The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober.
Valerius Maximus ‘Facta ac Dicta Memorabilia’ (c. A.D. 32) 6, 2
Are we downhearted? No!
Expression much used by British soldiers in World War I, probably echoing Joseph Chamberlain.
A was an apple-pie;
B bit it;
C cut it.
John Eachard ‘Some Observations’ (1671)
A bayonet is a weapon with a worker at each end.
British pacifist slogan (1940)
A beast, but a just beast.
Describing Dr Temple, Headmaster of Rugby School, 1857-69
Be happy while y’er leevin,
For y’er a lang time deid.
Scottish motto for a house. ‘Notes & Queries’ 7 December 1901, 469
The best defence against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off.
Contributor to ‘British Army Journal’, in ‘Observer’ 20 February 1949
Better red than dead.
Slogan of nuclear disarmament campaigners, late 1950s
Bigamy is having one husband too many. Monogamy is the same.
In Erica Jong ‘Fear of Flying’ (1973) ch. 1 (epigraph)
A bigger bang for a buck.
Description of Charles E. Wilson’s defence policy, in ‘Newsweek’ 22 March 1954
Black is beautiful.
Slogan of American civil rights campaigners in the mid-1960s
Burn, baby, burn.
Black extremist slogan used in Los Angeles riots, August 1965
But at the coming of the King of Heaven
All’s set at six and seven:
We wallow in our sin.
Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn.
We entertain Him always like a stranger,
And as at first still lodge Him in the manger.
From Christ Church MS
A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
In ‘Financial Times’ 31 January 1976, though probably of earlier origin
Can’t act. Slightly bald. Also dances.
Studio official’s comment on Fred Astaire, in Bob Thomas ‘Astaire’ (1985) ch. 3
Careless talk costs lives.
World War II security slogan (popularly invented in the form ‘careless lives cost talk’)