02.04.2013 Views

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Some to undo, and some to be undone.<br />

Translation <strong>of</strong> Ovid ‘<strong>The</strong> Art <strong>of</strong> Love’ bk. 1, l. 109<br />

She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,<br />

Can draw you to her with a single hair.<br />

Translation <strong>of</strong> Persius ‘Satires’ no. 5, l. 246<br />

Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by fate,<br />

And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate,<br />

Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.<br />

Translation <strong>of</strong> Virgil ‘Aeneid’ (‘Aeneis’, 1697) bk. 1, l. 1.<br />

We must beat the iron while it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure.<br />

‘Aeneis’ (1697) dedication<br />

Every age has a kind <strong>of</strong> universal genius, which inclines those that live in it to some particular<br />

studies.<br />

‘An Essay <strong>of</strong> Dramatic Poesy’ (1668)<br />

A thing well said will be wit in all languages.<br />

‘An Essay <strong>of</strong> Dramatic Poesy’ (1668)<br />

He was the man who <strong>of</strong> all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most<br />

comprehensive soul...He was naturally learn’d; he needed not the spectacles <strong>of</strong> books to read<br />

Nature: he looked inwards, and found her there...He is many times flat, insipid; his comic wit<br />

degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he is always great.<br />

‘An Essay <strong>of</strong> Dramatic Poesy’ (1668) on Shakespeare<br />

He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets, is only victory in<br />

him.<br />

‘An Essay <strong>of</strong> Dramatic Poesy’ (1668) on Ben Jonson<br />

If by the people you understand the multitude, the hoi polloi, ’tis no matter what they think;<br />

they are sometimes in the right, sometimes in the wrong: their judgement is a mere lottery.<br />

‘An Essay <strong>of</strong> Dramatic Poesy’ (1668)<br />

[Shakespeare] is the very Janus <strong>of</strong> poets; he wears almost everywhere two faces; and you have<br />

scarce begun to admire the one, ere you despise the other.<br />

‘Essay on the Dramatic Poetry <strong>of</strong> the Last Age’ (1672)<br />

What judgement I had increases rather than diminishes; and thoughts, such as they are, come<br />

crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose or reject; to run them into verse<br />

or to give them the other harmony <strong>of</strong> prose.<br />

‘Fables Ancient and Modern’ (1700) preface<br />

’Tis sufficient to say [<strong>of</strong> Chaucer], according to the proverb, that here is God’s plenty.<br />

‘Fables Ancient and Modern’ (1700) preface<br />

[Chaucer] is a perpetual fountain <strong>of</strong> good sense.<br />

‘Fables Ancient and Modern’ (1700) preface<br />

One <strong>of</strong> our late great poets is sunk in his reputation, because he could never forgive any conceit<br />

which came in his way; but swept like a drag-net, great and small. <strong>The</strong>re was plenty enough, but

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!