The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (340 page)
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Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1846–91
My policy is not a policy of conciliation, but a policy of retaliation.
in 1877, on his parliamentary tactics in the House of Commons as leader of the Irish party
in
Dictionary of National Biography
(1917–)
No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country—thus far shalt thou go and no further.
speech at Cork, 21 January 1885
1949–
of Lady Thatcher in the House of Lords:
A big cat detained briefly in a poodle parlour, sharpening her claws on the velvet.
Look Behind You!
(1993)
Being an MP feeds your vanity and starves your self-respect.
in
The Times
9 February 1994
1953–
I never saw a beggar yet who would recognise guilt if it bit him on his unwashed ass.
Dispatches from the Front Line of Popular Culture
(1994)
1623–62
I have made this [letter] longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
Lettres Provinciales
(1657) no. 16.
When we see a natural style, we are quite surprised and delighted, for we expected to see an author and we find a man.
Pensées
(1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 1, no. 29
Had Cleopatra's nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.
Pensées
(1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 2, no. 162
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces [the heavens] terrifies me.
Pensées
(1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 2, no. 206
The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.
Pensées
(1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 4, no. 277
Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
Pensées
(1670, ed. L. Brunschvicg, 1909) sect. 6, no. 347
1890–1960
Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.
Doctor Zhivago
(1958) pt. 2, ch. 9, sect. 14 (tr. Max Hayward and Manya Harari)
Yet the order of the acts is planned
And the end of the way inescapable.
I am alone; all drowns in the Pharisees' hypocrisy.
To live your life is not as simple as to cross a field.
Doctor Zhivago
(1958) "Zhivago's Poems: Hamlet"
1822–95
Where observation is concerned, chance favours only the prepared mind.
address given on the inauguration of the Faculty of Science, University of Lille, 7 December 1854
There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.
address, 11 September 1872
