Defining Empty Sums

Famous quotes containing the words defining, empty and/or sums:

    “The U.S. is becoming an increasingly fatherless society. A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father. Today an American child can reasonably expect not to. Fatherlessness is now approaching a rough parity with fatherhood as a defining feature of American childhood.”
    —David Blankenhorn (20th century)

    “Yet, to the empty trapeze of your flesh,
    O Magdalene, each comes back to die alone.
    Then you, the burlesque of our lust—and faith,
    Lug us back lifeward—bone by infant bone.”
    —Hart Crane (1899–1932)

    “At Timon’s villalet us pass a day,
    Where all cry out,What sums are thrown away!’”
    —Alexander Pope (1688–1744)