Famous quotes containing the words dire, straits and/or mark:
“Was none who would be foremost
To lead such dire attack;
But those behind cried “Forward!”
And those before cried “Back!””
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
“Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune: but being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often kept fluctuating pitiably between hope and fear by the uncertainty of fortune’s greedily coveted favours, they are consequently for the most part, very prone to credulity.”
—Baruch (Benedict)
“It is the mark of a great man that he puts to flight all ordinary calculations. He is at once sublime and touching, childlike and of the race of giants.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)