“What a sea
Of melting ice I walk on!”
Philip Massinger The Maid of Honour
The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act III, scene iii.
“And while the ice was melting to form a flood in which I threatened to drown I awoke one afternoon to find that my first northern winter had set.”
— Ralph Ellison, book Invisible Man
Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 12.
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Ralph Ellison82
American novelist, literary critic, scholar and writer 1914–1994Related quotes
“Soon, at a torrent's banks, I find its flood
blocks my advance while bandits follow me.”
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet
E giungo ad un torrente, e riserrato
Quinci da i ladri son, quindi dal rio.
Canto XII, stanza 34 (tr. Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)
Anatole France book Penguin Island
Book I : The Beginnings, Ch. V : The Baptism Of The Penguins
Penguin Island (1908)
Context: Touched by their attention, the holy man taught them the Gospel.
"Inhabitants of this island, the earthly day that has just risen over your rocks is the image of the heavenly day that rises in your souls. For I bring you the inner light; I bring you the light and heat of the soul. Just as the sun melts the ice of your mountains so Jesus Christ will melt the ice of your hearts."
Thus the old man spoke. As everywhere throughout nature voice calls to voice, as all which breathes in the light of day loves alternate strains, these penguins answered the old man by the sounds of their throats. And their voices were soft, for it was the season of their loves.
“I believe tears are holy, because they show us that the ice of our heart is melting.”
Barbara De Angelis (1951) American psychologist
“I went to sleep in Chaos, and then I awoke like the first man.”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist
Light (1919), XVII - Morning
“I awoke, only to find that the rest of the world is still asleep.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
This derives from a comment about him written by Sigmund Freud, in Leonardo Da Vinci (1916): He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep.
Misattributed
Source: Leonardo's Notebooks
