The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Or a ‘Ha! ha!’ or ‘Bah!’—a yawn, or ‘Pooh!’
Of which perhaps the latter is most true.
‘Don Juan’ (1819-24) canto 15, st. 1
A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.
‘Don Juan’ (1819-24) canto 15, st. 43
’Tis wonderful what fable will not do!
’Tis said it makes reality more bearable:
But what’s reality? Who has it’s clue?
Philosophy? No; she too much rejects.
Religion? Yes; but which of all her sects?
‘Don Juan’ (1819-24) canto 15, st. 89
Between two worlds life hovers like a star,
’Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon’s verge.
How little do we know that which we are!
How less what we may be!
‘Don Juan’ (1819-24) canto 15, st. 99
The worlds beyond this world’s perplexing waste
Had more of her existence for in her
There was a depth of feeling to embrace
Thoughts, boundless, deep, but silent too as space.
‘Don Juan’ (1819-24) canto 16, st. 48
The mind can make
Substance, and people planets of its own
With beings brighter than have been, and give
A breath to forms which can outlive all flesh.
‘The Dream’ (1816) st. 1
I’ll publish, right or wrong:
Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.
‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers’ (1809) l. 5
A man must serve his time to every trade
Save censure—critics all are ready made.
Take hackneyed jokes from Miller, got by rote,
With just enough of learning to misquote.
‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers’ (1809) l. 63
Each country Book-club bows the knee to Baal,
And, hurling lawful Genius from the throne,
Erects a shrine and idol of its own.
‘English Bards and Scotch Reviewers’ (1809) l. 138
Who, both by precept and example, shows