The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (431 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
1856–1914
I'm Charley's aunt from Brazil—where the nuts come from.
Charley's Aunt
(1892) act 1
1914–53
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
"And death shall have no dominion" (1936).
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" (1952)
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age.
"The force that through the green fuse drives the flower" (1934)
The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.
"The hand that signed the paper felled a city" (1936)
It was my thirtieth year to heaven.
"Poem in October" (1946)
After the first death, there is no other.
"A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" (1946)
Books that told me everything about the wasp, except why.
A Child's Christmas in Wales
(1954)
To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black.
Under Milk Wood
(1954)
I want, above all, to work like a fiend, a
good
fiend.
letter to Edith Sitwell, 11 April 1947
The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.
of Wales
in
Adam
December 1953.
A man you don't like who drinks as much as you do.
definition of an alcoholic
Constantine Fitzgibbon
Life of Dylan Thomas
(1965) ch. 6
Poetry is not the most important thing in life…I'd much rather lie in a hot bath reading Agatha Christie and sucking sweets.
Joan Wyndham
Love is Blue
(1986) 6 July 1943
1878–1917
Yes; I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
"Adlestrop" (1917)
I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way.
"Lights Out" (1917)
I see and hear nothing;
Yet seem, too, to be listening, lying in wait
For what I should, yet never can, remember.
"Old Man" (1917)
Out in the dark over the snow
The fallow fawns invisible go.
"Out in the dark" (1917)
1675–1731
From marrying in haste, and repenting at leisure;
Not liking the person, yet liking his treasure:
Libera nos.
"A New Litany, occasioned by an invitation to a wedding" (1722)
1913–81
There are still parts of Wales where the only concession to gaiety is a striped shroud.
in
Punch
18 June 1958
