Quotation Q&A

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

J.P. Akins requests the complete text of a poem he remembers from his youth about the Harvard-Yale game and the way it “releases us, changed and changeless, into the November evening. ” He thinks it may be the work of the late David McCord ’21, L.H.D. ’56.

 

From our archives, here are more as-yet-unsourced phrases and aphorisms, in hopes that a reappearance, in print and online, will yield identifications.

“Whereas the music of Beethoven as-pires to heaven, the music of Mozart was written from there.”
“…and rain, that graybeard sing….”
“…easier to imagine the weather putting something off because of Miss ….”
“…like one of the seven deadly sins wrapped up in the cloak of the other six.”
“Alas, we would no longer be able to listen to the music of Mozart.”
“Cynicism is the fruit of disappointed hopes that were never well justified to begin with.”
“Lust is the lamp that lifts the gloom./ Lust is the light that fills the room.”


Send inquiries and answers to Chapter and Verse, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via e-mail to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Most popular

The Life of a Harvard Spy

Richard Skeffington Welch’s illustrious—and clandestine—career in the CIA

What Trump Means for John Roberts’s Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

Harvard Alumni Affairs Databases Breached

The University is investigating the cyberattack, which may have compromised the personal information of alumni, donors, students, faculty, and staff.

Explore More From Current Issue

Six women interact in a theatrical setting, one seated and being comforted by others.

A (Truly) Naked Take on Second-Wave Feminism

Playwright Bess Wohl’s Liberation opens on Broadway.

A woman (Julia Child) struggles to carry a tall stack of books while approaching a building.

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The rise of Cambridge cyclists, a lettuce boycott, and Julia Child’s cookbooks

A lively concert in a modern auditorium with an audience seated on multiple levels.

Concerts and Carols at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Tuning into one of Boston's best chamber music halls