The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Cedet amor rebus; res age, tutus eris.
You who seek an end of love, love will yield to business: be busy, and you will be safe.
‘Remedia Amoris’ l. 143
Teque, rebellatrix, tandem, Germania, magni
Triste caput pedibus supposuisse ducis!
How you, rebellious Germany, laid your wretched head beneath the feet of the great general.
‘Tristia’ bk. 3, no. 12, l. 47
Sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos,
Et quod temptabam dicere versus erat.
Of its own accord my song would come in the right rhythms, and what I was trying to say was
poetry.
‘Tristia’ bk. 4, no. 10, l. 25
Vergilium vidi tantum.
I just saw Virgil.
‘Tristia’ bk. 4, no. 10, l. 51
3.39 John Owen c.1560-1622
God and the doctor we alike adore
But only when in danger, not before;
The danger o’er, both are alike requited,
God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.
‘Epigrams’.
3.40 Robert Owen 1771-1858
All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.
To his partner W. Allen, on severing business relations at New Lanark, 1828; attributed
3.41 Wilfred Owen 1893-1918
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity.
Preface (written 1918)
All a poet can do today is warn.
Preface (written 1918)
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
—Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;