The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (41 page)

7.54 Ethel Watts-Mumford Grant =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1878-1940

See Ethel Watts Mumford (13.139)

7.55 Robert Graves =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1895-1985

"What did the mayor do?"

"I was coming to that."

Collected Poems (1938) "Welsh Incident"

Goodbye to all that.

Title of autobiography (1929)

If there's no money in poetry, neither is there poetry in money.

Speech at London School of Economics, 6 Dec. 1963, in Mammon and Black

Goddess (1965) p. 3

His eyes are quickened so with grief,

He can watch a grass or leaf

Every instant grow; he can

Clearly through a flint wall see,

Or watch the startled spirit flee

From the throat of a dead man.

Pier-Glass (1921) "Lost Love"

As you are woman, so be lovely:

As you are lovely, so be various,

Merciful as constant, constant as various,

So be mine, as I yours for ever.

Poems (1927) "Pygmalion to Galatea"

Children are dumb to say how hot the day is,

How hot the scent is of the summer rose.

Poems (1927) "Cool Web"

Counting the beats,

Counting the slow heart beats,

The bleeding to death of time in slow heart beats,

Wakeful they lie.

Poems and Satires (1951) "Counting the Beats"

Far away is close at hand

Close joined is far away,

Love shall come at your command

Yet will not stay.

Whipperginny (1923) "Song of Contrariety"

7.56 Hannah Green (Joanne Greenberg) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I never promised you a rose garden.

Title of novel (1964)

7.57 Graham Greene =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1904-

Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they

have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent.

I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate.

Comedians (1966) pt. 3, ch. 4

Against the beautiful and the clever and the successful, one can wage

a pitiless war, but not against the unattractive.

Heart of the Matter (1948) bk. 1, pt. 1, ch. 2

Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim.

Heart of the Matter (1948) bk. 1, pt. 1, ch. 2

He [Harris] felt the loyalty we all feel to unhappiness--the sense that

that is where we really belong.

Heart of the Matter (1948) bk. 2, pt. 2, ch. 1

Any victim demands allegiance.

Heart of the Matter (1948) bk. 3, pt. 1, ch. 1

His hilarity was like a scream from a crevasse.

Heart of the Matter (1948) bk. 3, pt. 1, ch. 1

Our man in Havana.

Title of novel (1958)

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the

future in.

The Power and the Glory (1940) pt. 1, ch. 1

7.58 Oswald Greene =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Greene and Bevan's research largely consisted of visiting pubs and asking

people why they drank Guinness. Again and again they received

the...reply--they drank Guinness because it was good for them. So

universal was this idea, Greene decided he need look no further for

a copyline. "Guinness" the advertisements would simply say "is good for

you."

Brian Sibley Book of Guinness Advertising (1985) ch. 4

7.59 Germaine Greer =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1939-

Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves; when that

right is pre-empted it is called brain-washing.

The Times 1 Feb. 1986

7.60 Hubert Gregg =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1914-

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner

That I love London so,

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner--

That I think of her--Wherever I go.

I get a funny feeling inside of me--

Just walking up and down,--

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner

That I love London Town.

Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner (1947 song)

7.61 Joyce Grenfell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1910-1979

George--don't do that.

Recurring line in monologues about a nursery school, from the 1950s, in

George--Don't Do That (1977) p. 24

Stately as a galleon, I sail across the floor,

Doing the Military Two-step, as in the days of yore.

Stately as a Galleon (1978) p. 31

7.62 Julian Grenfell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1915

The naked earth is warm with Spring,

And with green grass and bursting trees

Leans to the sun's kiss glorying,

And quivers in the sunny breeze;

And Life is Colour and Warmth and Light

And a striving evermore for these;

And he is dead, who will not fight;

And who dies fighting has increase.

The fighting man shall from the sun

Take warmth, and life from the glowing earth.

Speed with the light-foot winds to run,

And with the trees to newer birth.

The Times 28 May 1915 "Into Battle"

7.63 Clifford Grey =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1887-1941

If you were the only girl in the world

And I were the only boy.

If You Were the only Girl in the World (song from musical The Bing Boys

(1916); music by Nat Ayer)

7.64 Sir Edward Grey (Viscount Grey of Fallodon) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1862-1933

A friend came to see me on one of the evenings of the last week--he thinks

it was on Monday August 3 [1914]. We were standing at a window of my room

in the Foreign Office. It was getting dusk, and the lamps were being lit

in the space below on which we were looking. My friend recalls that

I remarked on this with the words: "The lamps are going out all over

Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

25 Years (1925) vol. 2, ch. 18

7.65 Mervyn Griffith-Jones =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1909-1979

You may think that one of the ways in which you can test this book [Lady

Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence], and test it from the most liberal

outlook, is to ask yourselves the question when you have read it through:

"Would you approve of your young sons and daughters--because girls can

read as well as boys--reading this book?" Is it a book you would have

lying around in your own house? Is it a book you would even wish your wife

or your servants to read?

Speech for the prosecution at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey,

20 Oct. 1960, in The Times 21 Oct. 1960

7.66 Leon Griffiths =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

'Er indoors.

Used in ITV television series Minder (1979 onwards) by Arthur Daley

(played by George Cole) to refer to his wife

7.67 Jo Grimond (Baron Grimond) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1913-

In bygone days, commanders were taught that when in doubt, they should

march their troops towards the sound of gunfire. I intend to march my

troops towards the sound of gunfire.

Speech at Liberal Party Annual Assembly, 14 Sept. 1963, in Guardian

16 Sept. 1963

7.68 Philip Guedalla =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1889-1944

Any stigma, as the old saying is, will serve to beat a dogma.

Masters and Men (1923) "Ministers of State"

History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.

Supers and Supermen (1920) "Some Historians"

The cheerful clatter of Sir James Barrie's cans as he went round with the

milk of human kindness.

Supers and Supermen (1920) "Some Critics"

The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic

arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender.

Supers and Supermen (1920) "Some Critics"

7.69 R. Guidry =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See you later, alligator,

After 'while, crocodile;

Can't you see you're in my way, now,

Don't you know you cramp my style?

See You Later Alligator (1956 song)

7.70 Texas Guinan (Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1933

Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong.

In New York World-Telegram 21 Mar. 1931, p. 25 (asserts that Guinan used

the phrase at her night club at least six or seven years previously. The

saying is also attributed to Jack Osterman and Mae West; it was the title

of a 1927 song (see Billy Rose and Willie Raskin) and a film of 1931. The

latter was inspired by Cole Porter's 1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchmen)

. Cf. Billy Rose and Willie Raskin

7.71 Nubar Gulbenkian =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1896-1972

The best number for a dinner party is two--myself and a dam' good head

waiter.

In Daily Telegraph 14 Jan. 1965

7.72 Thom Gunn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1929-

You know I know you know I know you know.

Fighting Terms (1954) "Carnal Knowledge"

7.73 Dorothy Frances Gurney =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1858-1932

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's Heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

Poems (1913) "God's Garden"

7.74 Woody Guthrie (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1912-1967

This land is your land, this land is my land,

From California to the New York Island.

From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

This Land is Your Land (1956 song)

8.0 H =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

8.1 Earl Haig =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1861-1928

D. [the 17th Earl of Derby] is a very weak-minded fellow I am afraid, and,

like the feather pillow, bears the marks of the last person who has sat on

him! I hear he is called in London "genial Judas"!

Letter to Lady Haig, 14 Jan. 1918, in R. Blake Private Papers of Douglas

Haig (1952) ch. 16

Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement.

With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause,

each one of us must fight on to the end. The safety of our Homes and the

Freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of us at this

critical moment.

Order to British troops, 12 Apr. 1918, in A. Duff Cooper Haig (1936)

vol. 2, ch. 23

8.2 Lord Hailsham (Baron Hailsham, Quintin Hogg) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1907-

A great party is not to be brought down because of a scandal by a woman of

easy virtue and a proved liar.

In BBC television interview on the Profumo affair, 13 June 1963, in The

Times 14 June 1963

If the British public falls for this [the programme of the Labour party],

I think it will be stark, raving bonkers.

In press conference at Conservative Central Office, 12 Oct. 1964, in The

Times 13 Oct. 1964

8.3 J. B. S. Haldane =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1892-1964

Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we

suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. I have read and heard many

attempts at a systematic account of it, from materialism and theosophy to

the Christian system or that of Kant, and I have always felt that they

were much too simple. I suspect that there are more things in heaven and

earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy. That

is the reason why I have no philosophy myself, and must be my excuse for

dreaming.

Possible Worlds and Other Essays (1927) "Possible Worlds"

From the fact that there are 400,000 species of beetles on this planet,

but only 8,000 species of mammals, he [Haldane] concluded that the

Creator, if He exists, has a special preference for beetles, and so we

might be more likely to meet them than any other type of animal on

a planet which would support life.

Report of lecture, 7 Apr. 1951, cited in Journal of the British

Interplanetary Society (1951) vol. 10, p. 156

8.4 H. R. Haldeman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1929-

Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is awfully hard to get it back

in.

Comment to John Wesley Dean on Watergate affair, 8 Apr. 1973, in Hearings

Before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of US

Senate: Watergate and Related Activities (1973) vol. 4, p. 1399