The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (432 page)

Thomas, Irene
1919–2001

1
Protestant women may take the pill. Roman Catholic women must keep taking The Tablet.

in
Guardian
28 December 1990

 
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Thomas, R. S.
1913–2000

1
Doctors in verse
Being scarce now, most poets
Are their own patients.

"The Cure" (1958)

2
There is no love
For such, only a willed
gentleness.

"They" (1968)

3
Hate takes a long time
To grow in, and mine
Has increased from birth;
Not for the brute earth…
…I find
This hate's for my own kind…

"Those Others" (1961)

4
There is no present in Wales,
And no future;
There is only the past,
Brittle with relics…
And an impotent people,
Sick with inbreeding,
Worrying the carcase of an old song.

"Welsh Landscape" (1955)

 
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Thompson, Francis
1859–1907

1
As the run-stealers flicker to and fro,
To and fro:—
O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago!

"At Lord's" (1913)

2
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

"The Hound of Heaven" (1913) pt. 1

3
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!"

"The Hound of Heaven" (1913) pt. 5

4
'Tis ye, 'tis your estrangèd faces,
That miss the many-splendoured thing.

"The Kingdom of God" (1913)

5
Upon thy so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob's ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.

"The Kingdom of God" (1913)

6
And lo, Christ walking on the water
Not of Gennesareth, but Thames!

"The Kingdom of God" (1913)

7
Look for me in the nurseries of heaven.

"To My Godchild Francis M.W.M." (1913)

8
Insculped and embossed,
With His hammer of wind,
And His graver of frost.

"To a Snowflake" (1913)

 
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Thompson, Julian
1934–

1
You don't mind dying for Queen and country, but you certainly don't want to die for politicians.

"The Falklands War—the Untold Story" (Yorkshire Television) 1 April 1987

 
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Thomson, James
1700–48

1
When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sung this strain:
"Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves."

Alfred: a Masque
(1740) act 2

2
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.

The Seasons
(1746) "Spring" l. 1152

3
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books.

The Seasons
(1746) "Spring" l. 1161

4
Sighed and looked unutterable things.

The Seasons
(1746) "Summer" l. 1188

 
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Thomson, James
1834–82

1
The city of dreadful night.

title of poem, written 1870–3

2
As we rush, as we rush in the train,
The trees and the houses go wheeling back,
But the starry heavens above that plain
Come flying on our track.

"Sunday at Hampstead" (written 1863–5) st. 10

3
Give a man a horse he can ride,
Give a man a boat he can sail.

"Sunday up the River" (written 1865) st. 15

 
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