The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

On Oscar Wilde, in ‘Letters to the Sphinx’ (1930) p. 34
You don’t know a woman until you have had a letter from her.
‘Tenterhooks’ (1912) ch. 7
‘No hurry, no hurry,’ said Sir James, with that air of self-denial that conveys the urgent
necessity of intense speed.
‘The Twelfth Hour’ ch. 2
Before he left, Aunt William pressed a sovereign into his hand, as if it were conscience money.
He, on his side, took it as though it were a doctor’s fee, and both ignored the transaction.
‘The Twelfth Hour’ (1907) ch. 4
12.78 Bernard Levin 1928—
Paul Getty...had always been vastly, immeasurably wealthy, and yet went about looking like a
man who cannot quite remember whether he remembered to turn the gas off before leaving home.
‘The Pendulum Years’ (1970) ch. 1
In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way of life as when they are
about to abandon it, so that fanaticism and intolerance reach their most intense forms before
tolerance and mutual acceptance come to be the natural order of things.
‘The Pendulum Years’ (1970) ch. 4
Between them, then, the Walrus and Carpenter, they divided up the Sixties.
On the Harolds, Macmillan and Wilson, in ‘The Pendulum Years’ (1970) ch. 12
Whom the mad would destroy, they first make gods.
Of Mao Tse-Tung in 1967; Levin quoting himself in ‘The Times’ 21 September 1987.
A stag at bay with the mentality of a fox at large.
On Harold Macmillan; attributed
12.79 Duc de Lèvis 1764-1830
Noblesse oblige.
Nobility has its obligations.
‘Maximes et Rèflexions’ (1812 ed.) ‘Morale: Maximes et Prèceptes’ no. 73
Gouverner, c’est choisir.
To govern is to choose.
‘Maximes et Rèflexions’ (1812 ed.) ‘Politique: Maximes de Politique’ no. 19
12.80 Claude Lèvi-Strauss 1908—
La langue est une raison humaine qui a ses raisons, et que l’homme ne connaît pas.
Language is a form of human reason, and has its reasons which are unknown to man.
‘La Pensèe sauvage’ (1962) ch. 9.
12.81 G. H. Lewes (George Henry Lewes) 1817-78
Murder, like talent, seems occasionally to run in families.