Perish

Famous quotes containing the word perish:

“Like a tale of little meaning though the words are strong;
Chanted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil,
Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil,
Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil;
Till they perish and they suffer—some, ‘tis
whispered—down in hell”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)

“‘Tis no great valor to perish sword in hand, and bravado on lip; cased all in panoply complete. For even the alligator dies in his mail, and the swordfish never surrenders. To expire, mild-eyed, in one’s bed, transcends the death of Epaminondas.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)

“O night,
you take the petals
of the roses in your hand,
but leave the stark core
of the rose
to perish on the branch.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)