Alun's life was coming to consist more and more exclusively of being told at dictation speed what he knew.

-Amis, Sir Kingsley
  The Old Devils, ch.7.

Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain cradle in Pamere, A foiled circuitous wandererötill at last The longed-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Poems:  A New Edition,'Sohrab and Rustrum', l.886^92.

She was an Amazon. Her whole life was spent riding at breakneck speed towards the wilder shores of love.

-Blanch, Lesley
  The Wilder Shores of Love, pt.2, ch.1.

There was a young lady named Bright Whose speed was far faster than light; She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night.

-Buller, A(rthur) H(enry) Reginald
  'Relativity', published anonymously in Punch,19 Dec. Buller's claim to authorship is recorded in W S Baring-Gould The Lure of the Limerick (1968). British  historian,  notably  of  20c  Europe.  He  was  Master  of  St Catherine's College, Oxford (1960^80).

In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.

-Emerson, RalphWaldo
Essays: First Series,'Prudence'.

Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead.

-Farragut, David Glasgow
   At the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5  Aug. Quoted in  A  T Mahan Great Commanders:  Admiral Farragut (1892), ch.10.

TheThird Fleet's sunken and damaged ships have been salvaged and are retiring at high speed toward the enemy.

-Halsey,W(illiam) F(rederick) known as  'Bull' Halsey
  Comment,14 Oct, on hearing claims that the Japanese had virtually annihilated the US fleet. Quoted in E B Potter Bull Halsey (1985), ch.17.

We sing the love of danger.Courage, rashness, and rebellion are the elements of our poetry. Hitherto literature has tended to exalt thoughtful immobility, ecstasy, and sleep, whereas we are for aggressive movement, febrile insomnia, mortal leaps, and blows with the fist.We proclaim that the world is richer for a new beautyof speed, and our praise isfor themanat the wheel. There is no beauty now save in struggle, no masterpiece can be anything but aggressive, and hence we glorify war, militarism and patriotism.

-Marinetti, Emilio FilippoTomasso
  Manifesto of Futurism. Quoted in Denis Mack Smith Italy:  A Modern History (1959), p.270.

We affirm that the world's magnificence has been enriched bya new beauty: the beautyof speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breathöa roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot ismore beautiful than theVictory of Samothrace.

-Marinetti, Emilio FilippoTomasso
  Manifesto of Futurism.

Nay, good sir, be not so violent; with speed I cannot render satisfaction Unto the dear companion of my soul, Virginity, whom I thus long have lived with, And part with it so rude and suddenly. Can such friends divide, never to meet again, Without a solemn farewell?

-Middleton,Thomas
  The Changeling (with William Rowley), act1, sc.1.

   It was the same world then as nowöthe same, Except for little differences of speed And power, and means to treat myopia To show an axe-blade infinitely sharp Splitting things infinitely small.

-Pratt, EdwinJohn
  Towards theLast Spike.The poet is speaking of the building of the Canadian National Railway, from coast to coast. English Labour politician, Deputy Prime Minister since1997.

Out of the debris of a statue thoroughly shattered a new art work is born: a naked foot unforgettably resting on a stone; a candid hand; a bent knee which contains all the speed of the foot race; a torso which has no face to prevent us from loving it.

-Crayencour
Quoted in the NewYorkTimes,10 May1992.