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)

    “Remember stories you read when a boy
    The shipwrecked sailor gaining safety by
    His knife, treetrunk, and lianas for now
    You must escape, or perish saying no.”
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)