The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (9 page)

Allingham, William
1824–89

1
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting,
For fear of little men.

"The Fairies" (1850)

 
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Ambrose, St
c.
339–97

1
Ubi Petrus, ibi ergo ecclesia.Where Peter is, there must be the Church.

"Explanatio psalmi 40" in
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
(1919) vol. 64

2
When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but here [Milan] I do not. Do you also follow the custom of whatever church you attend, if you do not want to give or receive scandal.

St Augustine: Letters
vol. 1 (tr Sister W. Parsons, 1951) "Letter 54 to Januarius" (
ad
c.
400)

 
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Amery, Leo
1873–1955

1
Speak for England.

to Arthur Greenwood in the House of Commons, 2 September 1939; see

2
I will quote certain other words. I do it with great reluctance, because I am speaking of those who are old friends and associates of mine, but they are words which, I think, are applicable to the present situation. This is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."

speech, House of Commons, 7 May 1940.

 
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Ames, Fisher
1758–1808

1
A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; whilst a republic is a raft which would never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.

attributed to Ames, speaking in the House of Representatives, 1795, but not traced in Ames's speeches

 
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Amies, Hardy
1909–

1
It is totally impossible to be well dressed in cheap shoes.

The Englishman's Suit
(1994)

 
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Amis, Kingsley
1922–95

1
His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum.

Lucky Jim
(1953) ch. 6

2
Outside every fat man there was an even fatter man trying to close in.

One Fat Englishman
(1963) ch. 3

3
Should poets bicycle-pump the human heart
Or squash it flat?
Man's love is of man's life a thing apart;
Girls aren't like that.

"A Bookshop Idyll" (1956).

4
We men have got love well weighed up; our stuff
Can get by without it.
Women don't seem to think that's good enough;
They write about it.

"A Bookshop Idyll" (1956)

5
No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home in Weston-super-Mare.

in
The Times
21 June 1994; attributed

 
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