The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

9.11 Eugéne Ionesco 1912—
C’est une chose anormale de vivre.
Living is abnormal.
‘Le Rhinocèros’ (1959) act 1
Tu ne prèvois les èvènements que lorsqu’ils sont dèjá arrivès.
You can only predict things after they have happened.
‘Le Rhinocèros’ (1959) act 3
Un fonctionnaire ne plaisante pas.
A civil servant doesn’t make jokes.
‘Tueur sans gages’ (The Killer, 1958) act 1
9.12 Weldon J. Irvine
Young, gifted and black.
Title of song (1969)
9.13 Washington Irving 1783-1859
A woman’s whole life is a history of the affections.
‘The Sketch Book’ (1820) ‘The Broken Heart’
A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows
keener with constant use.
‘The Sketch Book’ (1820) ‘Rip Van Winkle’
They who drink beer will think beer.
‘The Sketch Book’ (1820) ‘Stratford-on-Avon’
There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse...it is often a comfort to
shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.
‘Tales of a Traveller’ (1824) ‘To the Reader’
The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion.
‘Wolfert’s Roost’ (1855) ‘The Creole Village’
9.14 Anne Ingram, Viscountess Irwin c.1696-1764
A female mind like a rude fallow lies;
No seed is sown, but weeds spontaneous rise.
As well might we expect, in winter, spring,
As land untilled a fruitful crop should bring.
‘An Epistle to Mr Pope. Occasioned by his Characters of Women’ in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ (1736)
Untaught the noble end of glorious truth,
Bred to deceive even from their earliest youth.
‘An Epistle to Mr Pope. Occasioned by his Characters of Women’ in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ (1736)
9.15 Christopher Isherwood 1904-86