The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

And if she won’t, she won’t; so there’s an end on’t.
From the Pillar Erected on the Mount in the Dane John Field, Canterbury, ‘Examiner’ 31 May 1829
Whilst Adam slept, Eve from his side arose:
Strange his first sleep should be his last repose.
‘The Consequence’
Who dares wins.
Motto on badge of British Special Air Service regiment, from 1942. J. L. Collins ‘Elite Forces: the
SAS’ (1986) introduction
Whose finger do you want on the trigger?
Headline in ‘Daily Mirror’ 21 September 1951
A willing foe and sea room.
Naval toast in the time of Nelson, in Beckett ‘A Few Naval Customs, Expressions, Traditions, and
Superstitions’ (1931)
Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tigerskin?
Or would you prefer
To err
With her
On some other fur?
In A. Glyn ‘Elinor Glyn’ (1955) bk. 2
Yet, if his majesty our sovereign lord
Should of his own accord
Friendly himself invite,
And say ‘I’ll be your guest tomorrow night’,
How should we stir ourselves, call and command
All hands to work!
From Christ Church MS
The young Sahib shot divinely, but God was very merciful to the birds.
In G. W. E. Russell ‘Collections and Recollections’ ch. 30
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
From a peepshow rhyme, in V. S. Lean ‘Collectanea’ (1902-4)
You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk-dancing.
Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953), quoting ‘a sympathetic Scot’, in ‘Farewell My Youth’ (1943) p. 17
1.68.2 French
Ça ira.
Refrain of ‘Carillon national’, popular song of the French Revolution, c.July 1790, translated as ‘Things will
work out’ by William Doyle in his ‘Oxford History of the French Revolution’ (1989) p. 129; the phrase is
believed to originate with Benjamin Franklin, who may have used it in 1776 when asked for news of the
American Revolution