Block

Famous quotes containing the word block:

    “It is, in both cases, that a spiritual life has been imparted to nature; that the solid seeming block of matter has been pervaded and dissolved by a thought; that this feeble human being has penetrated the vast masses of nature with an informing soul, and recognised itself in their harmony, that is, seized their law. In physics, when this is attained, the memory disburthens itself of its cumbrous catalogues of particulars, and carries centuries of observation in a single formula.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “Being dismantled before our eyes are not just individual programs that politicians cite as too expensive but the whole idea that society has a stake in the well-being of children down the block and the security of families on the other side of town. Whether or not kids eat well, are nurtured and have a roof over their heads is not just a consequence of how their parents behave. It is also a responsibility of society—but now apparently a diminishing one.”
    —Richard B. Stolley (20th century)

    “Dug from the tomb of taste-refining time,
    Each form is exquisite, each block sublime.
    Or good, or bad,—disfigur’d, or deprav’d,—
    All art, is at its resurrection sav’d;
    All crown’d with glory in the critic’s heav’n,
    Each merit magnified, each fault forgiven.”
    —Martin Archer, Sir Shee (1769–1850)