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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

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Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.<br />

If you seek for a monument, gaze around.<br />

Inscription in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, attributed to the son <strong>of</strong> the architect, Sir Christopher Wren<br />

Te Deum laudamus: Te Dominum confitemur.<br />

We praise thee, God: we own thee Lord.<br />

‘Te Deum’, hymn traditionally ascribed to St Ambrose and St Augustine in A.D. 387, though attributed by<br />

some modern scholars to St Niceta (d. c.414).<br />

In te Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum.<br />

Lord, I have set my hopes in thee, I shall not be destroyed for ever.<br />

‘Te Deum’.<br />

Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.<br />

Times change, and we change with them.<br />

In William Harrison ‘Description <strong>of</strong> Britain’ (1577) vol. 3, ch. 3, p. 99 (attributed to the Emperor Lothar I<br />

(795-855) in the form Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis All things change, and we change with them)<br />

Vox et praeterea nihil.<br />

A voice and nothing more.<br />

Describing a nightingale. Plutarch ‘Moralia’ ‘Sayings <strong>of</strong> Spartans’ no. 233a<br />

1.69 Jean Anouilh 1910-87<br />

Dieu est avec tout le monde....Et, en fin de compte, il est toujours avec ceux qui ont beaucoup<br />

d’argent et de grosses armèes.<br />

God is on everyone’s side....And, in the last analysis, he is on the side with plenty <strong>of</strong> money<br />

and large armies.<br />

‘L’Alouette’ (<strong>The</strong> Lark, 1953) p. 120.<br />

Tragedy is clean, it is restful, it is flawless.<br />

‘Antigone’ (1944)<br />

<strong>The</strong> spring is wound up tight. It will uncoil <strong>of</strong> itself. That is what is so convenient in tragedy.<br />

<strong>The</strong> least little turn <strong>of</strong> the wrist will do the job. Anything will set it going.<br />

‘Antigone’ (1944)<br />

Il y a l’amour bien sûr. Et puis il y a la vie, son ennemie.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is love <strong>of</strong> course. And then there’s life, its enemy.<br />

‘Ardéle’ (1949) p. 8<br />

Vous savez bien que l’amour, c’est avant tout le don de soi!<br />

You know very well that love is, above all, the gift <strong>of</strong> oneself!<br />

‘Ardéle’ (1949) p. 79<br />

C’est trés jolie la vie, mais cela n’a pas de forme. L’art a pour objet de lui en donner une<br />

prècisèment et de faire par tous les artifices possibles—plus vrai que le vrai.<br />

Life is very nice, but it has no shape. <strong>The</strong> object <strong>of</strong> art is actually to give it some and to do it by

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