The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Oh I believe in yesterday.
‘Yesterday’ (1965 song)
12.69 Dan Leno (George Galvin) 1860-1904
Ah! what is man? Wherefore does he why? Whence did he whence? Whither is he withering?
‘Dan Leno Hys Booke’ (1901) ch. 1
12.70 William Lenthall 1591-1662
I have neither eye to see, nor tongue to speak here, but as the House is pleased to direct me.
Said to Charles I on 4 January 1642, when asked if he saw any of the five M.P.s whom the King had ordered
to be arrested, in John Rushworth ‘Historical Collections. The Third Part’ vol. 2 (1692) p. 478
12.71 Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but rather memory.
Edward McCurdy (ed. and trans.) ‘Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebooks’ (1906) bk. 1, p. 54
Every man at three years old is half his height.
Irma A. Richter (ed.) ‘Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci’ (World’s Classics, 1952) p. 149
The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the
musician in that of invisible things.
Irma A. Richter (ed.) ‘Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci’ (World’s Classics, 1952) p. 198
Life well spent is long.
Irma A. Richter (ed.) ‘Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci’ (World’s Classics, 1952)
Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen;
even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.
Irma A. Richter (ed.) ‘Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci’ (World’s Classics, 1952)
[In Nature’s] inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.
Irma A. Richter (ed.) ‘Selections from the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci’ (World’s Classics, 1952)
12.72 Alan Jay Lerner 1918-86
Thank heaven for little girls!
For little girls get bigger every day.
‘Gigi’ (1958) ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls’ (music by Frederick Loewe)
I’m getting married in the morning,
Ding! dong! the bells are gonna chime.
Pull out the stopper;
Let’s have a whopper;
But get me to the church on time!
‘My Fair Lady’ (1956) ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’ (music by Frederick Loewe)
Why can’t a woman be more like a man?
Men are so honest, so thoroughly square;
Eternally noble, historically fair;