chime quotes

But all the clocks in the city Began to whirr and chime: 'O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conquerTime.'

-W(ystan) H(ugh) Auden
  'As I  Walked Out One Evening'.

Come, madam, come, all rest my powers defy, Until I labour, I in labour lie. The foe oft-times having the foe in sight, Is tired with standing though he never fight. Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glistering, But a far fairer world encompassing. Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear, That busy fools may be stopped there. Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime Tells me from you that now 'tis your bed time.

-John Donne
c.1595  Elegies, no.19,'To His Mistress Going to Bed'.

Ring out, ye crystal spheres, Once bless our human ears (If ye have power to touch our senses so), And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the bass of Heaven's deep organ blow; And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to th'angelic symphony.

-John Milton
  'On the Morning of Christ's Nativity','The Hymn', stanza13.

Mortals that would follow me, Love virtue, she alone is free, She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or if virtue feeble were, Heav'n itself would stoop to her.

-John Milton
  Comus,  A Mask, l.1017^22.