Nothing could moderate, in the bosom of the great English middle class, their passionate, absorbing, almost blood-thirsty clinging to life.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Essays in Criticism First Series, preface.

Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs 6:27^8.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Luke 6:38.

Wrote one songöand in my brain I sing it, Drew one angelöborne, see, on my bosom!

-Browning, Robert
  Men and Women,'One Word More. To E.B.B.', closing lines.

All that tread The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom.

-Bryant,William Cullen
  'Thanatopsis', in the North  American Review, Sep.

Ask me no more if east or west The Phoenix builds her spicy nest; For unto you at last she flies, And in your fragrant bosom dies.

-Carew,Thomas
  'A Song'.

  It was not a bosom to repose upon, but it was a capital bosom to hang jewels upon.

-Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam
^7  Of Mrs Merdle. Little Dorrit, bk.1, ch.21.

To fight aloud, is very brave, But gallanter, I know, Who charge within the bosom The Cavalry of Woe.

-Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth
c.1859  Complete Poems, no.126 (first published1890).

Rearrange a 'Wife's'affection! When they dislocate my Brain! Amputate my freckled Bosom! Make me bearded like a man!

-Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth
Complete Poems, no.1737 (first published1891).

A full bosom is actually a millstone around a woman's neck.

-Greer, Germaine
  The Female Eunuch,'Body: Curves'.

Nor for my peace will I go far, As wanderers do, that still do roam, But make my strengths, such as they are, Here in my bosom, and at home.

-Jonson, Ben
  The Forest,'To the World'.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run.

-Keats,John
  Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St.  Agnes and Other Poems,'To Autumn', stanza1.

See how the Orient dew, Shed from the bosom of the morn Into the blowing roses, Yet careless of its mansion new; For the clear region where 'twas born Round in its self encloses: And in its little globes extent, Frames as it can its native element.

-Marvell, Andrew
c.1650^1652  'On a Drop of Dew' (published1681).

Behold me then, me for him, life for life I offer, on me let thine anger fall; Account me man; I for his sake will leave Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee Freely put off, and for him lastly die Well pleased, on me let Death wreck all his rage. 582

-Milton,John
  Christ speaking to God. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.3, l.236^241.

There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet; Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

-Moore,Thomas
  Irish Melodies,'The Meeting of the Waters'.

I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way, Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring, And gentle odours led my steps astray, Mixed with a sound of water's murmuring Along a shelving bankof turf, which lay Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightst in dream.

-Shelley, Percy Bysshe
  'The Question', stanza1.

I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed: Gods and men, we are all deluded thus! It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed.

-Shelley, Percy Bysshe
'Hymn of Pan' (published1824).

This Englishwoman is so refined She has no bosom and no behind.

-Smith, Stevie (Florence Margaret)
  A GoodTime was Had ByAll,'This Englishwoman'.

The sun has gane down o'er the lofty Benlomond, And left the red clouds to preside o'er the scene, While lanely I stray, in the calm simmer gloamin', To muse on sweet Jessie, the flower o' Dunblane. How sweet is the brier wi' its saft faulding blossom, And sweet is the birk, wi' its mantle o'green; Yet sweeter, and fairer, and dear to this bosom, Is lovely young Jessie, the flower o' Dunblane.

-Tannahill, Robert
  'Jessie, the Flower o' Dunblane', stanza1.

Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white; Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk; Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font: The fire-fly wakens: waken thou, with me. Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost, And like a ghost she glimmers on to me. Now lies the Earth all Dana' to the stars, 842 And all thy heart lies open unto me. Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me. Now folds the lily all her sweetness up, And slips into the bosom of the lake: So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip Into my bosom and be lost in me.

-Tennyson
  The Princess, pt.7, added song, complete.