Childs's steps are mathematically phrased, softly sprung and coolly minimalist.
President Teddy Roosevelt's foreign policy over 100 years ago was summed up by his phrase "speak softly but carry a big stick".
Their roles were consistent: Mr. Cantuária sang and finger-picked a rhythmic scaffolding, while Mr. Frisell improvised light filigree, elevating the songs with his economical phrasing and softly glowing tone.
The phrase, "killing me softly" comes to mind.
The phrase "the silence surged softly backward" might have been in F Scott Fitzgerald's mind when he composed the final, mysterious sentence of The Great Gatsby a dozen or so years later: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past".
Phrases from spirituals floated softly from the podium.
Mr. Obama phrases that idea more softly, saying "the United States must reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend our nation and our interests, yet we will also seek to adhere to standards that govern the use of force".
The critic John Warrack wrote, "There are no sadder pages in symphonic literature than the close of the First Symphony's Adagio, as horn and trombones twice softly intone a phrase of utter grief", whereas to Michael Kennedy, the movement is notable for its lack of anguished yearning and angst and is marked instead by a "benevolent tranquillity".
The softly arching violin phrases that evoke the eye of the storm (and also "Grimes's ecstasy," according to Britten) hovered in the distance like a mirage.
"The curse of our generation,O he told her, "has been just that--not being able to do what we thought, or not being able to think what we did.O Forr us, things thought are different from the things themselves.O He caressed her softly, mumbling incomprehensible phrases.
