Compass Needle

Famous quotes containing the words compass and/or needle:

“Cruelty is a mystery, and the waste of pain. But if we describe a word to compass these things, a world that is a long, brute game, then we bump against another mystery: the inrush of power and delight, the canary that sings on the skull.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)

“And so the needle pricked her fingers;
She fidgeted but didn’t go;
A faint forgetfulness of reasons
Kept her with him. Time is slow.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)