Ancient Silk Road

Famous quotes containing the words ancient, silk and/or road:

    “A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips;Mnot be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself. The symbol of an ancient man’s thought becomes a modern man’s speech.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “All-destroying sword-blade still
    Carried by the wandering fool.
    Gold-sewn silk on the sword-blade,
    Beauty and fool together laid.”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
    —M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)