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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

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Quelqu’un pourrait dire de moi que j’ai seulement fait ici un amas de fleurs ètrangéres, n’y<br />

ayant fourni du mien que le filet á les lier.<br />

It could be said <strong>of</strong> me that in this book I have only made up a bunch <strong>of</strong> other men’s flowers,<br />

providing <strong>of</strong> my own only the string that ties them together.<br />

‘Essais’ (1580) bk. 3, ch. 12<br />

1.153 Montesquieu (Charles-Louis Secondat) 1689-1755<br />

A man should be mourned at his birth, not his death.<br />

‘Lettres Persanes’ (1721) no. 40<br />

If triangles had a god, he would have three sides.<br />

‘Lettres Persanes’ (1721) no. 59<br />

Freedom is the right <strong>of</strong> doing whatever the laws permit.<br />

‘De l’Esprit des Lois’ (1748)<br />

Under moderate government, men are more attached to morals and less to religion; in despotic<br />

countries, they are more attached to religion and less to morals.<br />

‘De l’Esprit des Lois’ (1748)<br />

Les grands seigneurs ont des plaisirs, le peuple a de la joie.<br />

Great lords have their pleasures, but the people have fun.<br />

‘Pensèes et fragments inèdits de Montesquieu’ vol. 2 (1901) no. 992<br />

Les Anglais sont occupès; ils n’ont pas le temps d’être polis.<br />

<strong>The</strong> English are busy; they don’t have time to be polite.<br />

‘Pensèes et fragments inèdits de Montesquieu’ vol. 2 (1901) no. 1428<br />

Happy the people whose annals are blank in history-books!<br />

Attributed to Montesquieu by Thomas Carlyle, in ‘History <strong>of</strong> Frederick the Great’ bk. 16, ch. 1.<br />

1.154 Field-Marshal Montgomery (Viscount Montgomery <strong>of</strong> Alamein) 1887-1976<br />

Rule 1, on page 1 <strong>of</strong> the book <strong>of</strong> war, is: ‘Do not march on Moscow’...[Rule 2] is: ‘Do not go<br />

fighting with your land armies in China.’<br />

‘Hansard’ (Lords) 30 May 1962, col. 227<br />

I have heard some say...that such [homosexual] practices are allowed in France and in other<br />

NATO countries. We are not French, and we are not other nationals. We are British, thank God!<br />

Speaking on the 2nd reading <strong>of</strong> the Sexual Offences Bill; in ‘Hansard’ (Lords) 24 May 1965, col. 648<br />

1.155 Robert Montgomery 1807-55<br />

<strong>The</strong> solitary monk who shook the world.<br />

‘Luther: a Poem’ (1842) ch. 3 ‘Man’s Need and God’s Supply’<br />

And thou, vast ocean! on whose awful face<br />

Time’s iron feet can print no ruin-trace.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Omnipresence <strong>of</strong> the Deity’ (1830 ed.) pt. 1, l. 105

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