Dire Straits Mark

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)

    Yes! in sea of life enisled,
    With echoing straits between us thrown,
    Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
    We mortal millions live alone.
    Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)

    Rereading this novel today, replaying the moves of its plot, I feel rather like Anderssen fondly recalling his sacrifice of both Rooks to the unfortunate and noble Kieseritsky—who is doomed to accept it over and over again through an infinity of textbooks, with a question mark for monument.
    Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)