Measuring Device

Famous quotes containing the words measuring and/or device:

    We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.
    —Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)

    A bracelet of bright hair about the bone,
    Will he not let us alone,
    And think that there a loving couple lies
    Who thought that this device might be some way
    To make their souls, at the last busy day,
    Meet at this grave, and make a little stay?
    John Donne (1572–1631)