The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (33 page)

That no one was really to blame

And he said that he hoped the Ramsbottoms

Would have further sons to their name.

At that Mother got proper blazing,

"And thank you, sir, kindly," said she.

"What, waste all our lives raising children

To feed ruddy Lions? Not me!"

The Lion and Albert (1932) in Albert, 'Arold and Others (1937)

5.7 Duke of Edinburgh =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1921-

See Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (16.34)

5.8 Thomas Alva Edison =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1847-1931

Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

Harper's Monthly Magazine Sept. 1932 (quoted by M. A. Rosanoff as having

been said by Edison circa 1903)

5.9 John Maxwell Edmonds =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1875-1958

When you go home, tell them of us and say,

"For your tomorrows these gave their today."

Inscriptions Suggested for War Memorials (1919)

5.10 King Edward VII =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1841-1910

That's the fourth time that infernal noise has roused me.

Said to his secretary "Fritz" Ponsonby at the first performance of "The

Wreckers," an opera by Dame Ethel Smyth, quoted in H. Atkins and A. Newman

Beecham Stories (1978) p. 43

I thought everyone must know that a short jacket is always worn with

a silk hat at a private view in the morning.

In Sir P. Magnus Edward VII (1964) ch. 19 (said to Sir Frederick Ponsonby,

who had proposed to accompany him in a tail-coat)

Because a man has a black face and a different religion from our own,

there is no reason why he should be treated as a brute.

Letter to Lord Granville, 30 Nov. 1875, in Sir Sydney Lee King Edward VII

(1925) vol. 1, ch. 21

5.11 King Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1894-1972

The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey

their children.

Look 5 Mar. 1957

At long last I am able to say a few words of my own. I have never wanted

to withhold anything, but until now it has not been constitutionally

possible for me to speak. A few hours ago I discharged my last duty as

King and Emperor, and now that I have been succeeded by my brother, the

Duke of York, my first words must be to declare allegiance to him. This

I do with all my heart.

You all know the reasons which have impelled me to renounce the throne.

But I want you to understand that in making up my mind I did not forget

the country or the Empire which as Prince of Wales, and lately as King,

I have for twenty-five years tried to serve. But you must believe me when

I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of

responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do

without the help and support of the woman I love....

This decision has been made less difficult to me by the sure knowledge

that my brother, with his long training in the public affairs of this

country and with his fine qualities, will be able to take my place

forthwith, without interruption or injury to the life and progress of the

Empire. And he has one matchless blessing, enjoyed by so many of you and

not bestowed on me--a happy home with his wife and children....

I now quit altogether public affairs, and I lay down my burden....God

bless you all. God save the King.

Broadcast, 11 Dec. 1936, in The Times 12 Dec. 1936

These works [the derelict Dowlais Iron and Steel Works] brought all these

people here. Something should be done to get them at work again.

Spoken to Charles Keen, 18 Nov. 1936, in Western Mail 19 Nov. 1936

5.12 John Ehrlichman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1925-

I think we ought to let him [Patrick Gray] hang there. Let him twist

slowly, slowly in the wind.

Telephone conversation with John Dean, 7 or 8 Mar. 1973, in Washington

Post 27 July 1973, p. A27 (regarding Patrick Gray's nomination as Director

of the FBI)

5.13 Albert Einstein =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1879-1955

Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race.

In Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman Albert Einstein, the Human Side (1979)

p. 38

I am an absolute pacifist....It is an instinctive feeling. It is a feeling

that possesses me, because the murder of men is disgusting.

Interview with Paul Hutchinson, in Christian Century 28 Aug. 1929

Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht.

God is subtle but he is not malicious.

Remark made during a week at Princeton beginning 9 May 1921, later carved

above the fireplace of the Common Room of Fine Hall (the Mathematical

Institute), Princeton University - in R. W. Clark Einstein (1973) ch. 14

Jedenfalls bin ich �berzeugt, dass der nicht w�rfelt.

At any rate, I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice.

Letter to Max Born, 4 Dec. 1926, in Einstein und Born Briefwechsel (1969)

p. 130 (often quoted as Gott w�rfelt nicht God does not play dice, e.g. in

B. Hoffmann Albert Einstein (1973) ch. 10)

If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as

a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should

my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany

will declare that I am a Jew.

Address at the Sorbonne, Paris, ?early Dec. 1929, in New York Times

16 Feb. 1930

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of

thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.

Telegram sent to prominent Americans, 24 May 1946, in New York Times

25 May 1946

If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is

play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

In Observer 15 Jan. 1950

If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living,

I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would

rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest

degree of independence still available under present circumstances.

Reporter 18 Nov. 1954

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium (1941) ch. 13

5.14 Dwight D. Eisenhower =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1890-1969

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms

industry is new in the American experience....We recognize the imperative

need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave

implications....In the councils of government, we must guard against the

acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the

military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of

misplaced power exists and will persist.

Farewell broadcast, 17 Jan. 1961, in New York Times 18 Jan. 1961

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired

signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not

fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not

spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius

of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

Speech in Washington, 16 Apr. 1953, in Public Papers of Presidents 1953

(1960) p. 182

You have broader considerations that might follow what you might call the

"falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock

over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will

go over very quickly. So you have the beginning of a disintegration that

would have the most profound influences.

Speech at press conference, 7 Apr. 1954, in Public Papers of Presidents

1954 (1960) p. 383

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments

had better get out of the way and let them have it.

Broadcast discussion, 31 Aug. 1959, in Public Papers of Presidents 1959

(1960) p. 625

5.15 T. S. Eliot =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1965

Where are the eagles and the trumpets?

Buried beneath some snow-deep Alps.

Over buttered scones and crumpets

Weeping, weeping multitudes

Droop in a hundred A.B.C.'s.

Ara Vus Prec (1920) "Cooking Egg"

Here I am, an old man in a dry month

Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.

Ara Vus Prec (1920) "Gerontion"

After such knowledge, what forgiveness? Think now

History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors

And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,

Guides us by vanities.

Ara Vus Prec (1920) "Gerontion"

Tenants of the house,

Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season.

Ara Vus Prec (1920) "Gerontion"

A cold coming we had of it,

Just the worst time of the year

For a journey, and such a long journey:

The ways deep and the weather sharp,

The very dead of winter.

Ariel Poems (1927) "Journey of the Magi"

But set down

This set down

This: were we led all that way for

Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,

We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death

But had thought they were different; this Birth was

Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,

But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,

With an alien people clutching their gods.

I should be glad of another death.

Ariel Poems (1927) "Journey of the Magi"

Because I do not hope to turn again

Because I do not hope

Because I do not hope to turn.

Ash-Wednesday (1930) pt. 1

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly

But merely vans to beat the air

The air which is now thoroughly small and dry

Smaller and dryer than the will

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still.

Ash-Wednesday (1930) pt. 1

Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree

In the cool of the day.

Ash-Wednesday (1930) pt. 2

You've missed the point completely, Julia:

There were no tigers. That was the point.

Cocktail Party (1950) act 1, sc. 1

What is hell?

Hell is oneself,

Hell is alone, the other figures in it

Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from

And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.

Cocktail Party (1950) act 1, sc. 3

How unpleasant to meet Mr Eliot!

With his features of clerical cut,

And his brow so grim

And his mouth so prim

And his conversation, so nicely

Restricted to What Precisely

And If and Perhaps and But.

Collected Poems (1936) "Five-Finger Exercises"

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

Collected Poems (1936) "Burnt Norton" pt. 1

Footfalls echo in the memory

Down the passage which we did not take

Towards the door we never opened

Into the rose-garden. My words echo

Thus, in your mind.

Collected Poems (1936) "Burnt Norton" pt. 1

Human kind

Cannot bear very much reality.

Collected Poems (1936) "Burnt Norton" pt. 1.

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement.

Collected Poems (1936) "Burnt Norton" pt. 2

Words strain,

Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,

Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,

Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,

Will not stay still.

Collected Poems (1936) "Burnt Norton" pt. 5

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river

Is a strong brown god--sullen, untamed and intractable.

Dry Salvages (1941) pt. 1

In my beginning is my end.

East Coker (1940) pt. 1

That was a way of putting it--not very satisfactory:

A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,

Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle

With words and meanings. The poetry does not matter.

East Coker (1940) pt. 2

The houses are all gone under the sea.

The dancers are all gone under the hill.

East Coker (1940) pt. 2

O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,

The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant.

East Coker (1940) pt. 3

The wounded surgeon plies the steel

That questions the distempered part;

Beneath the bleeding hands we feel

The sharp compassion of the healer's art

Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

East Coker (1940) pt. 4

Each venture

Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate

With shabby equipment always deteriorating