The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (155 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1895–1952
L'espoir ne fait pas de poussière.Hope raises no dust.
"Ailleurs, ici, partout" (1946)
Adieu tristesse
Bonjour tristesse
Farewell sadness
Good-day sadness
You are inscribed in the lines of the ceiling.
"À peine défigurée" (1932)
1944–
I am a woman and a woman of Africa. I am a daughter of Nigeria and if she is in shame, I shall stay and mourn with her in shame.
Destination Biafra
(1982)
1803–82
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
"Brahma" (1867).
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
"Concord Hymn" (1837)
When Duty whispers low,
Thou must
,
The youth replies,
I can
.
"Voluntaries" no. 3 (1867)
The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
The Conduct of Life
(1860) "Worship"
There is properly no history; only biography.
Essays
(1841) "History".
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Essays
(1841) "Self-Reliance"
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.
Fortune of the Republic
(1878)
Hitch your wagon to a star.
Society and Solitude
(1870) "Civilization"
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks
(1961) May 1849
Glittering generalities! They are blazing ubiquities.
on Rufus Choate
attributed.
If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho' he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
attributed to Emerson in Sarah S. B. Yule
Borrowings
(1889); the quotation was the occasion of a long controversy owing to Elbert Hubbard's claim to its authorship
1778–1803
Let no man write my epitaph…When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth,
then
, and
not till then
, let my epitaph be written.
speech from the dock when condemned to death, 19 September 1803
1906–84
Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end.
"Just a smack at Auden" (1940)
Seven types of ambiguity.
title of book (1930)
Learning French is some trouble, but after that you have a clear and beautiful language; in English the undergrowth is part of the language.
in
Spectator
14 June 1935
1820–95
Der Staat wird nicht "abgeschafft", er stirbt ab.The State is not "abolished",
it withers away.
Anti-Dühring
(1878) pt. 3, ch. 2
