Talk of the "imperial decay" of your invalid port. "Its gracious withdrawal from perfection, keeping a hint of former majesty withal, as it hovers between oblivion and the divine Untergang of infinite recession."

Since the public no longer participates in debates on national issues, it has no reason to inform itself about civic affairs. It is the decay of public debate, not the school system (bad as it is), that makes the public ill informed, notwithstanding the wonders of the age of information. When debate becomes a lost art, information, even though it may be readily available, makes no impression.

In the State of Denmark there was the odor of decay...

Public works which did not serve the rich and powerful had a way of dying of neglect.

It's a worship of the past. It's a deterioration — a stagnation!

You making haste haste on decay...

A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism.

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

The worst was this: my love was my decay.

So the credits still go — unproductively — to the armed forces and vital areas of the social good are allowed to deteriorate. That's what I call decay.

A general flavor of mild decay.

The Public is an old woman. Let her maunder and mumble.

A public domain work is an orphan. No one is responsible for its life. But everyone exploits its use, until that time certain when it becomes soiled and haggard, barren of its previous virtues. How does the consumer benefit from the steady decline of a film's quality?

My mouth is full of decayed teeth and my soul of decayed ambitions.