The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

The cattle rise and listen
In valleys far and near,
And blush at what they hear.
But when the mists in autumn
On Bredon top are thick,
And happy hymns of farmers
Go up from fold and rick,
The cattle then are sick.
‘Two Poems, after A. E. Housman’ (1933) no. 2
God’s apology for relations.
On friends, in Michael Holroyd ‘The Best of Hugh Kingsmill’ (1970) introduction
Society is based on the assumption that everyone is alike and no one is alive.
In Michael Holroyd ‘Hugh Kingsmill’ (1964)
11.39 Neil Kinnock 1942—
I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, and I warn
you not to grow old.
On the prospect of a Conservative re-election, in speech at Bridgend, 7 June 1983; ‘Guardian’ 8 June 1983
They left their guts on Goose Green.
Referring to British soldiers of the Falklands War, a remark he was later to retract, in ‘Hansard’
11.40 Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936
When you’ve shouted ‘Rule Britannia’, when you’ve sung ‘God save the Queen’—
When you’ve finished killing Kruger with your mouth—
Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine
For a gentleman in Kharki ordered South?
He’s an absent-minded beggar and his weaknesses are great—
But we and Paul must take him as we find him—
He is out on active service, wiping something off a slate—
And he’s left a lot o’ little things behind him!
‘The Absent-Minded Beggar’ (1899) st. 1
England’s on the anvil—hear the hammers ring—
Clanging from the Severn to the Tyne!
Never was a blacksmith like our Norman King—
England’s being hammered, hammered, hammered into line!
‘The Anvil’ (1927)
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgement Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of earth!