centre

The names of those who in their lives fought for life, Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre. Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun, And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

—Spender, Sir Stephen Harold

Virtue could see to do what Virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, Where with her best nurse contemplation She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings That in the various bustle of resort Were all too ruffl'd, and sometimes impair'd. He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i'the centre, and enjoy bright day, But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the midday sun; Himself is his own dungeon.

—Milton,John

Lord of all being, throned afar, Thy glory flames from sun and star; Centre and soul of every sphere, Yet to each loving heart how near!

—Holmes, Oliver Wendell

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. SeeAchebe 2:18.

—Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

Mon centre ce'  de, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque. My centre isgiving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.

—Foch, Ferdinand

The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which ourdull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive formsöthis knowledge, this feeling, isatthe centerof true religiousness.In thissense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men.

—Einstein, Albert

I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; From the centre all round to the sea, I am lord of the fowl and the brute. O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place.

—Cowper,William

There was a muddy centre before we breathed There was a myth before the myth began, Venerable and articulate and complete.

—Stevens,Wallace

It is a poor centre of a man's actions, himself.

—Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans

He stood, a point on a sheet of green paper proclaiming himself the center, with no walls, no borders anywhere; the sky no height above him, totally un- enclosed and shouted: Let me out!

—Atwood, Margaret Eleanor

Go anywhere in England where there are natural, wholesome, contented, and really nice English people; and what doyoualwaysfind? Thatthestables arethereal centre of the household.

—Shaw, George Bernard

And the earth self-balanced on her centre hung.

—Milton,John

Even the human heart is slightly left of centre.

—Frye, Northrop

The earth was made for Dombeyand Son to trade in, and thesunandmoonweremadetogivethemlight.Riversand seas were formed to float their ships; rainbowsgave them promise of fair weather; winds blew fororagainst their enterprises; stars and planets circled intheir orbits, to preserve inviolate a system of whichthey were the centre.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam