Famous quotes containing the word precious:
“Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the poor.”
—William James (1843–1916)
“Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all too precious you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inherse,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“This perpetual round of constrained civilities to persons quite indifferent to us, is the most provoking and tiresome thing in the world, but it is unavoidable in a country town, where everybody is known.... ‘Tis a most shocking and unworthy way of spending our precious irrecoverable time, to those who know not its value.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)