Closely Observed Trains

Famous quotes containing the words closely, observed and/or trains:

    “Let us have compassion for those under chastisement. Alas, who are we ourselves? Who am I and who are you? Whence do we come and is it quite certain that we did nothing before we were born? This earth is not without some resemblance to a gaol. Who knows but that man is a victim of divine justice? Look closely at life. It is so constituted that one senses punishment everywhere.”
    —Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

    “O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!
    The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s,eye, tongue, sword,
    Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state,
    The glass of fashion and the mold of form,
    Th’ observed of all observers, quite, quite down!”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “The complaint ... about modern steel furniture, modern glass houses, modern red bars and modern streamlined trains and cars is that all these objets modernes, while adequate and amusing in themselves, tend to make the people who use them look dated. It is an honest criticism. The human race has done nothing much about changing its own appearance to conform to the form and texture of its appurtenances.”
    —E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)