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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

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thinking, writing on what pleased me best. I have wanted only one thing to make me happy, but<br />

wanting that have wanted everything.<br />

‘Literary Remains’ (1836) ‘My First Acquaintance with Poets’<br />

No young man believes he shall ever die.<br />

‘Literary Remains’ (1836) ‘On the Feeling <strong>of</strong> Immortality in Youth’<br />

<strong>The</strong> dupe <strong>of</strong> friendship, and the fool <strong>of</strong> love; have I not reason to hate and to despise myself?<br />

Indeed I do; and chiefly for not having hated and despised the world enough.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Plain Speaker’ (1826) ‘On the Pleasure <strong>of</strong> Hating’<br />

<strong>The</strong> love <strong>of</strong> liberty is the love <strong>of</strong> others; the love <strong>of</strong> power is the love <strong>of</strong> ourselves.<br />

‘Political Essays’ (1819) ‘“<strong>The</strong> Times” Newspaper’<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Round Table’ (1817) ‘Observations on Mr Wordsworth’s Poem ‘<strong>The</strong> Excursion’’<br />

<strong>The</strong> art <strong>of</strong> pleasing consists in being pleased.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Round Table’ (1817) ‘On Manner’<br />

But <strong>of</strong> all footmen the lowest class is literary footmen.<br />

‘Sketches and Essays’ (1839) ‘Footmen’<br />

A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man.<br />

‘Sketches and Essays’ (1839) ‘Nicknames’<br />

<strong>The</strong> greatest <strong>of</strong>fence against virtue is to speak ill <strong>of</strong> it.<br />

‘Sketches and Essays’ (1839) ‘On Cant and Hypocrisy’<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is an unseemly exposure <strong>of</strong> the mind, as well as <strong>of</strong> the body.<br />

‘Sketches and Essays’ (1839) ‘On Disagreeable People’<br />

Rules and models destroy genius and art.<br />

‘Sketches and Essays’ (1839) ‘On Taste’<br />

Death cancels everything but truth; and strips a man <strong>of</strong> everything but genius and virtue. It is a<br />

sort <strong>of</strong> natural canonization.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Spirit <strong>of</strong> the Age’ (1825) ‘Lord Byron’<br />

<strong>The</strong> present is an age <strong>of</strong> talkers, and not <strong>of</strong> doers; and the reason is, that the world is growing<br />

old. We are so far advanced in the Arts and Sciences, that we live in retrospect, and doat in past<br />

achievement.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Spirit <strong>of</strong> the Age’ (1825) ‘Mr Coleridge’<br />

He writes as fast as they can read, and he does not write himself down...His worst is better than<br />

any other person’s best...His works (taken together) are almost like a new edition <strong>of</strong> human<br />

nature. This is indeed to be an author!<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Spirit <strong>of</strong> the Age’ (1825) ‘Sir Walter Scott’<br />

Mr Wordsworth’s genius is a pure emanation <strong>of</strong> the Spirit <strong>of</strong> the Age. Had he lived in any<br />

other period <strong>of</strong> the world, he would never have been heard <strong>of</strong>.<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Spirit <strong>of</strong> the Age’ (1825) ‘Mr Wordsworth’<br />

You will hear more good things on the outside <strong>of</strong> a stagecoach from London to <strong>Oxford</strong> than if<br />

you were to pass a twelvemonth with the undergraduates, or heads <strong>of</strong> colleges, <strong>of</strong> that famous

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