I think of old British colonialists, bred to authority and the wide horizons, living out their pensioned lives in semi-detached houses of cramped suburbia

At the other end of life I have often met exiles from their own times. I think of old British colonialists, bred to authority and the wide horizons, living out their pensioned lives in semi-detached houses of cramped suburbia.

J. Morris, Trieste and the meaning of nowhere (2001), 74

Possesses still, at least for romantics like me, a fragrant sense of what might-have-been

The most appealing aspect of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, at least in retrospect, was its European cosmopolitanism. It had few black , brown or yellow subjects, but it contained within itself half the peoples of Europe. It was multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-faith, bound together only, whether willingly or unwillingly, by the imperial discipline. it was closer to the European community of the twenty-first century than to the British Empire of the the nineteenth and possesses still, at least for romantics like me, a fragrant sense of what might-have-been.

J. Morris, Trieste and the meaning of nowhere (2001), 32

would spend their last drop of blood against Popery but 'do not know whether it be a man or a horse.'

There were 10,000 stout fellows, as Daniel Defoe had written earlier in the century in The Behaviour of Servants, who would spend their last drop of blood against Popery but 'do not know whether it be a man or a horse.'

A. Fraser, The king and the catholics (2018), 3

The model for a husband

A Member of Parliament, with a small house near Eaton Square, with a moderate income, and a liking for committees, who would write a pamphlet once every two years, and read Dante critically during the recess, was, to her, the model for a husband.

A. Trollope, The Belton Estate (1865), 104

I hope to see all the Protestants fry in theire own grease beefore Michaelmas next

At that time [the beginning of the reign of James II] a limner was imployed to beautyfy the Parish church at Ellesmeare. This Clarke went to see his worke, and said, 'You doe well to leave the Church in good repaire for us; for you had it from us in good order.
The limner (knowing him to be a Papist) said, 'What, doe you think the Papists must have the Church?' '
Yes, I doe' says Clarke.
Then sayes the limner, 'What doe you think shall become of us Protestants?'
Then Clarke answeared, 'I hope to see all the Protestants fry in theire own grease beefore Michaelmas next.'

R. Gough, The history of Myddle (1700), ed. D. Hey (1981), 173-4

Unfit in cricketing ability so much as to tie up Boycott's bootlaces

Yorkshire were involved in another of those internal disputes which have been so much a part of their recent history. A clash between Ray Illingworth, manager of the Yorkshire team, and Geoff Boycott, hallowed by many of his fellow Yorkshiremen, revealed Headingley as a hotbed of dissension, with sides being manifestly taken. It seems an absurdity when young members of the Yorkshire team, unfit in cricketing ability so much as to tie up Boycott's bootlaces, were asked to vote on whether or not they wanted to play with him any more

J. Woodcock, 'Notes by the editor', id. (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1982), 90

And there was Warne, bowling beautifully with a method thought to have been relegated to the museum

Shortly after lunch on the first day the Edgbaston Test in 1993, Shane Warne was bowing leg-breaks to Alec Stewart, who had momentarily discarded both his helmet and his faded baseball cap in favour of a real, old-fashioned, three lions of England version. As he pushed forward he looked the image of his father at the crease. behind the stumps, there was Ian Healy wearing his baggy cap and air of ageless Australian aggression. And there was Warne, bowling beautifully with a method thought to have been relegated to the museum.

M. Engel, 'Notes by the editor', id. (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1994), 9

He has most unwarrantably abused the privilege which all politicians have of being ugly

Not content to deride his intelligence, hostile publications focused on his appearance. "Lincoln is the leanest, lankest, most ungainly mass of legs, arms and  hatchet-face ever strung upon a single frame. He has most unwarrantably abused the privilege which all politicians have of being ugly."

D.K. Goodwin, Team of Rivals (2005), 257-8

A relationship which was at odds long before women were given the vote

Cricket and family life have never been easy bedfellows. A relationship which was at odds long before women were given the vote appears to have reached a crisis of late ... The leading players are finding that cricket is making greater demands on them than ever before - and so are their wives.

D. Pringle, 'Don't marry a cricketer', T. de Lisle (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2003), 37

An arcane world - a world of averages, aggregates and algorithms - suddenly became accessible

When Romeo laid eyes on Juliet he gushed: "I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." A million cricket nuts felt much the same way the first time they logged on to StatsGuru on CricInfo. Hearts skipped. Pulses danced. Minds boggled. An arcane world  - a world of averages, aggregates and algorithms - suddenly became accessible. The impossible was possible.

C. Ryan, 'No anorak required', T. de Lisle (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2003), 60

The siding became a sea wall holding back the waves of housing

A few steps on and the ground gave way on either side, giving the impression of being on an elevated causeway. To my left, through the bare shrubbery, the siding became a sea wall holding back the waves of housing. Tidy terracotta boxes with grey roofs rolled with the landscape's contours like a swelling ocean, its peaks and troughs awash with the debris of suburbia: wires, cars, caravans and, cresting the waves, the square tower of a church, a tree or two and a dull defiance of offices.

R. Cowan, Common ground (2015), 19

In fact the speaker had been describing some species of wildfowl

Once I told Thesiger of a cocktail party in London where in a momentary dead silence a voice went on loudly with the last words of a sentence "... and only copulate at two O'Clock in the morning, in running water." "Ah," said Thesiger, "Sabians"; but in fact the speaker had been describing some species of wildfowl.

G. Maxwell, A reed shaken by the wind (1957), 191

And don't send Jesus. This is no job for a boy

During a competition at Deal [Viscount Castlerosse] buried his ball in a bunker: the crowd that gathered to see how he would extricate it watched as he cried to the skies, 'Oh God, come down and help me with this shot. And don't send Jesus. This is no job for a boy.'

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 302

Perhaps as much as 50 per cent of all agricultural land ... [was] devoted to game conservation

By 1911 there were around 25,000 keepers employed on estates in England, Wales and Scotland; and the disadvantages to the tenant farmer of so much countryside - perhaps as much as 50 per cent of all agricultural land - being devoted to game conservation was causing disquiet in official circles.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 292

As a matter of course, young ladies do not eat cheese at dinner parties

'A member of the Aristocracy' recommended that young women should steer clear of the more highly seasoned dishes ('middle-aged and elderly ladies are at liberty to do pretty much as they please'). They should also avoid artichokes, because it was impossible to eat them elegantly; and 'as a matter of course, young ladies do not eat cheese at dinner parties'.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 278-9

Then they prised up a floorboard at the other end and unleashed a ferret

In the 1920s, Lord and Lady Braye were baffled by the prospect of having to run cables through their long ballroom without wrecking its delicate eighteenth century stuccowork. Then someone had a bright idea: they prised up a floorboard at one end and dropped a dead rabbit into the void; then they prised up a floorboard at the other end and unleashed a ferret, with a string tied to his collar. When the ferret had managed to negotiate the joists and reached the rabbit the string was used to pull through the cable and hey presto! the problem was solved.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 152

Light, sun and air were prized in a way that medieval and Tudor forebears would have found incomprehensible. So were bathrooms.

The balancing act which so many owners of older country houses had to perform was to live in a congenial 'muddle of museum carpets [and] ruined castles' - Harold Nicolson's description of life at Sissinghurst - and still have mod cons and home comforts. The older the house way, the harder that was. By the 1920s light, sun and air were prized in a way that medieval and Tudor forebears would have found incomprehensible. So were bathrooms.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 137

But if you put 1 billion people on the wrong continent you can still get hired

A single typo in your CV and you probably don't get the job. But if you put 1 billion people on the wrong continent you can still get hired. You can even get a promotion.

Most Western employees in large multinationals and financial institutions are still trying to operate according to a deeply rooted, outdated, and distorted worldview.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 251

Most countries that make great economic and social progress are not democracies

I strongly believe that liberal democracy is the best way to run a country. People like me, who believe this, are often tempted to argue that democracy leads to, or is even a requirement for, other good things, like peace, social progress, health improvements, and economic growth. But here's the thing, and it is hard to accept: the evidence does not support this stance.

Most countries that make great economic and social progress are not democracies ...Of the ten countries with the fastest economic growth in the years 2012-2016, nine of them score low on democracy.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 201

In the deepest poverty you should not do anything perfectly. If you do you are stealing resources from where they can be better used

I remember the words of Ingegerd Rooth, who had been working as a missionary nurse in Congo and Tanzania before she became my mentor. She always told me, "In the deepest poverty you should not do anything perfectly. If you do you are stealing resources from where they can be better used."

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 127

It wasn't radioactivity, but the fear of radioactivity, that killed them

People escaped the province [of Fukushima] as fast as they could, but 1,600 more people died. It was not the leaking radioactivity that killed them. Not one person has yet been reported as having died from the very thing that people were fleeing from. Those 1,600 people died because they escaped. They were mainly old people who died because of the mental and physical stresses of the evacuation itself or of life in evacuation shelters. It wasn't radioactivity, but the fear of radioactivity, that killed them.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 115

There were no camera teams around as these children fainted in the arms of their crying parents

For ten days or so in 2015 the world was watching the images from Nepal [from the earthquake], where 9,000 people had died. During the sane ten days diarrhea from contaminated drinking water also killed 9,000 children across the world. There were no camera teams around as these children fainted in the arms of their crying parents.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 111

When I heard old men round the fire telling legendary tales of courage and generosity, it was ... of tattered herdsmen in the deserts of Arabia

Alexander too had passed this way, and in Central Asia the magic of his name still lingers in the mountain valleys where men swear they are descended from his soldiers. In Iraq, however, he was forgotten. When I heard old men round the fire telling legendary tales of courage and generosity, it was never of two-horned Alexander that they spoke, nor of Caliphs who had ruled in splendour in Baghdad, but of tattered herdsmen in the deserts of Arabia.

W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964), 97

As people are more important to me than places I decided to return to the Arabs

Besides, being fond of Arabs, it was probable that I could never really like Kurds, Although the landscape appealed to me the people did not. Admittedly I was hampered by not speaking their language, but even had I done so I felt I should still have not liked them. As people are more important to me than places I decided to return to the Arabs.

W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964), 20-21

This is the kind of brutal introduction that I don't think you could publish anymore.

It's not that Kansas is the best place to grow wheat - it's that wheat is the only thing that will grow in Kansas

From 1850 to 1950, he [Steve Jones] discovered, there were more than 143 varieties of wheat grown in Washington. And Whidbey Island, just west of the Skagit valley, had set the world record with one wheat crop of nearly 120 bushels an acre.

"People say wheat is 'out of place' around here," he said. "I always get a kick out of that. A place like Kansas is considered real wheat country. But that's not correct. It's not that Kansas is the best place to grow wheat - it's that wheat is the only thing that will grow in Kansas."

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 400

Leaving aside the low statistical rating of dustmen among Eton parents

The official justification for this primitive rite [fagging] was that it was a great 'leveller', as every boy, whether the son of a duke or a dustman, had to go through it. Leaving aside the low statistical rating of dustmen among Eton parents, it has been my observation that dukes, even royalty,, who were cut down to size by the process, have had little difficulty in reverting, within a few short years, to the manner to which they were born.

H. Lyttleton, It just occurred to me ... (2006), 25

Ham is God speaking

I was reminded of once hearing a young Spanish chef describe what iberico ham meant to him: "Ham?" he said with a broad smile. "Ham is God speaking."

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 163

Less than a hundred years later, only 4 percent of farms had chickens

In 1900, diversification (at least on some level) was inherent in agriculture; 98 percent of farms had chickens, 82 percent grew corn, and 80 percent raised milk cows and pigs. Less than a hundred years later, only 4 percent of farms had chickens, 25 percent grew corn, 8 percent had milk cows, and 10 percent raised pigs. And, in may cases, the farms producing these commodities did so exclusively.

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 74

There were four kinds of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina

For economists, Argentina is a perplexing country. To illustrate how difficult it was to understand Argentina, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Simon Kuznets once famously remarked that there were four kinds of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina. Kuznets thought so because, around the time of the First World War, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. 

D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, Why Nations Fail (2012), 384

This was a very large state budget for the period, and is in fact larger than what we see today in many parts of the world

[After 1688 in England] The state started expanding, with expenditures soon reaching around 10 percent of national income. This was underpinned by an expansion of the tax base ... This was a very large state budget for the period, and is in fact larger than what we see today in many parts of the world. The state budgets in Colombia, for example, reached this relative size only in the 1980s. In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa - for example, in Sierra Leone - the state budget even today would be far smaller relative to the size of the economy without large inflows of foreign aid. 

D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, Why Nations Fail (2012), 196

Subsisting on a handful of dates and occasional sip of camel's piss

The sort of man who will happily walk barefoot for months across a waterless desert, subsisting on a handful of dates and occasional sip of camel's piss, but when back of civilisation, cannot endure the most trivial discomfort. He becomes frantic even if his egg isn't boiled right for breakfast.

John Verney, cited in A. Maitland, Wilfred Thesiger (2007), 139

I thought it sounded a deadly, deadly dull country to live in

In his seventies he said: 'I imagined that England was like India. I was very disappointed when my father told me that, in England, there were none of the animals or birds I knew. No hyenas, no oryx, no kites. I thought it sounded a deadly, deadly dull country to live in.'

A. Maitland, Wilfred Thesiger (2007), 51

Richelieu omitted to mention those little items of the five-million-a-year income

In describing himself as a Promethean saviour, a voluntary scapegoat for the suffering of the people, Richelieu omitted to mention those little items of the five-million-a-year income, the dukedom, the absolute power, the precedence over princes of the blood, the fawnings and flatteries of all who approached him.

A. Huxley, Grey Eminence (1941), 147

These pleasant, friendly people ... they were all heretics, and therefore irrevocably doomed

He enjoyed himself in England, and he liked the English. And precisely because he like them, his happy exhilaration at being among them evaporated. These pleasant, friendly people, who spoke Latin with such a deliciously comic accent - they were all heretics, and therefore irrevocably doomed.

A. Huxley, Grey Eminence (1941), 33

Now her descendant did not know what a napkin ring was

It has come to this. Time was, that life could not proceed appropriately for a family such as my grandmother's without ownership of sauce ladles, knife rests and ivory-handled crumb scoops. Now her descendant did not know what a napkin ring was.

P. Lively, A House unlocked (2001), 197

One of the worst plights of the twentieth century has been to be Russian - at any point

One of the worst plights of the twentieth century has been to be Russian - at any point. They fought in the Great War with the other Allies. Then came the Revolution. Then the Civil War. Then the Red Terror. Then the Second World War. And beyond all this there was Stalin: Siberia lay in wait, and the gulags. Those of us who have spent most of our life in a politically stable country in peacetime can only look back in horror. And in ignorance. This is a dimension of distress that is barely conceivable.

P. Lively, A House unlocked (2001), 87

Two powerful forces of enlightenment - television and general mobility

Peering back into the 1940s, it is difficult to realize how deeply polarized society was then - even for one who was around at the time and exposed to its stringent rules and assumptions. There is a fair amount of mutual ignorance today between city and country, but it is tempered by two powerful forces of enlightenment - television and general mobility. The sight, sound and function of the countryside are familiar to all, if only through the windows of a car or as the backdrop to some news item or rural drama series.

P. Lively, A House unlocked (2001), 36

Exmoor itself was a relatively recent discovery

Exmoor itself was a relatively recent discovery, opened up by the railway in much the same way as the Rocky Mountains or the Sierra Nevada. People had not realized it was there - except of course those who had been living and working in those parts for centuries. but from the moment Isambard Kingdom Brunel's line snaked west towards the toe of the country and in due course threw out tentacles to net the whole of the peninsula, nothing would ever be the same again. 

P. Lively, A House unlocked (2001), 9

The only surprise about his two centuries on a farewell first-class trip to Lord's was that he needed a bridge to cross the river

It was Sangakkara, though, who spectators came to watch, and the authority and precision of his strokeplay were much admired, not least by fellow players. The only surprise about his two centuries on a farewell first-class trip to Lord's was that he needed a bridge to cross the river.

R. Spiller, 'Surrey', L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2018), 587

The system that specialised in preventing you

'In Erfurt, I became radicalised against the system. The system that specialised in preventing you. Preventing you full stop.'

I had felt the same at sixteen, in the same system. I'd felt old before I was young. In a liberal democracy, Felix would have been a run-of-the-mill anarchist, a regular angry young man, and his rebellion would have run its course. But not in East Germany in 1971.

K. Kassabova, Border (2017), 92

Never mind 2015: this could have been 1895

You might describe it as a series of its time - cricket for the attention-deprived, 140-character age. And yet there was something queerly retro about it all. Three-day tests? Pitifully low totals? England v Australia playing each other every few months to the exclusion of almost anything else? Never mind 2015: this could have been 1895.

J. Liew, 'England v Australia in 2015', L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2016), 334

This was a duty, an obligation, the right thing to do.

Perhaps nothing summed him up better than the last of the several pieces he wrote for Wisden: a tribute to his friend and hero Keith Miller in 2005. the editor muttered apologetically about the feebleness of the fee.  No, he said, he didn't want a fee. This was a duty, an obligation, the right thing to do.

'Obituaries: Benaud, Richard', L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2016), 195

I am a sucker for these moments. For a variety of reasons, there are lots in Wisden 2016. I liked this one best.

This was touching, but not a policy found in most textbooks on sporting governance

Tendulkar's 200th test should have been in Cape Town, but politics and money put paid to that: the BCCI wanted to bloody the nose of CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat, and there were broadcasters to sate. Besides, Tino Best and Darren Sammy were less likely than Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel to embarrass an ageing superstar. Most conveniently, perhaps, the setting allowed Tendulkar's mother to watch him play for the first time. This was touching, but not a policy found in most textbooks on sporting governance.

L. Booth, 'Notes by the Editor', id. (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2014), 22

And then the batting, and batting, and more beautiful batting

The rest is an Indian fairytale: Laxman the last man out in the first innings for a dashing 59, asked to keep his pads on by his captain and the coach, swapping positions with a struggling Dravid in the follow-on, the two coming together in the second innings with Laxman almost upon his century but India still behind Australia’s first-innings total.

And then the batting, and batting, and more beautiful batting, over a short evening, the whole of March 14, and then some more. Laxman curling the ball through imperceptible gaps, Dravid regaining lost form through pure unblinking will, Laxman now flick-pulling the fast bowlers as if tossing frisbees, now driving them on the rise, sinuous jabs that raced improbably across the big green outfield, Dravid now blocking, now shouldering arms, now leaning back to cut, the old sureness slowly redeveloping, Laxman inside-outing Warne miraculously from far outside leg stump, now whipping him against the turn, Dravid, fully restored, emboldened to come down the track himself and wrist Warne across his break, all of this in the huge sound and growing belief of a hundred thousand in Eden Gardens, an energy that must be experienced to be understood.

R. Bhattacharya, 'Two southern gentlemen', L. Booth, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2013), 131-2

Once upon a time, Amla would have been the player required to leave his homeland

Once upon a time, Amla would have been the player required to leave his homeland to realise his potential and live out his dreams. It would have been the destiny of Pietersen, with his expensive Pietermaritzburg education and his apparently inviolable sense of self-certainty, to wear the national cap

B. Carpenter, 'South African Time', L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' (2013), 116

Some see it as a place for people who are still coming to terms with the death of Edward VII

Canterbury divides opinion. Some see it as a place for people who are still coming to terms with the death of Edward VII:  a theme park for vaguely distracted gentlefolk, who find the sport engaging but would really rather be pacifying the North West frontier or civilising the dusty outback

P. Collins, 'Canterbury week: Fascinating! It's Ladies' Day', S. Berry (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2011), 70

I really, really, want to go to watch Kent play.

Two standing ovations: the first full of expectation, the second tinged invariably with regret

Tendulkar was also 38, and his fifth tour of England was widely assumed to be his last.. Each of his eight innings was accompanied by two standing ovations: the first full of expectation, the second tinged invariably with regret.

A. Miller, 'England v India 2011', L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2012), 298

English cricket contained no more than half a dozen left wingers

Some of the reaction to the prison sentences handed out to Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamar recalled John Arlott's suspicion that English cricket contained no more than half a dozen left wingers.

L. Booth, 'Notes by the editor', id. (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2012), 21

Deducting one fixture abandoned owing to the death of King Edward

Deducting one fixture abandoned owing to the death of King Edward and five curtailed on account of the funeral, 176 matches were played in the Championship.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1911), cited in S. Berry (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2010), 1699

I once asked him, in Annie's Bar, what sort of whisky he liked. 'Large ones'

He did not aspire to the Tory beau monde. He was solidly bourgeois and highly intelligent. He liked good wine, whisky and Havana cigars. He was not, however, at all fussy. I once asked him, in Annie's Bar, what sort of whisky he liked. 'Large ones,'

Alan Watkins, cited in D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 514

In closer possession of religious truths than the Pope himself

The reference to the Holy Father was not, actually, very opportune: Carolina was one of those Catholics who consider themselves to be in closer possession of religious truths than the Pope himself; and a few moderate declarations of Pius X, the abolition of some secondary feast days in particular, had already exasperated her."This Pope would do better to mind his own business." Then she began to wonder if she hand't gone too far, crossed herself and muttered a Gloria Patri. 

G. Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958), tr. A. Colquhon (1961), 176

A man of forty-five can consider himself still young till the moment comes when he realises that he has children old enough to fall in love

A man of forty-five can consider himself still young till the moment comes when he realises that he has children old enough to fall in love. The Prince felt old age come over him in one blow

G. Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958), tr. A. Colquhon (1961), 47

Aww, mate, I just shuffle up and go wang

When asked to describe his bowling action, Jeff Thomson replied in typically laconic fashion: "Aww, mate, I just shuffle up and go wang." it was the perfect description of what he did, except it failed to reveal the carnage resulting from a simple "wang".

I. Chappell, 'Never a cricketer of the year: Jeff Thomson', S. Berry (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2008), 115

Tastes like sugared rainwater caught down a chimney

Episcopacy is a good thing; but it may be happen that a bishop is not a good thing. Just as brandy is a good thing, though this particular bottle is British, and tastes like sugared rainwater caught down a chimney.

G. Eliot, Scenes of clerical life (1858), 206
From 2010.

When I’m gone I don’t want any of these two-faced bastards who I didn’t get on with standing up and saying nice things about me

Fred mellowed in old age, but only in the sense that he was prepared to forgive and forget on a selective basis. Making it up with Geoffrey Boycott after both men fell out during one of Yorkshire’s civil wars was well-met. But on other deeper disputes he was implacable. He left the room and never returned. After he died, we expected a memorial service. It was not to be, and on his express orders. His final instructions were: “When I’m gone I don’t want any of these two-faced bastards who I didn’t get on with standing up and saying nice things about me.”

M. Parkinson, 'Bloody-minded, beautiful, t'best', M. Engel (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2007), 46

To my amusement at least, this article appeared in The Times with the headline
A working class hero who only wanted to be an entertainer. I know which one I prefer.

If you have grandchildren, take them

The Oval, Southampton, Canterbury, Edgbaston, Arundel, Chester-le-Street, Old Trafford, Worcester, Headingley.  These are the grounds where (subject to fitness etc), Shane Warne is due to bowl for Hampshire in  first class-cricket in 2007. If you have grandchildren, take them, if you don't, go anyway - so you can tell them.

M. Engel, 'Notes by the editor', id. (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2007), 26

I took my parents.

For over twenty-five centuries we’ve been bearing the weight of superb and heterogeneous civilisations

We Sicilians have become accustomed, by long, a very long hegemony of rulers who were not of our religion and did not speak our language, to split hairs. If we had not done so we’d never have coped with the Byzantine tax gatherers, with Berber Emirs, with Spanish Viceroys. Now the bent is endemic, we’re made like that. I said ‘support’, I did not say ‘participate’. 

... 

In Sicily it doesn‘t matter about doing things well or badly; the sin which we Sicilians never forgive is simply that of ‘doing’ at all. We are old, Chevalley, very old. For over twenty-five centuries we’ve been bearing the weight of superb and heterogeneous civilisations, all from outside, none made by ourselves, none that we could call own own. We’re as white as you are, Chevalley, and as the queen of England; and yet for two thousand five hundred years we’ve been a colony. I don’t say that in complaint; it’s our fault. But even so we’re worn our and exhausted.’

G. Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958), tr. A. Colquhon (1961),122

One had to read the books of second-rate novelists to have an authentic picture of an epoch

Elsewhere he (Lampedusa) argued that history could not be understood properly without a knowledge of literature, especially minor literature. To find out what shopkeepers and railway workers were thinking in the 1920s, he remarked, there was not point reading the works of Giovanni Gentile. One had to read the books of second-rate novelists to have an authentic picture of an epoch, and although this might require patience, a strong stomach and a dose of bad taste, it was worth it. 'Ungrammatical, illogical, hysterical, ignorant, fatuous, "snobbish", in short pitiful as they are, they give us the true portrait of Demos, our lord and master. One has to read them.

D. Gilmour, The last leopard (1988, revised edition 2007), 46

If the latter [religion] is truly opium for the masses, cricket remains purely its marijuana

Cricket is like religion, it is said of the subcontinent, and of India in particular. For India's neighbour, though, the analogy assumes a deeper, more convoluted significance. In Pakistan, cricket is not really like a religion. If the latter is truly opium for the masses, cricket remains purely its marijuana: teasingly recreational, and definite not as all-consuming.

O. Samiuddin, 'With Allah on their side', M. Engel (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2006), 44

[The BBC] was being semi-seriously bracketed with 'Parliament, Monarchy, Church and the Holy Ghost

The BBC was not merely a national institution but a powerful and definitive expression of national will and character. ... With guaranteed funding from a mandatory licence fee, and privileged access to a captive market, it enjoyed resources and opportunities unmatched anywhere else in the world, and within a few years it was being semi-seriously bracketed with 'Parliament, Monarchy, Church and the Holy Ghost.' By the end of the Second World War, it had become 'an additional established church, a source of authority over the language, an arbiter of national taste, a national musical impresario and a re-invigorator of national drama and song.

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 379

I said, 'Are these people ready for self-government?' And he said , 'No, of course not.'

Many officials thought the pace of change was too fast, but acknowledged that they simply had no choice, as Macmillan discovered when he talked to the Governor-General of Nigeria [James Robertson]:

I said, 'Are these people ready for self-government?' And he said , 'No, of course not.'

I said, 'When will they be ready?' He said, 'Twenty years, twenty-five years.'

Then I said, 'What do you recommend me to do?' He said, 'I recommend you give it to them at once.'

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 289

The fuller quote, which is here, is thoughtful on why, though of course is of its time.

Year after year, the wonderful folks at the ICC assemble the world's best players and get them to play bad cricket

Year after year, the wonderful folks at the ICC assemble the world's best players and get them to play bad cricket. If they staged W.G.'s XI v The Don's XI at the Elysian Oval with S.F. Barnes bowling to victor Trumper, they would find some way of making the occasion dismal. It's a gift real: a kind of anti-showmanship.

M. Engel, 'Notes by the editor', id. (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2006), 17

Very recently this country spent a great deal of blood and treasure rescuing four of 'em from attacks by the other two

in 1967, when old and frail, Attlee was asked to address a group of anti-European Labour backbenchers, and obliged with a characteristically terse speech that captured the sentiments of many of his fellow citizens: 'The Common Market.The so-called Common Market of six nations. Know them all well. Very recently this country spent a great deal of blood and treasure rescuing four of 'em from attacks by the other two.'

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 220

The people of Woodford felt they belonged to a friendly, helpful community almost as unanimously as the people of Bethnal Green

Wilmott and Young expected to fund that the 'warmth and friendliness' that they had found in Bethnal Green had no equivalent in a middle-class commuter suburb, where the people were supposed to be frustrated, selfish  and lonely. But what they discovered was precisely the opposite. 'People in the suburb', they concluded, 'are on the whole friendly, neighbourly and helpful to each other. They attend churches and clubs together, they like (or at any rate profess to like) their follow-residents. ... [']The people of Woodford felt they belonged to a friendly, helpful community almost as unanimously as the people of Bethnal Green.'

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 125

It was the party of Empire, the King and the flag, and that was good enough for him

Powell was a man of almost obsessive passions, from Housman and Nietzsche to High Anglicanism and hunting. He was, in short, a nineteenth-century romantic, zealous and uncompromising, a man of causes. His decision to join the Conservative Party, for example, was based less on social and economic principles than on sheer romantic traditionalism. It was the party of Empire, the King and the flag, and that was good enough for him. 

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 85

By January 1958, the entire government comprised some eight-five ministers, of whom thirty-five were related to Macmillan by marriage

This was largely overshadowed, however, by the fact that the Cabinet itself had a very narrow social base. Of the sixteen members in January 1957, six had been at Eton, only two had not attended a major public school, and, as usual, there were no women at all. Even more remarkably, the government as a whole was crammed to the seams with Macmillan's own relatives. By January 1958, the entire government comprised some eight-five ministers, of whom thirty-five were related to Macmillan by marriage, including seven of the nineteen members of the cabinet.

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 78

Not while I'm alive he ain't

Unfortunately for Bevan, many of his own party colleagues detested him. Told that Bevan was his own worst enemy, the powerful trade unionist and Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin commented: 'Not while I'm alive he ain't.' Herbert Morrison called him 'wicked', and Hugh Dalton wrote of his making 'a violent speech, of nauseating egoism and sweating with hatred'.

D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), 55-56

That does not sound much like Prussia

'Politics are the last thing we need. This at least I learned with the brethren at Neudietendorf. The state should be one family bound by love.'
'That does not sound much like Prussia,' said the Kreisamtmann.

P. Fitzgerald, The blue flower (1995), 76

From one village to the next you change language

That's in Russia! I had to look it up in an atlas. Not far from the Baltic Sea. There are several small countries in those parts: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia ... With Poland and Russia surrounding them. The national borders don't match ethnic boundaries. From one village to the next you change language. And on top of that you've got Jews spread all over, constituting a separate race. And besides that, there are the communists!

G. Simenon, Pietr the Latvian (1930) tr. D. Bellos (2013), 129

The dream is over. It's just the same, only I'm thirty, and a lot of people have got long hair

I don't know about the "history"; the people who are in control and in power, and the class system and the whole bullshit bourgeoisie is exactly the same, except there is a lot of fag middle class kids with long, long hair walking around London in trendy clothes, and Kenneth Tynan is making a fortune out of the word "fuck." Apart from that, nothing happened. We all dressed up, the same bastards are in control, the same people are runnin' everything. It is exactly the same.

We've grown up a little, all of us, there has been a change and we're all a bit freer and all that, but it's the same game. Shit, they're doing exactly the same thing, selling arms to South Africa, killing blacks on the street, people are living in fucking poverty, with rats crawling over them. It just makes you puke, and I woke up to that too.

The dream is over. It's just the same, only I'm thirty, and a lot of people have got long hair. That's what it is, man, nothing happened except that we grew up, we did our thing – just like they were telling us. You kids – most of the so called "now generation" are getting a job. We're a minority, you know, people like us always were, but maybe we are a slightly larger minority because of maybe something or other.

John Lennon, Interview with J.S. Wenner, Rolling Stone (Feb 4 1971), quoted in D. Sandbrook, Never had it so good (2005), xxiii. 

I must render an account to a Lord who in his goodness does not count in farthings

Over the next two weeks he grew progressively worse. During one of his visits, Bernini's nephew, an Oratorian priest, Father Filippo (Domenico says Francesco) Marchese, asked him about the state of his soul and whether he was afraid to die. Baldinucci indicates that Bernini replied, "Father, I must render an account to a Lord who in his goodness does not count in farthings."

Gianlorenzo Bernini, cited in J. Morrissey, The genius in the design (2005), 266-7

To Europe Byzantium is a symbol of its honour

The realm of the last Roman Emperor is only the size of a plate, merely a gigantic circular wall surrounding churches, the palace and a tangle of houses, all of them known as Byzantium. Pitilessly plundered by the crusaders, depopulated by the plague, exhausted by constantly defending itself from nomadic people, torn by national and religious quarrels, the city cannot summon up men or courage to resist, of its own accord, an enemy that has been holding it clasped in its tentacles for so long. The purple of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine Dragases, is a cloak made of wind, his crown a toy of fate. But for the very reason that it is already surrounded by the Turks, and is sacrosanct to all the lands of the western world because they have jointly shared its culture, to Europe Byzantium is a symbol of its honour.

S. Zweig,'The conquest of Byzantium' (1940), tr. A.Bell, in Triumph and Disaster: Five historical miniatures (2016), 69-70

Men like Scott have featured hundreds of times in British history

Men like Scott have featured hundreds of times in British history, conquering India and nameless islands in the East Indian archipelago, colonizing Africa and fighting battles against the whole world, always with the same iron energy, the same collective consciousness and the same cold, reserved expression.

S. Zweig,'The Race to reach the South pole' (1927), tr. A.Bell, in Triumph and Disaster: Five historical miniatures (2016), 40

Not until the beginning of the 20th century did Europe's urban populations finally become self-sustaining

Not until the beginning of the 20th century did Europe's urban populations finally become self-sustaining: before then, constant immigration of healthy peasants from the countryside was necessary to make up for the constant deaths of city dwellers from crowd diseases.

J. Diamond, Guns Germs and Steel (1997), 197

An area within which the Lieutenant of the Tower of London could muster a militia

The name Tower Hamlets sounds as if it is a modern construct, chosen to bind together a number of former councils into a new one in 1965. In fact the name had been used since 1605 to describe an area within which the Lieutenant of the Tower of London could muster a militia. It continued to be used for administration of justice, and was the name given to the 1832 parliamentary borough. 

T. Travers, London's Boroughs at 50 (2015), 125

Part of the explanation of why it looks the way it does is that it was built in a sunny part of the world.

At a much more down-to-earth level, the Alhambra looks very different from Versailles or Buckingham Palace and, though there are all sorts of complex cultural reasons for this, part of the explanation of why it looks the way it does is that it was built in a sunny part of the world.

R. Irwin, The Alhambra (2004), 127

In the context of fourteenth-century Spanish politics, it was quite something to be awarded the sobriquet 'Cruel'

Pedro the Cruel was so called because of his penchant for murder. In the context of fourteenth-century Spanish politics, it was quite something to be awarded the sobriquet 'Cruel'

R. Irwin, The Alhambra (2004), 77

A people which has hopelessly fallen in the scale of nations and deserved its humiliation

The true memorial of the Moors is seen in the desolate tracts of utter barrenness, where once the Moslem [sic] grew luxuriant vines and olives and yellow ears of corn; in a stupid, ignorant population where once wit and learning flourished; in the general stagnation and degradation of a people which has hopelessly fallen in the scale of nations and deserved its humiliation.

S. Lane-Poole, quoted in R. Irwin, The Alhambra (2004), 18

We are also asking him to witness our dying

The doctor is the familiar of death. When we call for a doctor, we are asking him to cure us and t relieve our suffering, but, if he cannot cure us, we are also asking him to witness our dying. The value of the witness is that he has seen so many others die. (This, rather than the prayers and last rites, was also the real value which the priest once had.)

J. Berger, A fortunate man (1967; 2016 edition), 70

If one didn't care for tradition and had no aesthetic sensibility

And really, if one didn't care for tradition and had no aesthetic sensibility, stock-car racing would have much to recommend it. It's possible to see how Nick prefers it to horse racing. There's something nice about people cheering, as they were tonight, for their friends and townsmen rather than for their own hope of gain (there's no betting at auto races).

A. Lurie, Real People (1969), Collected edition (1999), 440

An excuse for occupying the terrain and masking the vacuity of the content

For too long economists have sought to define themselves in terms of their supposedly scientific methods. In fact, those methods rely on an immoderate use of mathematical models, which are frequently no more than an excuse for occupying the terrain and masking the vacuity of the content.

T. Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century (2013), 974

Nearly one-sixth of each cohort will receive an inheritance larger than the amount the bottom half of the population earns through labour in a lifetime.

Inheritance did not come to an end: the distribution of inherited capital has changed, which is something else entirely. ... In the nineteenth century about 10% of a cohort inherited amounts greater than this [a lifetime income of those in the bottom half of income distribution]. This proportion fell to barely more than 2 percent for cohorts born in 1910-1920 and 4-5 percent for cohorts born n 1930-1950. According to my estimates, the proportion has already risen to about 12 percent of cohorts born in 1970-1980 and may well reach or exceed 15 percent for cohorts born in 2010-2020. In other words, nearly one-sixth of each cohort will receive an inheritance larger than the amount the bottom half of the population earns through labour in a lifetime.

T. Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century (2013), 420-1

The current prevalent fears of growing Chinese ownership are a pure fantasy

In particular, it is important to stress that the current prevalent fears of growing Chinese ownership are a pure fantasy. The wealthy countries are in fact much wealthier than they sometimes think. The total real estate and financial assets net of debt owned by European households today amount to some 70 trillion euros. By comparison the total assets of the various Chinese sovereign wealth funds plus the reserves of the Bank of China represent around 3 million euros, or less then one-twentieth of the former amount.

T. Piketty, Capital in the 21st century (2013), 463

The magnitude of the changes initiated by the French Revolution should not be overstated

The magnitude of the changes initiated by the French Revolution should not be overstated, however. Beyond the probable decrease of inequality of wealth between 1780 and 1810, followed by a gradual increase between 1810 and 1910, and especially after 1870 , the most significant fact is that inequality of capital ownership remained relatively stable at an extremely high level throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During this period [in France] the top decile consistently owned 80 to 90 percent of the total wealth.

T. Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century (2013), 342

The most one can say is that state intervention did no harm

In fact, neither the economic liberalization that began around 1980 nor the state interventionism that began in 1945 deserves such praise or blame. France, Germany, and Japan would very likely have caught up with Britain and the United States following their collapse of 1914-11945 regardless of what policies they adopted (I say this with only slight exaggeration). The most one can say is that state intervention did no harm. Similarly, once these countries had attained the global technological frontier, it is hardly surprising that they ceased to grow more rapidly than Britain and the United States or that growth rates in all the wealthy countries more or less equalized... Broadly speaking the US and British policies of economic liberalization appear to have had little effect on this simple reality, since they neither increased growth nor decreased it.

T. Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century (2013), 98-99

It’s a problem of identity. Many of my American friends feel they don’t have enough of it.

It’s a problem of identity. Many of my American friends feel they don’t have enough of it. They often feel worthless, or they don’t know how they feel. Identity is the number-one national problem here. There seems to be a shortage of it in the land, a dearth of selfhood amidst other plenty—maybe because there are so many individual egos trying to outdo each other and enlarge themselves.

...

A culture talks most about what most bothers it: the Poles talk compulsively about the Russians and the most minute shifts of political strategy. Americans worry about who they are.

E. Hoffman, Lost in Translation (1989), 262 & 264

You’ve seen people live perfectly happily within their less than perfect unions

Wouldn’t your unhappiness be just the same as here? No, it wouldn’t. It would exist within the claustrophobia of no choice, rather than the agoraphobia of open options. It would have different dimensions, different weight. But surely an incompatible marriage is unacceptable. An American notion. A universal notion. Women in Bengal rebel against bad marriages, for God’s sake. Women in Bengal don’t rebel against emotional incompatibility. They wouldn’t understand what you mean. But I’m not in Bengal! If you were in Poland, you’d be making a sensible accommodation to your situation. You’ve seen people live perfectly happily within their less than perfect unions.

E. Hoffman, Lost in Translation (1989), 230

There is still room in hell for you; we don't want our heaven crammed

We are the sweet selected few
All others may be damned
There is still room in hell for you
We don't want our heaven crammed

Baptist hymn, unknown. Quoted in A. Bloom, 'Ecumenism' [1973], Sobornost 37:1 (2005), 14

The conservatives of the sentiments believe that recovering their own forgotten history is an antidote to shallowness

In our highly ideological times, even nostalgia has its politics. The conservatives of the sentiments believe that recovering their own forgotten history is an antidote to shallowness. The ideologues of the future see attachment to the past as that most awful of all monsters, the agent of reaction. It is to be extracted from the human soul with no quarter or self-pity, for it obstructs the inevitable march of events into the next Utopia. Only certain Eastern European writers, forced to march into the future too often, know the regressive dangers of both forgetfulness and clinging to the past. But then, they are among our world’s experts of mourning, having lost not an archaeological but a living history.

E. Hoffman, Lost in Translation (1989), 115

So they could remain within their old nationality even at the cost of leaving home

They made this journey on a rattling truck filled with potato sacks and other people trying as quickly as possible to cross the new borders so they could remain within their old nationality even at the cost of leaving home.

E. Hoffman, Lost in Translation (1989), 8