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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

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Art is a jealous mistress.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Conduct <strong>of</strong> Life’ (1860) ‘Wealth’<br />

<strong>The</strong> louder he talked <strong>of</strong> his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Conduct <strong>of</strong> Life’ (1860) ‘Worship’.<br />

I feel, in regard to this aged England...that she sees a little better on a cloudy day, and that, in<br />

storm <strong>of</strong> battle and calamity, she has a secret vigour and a pulse like a cannon.<br />

‘English Traits’ (1856) ‘Speech at Manchester’ (1847)<br />

Beauty will not come at the call <strong>of</strong> a legislature...It will come, as always, unannounced, and<br />

spring up between the feet <strong>of</strong> brave and earnest men.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Art’<br />

Conversation is a game <strong>of</strong> circles. In conversation we pluck up the termini which bound the<br />

common <strong>of</strong> silence on every side.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Circles’<br />

People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Circles’<br />

Thou art to me a delicious torment.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Friendship’<br />

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Friendship’<br />

<strong>The</strong> only reward <strong>of</strong> virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Friendship’<br />

We need books <strong>of</strong> this tart, cathartic virtue, more than books <strong>of</strong> political science or <strong>of</strong> private<br />

economy.<br />

On Plutarch’s Lives, in ‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Heroism’<br />

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‘Always do what you are<br />

afraid to do.’<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Heroism’<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is properly no history; only biography.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘History’.<br />

<strong>The</strong> faith that stands on authority is not faith.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘<strong>The</strong> Over-Soul’<br />

In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Prudence’<br />

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our<br />

own.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Self-Reliance’<br />

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin <strong>of</strong> little minds, adored by little statesmen and<br />

philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.<br />

‘Essays’ (1841) ‘Self-Reliance’<br />

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and

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