Degree

Famous quotes containing the word degree:

    Take but degree away, untune that string,
    And hark what discord follows!
    ...
    Force should be right, or, rather, right and wrong—
    Between whose endless jar justice resides—
    Should lose their names, and so should justice too.
    Then everything includes itself in power,
    Power into will, will into appetite;
    And appetite, an universal wolf,
    So doubly seconded with will and power,
    Must make perforce an universal prey,
    And last eat up himself.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    To the degree that respect for professors ... has risen in our society, respect for writers has fallen. Today the professorial intellect has achieved its highest public standing since the world began, while writers have come to be called “men of letters,” by which is meant people who are prevented by some obscure infirmity from becoming competent journalists.
    Robert Musil (1880–1942)

    As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain circumspection and distrust, so there are qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence.
    James Madison (1751–1836)