Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 60
The Book of Disquiet
Original: O relógio da casa, lugar certo lá ao fundo das coisas, soa a meia hora seca e nula. Tudo é tanto, tudo é tão fundo, tudo é tão negro e frio!
Source: 1984
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 60
The Book of Disquiet
Original: O relógio da casa, lugar certo lá ao fundo das coisas, soa a meia hora seca e nula. Tudo é tanto, tudo é tão fundo, tudo é tão negro e frio!
John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States
1810s, What do we mean by the American Revolution? (1818)
Context: The colonies had grown up under constitutions of government so different, there was so great a variety of religions, they were composed of so many different nations, their customs, manners, and habits had so little resemblance, and their intercourse had been so rare, and their knowledge of each other so imperfect, that to unite them in the same principles in theory and the same system of action, was certainly a very difficult enterprise. The complete accomplishment of it, in so short a time and by such simple means, was perhaps a singular example in the history of mankind. Thirteen clocks were made to strike together — a perfection of mechanism, which no artist had ever before effected.
In this research, the gloriole of individual gentlemen, and of separate States, is of little consequence. The means and the measures are the proper objects of investigation. These may be of use to posterity, not only in this nation, but in South America and all other countries. They may teach mankind that revolutions are no trifles; that they ought never to be undertaken rashly; nor without deliberate consideration and sober reflection; nor without a solid, immutable, eternal foundation of justice and humanity; nor without a people possessed of intelligence, fortitude, and integrity sufficient to carry them with steadiness, patience, and perseverance, through all the vicissitudes of fortune, the fiery trials and melancholy disasters they may have to encounter.
Roger McGough (1937) British writer and poet
"My Busconductor", from The Mersey Sound (1967)
“I'm like a good clock, I neither gain nor lose. I can strike, too.”
Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) British writer
Source: Fated to Be Free: A Novel (1875), Ch. 19, p. 229.
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold.”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) British writer
Her Moral; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
20th century
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)