The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (36 page)

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the

morning, day after day.

Esquire Mar. 1936, "Handle with Care"

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice I've

been turning over in my mind ever since.

Great Gatsby (1925) ch. 1

In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the

whisperings and the champagne and the stars.

Great Gatsby (1925) ch. 3

Her voice is full of money.

Great Gatsby (1925) ch. 7

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year

recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we

will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....And one fine morning--

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the

past.

Great Gatsby (1925) ch. 9

There are no second acts in American lives.

In Edmund Wilson Last Tycoon (1949) "Hollywood, etc. Notes"

She had once been a Catholic, but discovering that priests were infinitely

more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in

Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude.

This Side of Paradise (1921) bk. 1, ch. 1

6.21 Zelda Fitzgerald =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1900-1948

Ernest, don't you think Al Jolson is greater than Jesus?

In Ernest Hemingway Moveable Feast (1964) ch. 18. Cf. John Lennon 135:2

6.22 Robert Fitzsimmons =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1862-1917

You know the old saying, "The bigger they are, the further they have to

fall."

In Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11 Aug. 1900

6.23 Bud Flanagan (Chaim Reeven Weintrop) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1896-1968

Underneath the Arches,

I dream my dreams away,

Underneath the Arches,

On cobble-stones I lay.

Underneath the Arches (1932 song; additional words by Reg Connelly)

6.24 Michael Flanders and Donald Swann =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Michael Flanders 1922-1975

Donald Swann 1923-

I'm a gnu

A gnother gnu.

The Gnu (1956 song)

Mud! Mud! Glorious mud!

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.

So, follow me, follow,

Down to the hollow,

And there let us wallow

In glorious mud.

Hippopotamus Song (1952)

I don't eat people,

I won't eat people,

I don't eat people,

Eating people is wrong!

The Reluctant Cannibal (1956 song)

6.25 James Elroy Flecker =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1915

We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage

And swear that beauty lives though lilies die,

We Poets of the proud old lineage

Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why,--

What shall we tell you? Tales, marvellous tales

Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Prologue"

When the great markets by the sea shut fast

All that calm Sunday that goes on and on:

When even lovers find their peace at last,

And earth is but a star, that once had shone.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Prologue"

Sweet to ride forth at evening from the wells,

When shadows pass gigantic on the sand,

And softly through the silence beat the bells

Along the Golden Road to Samarkand.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) p. 8

For lust of knowing what should not be known,

We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) p. 8

How splendid in the morning glows the lily; with what grace he throws

His supplication to the rose.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Yasmin"

And some to Meccah turn to pray, and I toward thy bed, Yasmin.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Yasmin"

For one night or the other night

Will come the Gardener in white, and gathered flowers are dead, Yasmin.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Yasmin"

The dragon-green, the luminous, the dark, the serpent-haunted sea.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Gates of Damascus"

A ship, an isle, a sickle moon--

With few but with how splendid stars

The mirrors of the sea are strewn

Between their silver bars!

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "A Ship, an Isle, and a Sickle Moon"

For pines are gossip pines the wide world through

And full of runic tales to sigh or sing.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Brumana"

Half to forget the wandering and pain,

Half to remember days that have gone by,

And dream and dream that I am home again!

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Brumana"

Noon strikes on England, noon on Oxford town,

Beauty she was statue cold--there's blood upon her gown:

Noon of my dreams, O noon!

Proud and godly kings had built her, long ago,

With her towers and tombs and statues all arow,

With her fair and floral air and the love that lingers there,

And the streets where the great men go.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Dying Patriot"

West of these out to seas colder than the Hebrides

I must go

Where the fleet of stars is anchored and the young

Star captains glow.

Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) "Dying Patriot"

I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep

Beyond the village which men still call Tyre,

With leaden age o'ercargoed, dipping deep

For Famagusta and the hidden sun

That rings black Cyprus with a lake of fire.

Old Ships (1915) title poem

And with great lies about his wooden horse

Set the crew laughing, and forgot his course.

Old Ships (1915) title poem

It was so old a ship--who knows, who knows?

--And yet so beautiful, I watched in vain

To see the mast burst open with a rose,

And the whole deck put on its leaves again.

Old Ships (1915) title poem

How shall we conquer? Like a wind

That falls at eve our fancies blow,

And old Maeonides the blind

Said it three thousand years ago.

36 Poems (1910) "To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence"

O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,

Student of our sweet English tongue,

Read out my words at night, alone:

I was a poet, I was young.

36 Poems (1910) "To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence"

6.26 Ian Fleming =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1964

Bond said, "And I would like a medium Vodka dry Martini--with a slice of

lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred, please. I would prefer Russian or

Polish vodka."

Dr No (1958) ch. 14

From Russia with love.

Title of novel (1957)

Live and let die.

Title of novel (1954)

6.27 Robert, Marquis de Flers and Arman de Caillavet =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Robert, Marquis de Flers 1872-1927

Arman de Caillavet 1869-1915

D�mocratie est le nom que nous donnons au peuple toutes les fois que nous

avons besoin de lui.

Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them.

L'habit vert act 1, sc. 12, in La petite illustration s�rie th��tre

31 May 1913

6.28 Dario Fo =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1926-

Non si paga, non si paga.

We won't pay, we won't pay.

Title of play (1975; translated by Lino Pertile in 1978 as "We Can't Pay?

We Won't Pay!" and performed in London in 1981 as "Can't Pay? Won't Pay!")

6.29 Marshal Ferdinand Foch =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1851-1929

Mon centre c�de, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.

My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am

attacking.

Message sent during the first Battle of the Marne, Sept. 1914, in R.

Recouly Foch (1919) ch. 6

Ce n'est pas un trait� de paix, c'est un armistice de vingt ans.

This [the treaty signed at Versailles in 1919] is not a peace treaty, it

is an armistice for twenty years.

In Paul Reynaud M�moires (1963) vol. 2, p. 457

6.30 J. Foley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Old soldiers never die,

They simply fade away.

Old Soldiers Never Die (1920 song; copyrighted by J. Foley but perhaps

a "folk-song" from the First World War)

6.31 Michael Foot =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1913-

A speech from Ernest Bevin on a major occasion had all the horrific

fascination of a public execution. If the mind was left immune, eyes and

ears and emotions were riveted.

Aneurin Bevan (1962) vol. 1, ch. 13

Think of it! A second Chamber selected by the Whips. A seraglio of

eunuchs.

Hansard 3 Feb. 1969, col. 88

It is not necessary that every time he [Norman Tebbit] rises he should

give his famous imitation of a semi-house-trained polecat.

Hansard 2 Mar. 1978, col. 668

6.32 Anna Ford =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1943-

Let's face it, there are no plain women on television.

In Observer 23 Sept. 1979

6.33 Gerald Ford =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1909-

I believe that truth is the glue that holds Government together, not only

our Government, but civilization itself.

Speech, 9 Aug. 1974, in G. J. Lankevich Gerald R. Ford (1977)

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution

works; our great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men. Here the

people rule.

Speech, 9 Aug. 1974, in G. J. Lankevich Gerald R. Ford (1977)

There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be

under a Ford administration.

In television debate with Jimmy Carter, 6 Oct. 1976, in S. Kraus Great

Debates (1979) p. 482

If the Government is big enough to give you everything you want, it is big

enough to take away everything you have.

In John F. Parker If Elected (1960) p. 193

I am a Ford, not a Lincoln. My addresses will never be as eloquent as

Lincoln's. But I will do my best to equal his brevity and plain speaking.

Speech on taking vice-presidential oath, 6 Dec. 1973, in Washington Post

7 Dec. 1973

6.34 Henry Ford =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1863-1947

History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We

want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's

damn is the history we make today.

Chicago Tribune 25 May 1916 (interview with Charles N. Wheeler)

People can have the Model T in any colour--so long as it's black.

In Allan Nevins Ford (1957) vol. 2, ch. 15

6.35 Lena Guilbert Ford =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1870-1916

Keep the Home-fires burning,

While your hearts are yearning,

Though your lads are far away

They dream of Home.

There's a silver lining

Through the dark cloud shining;

Turn the dark cloud inside out,

Till the boys come Home.

'Till the Boys Come Home! (1914 song; music by Ivor Novello)

6.36 Howell Forgy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1908-1983

Lieutenant Forgy...said that on Dec. 7 he was at Pearl Harbor directing

preparations for church services aboard his ship...when general quarters

were sounded as the Japanese attacked. He reported to his battle station.

The power was off on a powder hoist, he said, and so Lieutenant Edwin

Woodhead formed a line of sailors to pass the ammunition by hand to the

deck. The chaplain moved along the line, encouraging the passers and

repeating, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."

New York Times 1 Nov. 1942. Cf. Frank Loesser's 1942 song Praise the Lord

and Pass the Ammunition .

6.37 E. M. Forster =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1879-1970

They [public schoolboys] go forth into a world that is not entirely

composed of public-school men or even of Anglo-Saxons, but of men who are

as various as the sands of the sea; into a world of whose richness and

subtlety they have no conception. They go forth into it with

well-developed bodies, fairly developed minds, and undeveloped hearts.

Abinger Harvest (1936) "Notes on English Character"

It is not that the Englishman can't feel--it is that he is afraid to feel.

He has been taught at his public school that feeling is bad form. He must

not express great joy or sorrow, or even open his mouth too wide when he

talks--his pipe might fall out if he did.

Abinger Harvest (1936) "Notes on English Character"

Everything must be like something, so what is this like?

Abinger Harvest (1936) "Doll Souse"