Samuel Butler

Is not the winding up witnesses,
And nicking, more than half the bus'ness?
For witnesses, like watches, read more

Is not the winding up witnesses,
And nicking, more than half the bus'ness?
For witnesses, like watches, go
Just as they're set, too fast or slow;
And where in Conscience they're strait-lac'd,
'Tis ten to one that side is cast.

Silence is not always tact, and it is tact that is golden, not silence.

Silence is not always tact, and it is tact that is golden, not silence.

Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
By damning those they have no mind to.

Compound for sins they are inclin'd to,
By damning those they have no mind to.

He who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than
discover the sense of his heart deserves read more

He who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than
discover the sense of his heart deserves to have it pulled out
like a traitor's and shown publicly to the rabble.

'Tis virtue, wit, and worth, and all
That men divine and sacred call;
For what is worth, read more

'Tis virtue, wit, and worth, and all
That men divine and sacred call;
For what is worth, in anything,
But so much money as 't will bring?