Prevent

Famous quotes containing the word prevent:

    “Nature’s law says that the strong must prevent the weak from living, but only in a newspaper article or textbook can this be packaged into a comprehensible thought. In the soup of everyday life, in the mixture of minutia from which human relations are woven, it is not a law. It is a logical incongruity when both strong and weak fall victim to their mutual relations, unconsciously subservient to some unknown guiding power that stands outside of life, irrelevant to man.”
    —Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    “To watch that world come up like a cold sun,
    Rewarding others, is my liberty.
    Not to prevent it is my will’s fulfilment.
    Willing it, my ailment.”
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    “But our old subtle foe so tempteth me
    That not one hour I can myself sustain.
    Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art,
    And thou like adamant draw mine iron heart.”
    —John Donne (1572–1631)