The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Talis, inquiens, mihi videtur, rex, vita hominum praesens in terris, ad conparationem eius, quod
nobis incertum est, temporis, quale cum te residente ad caenam cum ducibus ac ministris tuis
tempore brumali,...adveniens unus passerum domum ci tissime, pervolaverit; qui cum per unum
ostium ingrediens, mox per aliud exierit. Ipso quidem tempore, quo intus est, hiemis tempestate
non tangitur, sed tamen parvissimo spatio serenitatis ad momentum excurso, mox de hieme in
hiemem regrediens, tuis ocul is elabitur. Ita haec vita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem
sequatur, quidve praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus.
‘Such,’ he said, ‘O King, seems to me the present life of men on earth, in comparison with the
time which to us is uncertain, as if when on a winter’s night you sit feasting with your ealdormen
and thegns,—a single sparrow should fly swiftly into the hall, and coming in at one door,
instantly fly out through another. In that time in which it is indoors it is indeed not touched by the
fury of the winter, but yet, this smallest space of calmness being passed almost in a flash, from
winter going into winter again, it is lost to your eyes. Somewhat like this appears the life of man;
but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant.’
‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ bk. 2, ch. 13
2.66 Harry Bedford and Terry Sullivan
I’m a bit of a ruin that Cromwell knocked about a bit.
‘It’s a Bit of a Ruin that Cromwell Knocked about a Bit’ (1920 song; written for Marie Lloyd)
2.67 Barnard Elliott Bee 1823-61
There is Jackson with his Virginians, standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here,
and we will conquer.
Referring to General T. J. (‘Stonewall’) Jackson at the battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861 (in which Bee himself
was killed), in B. Perley Poore ‘Perley’s Reminiscences’ (1886) vol. 2, ch. 7
2.68 Sir Thomas Beecham 1879-1961
There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public
doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between.
In Harold Atkins and Archie Newman ‘Beecham Stories’ (1978) p. 27
Like two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof.
Describing the harpsichord, in Harold Atkins and Archie Newman ‘Beecham Stories’ (1978) p. 34
A kind of musical Malcolm Sargent.
Describing Herbert von Karajan, in Harold Atkins and Archie Newman ‘Beecham Stories’ (1978) p. 61
Why do we have to have all these third-rate foreign conductors around—when we have so
many second-rate ones of our own?
In L. Ayre ‘Wit of Music’ (1966) p. 70
Hark! the herald angels sing!
Beecham’s Pills are just the thing,
Two for a woman, one for a child...