The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (367 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
3.27Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Rimbaud, Arthur
1854–91
1
…Je me suis baigné dans le Poème
De la Mer.
I have bathed in the Poem of the Sea.

"Le Bâteau ivre" (1883)

2
Je regrette l'Europe aux anciens parapets!I pine for Europe of the ancient parapets!

"Le Bâteau ivre" (1883)

3
Ô saisons, ô châteaux!
Quelle âme est sans défauts?
O seasons, O castles! What soul is without fault?

"Ô saisons, ô châteaux" (1872)

4
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu: voyelles,
Je dirais quelque jour vos naissances latentes.
A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels, some day I will tell of the births that may be yours.

"Voyelles" (1870)

Ritz, César
1850–1918
1
The customer is never wrong.

R. Nevill and C. E. Jerningham
Piccadilly to Pall Mall
(1908)

Rivarol, Antoine de
1753–1801
1
Ce qui n'est pas clair n'est pas français.What is not clear is not French.

Discours sur l'Universalité de la Langue Française
(1784)

Robbins, Lord
1898–1984
1
Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.

Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science
(1932) ch. 1, sect. 3

Robespierre, Maximilien
1758–94
1
Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.

Déclaration des droits de l'homme
24 April 1793, article 6

2
Any institution which does not suppose the people good, and the magistrate corruptible, is evil.

Déclaration des droits de l'homme
24 April 1793, article 25

3
Intimidation without virtue is disastrous; virtue without intimidation is powerless.

J. M. Thompson
The French Revolution
(1943); attributed

Robin, Leo
1900–84
1
A kiss on the hand may be quite continental,
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" (1949 song) from the film
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
.

2
Thanks for the memory.

title of song (with Ralph Rainger, 1937)

Other books

More Stories from My Father's Court by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Calcutta by Amit Chaudhuri
Fire And Ice by Diana Palmer
The Magdalena Curse by F.G. Cottam
The Blue Rose by Anthony Eglin
The Dead Seagull by George Barker
Willow Smoke by Adriana Kraft