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Swiftness Quotes

Browse 49 quotes about Swiftness.

Swiftness Quotes

“The sound of the freezing of snow over the land seemed to roar deep into the earth. There was no moon. The stars, almost too many of them to be true, came forward so brightly that it was as if they were falling with the swiftness of the void. As the stars came nearer, the sky retreated deeper and deeper into the night color. The layers of the Border Range, indistinguishable one from another, cast their heaviness at the skirt of the starry sky in a blackness grave and somber enough to communicate their mass. The whole of the night scene came together in a clear, tranquil harmony.”

IfsEnoughWholeEarthTogetherNightFallStarsSoundClearSkyLandColorSceneMoonMassHarmonyCastsCommunicateDeeperGravesSnowBeing TrueRangeBordersVoidLayersSkirtsBlacknessTranquilFreezingHeavinessSomberSwiftnessStarry Sky
Book:Snow Country
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“Be advised; Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot That it do singe yourself: we may outrun, By violent swiftness, that which we run at, And lose by over-running. Know you not, The fire that mounts the liquor til run o'er, In seeming to augment it wastes it?”

KnowsMayRunningLosesFireWasteAngerHotViolentHeatFoeLiquorSeemingFurnacesOutrunSwiftness
Book:Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)
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“On the geological time scale, a human lifetime is reduced to a brevity that is too inhibiting to think about deep time. ... Geologists ... see the unbelievable swiftness with which one evolving species on the Earth has learned to reach into the dirt of some tropical island and fling 747s across the sky ... Seeing a race unaware of its own instantaneousness in time, they can reel off all the species that have come and gone, with emphasis on those that have specialized themselves to death.”

ThinkingHumansEarthRaceGoneSeeingSkyLifetimeSpeciesScalesEvolveIslandsDirtUnbelievableEmphasisFlingBrevityTropicalGeologistSwiftnessGeological TimeTropical Islands
Author:John McPhee
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“I'm never more aware of the limitations of language than when I try to describe beauty. Language can create its own loveliness, of course, but it cannot deliver to us the radiance we apprehend in the world, any more than a photograph can capture the stunning swiftness of a hawk or the withering power of a supernova... All that pictures or words can do is gesture beyond themselves toward the fleeting glory that stirs our hearts. So I keep gesturing.”

WorldTryingHeartCoursesLanguageCan DoGloryPhotographLimitationCaptureGesturesFleetingStunningRadianceHawksLovelinessWitheringSupernovaSwiftness
Author:Scott Sanders
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“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”

WarOur LivesGloryWarriorTowersArrowsDestroyersMiddle EarthSharpnessTwo TowersLord Of The RingSwiftnessSilmarillion
Book:The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“At Tara in this fateful hour, I place all Heaven with its power, And the sun with its brightness, And the snow with its whiteness, And the fire with all the strength it hath, And the lightning with its rapid wrath, And the winds with their swiftness along their path, And the sea with its deepness, And the rocks with their steepness, And the earth with its starkness: All these I place, By God's almighty help and grace Between myself and the powers of darkness!”

HelpingEarthHeavenHoursDarknessSunPathFireGraceSeaRocksWindSnowLightningAlmightyWrathRapidsBrightnessWhitenessSwiftnessDeepness
Author:Madeleine L'Engle
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“FALLING STARS: Do you remember still the falling stars that like swift horses through the heavens raced and suddenly leaped across the hurdles of our wishes -- do you recall? And we did make so many! For there were countless numbers of stars: each time we looked above we were astounded by the swiftness of their daring play, while in our hearts we felt safe and secure watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate, knowing somehow we had survived their fall.”

HeartStillsPlayBodyRememberFallHeavenWishStarsFeltNumbersKnowingSafeHorseBrilliantSecureDaringRecallsSurvivedHurdleAstoundedSwiftness
Book:Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems
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“The Master Speed No speed of wind or water rushing by but you have speed far greater. You can climb back up a stream of radiance to the sky, and back through history up the stream of time. And you were given this swiftness, not for haste nor chiefly that you may go where you will, but in the rush of everything to waste, that you may have the power of standing still-- off any still or moving thing you say. Two such as you with such a master speed From one another once you are agreed that life is only life forevermore together wing to wing and oar to oar.”

MayStillsTwoTogetherMovingLife IsGivenWaterGreaterSkyWindMastersWasteStandingWingsSpeedStreamsClimbsHasteRushingRadianceStanding StillOarSwiftness
Book:A Further Range
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“There is psychological pleasure in this takeoff, too, for the swiftness of the plane’s ascent is an exemplary symbol of transformation. The display of power can inspire us to imagine analogous, decisive shifts in our own lives, to imagine that we, too, might one day surge above much that now looms over us.” P. 38-39”

MightPleasureImagineInspireOne DayTransformationPsychologicalSymbolsPlanesDisplayImagine ThatAscentExemplarySwiftnessTakeoff
Author:Alain de Botton
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“It was a quiet way - He asked if I was his - I made no answer of the tongue But answer of the eyes - And then He bore me on Before this mortal noise With swiftness, as of Chariots and distance, as of Wheels. This World did drop away As acres from the feet of one that leaneth from Balloon Upon an Ether Street. The Gulf behind was not, The Continents were new - Eternity was due. No Seasons were to us - It was not Night nor Morn - But Sunrise stopped upon the place And Fastened in Dawn.”

IfsWorldWayMadeEyeNightAnswersBehindsFeetStreetsThis WorldQuietSeasonsEternityDistanceTongueDuesNoiseMortalsDawnWheelsContinentsBoresSunriseBalloonsAcresChariotsSwiftness
Book:The Poems of Emily Dickinson
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“In the end it was Shadowhunting they had bonded over—a shared love of sharp-edged weapons, gleaming seraph blades, the painful pleasure of burning Marks, the thought-numbing swiftness of battle. When Alec had wanted to go out hunting alone with Jace, leaving Izzy behind, Jace had spoken up for her: “We need her with us; she’s the best there is. Aside from me, of course.” She had loved him just for that.”

NeedsEndsWantedCoursesPleasureBehindsBattleWeaponsMarkLeavingPainfulBurningHuntingJaceBladesNumbingSwiftness
Book:City of Lost Souls
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“When your weapons are dulled and ardour damped, your strength exhausted and treasure spent, neighboring rulers will take advantage of your distress to act. And even though you have wise counsellors, none will be able to lay good plans for the future. Thus, while we have heard of blundering swiftness in war, we have not yet seen a clever operation that was prolonged.”

WarAbleWisePlansHeardWeaponsAdvantageStrategyLaysTreasureCleverOperationsRulersDistressExhaustedSwiftnessCounsellors
Author:Sun Tzu
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“And many kinds of creatures must have died, Unable to plant out new sprouts of life. For whatever you see that lives and breathes and thrives Has been, from the very beginning, guarded, saved By it's trickery for its swiftness or brute strength. And many have been entrusted to our care, Commended by their usefulness to us. For instance, strength supports a savage lion; Foxes rely on their cunning; deer their flight.”

LifeKindHas BeensCareScienceDeathSupportCreaturesDiedPlantBreatheSavedFlightInstanceRelyThriveLionsSavagesFoxesCunningBrutesUsefulnessDeerGuardedSproutsTrickerySwiftness
Author:Lucretius
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“For the production of man a different apprenticeship [from forests] was needed to sharpen the wits and quicken the higher manifestations of intellect - a more open veldt country where competition was keener between swiftness and stealth, and where adroitness of thinking played a preponderating role in the preservation of the species.”

ThinkingMenDifferentCountryRolesEvolutionNeededHigherCompetitionSpeciesProductionsIntellectWitForestsManifestationPreservationApprenticeshipStealthSwiftness
Author:Raymond Dart
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“Sin does not leap upon us fully armed. It steals in through a look, a swift, silent suggestion or imagination, but love and loyalty to Jesus will make you watchful and swift to rise up and cast out the subtle enemy. Do this and you shall live, and live victoriously.”

LoveLooksDoeChristianJesusImaginationReligiousSinEnemySilentCastsLoyaltyStealingSubtleLeapPreacherSuggestionsWatchfulnessSwiftnessLove And Loyalty
Book:Ancient Prophets: With a Series of Occasional Papers on Modern Problems
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“Now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid, jade-faced painters of Tokyo who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion.”

ThinkingKindLongArtEffectsFrontsHugeBirdShadowWindowMediumsFlightPainterFantasticNow And ThenCurtainsSilkMomentaryTokyoJadeSwiftnessBirds In Flight
Book:Le Portrait de Dorian Gray / The Picture of Dorian Gray: Édition bilingue: français - anglais / Bilingual Edition: French - English
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