The Oxford dictionary of modern quotations (73 page)

1931-

He glanced with disdain at the big centre table where the famous faces of

the Cambridge theatre were eating a loud meal. "So this is the city of

dreaming spires," Sheila said. "Theoretically speaking that's Oxford,"

Adam said. "This is the city of perspiring dreams."

Glittering Prizes: (1976) ch. 3. Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

(1979) 15:4

18.9 Terence Rattigan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1911-1977

The headmaster said you ruled them with a rod of iron. He called you the

Himmler of the lower fifth.

The Browning Version (1948) (spoken by Peter Gilbert to Andrew

Crocker-Harris)

Let us invent a character, a nice respectable, middle-class, middle-aged,

maiden lady, with time on her hands and the money to help her pass it. She

enjoys pictures, books, music, and the theatre and though to none of these

arts (or rather, for consistency's sake, to none of these three arts and

the one craft) does she bring much knowledge or discernment, at least, as

she is apt to tell her cronies, she "does know what she likes." Let us

call her Aunt Edna....Aunt Edna is universal, and to those who may feel

that all the problems of the modern theatre might be solved by her

liquidation, let me add that I have no doubt at all that she is also

immortal.

Collected Plays (1953) vol. 2, preface

Kenneth: If you're so hot, you'd better tell me how to say she has

ideas above her station.

Brian: Oh, yes, I forgot. It's fairly easy, old boy. Elle a des id�es

au-dessus de sa gare.

Kenneth: You can't do it like that. You can't say au-dessus de sa gare.

It isn't that sort of station.

French without Tears (1937) act 1

Do you know what "le vice Anglais"--the English vice--really is? Not

flagellation, not pederasty--whatever the French believe it to be. It's

our refusal to admit our emotions. We think they demean us, I suppose.

In Praise of Love (1973) act 2

You can be in the Horseguards and still be common, dear.

Separate Tables (1954) "Table Number Seven" sc. 1

18.10 Gwen Raverat =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1885-1957

I have defined Ladies as people who did not do things themselves. Aunt

Etty was most emphatically such a person.

Period Piece (1952) ch. 7

18.11 Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The long hot summer.

Title of film (1958), based on stories by William Faulkner

18.12 Ted Ray (Charles Olden) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-1977

Ee, it was agony, Ivy.

Catch-phrase in Ray's a Laugh (BBC radio programme, 1949-61)

He's loo-vely, Mrs Hoskin...he's loo...ooo...vely!

Catch-phrase in Ray's a Laugh (BBC radio programme, 1949-61) in Raising

the Laughs (1952) p. 158

18.13 Sam Rayburn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1882-1961

If you want to get along, go along.

In Neil MacNeil Forge of Democracy (1963) ch. 6

18.14 Sir Herbert Read =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1893-1968

Do not judge this movement kindly. It is not just another amusing stunt.

It is defiant--the desperate act of men too profoundly convinced of the

rottenness of our civilization to want to save a shred of its

respectability.

Introduction to International Surrealist Exhibition Catalogue, New

Burlington Galleries, London, 11 June--4 July 1936

I saw him stab

And stab again

A well-killed Boche.

This is the happy warrior,

This is he....

Naked Warriors (1919) "The Scene of War, 4. The Happy Warrior"

18.15 Nancy Reagan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1923-

A woman is like a teabag--only in hot water do you realise how strong she

is.

In Observer 29 Mar. 1981

18.16 Ronald Reagan =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1911-

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating

jellybeans.

In New York Times 15 Jan. 1981

So in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to

beware the temptation of pride--the temptation blithely to declare

yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore

the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to

simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove

yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil.

Speech to National Association of Evangelicals, 8 Mar. 1983, in New York

Times 9 Mar. 1983

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation

which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

Said during radio microphone test, 11 Aug. 1984, in New York Times 13 Aug.

1984

We are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states

run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid

criminals since the advent of the Third Reich.

Speech following the hi-jack of a US plane, 8 July 1985, in New York Times

9 July 1985

We know that this mad dog of the Middle East has a goal of a world

revolution, Muslim fundamentalist revolution, which is targeted on many of

his own Arab compatriots and where we figure in that I don't know.

Said of Col. Gadaffi of Libya at press conference, 9 Apr. 1986, in New

York Times 10 Apr. 1986, p. A 22

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to

realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

At a conference in Los Angeles, 2 Mar. 1977, in Bill Adler Reagan Wit

(1981) ch. 5

18.17 Erell Reaves =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Lady of Spain, I adore you.

Right from the night I first saw you,

My heart has been yearning for you,

What else could any heart do?

Lady of Spain (1931 song; music by Tolchard Evans)

18.18 Henry Reed =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1914-1986

Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,

We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,

We shall have what to do after firing. But today,

Today we have naming of parts. Japonica

Glistens like coral in all of the neighbour gardens,

And today we have naming of parts.

A Map of Verona (1946) "Lessons of the War: 1, Naming of Parts"

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy

If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,

And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,

Which in our case we have not got; and the almond blossom

Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,

For today we have naming of parts.

A Map of Verona (1946) "Lessons of the War: 1, Naming of Parts"

And the various holds and rolls and throws and breakfalls

Somehow or other I always seemed to put

In the wrong place. And as for war, my wars

Were global from the start.

A Map of Verona (1946) "Lessons of the War: 3, Unarmed Combat"

As we get older we do not get any younger.

Seasons return, and today I am fifty-five,

And this time last year I was fifty-four,

And this time next year I shall be sixty-two.

A Map of Verona (1946) "Chard Whitlow (Mr Eliot's Sunday Evening

Postscript)"

It is, we believe,

Idle to hope that the simple stirrup-pump

Can extinguish hell.

A Map of Verona (1946) "Chard Whitlow (Mr Eliot's Sunday Evening

Postscript)"

And the sooner the tea's out of the way, the sooner we can get out the

gin, eh?

Private Life of Hilda Tablet (1954 radio play) in Hilda Tablet and

Others: four pieces for radio (1971) p. 60

Duchess: Of course we've all dreamed of reviving the castrati; but it's

needed Hilda to take the first practical steps towards making them

a reality.

Reeves: P-practical steps?

Duchess: Yes, thank God. She's drawn up a list of well-known singers

who she thinks would benefit from...treatment. Some of them have been

singing baritone, or even bass, for years. It's only a question of getting

them to agree.

Private Life of Hilda Tablet (1954 radio play) in Hilda Tablet and

Others: four pieces for radio (1971) p. 72

18.19 John Reed =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1887-1920

Ten days that shook the world.

Title of book (1919)

18.20 Max Reger =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1873-1916

Ich sitze in dem kleinsten Zimmer in meinem Hause. Ich habe Ihre Kritik

vor mir. Im n�chsten Augenblick wird sie hinter mir sein.

I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before

me. In a moment it will be behind me.

Letter to Munich critic Rudolph Louis in response to his review in

M�nchener Neueste Nachrichten, 7 Feb. 1906, in Nicolas Slonimsky Lexicon

of Musical Invective (1953) p. 139

18.21 Charles A. Reich =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1928-

The greening of America.

Title of book (1970)

18.22 Keith Reid and Gary Brooker =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A whiter shade of pale.

Title of song (1967) (performed by Procol Harum)

18.23 Erich Maria Remarque =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1898-1970

All quiet on the western front.

Title of translation of his novel Im Westen nichts Neues (Nothing New in

the West, 1929). Cf. the title of a poem by Ethel L. Beers: All Quiet

along the Potomac (1861)

18.24 Dr Montague John Rendall =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1862-1950

Nation shall speak peace unto nation.

Motto of the BBC, adapted from Micah 4:3 "Nation shall not lift up sword

against nation"

18.25 James Reston =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1909-

This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and

will not always conform to our whim.

In New York Times 16 Dec. 1964, p. 42

All politics, however, are based on the indifference of the majority.

In New York Times 12 June 1968, p. 46

18.26 David Reuben =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1933-

Everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask.

Title of book (1969)

18.27 Charles Revson =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1906-1975

In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope.

In A. Tobias Fire and Ice (1976) ch. 8

18.28 Malvina Reynolds =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1900-1978

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes all the same;

There's a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they're all made out of ticky-tacky

And they all look just the same.

Little Boxes (1962 song)

18.29 Quentin Reynolds =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1902-1965

There is an old political adage which says "If you can't lick 'em, jine

'em."

Wounded Don't Cry (1941) ch. 1

18.30 Cecil Rhodes =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1853-1902

Ask any man what nationality he would prefer to be, and ninety-nine out of

a hundred will tell you that they would prefer to be Englishmen.

In Gordon Le Sueur Cecil Rhodes (1913) p. 40

Rhodes chose this time [in December 1896] to awaken his friend Albert Grey

from his sleep one night in Bulawayo to ask him whether he had ever

considered how fortunate he was to be alive and in good health and to have

been born an Englishman, when so many millions of other human beings had

no such luck.

J. G. Lockhart and C. M. Woodhouse Rhodes (1963) p. 29

So little done, so much to do.

Said to Lewis Michell on the day he died, in Lewis Michell Life of Rhodes

(1910) vol. 2, ch. 39

18.31 Jean Rhys (Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

?1890-1979

The feeling of Sunday is the same everywhere, heavy, melancholy, standing

still. Like when they say "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever

shall be, world without end."

Voyage in the Dark (1934) ch. 4, pt. 1

18.32 Grantland Rice =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1880-1954

All wars are planned by old men

In council rooms apart.

The Final Answer (1955) "The Two Sides of War"