The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Beauteous the garden’s umbrage mild,
Walk, water, meditated wild,
And all the bloomy beds.
‘A Song to David’ (1763) st. 78
Glorious the northern lights astream;
Glorious the song, when God’s the theme;
Glorious the thunder’s roar:
Glorious hosanna from the den;
Glorious the catholic amen;
Glorious the martyr’s gore.
Glorious—more glorious is the crown
Of Him that brought salvation down
By meekness, called thy Son;
Thou that stupendous truth believed,
And now the matchless deed’s achieved,
Determined, dared, and done.
‘A Song to David’ (1763) st. 85
Ah! Posthumus, the years, the years
Glide swiftly on, nor can our tears
Or piety the wrinkled age forefend,
Or for one hour retard th’inevitable end.
Translation of Horace Odes bk. 2, no. 14.
7.104 Elizabeth Smart 1913-86
By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept.
Title of book (1945).
7.105 Samuel Smiles 1812-1904
We each day dig our graves with our teeth.
‘Duty’ (1880) p. 418
This extraordinary metal [iron], the soul of every manufacture, and the mainspring perhaps, of
civilised society.
‘Invention and Industry’ ch. 4
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.
‘Self-Help’ (1859) ch. 9
Cheerfulness gives elasticity to the spirit; spectres fly before it.
‘Self-Help’ (1859)
Middle class people are apt to live up to their incomes, if not beyond them: affecting a degree
of ‘style’ which is most unhealthy in its effects upon society at large.
‘Self-Help’ (1859)