The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Discretion is not the better part of biography.
In Michael Holroyd ‘Lytton Strachey’ vol. 1 (1967) preface
The verses, when they were written, resembled nothing so much as spoonfuls of boiling oil,
ladled out by a fiendish monkey at an upstairs window upon such passers-by whom the wretch
had a grudge against.
‘The Leslie Stephen Lecture 1925’ ‘On Alexander Pope’
The really interesting question is always the particular one, though it’s always the general one
that it’s possible to discuss.
‘The Really Interesting Question’ title essay
If this is dying, then I don’t think much of it.
On his deathbed, in Michael Holroyd ‘Lytton Strachey’ vol. 2 (1968) pt. 2, ch. 6
7.178 Igor Stravinsky 1882-1971
Tradition is entirely different from habit, even from an excellent habit, since habit is by
definition an unconscious acquisition and tends to become mechanical, whereas tradition results
from a conscious and deliberate acceptance...Tradition presupposes the reality of what endures.
‘Poetics of Music’
Conductors’ careers are made for the most part with ‘romantic’ music. ‘Classic’ music
eliminates the conductor; we do not remember him in it.
In Robert Craft ‘Conversations with Igor Stravinsky’ (1958)
Academism results when the reasons for the rule change, but not the rule.
In Robert Craft ‘Conversations with Igor Stravinsky’ (1958)
7.179 William Stubbs 1825-1901
Froude informs the Scottish youth
That parsons do not care for truth.
The Reverend Canon Kingsley cries
History is a pack of lies.
What cause for judgements so malign?
A brief reflection solves the mystery—
Froude believes Kingsley a divine,
And Kingsley goes to Froude for history.
Letter to J. R. Green, 17 December 1871, in ‘Letters of Stubbs’ (1904) p. 162
7.180 G. A. Studdert Kennedy 1883-1929
Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of Wealth,
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,