole world!
"

 
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