The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (89 page)

no core.

Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) ch. 1

There ain't no way to find out why a snorer can't hear himself snore.

Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) ch. 10

The cross of the Legion of Honour has been conferred upon me. However, few

escape that distinction.

A Tramp Abroad (1880) ch. 8

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is

sure.

Letter to Mrs Foote, 2 Dec. 1887, in B. DeCasseres When Huck Finn Went

Highbrow (1934) p. 7

20.41 Kenneth Tynan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1927-1980

Forty years ago he [Noel Coward] was Slightly in Peter Pan, and you might

say that he has been wholly in Peter Pan ever since.

Curtains (1961) pt. 1, p. 59

What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober.

Curtains (1961) pt. 2, p. 347

A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car.

In New York Times Magazine 9 Jan. 1966, p. 27

A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre

of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.

Tynan Right and Left (1967) foreword

21.0 U =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

21.1 Miguel de Unamuno =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1864-1937

La vida es duda,

y la fe sin la duda es s�lo muerte.

Life is doubt,

And faith without doubt is nothing but death.

Po�sias (1907) "Salmo II"

C�rate de la affeccion de preocuparte c�mo aparez�as los dem�s. Cu�date

s�lo de c�mo aparez�as Dios, cu�date de la idea que de ti Dios tenga.

Cure yourself of the condition of bothering about how you look to other

people. Concern yourself only with how you appear to God, with the idea

that God has of you.

Vida de Don Quixote y Sancho (Life of Don Quixote and Sancho, 1905) pt. 1

21.2 John Updike =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1932-

One out of three hundred and twelve Americans is a bore, for instance, and

a healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own

weight in other people's patience.

Assorted Prose (1965) "Confessions of a Wild Bore"

The difficulty with humorists is that they will mix what they believe with

what they don't; whichever seems likelier to win an effect.

Rabbit, Run (1960) p. 160

21.3 Sir Peter Ustinov =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1921-

I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always

seemed to me the most civilized music in the world.

Dear Me (1977) ch. 3

Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily

the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.

Dear Me (1977) ch. 5

Laughter would be bereaved if snobbery died.

In Observer 13 Mar. 1955

If Botticelli were alive today he'd be working for Vogue.

In Observer 21 Oct. 1962

As for being a General, well at the age of four with paper hats and wooden

swords we're all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it.

Romanoff and Juliet (1956) act 1

A diplomat these days is nothing but a head-waiter who's allowed to sit

down occasionally.

Romanoff and Juliet (1956) act 1

22.0 V =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

22.1 Paul Val�ry =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1871-1945

Un po�me n'est jamais achev�--c'est toujours un accident qui le termine,

c'est-�-dire qui le donne au public.

A poem is never finished; it's always an accident that puts a stop to

it--i.e. gives it to the public.

Litt�rature (1930) p. 46

Il faut n'appeler Science: que l'ensemble des recettes qui r�ussissent

toujours.--Tout le reste est litt�rature.

"Science" means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always

successful. All the rest is literature.

Moralit�s (1932) p. 41

Dieu cr�a l'homme, et ne le trouvant pas assez seul, il lui donne une

compagne pour lui faire mieux sentir sa solitude.

God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him

a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly.

Tel Quel 1 (1941) "Moralit�s"

La politique est l'art d'emp�cher les gens de se m�ler de ce qui les

regarde.

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which

properly concern them.

Tel Quel 2 (1943) "Rhumbs"

22.2 Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Itsy bitsy teenie weenie, yellow polkadot bikini.

Title of song (1960)

22.3 Vivien van Damm =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

?1889-1960

I did not coin the slogan "We Never Closed" [for the Windmill Theatre in

London]. It was merely a statement of fact.

Tonight and Every Night (1952) ch. 18

22.4 Laurens van der Post =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-

Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are

convinced beyond doubt that they are right.

Lost World of the Kalahari (1958) ch. 3

22.5 Bartolomeo Vanzetti =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1927

If it had not been for these thing, I might have live out my life talking

at street corners to scorning men. I might have die, unmarked, unknown, a

failure. Now we are not a failure. This is our career and our triumph.

Never in our full life could we hope to do such work for tolerance, for

joostice, for man's onderstanding of man as now we do by accident.

Our words--our lives--our pains--nothing! The taking of our lives--lives

of a good shoemaker and a poor fish-peddler--all! That last moment belongs

to us--that agony is our triumph.

Statement after being sentenced, 9 Apr. 1927, in M. D. Frankfurter and G.

Jackson Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti (1928) preface

Sacco's name will live in the hearts of the people and in their gratitude

when Katzmann's and yours bones will be dispersed by time, when your name,

his name, your laws, institutions, and your false god are but a deem

rememoring of a cursed past in which man was wolf to the man.

Note by Vanzetti of what he wanted to say at his trial, 9 Apr. 1927, in

M. D. Frankfurter and G. Jackson Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti (1928)

p. 380

22.6 Harry Vaughan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

In Time 28 Apr. 1952 (often used by Harry S. Truman, q.v.)

22.7 Ralph Vaughan Williams =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1872-1958

I don't know whether I like it [the 4th symphony], but it's what I meant.

In Christopher Headington Bodley Head History of Western Music (1974)

p. 293

On arrival on a visit to the United States, Ralph Vaughan Williams was met

by a crowd of reporters. One of them seized him by the arm and said, "Tell

me, Dr Vaughan Williams, what do you think about music?" The old man

peered quizzically into his face and made the solemn pronouncement: "It's

a Rum Go!"

Leslie Ayr The Wit of Music (1966) p. 43

22.8 Thorstein Veblen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1857-1929

Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to

the gentleman of leisure.

Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) ch. 4

So it is something of a homiletical commonplace to say that the outcome of

any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where one

question grew before.

University of California Chronicle (1908) vol. 10, no. 4, "Evolution of

the Scientific Point of View"

22.9 Gore Vidal =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1925-

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

In G. Irvine Antipanegyric for Tom Driberg 8 Dec. 1976, p. 2

It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how

suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true.

Encounter Dec. 1967, "French Letters: Theories of the New Novel"

A triumph of the embalmer's art.

In Observer 26 Apr. 1981 (describing Ronald Reagan)

I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.

In Sunday Times Magazine 16 Sept. 1973

Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.

In Sunday Times Magazine 16 Sept. 1973

American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.

Two Sisters (1970) p. 65

22.10 King Vidor =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1895-1982

Take it from me, marriage isn't a word...it's a sentence!

The Crowd (1928 film)

22.11 Jos� Antonio Viera Gallo =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1943-

El socialismo puede llegar solo en bicicleta.

Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.

Said when Assistant Secretary of Justice in Chilean Government, in Ivan

Illich Energy and Equity (1974) p. 11

23.0 W =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

23.1 John Wain =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1925-

Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking.

BBC radio broadcast, 13 Jan. 1976

23.2 Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jerry Wald 1911-1962

Richard Macaulay

Naughty but nice.

Title of film (1939)

23.3 Prince of Wales =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See Prince Charles (3.48)

23.4 Arthur Waley =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1889-1966

What is hard today is to censor one's own thoughts--

To sit by and see the blind man

On the sightless horse, riding into the bottomless abyss.

Censorship

23.5 Edgar Wallace =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1875-1932

What is a highbrow? He is a man who has found something more interesting

than women.

New York Times 24 Jan. 1932, sec. 8, p. 6

Dreamin' of thee! Dreamin' of thee!

Writ in Barracks (1900) "T. A. in Love" (popularised in 1930 broadcast by

Cyril Fletcher)

23.6 George Wallace =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1919-

Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever!

Inaugural speech as Governor of Alabama, Jan. 1963, in Birmingham World

19 Jan. 1963

23.7 Henry Wallace =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1888-1965

The century on which we are entering--the century which will come out of

this war--can be and must be the century of the common man.

Speech, 8 May 1942, in Vital Speeches (1942) vol. 8, p. 483

23.8 Graham Wallas =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1858-1932

The little girl had the making of a poet in her who, being told to be sure

of her meaning before she spoke, said, "How can I know what I think till

I see what I say?"

Art of Thought (1926) ch. 4. Cf. E. M. Forster 83:9

23.9 Sir Hugh Walpole =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1884-1941

'Tisn't life that matters! 'Tis the courage you bring to it.

Fortitude (1913) bk.1, ch. 1

23.10 Andy Warhol =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1927-1987

It's the place where my prediction from the sixties finally came true: "In

the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." I'm bored with

that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is, "In fifteen minutes

everybody will be famous."

Andy Warhol's Exposures (1979) "Studio 54"

Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.

In Observer 1 Mar. 1987

An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have

but that he--for some reason--thinks it would be a good idea to give them.

Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) (1975) ch. 10

23.11 Jack Warner (Horace Waters) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1895-1981

Mind my bike!

Catch-phrase used in the BBC radio series Garrison Theatre, 1939 onwards,

in D. Parker Radio: the Great Years (1977) p. 94

23.12 Ned Washington =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Hi diddle dee dee (an actor's life for me).

Title of song (1940; music by Leigh Harline)

When you wish upon a star.

Title of song (1940; music by Leigh Harline)

23.13 Sir William Watson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-