“Our single purpose was to walk through snow
With faces swung to their prodigious North
Like compass iron.”

— Stephen Spender

"Polar Exploration"
The Still Centre (1939)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Our single purpose was to walk through snow With faces swung to their prodigious North Like compass iron." by Stephen Spender?

Stephen Spender 76

English poet and man of letters 1909–1995

Related quotes

“Compassion and intelligence walk together; they are not separate. Compassion acts through intelligence.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

Vol. I, p. 113 
1980s, Letters to the Schools (1981, 1985)
Context: The very nature of intelligence is sensitivity, and this sensitivity is love. Without this intelligence there can be no compassion. Compassion is not the doing of charitable acts or social reform; it is free from sentiment, romanticism and emotional enthusiasm. It is as strong as death. It is like a great rock, immovable in the midst of confusion, misery and anxiety. Without this compassion no new culture or society can come into being. Compassion and intelligence walk together; they are not separate. Compassion acts through intelligence. It can never act through the intellect. Compassion is the essence of the wholeness of life.

“Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

“In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.”

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) English poet

Mid-Winter http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/blrossettichristmas.htm, st. 1 (1872).
Source: The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti

“The rationale for springing out our bed each morning is a sense of purpose. Purpose is the compass that guides us through the decision-making process and aids in the development of our behavior and actions. Lacking a sense of purpose is the equivalent of a feather thrown into a gusty wind.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1988

“The door swung open and Kate walked in. Her jeans and T-shirt were splattered with blood and she was carrying a severed vampire head. The T-shirt has a smiley face on it.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Gunmetal Magic

“Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. -Nana”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

“Herod, God! - all young Poland 's given into Herod's hands. What do I see? Long white roads like stations of the cross, long roads unseen through ancient forests, through the snow, all roads leading North. There, there, to the far country, they float like rivers.”

Adam Mickiewicz book Dziady

Herod - Panie cała Polska młoda wydana w ręce Heroda. Co widzę? Długie białe dróg krzyżowych biegi, Drogi długie - nie dojrzeć - przez puszcze - przez śniegi, Wszystkie na północ! Tam, tam, w kraj daleki, płyną jak rzeki
Part three, scene 5.
Dziady (Forefathers' Eve) http://www.ap.krakow.pl/nkja/literature/polpoet/mic_fore.htm