The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

4.96 W. E. B. Du Bois (William Eward Burghardt Du Bois) 1868-1963
One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human beings will live and
progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth
simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long.
Last message, written 26 June, 1957, and read at his funeral, 1963, in ‘Journal of Negro History’ April 1964
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line—the relation of the
darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.
‘The Souls of the Black Folk’ (1903) ch. 2
Herein lies the tragedy of the ape: not that men are poor...not that men are wicked...but that
men know so little of men.
‘The Souls of the Black Folk’ (1903)
4.97 Stephen Duck 1705-56
Let those who feast at ease on dainty fare,
Pity the reapers, who their feasts prepare.
‘The Thresher’s Labour’ (1730)
Like Sisyphus, our work is never done;
Continually rolls back the restless stone.
‘The Thresher’s Labour’ (1730)
4.98 Mme Du Deffand (Marie de Vichy-Chamrond) 1697-1780
La distance n’y fait rien; il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte.
The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.
Commenting on the legend that St Denis, carrying his head in his hands, walked two leagues: letter to Jean Le
Rond d’Alembert, 7 July 1763, in Gaston Maugras ‘Trois mois á la cour de Frèdèric’ (1886) p. 28
4.99 George Duffield 1818-88
Stand up!—stand up for Jesus!
Ye soldiers of the Cross.
‘Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus’ (1858 hymn) in C. D. Cleveland ‘Lyra Sacra Americana’ (1868), the opening
line inspired by the dying words of the American evangelist, Dudley Atkins Tyng, to Duffield: ‘Tell them to
stand up for Jesus’
4.100 Georges Duhamel 1884-1966
Je respecte trop l’idèe de Dieu pour la rendre responsable d’un monde aussi absurde.
I have too much respect for the idea of God to make it responsible for such an absurd world.
‘Le dèsert de Biévres’ (1937) in ‘Chronique des Pasquier’ (1948) vol. 5, p. 249
4.101 Raoul Duke
See Hunter S. Thompson (8.36) in Volume II