Ancient Reef

Famous quotes containing the words ancient and/or reef:

    There was about all the Romans a heroic tone peculiar to ancient life. Their virtues were great and noble, and these virtues made them great and noble. They possessed a natural majesty that was not put on and taken off at pleasure, as was that of certain eastern monarchs when they put on or took off their garments of Tyrian dye. It is hoped that this is not wholly lost from the world, although the sense of earthly vanity inculcated by Christianity may have swallowed it up in humility.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    As the bird trims her to the gale,
    I trim myself to the storm of time,
    I man the rudder, reef the sail,
    Obey the voice at eve obeyed in prime:
    “Lowly faithful, banish fear,
    Right onward drive unharmed;
    The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
    And every wave is charmed.”
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)