“And though circuitous and obscure
The feet of Nemesis how sure!”

— William Watson (poet)

Europe at the Play, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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William Watson (poet) 12

English poet, born 1858 1858–1935

James W. Prescott (1930) American psychologist

"Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence" (1975)
Context: Laboratory experiments show that... When the brain's pleasure circuits are 'on,' the violence circuits are 'off,' and vice versa.

“Could you imagine if I said that "I short circuited?"”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

They would be calling for my execution, — electric chair. They'd bring back the electric chair. It would be a whole different ball game if I said it, believe me.
2016, August 2016, Speech at rally in Wilmington, North Carolina (August 9, 2016)

“In what a narrow circuit, among what
abandoned solitudes your fame lies bound!
Amid vast seas your island earth is shut,
though "vast" or "ocean", or what words resound
to name that sea, are idle names and fond,
for what it is: a shallow bog, a pond.”

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet

In che picciolo cerchio, e fra che nude
Solitudini è stretto il vostro fasto!
Lei, come isola, il mare intorno chiude;
E lui, ch'or Ocean chiamate or vasto,
Nulla eguale a tai nomi ha in sè di magno;
Ma è bassa palude, e breve stagno.
Canto XIV, stanza 10 (tr. Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

“While fancy, like the finger of a clock,
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book IV, The Winter Evening, Line 118.

“The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven, The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit..”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Choruses from The Rock (1934)
Context: The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.

“God is more to me than a grand and solitary Being, though refulgent with infinite perfections. Contemplated as enthroned in the midst of his works, his spiritual offspring in all the grand circuit of the worlds he has formed become a multiplying glass, reflecting back the Original in the profusion and countlessness of infinity.”

Horace Mann (1796–1859) American politician

Congressional speech (1849)
Context: God is more to me than a grand and solitary Being, though refulgent with infinite perfections. Contemplated as enthroned in the midst of his works, his spiritual offspring in all the grand circuit of the worlds he has formed become a multiplying glass, reflecting back the Original in the profusion and countlessness of infinity. But when the wickedness of man cuts off entire generations and whole races from the capacity of reflecting back this radiant image of the Creator, then all that part of the universe where they dwell becomes black and revolting, and all that portion of the Mirror of Souls which was designed to reproduce and rekindle the glories of the Eternal absorbs and quenches the rays which it should have caught and flamed with anew, and multiplied and returned.

“Sometimes it felt to him as though he’s spent most of his life traveling, and never quite got to anywhere that mattered.
Then again, that might be as good a description of what life was supposed to be as anyone ever thought of. The only real destination was death, and our lives consisted of finding the most circuitous and pleasant path to get there.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, The Crystal City (2003), Chapter 7 “Errand Boy” (p. 136).

“The possibility of a short circuit, ensuing leakage and breakdown or explosion, occurs in the hook-up of political organization to the productive processes.”

Isabel Paterson (1886–1961) author and editor

Source: The God of the Machine (1943), p. 62
Context: These are not sentimental considerations; they constitute the mechanism of production and therefore of power. Personal liberty is the pre-condition of the release of energy. Private property is the inductor which initiates the flow. Real money is the transmission line; and the payment of debts comprises half the circuit. An empire is merely a long circuit energy-system. The possibility of a short circuit, ensuing leakage and breakdown or explosion, occurs in the hook-up of political organization to the productive processes. This is not a figure of speech or analogy, but a specific physical description of what happens.