Designs

Famous quotes containing the word designs:

    Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
    Which we ascribe to heaven. The fated sky
    Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
    Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    He began therefore to invest the fortress of my heart by a circumvallation of distant bows and respectful looks; he then entrenched his forces in the deep caution of never uttering an unguarded word or syllable. His designs being yet covered, he played off from several quarters a large battery of compliments. But here he found a repulse from the enemy by an absolute rejection of such fulsome praise, and this forced him back again close into his former trenches.
    Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)

    It is a mighty error to suppose that none but violent and strong passions, such as love and ambition, are able to vanquish the rest. Even idleness, as feeble and languishing as it is, sometimes reigns over them; it usurps the throne and sits paramount over all the designs and actions of our lives, and imperceptibly wastes and destroys all our passions and all our virtues.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)