The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Difficult though its metre was to tackle,
I’m glad I wrote it.
‘Lady Jane. Sapphics’
O pastoral heart of England! like a psalm
Of green days telling with a quiet beat.
‘Ode upon Eckington Bridge’
5.6 Josiah Quincy 1772-1864
As it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, definitely to prepare for a
separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must.
Abridgement of Debates of Congress vol. 4, p. 327, 14 January 1811.
5.7 Quintilian A.D. c.35-c.100
Satura quidem tota nostra est.
Verse satire indeed is entirely our own.
‘Institutio Oratoria’ bk. 10, ch. 1, sect. 93 (nostra meaning Roman as opposed to Greek)
6.0 R
6.1 François Rabelais c.1494-c.1553
L’appètit vient en mangeant.
The appetite grows by eating.
‘Gargantua’ (1534) 1, 5
Fay ce que vouldras.
Do what you like.
‘Gargantua’ (1534) 1, 57
Quaestio subtilissima, utrum chimera in vacuo bombinans possit comedere secundas
intentiones.
A most subtle question: whether a chimera bombinating in a vacuum can devour second
intentions.
‘Pantagruel’ 2, 7
Natura vacuum abhorret.
Nature abhors a vacuum.
‘Gargantua’ (1534) 1, 5, quoting, in Latin, an article of ancient wisdom. Compare Plutarch Moralia ‘De
placitis philosophorum’ 1, 18
Je vais quèrir un grand peut-être...Tirez le rideau, la farce est jouèe.
I am going to seek a great perhaps...Bring down the curtain, the farce is played out.
Attributed last words. Jean Fleury ‘Rabelais et ses oeuvres’ (1877) vol. 1, ch. 3, pt. 15, p. 130, where it is said
that none of his contemporaries authenticated the remarks, which have become part of the ‘Rabelasian legend’