The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (63 page)

manners.

How to be an Alien (1946) p. 10

Continental people have sex life; the English have hot-water bottles.

How to be an Alien (1946) p. 25

An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.

How to be an Alien (1946) p. 44

13.93 Edna St Vincent Millay =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1892-1950

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Buck in the Snow (1928) "Dirge Without Music"

My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--

It gives a lovely light.

A Few Figs From Thistles (1920) "First Fig"

Safe upon solid rock the ugly houses stand:

Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!

A Few Figs From Thistles (1920) "Second Fig"

I only know that summer sang in me

A little while, that in me sings no more.

Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923) sonnet 19

Euclid alone

Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they

Who, though once only and then but far away,

Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923) sonnet 22

It's not true that life is one damn thing after another--it's one damn

thing over and over.

Letter to Arthur Davison Ficke, 24 Oct. 1930, in A. R. Macdougal Letters

of Edna St V. Millay (1952) p. 240

Death devours all lovely things;

Lesbia with her sparrow

Shares the darkness--presently

Every bed is narrow.

Second April (1921) "Passer Mortuus Est"

After all, my erstwhile dear,

My no longer cherished,

Need we say it was not love,

Now that love is perished?

Second April (1921) "Passer Mortuus Est"

Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age

The child is grown, and puts away childish things.

Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.

Nobody that matters, that is.

Wine from these Grapes (1934) "Childhood is the Kingdom where Nobody

dies"

13.94 Alice Duer Miller =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1874-1942

I am American bred,

I have seen much to hate here--much to forgive,

But in a world where England is finished and dead,

I do not wish to live.

White Cliffs (1940) p. 70

13.95 Arthur Miller =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1915-

I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His

name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever

lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him.

So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave

like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such

a person.

Death of a Salesman (1949) act 1

Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the

life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you

medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and

a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back--that's an earthquake.

And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you're

finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It

comes with the territory.

Death of a Salesman (1949) "Requiem"

I used...to keep a book in which I would talk to myself. One of the

aphorisms I wrote was, "The structure of a play is always the story of how

the birds came home to roost."

Harper's Magazine Aug. 1958

Roslyn: "How do you find your way back in the dark?" Gay nods, indicating

the sky before them: "Just head for that big star straight on. The

highway's under it; take us right home."

The Misfits (1961) ch. 12

A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.

In Observer 26 Nov. 1961

13.96 Henry Miller =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1891-1980

Even before the music begins there is that bored look on people's faces.

A polite form of self-imposed torture, the concert.

Tropic of Cancer (1934) p. 84

Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.

Tropic of Cancer (1934) p. 280

13.97 Jonathan Miller =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1934-

In fact, I'm not really a Jew. Just Jew-ish. Not the whole hog, you know.

Beyond the Fringe (1960) "Real Class," in Alan Bennett et al. Complete

Beyond the Fringe (1987) p. 84

13.98 Spike Milligan (Terence Alan Milligan) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1918-

Grytpype-thynne: You silly twisted boy.

Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 12 Oct.

1954, in Goon Show Scripts (1972) p. 26

Seagoon: Ying tong iddle I po.

Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 12 Oct.

1954, in Goon Show Scripts (1972) p. 27; catch-phrase also used in The

Ying Tong Song (1956)

He's fallen in the water.

Catch-phrase used by "Little Jim" (Spike Milligan) in The Goon Show (BBC

radio series, used from 1956 onwards)

Bluebottle: You rotten swines. I told you I'd be deaded.

Hastings Flyer in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 3 Jan. 1956, in Goon

Show Scripts (1972) p. 170

I'm walking backwards for Christmas

Across the Irish Sea.

I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas (1956 song)

Moriarty: Sapristi Nuckoes--do you always drink ink?

Seagoon: Only in the mating season.

Moriarty: Shall we dance?

Napoleon's Piano in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 11 Oct. 1955, in

Goon Show Scripts (1972) p. 100

Bluebottle: I don't like this game, let's play another game--let's play

doctor and nurses.

The Phantom Head-Shaver in The Goon Show (BBC radio series) 15 Oct. 1954,

in Goon Show Scripts (1972) p. 54 (the catch-phrase was often "I do not

like this game")

Money couldn't buy friends but you got a better class of enemy.

Puckoon (1963) ch. 6

13.99 A. J. Mills, Fred Godfrey, and Bennett Scott =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Take me back to dear old Blighty,

Put me on the train for London town.

Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty (1916 song)

13.100 Irving Mills =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1894-1985

It don't mean a thing

If it ain't got that swing.

It Don't Mean a Thing (1932 song; music by Duke Ellington)

13.101 A. A. Milne =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1882-1956

The more it snows

(Tiddely pom),

The more it goes

(Tiddely pom),

The more it goes

(Tiddely pom)

On snowing.

And nobody knows

(Tiddely pom),

How cold my toes

(Tiddely pom),

How cold my toes

(Tiddely pom),

Are growing.

House at Pooh Corner (1928) ch. 1

Tiggers don't like honey.

House at Pooh Corner (1928) ch. 2

King John was not a good man--

He had his little ways.

And sometimes no one spoke to him

For days and days and days.

Now We Are Six (1927) "King John's Christmas"

When I was young, we always had mornings like this.

Toad of Toad Hall (1929) act 2, sc. 3 (Milne's dramatization of Kenneth

Grahame's Wind in the Willows)

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace--

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

Alice is marrying one of the guard.

"A soldier's life is terrible hard,"

Says Alice.

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Buckingham Palace"

John had

Great Big

Waterproof

Boots on;

John had a

Great Big

Waterproof

Hat;

John had a

Great Big

Waterproof

Mackintosh--

And that

(Said John)

Is

That.

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Happiness"

James James

Morrison Morrison

Weatherby George Dupree

Took great

Care of his Mother,

Though he was only three.

James James

Said to his Mother,

"Mother," he said, said he;

"You must never go down to the end of the town,

if you don't go down with me."

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Disobedience"

What is the matter with Mary Jane?

She's perfectly well and she hasn't a pain,

And it's lovely rice pudding for dinner again!

What is the matter with Mary Jane?

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Rice Pudding"

The King asked

The Queen, and

The Queen asked

The Dairymaid:

"Could we have some butter for

The Royal slice of bread?"

When We Were Very Young (1924) "The King's Breakfast"

The King said

"Butter, eh?"

And bounced out of bed.

When We Were Very Young (1924) "The King's Breakfast"

Nobody,

My darling,

Could call me

A fussy man--

BUT

I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!

When We Were Very Young (1924) "The King's Breakfast"

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,

Droops on the little hands little gold head.

Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!

Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

When We Were Very Young (1924) "Vespers"

Isn't it funny

How a bear likes honey?

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

I wonder why he does?

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 1

How sweet to be a Cloud

Floating in the Blue!

It makes him very proud

To be a little cloud.

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 1

Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o'clock in the morning, and

he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when

Rabbit said, "Honey or condensed milk with your bread?" he was so excited

that he said, "Both," and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, "But

don't bother about the bread, please." And for a long time after that he

said nothing...until at last, humming to himself in a rather sticky voice,

he got up, shook Rabbit lovingly by the paw, and said that he must be

going on.

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 2

"Well," said Owl, "the customary procedure in such cases is as follows."

"What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?" said Pooh. "For I am a Bear of

Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me."

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 4

Eeyore, the old grey Donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and looked

at himself in the water. "Pathetic," he said. "That's what it is.

Pathetic."

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 6

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.

A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.

Ask me a riddle and I reply:

"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 6

Time for a little something.

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 6

My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters

get in the wrong places.

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 6

On Monday, when the sun is hot

I wonder to myself a lot:

"Now is it true, or is it not,

"That what is which and which is what?"

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 7

3 Cheers for Pooh!

(For Who?)

For Pooh--

(Why what did he do?)

I thought you knew;

He saved his friend from a wetting!

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) ch. 10

13.102 Lord Milner (Alfred, Viscount Milner) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1854-1925

If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it

is our duty to try to prevent it and to damn the consequences.

Speech at Glasgow, 26 Nov. 1909, in The Times 27 Nov. 1909

13.103 Adrian Mitchell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1932-

Most people ignore most poetry

because

most poetry ignores most people.

Poems (1964) p. 8

13.104 Joni Mitchell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1945-

I've looked at life from both sides now,

From win and lose and still somehow

It's life's illusions I recall;

I really don't know life at all.

Both Sides Now (1967 song)

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot,

With a pink hotel,

A boutique, and a swinging hot spot.

Big Yellow Taxi (1970 song)

We are stardust,

We are golden,

And we got to get ourselves

Back to the garden.

Woodstock (1969 song)

13.105 Margaret Mitchell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1900-1949

Death and taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any