Acquire Merrill

Famous quotes containing the words acquire and/or merrill:

    Have we no culture, no refinement,—but skill only to live coarsely and serve the Devil?—to acquire a little worldly wealth, or fame, or liberty, and make a false show with it, as if we were all husk and shell, with no tender and living kernel to us? Shall our institutions be like those chestnut burs which contain abortive nuts, perfect only to prick the fingers?
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Tonight they have stepped out onto the gravel.
    The party is over. It’s the fall
    Of 1931. They love each other still.
    —James Merrill (b. 1926)