“My pen in this, my sword in that hand hold.”
Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet
Numa mão sempre a espada, e noutra a pena.
Stanza 79, line 8 (tr. Richard Fanshawe)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto VII
Source: On the Jellicoe Road
“My pen in this, my sword in that hand hold.”
Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet
Numa mão sempre a espada, e noutra a pena.
Stanza 79, line 8 (tr. Richard Fanshawe)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto VII
“There we go, that's it. I just hold my hand in this position for the next couple of hours.”
Bill Bailey (1965) English comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author
Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra (2008)
“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.”
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Russian composer and pianist
Said to Isaac Glikman, 1936; cited from Laurel Fay Shostakovich: A Life (2000) p. 92.
“May I look on thee when my last hour comes; may I hold thy hand, as I sink, in my dying clasp.”
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,<br/>Et teneam moriens deficiente manu.
Tibullus (-50–-19 BC) poet and writer (0054-0019)
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,
Et teneam moriens deficiente manu.
Bk. 1, no. 1, line 59.
Variant translation: May I be looking at you when my last hour has come, and dying may I hold you with my weakening hand.
Elegies