Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. P...ancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand--my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm's length.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In time the strong and stately turrets fall, In time the rose and silver lilies die,... In time the monarchs captive are, and thrall, In time the sea and rivers are made dry; The hardest flint in time doth melt asunder; Still living fame in time doth fade away; The mountains proud we see in time come under; And earth, for age, we see in time decay. The sun in time forgets for to retire From out the east where he was wont to rise; The basest thoughts we see in time aspire, And greedy minds in time do wealth despise. Thus all, sweet Fair, in time must have an end, Except thy beauty, virtues, and thy friend.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A transition from an author's books to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect.... Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples, and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendor, grandeur, and magnificence; but, when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Resignedly beneath the sky The melancholy waters lie.... So blend the turrets and shadows there That all seem pendulous in air, While from a proud tower in the town Death looks gigantically down.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Shall I let in the stranger, Shall I welcome the sailor,... Or stay till the day I die? Hands of the stranger and holds of the ships, Hold you poison or grapes?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »