The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop,
Marched them along, fifty-score strong,
Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.
God for King Charles! Pym and such carles
To the Devil that prompts ’em their treasonous parles!
‘Marching Along’ (1842)
And find a poor devil has ended his cares
At the foot of your rotten-runged rat-riddled stairs?
Do I carry the moon in my pocket?
‘Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha’ (1855) st. 29
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
‘Meeting at Night’ (1845)
Ah, did you once see Shelley plain,
And did he stop and speak to you
And did you speak to him again?
How strange it seems, and new!
‘Memorabilia’ (1855)
There’s a more hateful form of foolery—
The social sage’s, Solomon of saloons
And philosophic diner-out.
‘Mr Sludge, “The Medium”’ (1864) l. 773
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive.
‘My Last Duchess’ (1842) l. 1
She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
‘My Last Duchess’ (1842) l. 21
Never the time and the place
And the loved one all together!
‘Never the Time and the Place’ (1883)
A lion who dies of an ass’s kick,
The wronged great soul of an ancient Master.
‘Old Pictures in Florence’ (1855) st. 6
What’s come to perfection perishes.
Things learned on earth, we shall practise in heaven: