The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (60 page)

Birtwistle, Harrison
1934–

1
You can't stop. Composing's not voluntary, you know. There's no choice, you're not free. You're landed with an idea and you have responsibility to that idea.

in
Observer
14 April 1996 "Sayings of the Week"

 
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Bishop, Elizabeth
1911–79

1
The armoured cars of dreams, contrived to let us do
so many a dangerous thing.

"Sleeping Standing Up" (1946)

2
I am sorry for people who can't write letters. But I suspect also that you and I…love to write them because it's kind of like working without really doing it.

letter to Kit and Ilse Barker, 5 September 1953

 
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Bismarck, Otto von
1815–98

1
If the Princess can leave the Englishwoman at home and become a Prussian, then she may be a blessing to the country.
on the marriage of Victoria, Princess Royal, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia

letter,
c.
1857

2
Politics is the art of the possible.

in conversation with Meyer von Waldeck, 11 August 1867. ,

3
We will not go to Canossa.
during his quarrel with Pope Pius IX regarding papal authority over German subjects, in allusion to the Emperor Henry IV's submission to Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in Modena in 1077

speech to the Reichstag, 14 May 1872

4
Not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.
of possible German involvement in the Balkans

speech to the Reichstag, 5 December 1876

5
Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong, [it is] a geographical concept.

marginal note on a letter from the Russian Chancellor Gorchakov, November 1876.

6
I do not regard the procuring of peace as a matter in which we should play the role of arbiter between different opinions…more that of an honest broker who really wants to press the business forward.

speech to the Reichstag, 19 February 1878

7
This policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron.

speech in the Prussian House of Deputies, 28 January 1886

8
If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.

attributed by Herr Ballen and quoted by Winston S. Churchill in the House of Commons, 16 August 1945

 
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Björk
1965–

1
Icelandic peoples were the ones who memorized sagas…We were the first rappers of Europe.

attributed, January 1996

 
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Black, James
1924–

1
In the culture I grew up in you did your work and you did not put your arm around it to stop other people from looking—you took the earliest possible opportunity to make knowledge available.
on modern scientific research

in
Daily Telegraph
11 December 1995

 
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Blacker, Valentine
1728–1823

1
Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.
often attributed to Oliver Cromwell himself

"Oliver's Advice" in E. Hayes
Ballads of Ireland
(1856) vol. 1

 
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