The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.
‘MCMXIV’ (1964)
Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms
Inside your head, and people in them, acting.
People you know, yet can’t quite name.
‘The Old Fools’ (1974)
Don’t read too much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who’s yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap.
‘Study of Reading Habits’ (1964)
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
‘This Be The Verse’ (1974)
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
‘This Be The Verse’ (1974)
Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life?
Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off?
Six days of the week it soils
With its sickening poison—
Just for paying a few bills!
That’s out of proportion.
‘Toads’ (1955)
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road.
‘Toads Revisited’ (1964)
I thought of London spread out in the sun,
Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat.