A Quote by Susie Dent

The earliest dictionaries were collections of criminal slang, swapped amongst ne'er-do-wells as a means of evading the authorities or indeed any outsider who might threaten the trade.

Susie Dent

Quote Topics

Amongst Any Authorities Collections Earliest Indeed Means Might Outsider Slang Threaten Trade Wells Were

Quote Author

Susie Dent
English - Scientist

I ne'er could any lustre see In eyes that would not look on me; I ne'er saw nectar on a lip But where my own did hope to sip.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Such night in England ne'er had been, nor ne'er again shall be.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Alas! the praise given to the ear Ne'er was nor ne'er can be sincere.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Slang has always moved this way. From Cockney rhyming slang to codes swapped among highwaymen, they're tribal badges of identity, bonding mechanisms designed to distinguish the initiated, and to keep strangers out.

Susie Dent

While researching my ancestry I have unearthed many skeletons. It would seem that I come from a long line of ne'er-do-wells, especially on my mother's side.

Miriam Margolyes

Who ne'er his bread in sorrow ate, Who ne'er the mournful midnight hours Weeping upon his bed has sate, He knows you not, ye Heavenly Powers.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Wouldst thou wisely, and with pleasure, Pass the days of life's short measure, From the slow one counsel take, But a tool of him ne'er make; Ne'er as friend the swift one know, Nor the constant one as foe.

Friedrich Schiller

Ne'er to meet, or ne'er to part, is peace.

Edward Young

Tis strange the miser should his cares employTo gain those riches he can ne'er enjoy;Is it less strange the prodigal should wasteHis wealth to purchase what he ne'er can taste?

Alexander Pope

The welfare state has bred a generation of obnoxious, drug-addled criminals and ne'er-do-wells. It has also, incidentally, burdened what was once the world's biggest, most dynamic economy with the dead weight of an obstructive and vastly expensive state machine.

Martin Durkin

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be, In every work regard the writer's end, Since none can compass more than they intend; And if the means be just, the conduct true, Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due.

Alexander Pope

Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide,Or gave his father grief but when he died.

Alexander Pope

Liberals believe and inexhaustible fund exists that can be tapped endlessly to pay for government social programs. Tax the rich and give it to a long line of moochers, pork barrel hustlers and ne'er-do-wells. These funds would otherwise have been employed as additional capital indispensable to economic progress.