Standard Sea Level

Famous quotes containing the words standard, sea and/or level:

    This unlettered man’s speaking and writing are standard English. Some words and phrases deemed vulgarisms and Americanisms before, he has made standard American; such as “It will pay.” It suggests that the one great rule of composition—and if I were a professor of rhetoric I should insist on this—is, to speak the truth. This first, this second, this third; pebbles in your mouth or not. This demands earnestness and manhood chiefly.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The trumpets sound, the banners fly,
    The glittering spears are ranked ready;
    The shouts o’ war are heard afar,
    The battle closes thick and bloody;
    But it’s no the roar o’ sea or shore
    Wad mak me langer wish to tarry;
    Nor shout o’ war that’s heard afar,
    Its leaving thee, my bonnie Mary.
    Robert Burns (1759–1796)

    If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.
    Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)