I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me--and that I've made of myself--as a... sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman's and I can't live up to it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
half-way up the hill, I see the Past Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,--... A city in the twilight dim and vast, With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,-- And hear above me on the autumnal blast The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Little is to be expected of that day, if it can be called a day, to which we are not awakened by our Genius, but by the mechanical... nudgings of some servitor, are not awakened by our own newly acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied by the undulations of celestial music, instead of factory bells, and a fragrance filling the air--to a higher life than we fell asleep from; and thus the darkness bear its fruit, and prove itself to be good, no less than the light. That man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new m...onth or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,... With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.... They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big, manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange, eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Three years ago, also, just a week after the authorities of Boston assembled to carry back a perfectly innocent man, and one whom ...they knew to be innocent, into slavery, the inhabitants of Concord caused the bells to be rung and the cannons to be fired, to celebrate their liberty,--and the courage and love of liberty of their ancestors who fought at the bridge. As if those three millions had fought for the right to be free themselves, but to hold in slavery three million others. Nowadays, men wear a fool's cap, and call it a liberty-cap. I do not know but there are some who, if they were tied to a whipping-post, and could but get one hand free, would use it to ring the bells and fire the cannons to celebrate their liberty. So some of my townsmen took the liberty to ring and fire. That was the extent of their freedom; and when the sound of the bells died away, their liberty died away also; when the powder was all expended, their liberty went off with the smoke. The joke could be no broader if the inmates of the prisons were used to subscribe for all the powder to be used in such salutes, and hire the jailers to do the firing and ringing for them, while they enjoyed it through the grating.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead; nor doth He sleep;... The wrong shall fail, The right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I heard the bells, on Christmas Day, Their old, familiar carols play,... And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good will to men.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »