Shipbuilding, written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer
Song lyrics, Punch the Clock (1983)
Context: The boy said 'Dad they're going to take me to task
But I'll be back by Christmas'
It's just a rumour that was spread around town
Somebody said that someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed in
The result of this shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls.
The Education of Henry Adams (1907)
“I think about us diving
Diving off a rock, into another moment…”
Source: Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
“No matter how tough my day has been, when I dive into the sea, the world seems perfect.”
Website
Source: Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sky of Honey (Disc 2)
“Dive where the water is deep.”
Source: Meditations in Wall Street (1940), p. 49
Prologue
Source: All for Love (1678)
Context: Let those find fault whose wit's so very small,
They've need to show that they can think at all;
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls, must dive below.
Fops may have leave to level all they can;
As pigmies would be glad to lop a man.
Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light,
We scarce could know they live, but that they bite.
Pilgrim’s Regress 168
The Pilgrim's Regress (1933)
