The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The better day, the worse deed.
‘An Exposition on the Old and New Testament’ (1710) Genesis ch. 3, v. 6, gloss 2
He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel.
‘An Exposition of the Old and New Testament’ (1710) Psalm 36, v. 2, gloss 1
They that die by famine die by inches.
‘An Exposition of the Old and New Testament’ (1710) Psalm 59, v. 15, gloss 5 (referring incorrectly to v. 13)
All this and heaven too.
Attributed
8.78 O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) 1862-1910
Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
‘Four Million’ (1906) ‘Gift of the Magi’
It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are.
‘Gentle Grafter’ (1908) ‘Octopus Marooned’
Turn up the lights; I don’t want to go home in the dark.
Last words, quoting 1907 song by Harry Williams, in Charles Alphonso Smith ‘O. Henry Biography’ (1916)
ch. 9.
8.79 Patrick Henry 1736-99
Caesar had his Brutus—Charles the First, his Cromwell—and George the
Third—(‘Treason,’ cried the Speaker)...may profit by their example. If this be treason, make
the most of it.
Speech in the Virginia assembly, May 1765, in William Wirt ‘Patrick Henry’ (1818) sect. 2, p. 65
I am not a Virginian, but an American.
In [John Adams’s] Notes of Debates in the Continental Congress, Philadelphia, 6 September 1774: L. H.
Butterfield (ed.) ‘Diary and Autobiography of John Adams’ (1961) vol. 2, p. 125
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
Speech in Virginia Convention, 23 March 1775, in William Wirt ‘Patrick Henry’ (1818) sect. 4, p. 123
8.80 Joseph Henshaw 1603-79
One doth but breakfast here, another dines, he that liveth longest doth but sup; we must all go
to bed in another world.
‘Horae Succisivae’ (1631) pt. 1, p. 80
8.81 Heraclitus fl. 513 B.C.
Everything flows and nothing stays.
In Plato ‘Cratylus’ 402a
You can’t step twice into the same river.
In Plato ‘Cratylus’ 402a
A man’s character is his fate.
‘On the Universe’ Fragment 121 (translated for Loeb Classical Library by W. H. S. Jones).