Poignant passages

[qcrisp]

I thought it might be good to have a thread for quotations that are especially poignant. A poignant passage is not necessarily pessimistic, and a pessimistic passage not necessarily poignant. It might be possible to cackle at even the bleakest pessimism, but what I have in mind is a quotation or passage that is like a well of echoing pathos, that leaves one feeling sober with a sense of the pity of things.

So, I shall start with these lines from near the end of 'Dagon' by H.P. Lovecraft:

"I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things that may at this very moment be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed, worshipping their ancient stone idols and carving their own detestable likenesses on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite. I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows to drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind—of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium."

For me, the whole poignancy here hinges on one word: "war-exhausted". And people complain he uses adjectives badly. Certainly not in this case.