iron

And as she looked about, she did behold, How over that same door was likewise writ, Be bold, be bold, and everywhere Be bold† At last she spied at that room's upper end Another iron door, on which was writ Be not too bold.

—Spenser, Edmund

Any old iron, any old iron, Anyany old old iron? You look neat Talk about a treat, You look dapper from your napper to your feet. Dressed in style, brand new tile, And your father's old green tie on, But I wouldn't give you tuppence for your old watch chain; Old iron, old iron?

—Collins, Charles

We must beatthe ironwhile it ishot, but we may polish it at leisure.

—Dryden,John

O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors. The north is thineöthere hast thou built thy dark Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs, Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.

—Blake,William

Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

—Bible (Old Testament)

This man,Comrades, has a nice smile, but he has iron teeth.

—Griswold, Alfred Whitney

Hiswhole carcassseemedtobemade of iron.There was no give in himöno bounce, no softness. He sailed through American history like a steel ship loaded with monoliths made of granite.

—Mencken, H(enry) L(ouis)

In Baxter's view, the care of external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the'saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment.' But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage.

—Weber, Max

Don't iron while the strike is hot.

—Anonymous

Quiet book-learning in monasteries and ethereal music, sonnets and courtly loveöthat stuff is all fantasyand veneer† You couldn't afford to let the beauty of the thing seduce you too far or you forgot the truth and the truth was always hard as iron bloody bars.

—Galloway,Janice

If the iron dice roll, may God help us.

—Bethmann Hollweg,Theobald von

What worlds delight, or joy of living speech Can heart, so plunged in sea of sorrows deep, And heape'  d with so huge misfortunes, reach? The careful cold beginneth for to creep, And in my heart his iron arrow steep, Soon as I think upon my bitter bale.

—Spenser, Edmund

The great questions of our day cannot be solved by speeches and majority votes but by iron and blood.

—of)

His iron coat all overgrown with rust, Was underneath envelope'  d with gold, Whose glistering gloss darkened with filthy dust, Well yet appeare'  d, to have been of old A work of rich entail, and curious mold, Woven with antics and wild imagery.

—Spenser, Edmund

From Stettin in the Baltic toTrieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.

—Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer

   Wenn das deutscheVolk dieWaffen niederlegte, wu«  rden die Sowjets†ganz Ost- und Su« d osteuropa zuzu«  glich des gr o« ÞtenTeiles des Reiches besetzen.Vor diesem einschlieÞlich der Sowjetunion riesigenTerritorium wu«  rde sich sofort ein eisernerVorhang heruntersenken. Should the German people lay down their arms, the Soviets†would occupyall eastern and south-eastern Europe together with the greater part of the Reich.Over all thisterritory, whichwith the Soviet Unionwould be of enormous extent, an iron curtain would at once descend. See also Churchill 217:92.

—Goebbels, (Paul) Joseph

Whose feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul.

—Book of Common Prayer

I stand before you tonight in my green chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved†the Iron Lady of the Western World? Me? A Cold War warrior? Well, yesöif that is how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life.

—Thatcher, Margaret HildaThatcher, Baroness

Thou,O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his bellyand his thighs of brass.His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stonewas cut out without hands, whichsmotetheimage upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Ay me! what perils do environ The man that meddles with cold iron!

—Butler, Samuel

Ihavetamedmenof iron inmyday, shall Inot easilycrush these men of butter?

—Alba, Duke of, Ferdinand Alvarez deToledo

No iron can stab the heart with such force as a full stop put just at the right place.

—Babel, Isaac

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free; Angels along that soar above, Enjoy such liberty.

—Lovelace, Richard

And heshall rulethemwith a rod of iron; asthevessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers.

—Bible (NewTestament)

   'Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!'said Mr Gradgrind† 'Girl number twenty possessed of no facts, in reference to one of the commonest of animals!'† 'Bitzer'said Thomas Gradgrind.'Your definition of a horse.' 'Quadruped.Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.' Thus (and much more) Bitzer. 'Now girl number twenty,'said Mr Gradgrind.'You know what a horse is.'

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

Aye, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone.

—de la Mare,Walter

If one leads a country such as Britainöa strong country that has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and bad, that isalwaysreliable, thenyou must haveatouch of iron about you.

—Thatcher, Margaret HildaThatcher, Baroness

If gold ruste, what shall iren do?

—Chaucer, Geoffrey