Citations:thread of life

English citations of thread of life

Noun: "destiny, fate"

		1591	1643 1692	1757 1760 1766	1844 1845 1880	1987 1992
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

  Argo, their thread of life is spun.

• 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 8th corrected and amended edition, London: R. Scot [et al.], published 1682, page 97:

  […] there is therefore ſome other hand that twines the thread of life than that of Nature: we are not onely ignorant in Antipathies and occult qualities; our ends are as obſcure as our beginnings; the line of our days is drawn by night, and the various effects therein by a penſil that is inviſible; wherein, though we confeſs our ignorance, I am ſure we do not err if we ſay it is the hand of God.

• 1692, Anonymous (Daniel Defoe?), Reflections upon the late horrid conspiracy contrived by some of the French court, to murther His Majesty in Flanders: and for which Monsieur Grandvall, one of the assassinates, was executed, London: Richard Baldwin, →OCLC, page 10:

  […] that ſuch a baſe kind of Revenge may come to lodge it ſelf in the breaſt of ſome one noted Miſcreant, who has thrown off all the common impreſſions of Humanity, and whoſe thread of life beſpeaks him a Monſter in Human ſhape, or a Prodigy of Wickedneſs.

• 1757, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, in three parts, written in the time of the late wars, corrected and amended, with critical, historical, and explanatory notes, by Zachary Grey edition, volume 1, Dublin: J. Exshaw, →OCLC, pages 32–33:

  Maugre all which, 'twas to ſtand faſt
  As long as monarchy ſhou'd laſt;
  But when the ſtate ſhould hap to reel,
  'Twas to ſubmit to fatal ſteel,
  And fall, as it was conſecrate,
  A ſacrifice to fall of ſtate;
  Whoſe thread of life the fatal ſiſters
  Did twiſt together with its whiſkers,
  And twine ſo cloſe, that time ſhould never,
  In life or death, their fortunes ſever;
  But with his ruſty ſickle mow
  Both down together at a blow.

• 1760, Alexander Pope, The Odyssey of Homer, volume 2, London: T. Osborne [et al.], translation of original by Homer, →OCLC, page 133:

  Then muſt he ſuffer what the Fates ordain; For Fate has wove the thread of life with pain, And twins ev'n from the birth, are miſery and man!

• 1766, Job Orton, Memoirs of the life, character, and writings of the late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D. of Northampton, 2nd edition, Salop: J. Eddowes, →OCLC, page 292:

  But Providence yet lengthened out the feeble Thread of Life.

• 1844, John Herman Merivale, “The might of song”, in The minor poems of Schiller of the second and third periods with a few of those of earlier date, London: Pickering, translation of Die Macht des Gesanges by Friedrich Schiller, →OCLC, page 67:

  Leagu'd with those awful powers that wind
      The thread of life—a silent band—
  Who can the minstrel's charm unbind?

• 1845 April, Elizabeth B. Barrett, quoting Rosa Matilda (pseud. of Charlotte Dacre), “Remarks on various late poets”, in Southern Literary Messenger‎^[1], volume 11, number 4, Richmond, VA: B. B. Minor, →OCLC, page 240:

  And absorb the poor libation!
  Wind the thread of life up higher,
  Up through angel hands of fire,
  I aspire, while I expire!

• 1880, Osgood E. Fuller, Ideals of life, or, Wisdom of the ages: a series of wholesome, practical topics, on which are presented the best things from more than two hundred great thinkers and actors of all times, Detroit: J. C. Fuller, published 1881, →OCLC, page 544:

      Wind! Wind!
  The peaceful reel must still go round:
      Wind! Wind!
  The thread of life will soon be wound.

• 1897, Jeremiah Curtin, Quo vadis: a narrative of the time of Nero, Boston: Little, Brown, translation of original by Henryk Sienkiewicz, →OCLC, page 274:

  […] he yearned more and more every moment, for love was stronger than he, and had seized his soul altogether, even when he was at the house of Aulus. The Parcae weave the thread of life for others; but love, yearning, and melancholy had woven it for him.

• 1992, Lars Løvlie, “Postmodernism and subjectivity”, in Steinar Kvale, editor, Psychology and postmodernism, London: Sage, →ISBN, page 120:

  The problem of modern subjectivity may be elucidated by way of three images: the 'thread of life', the 'circle' and the 'core'. As for the first image, tradition will have it that the perfect development of individual life follows a continuous course from origin to end, […] this is the image of a more or less consistent theme unfolding throughout a life; historical time being the harmonizer. […] This is the idea of continuity, linking the origin (arche) and the goal (telos) of life, […] The postmodernist […] wants to replace it by the image of the severed thread, by the discontinuous and by the fragmentary which never reaches a final fulfilment.