Illusion is the dust the devil throws in the eyes of the foolish.

Illusion is the dust the devil throws in the eyes of the foolish.

Incens'd with indignation Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burn'd,
That fires the length of Ophiucus read more

Incens'd with indignation Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burn'd,
That fires the length of Ophiucus huge
In th' artic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.

Talk of the devil, and his horns appear

Talk of the devil, and his horns appear

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than read more

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.

Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick
(Though he gave his name to our Old Nick).

Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick
(Though he gave his name to our Old Nick).

What is got over the devil's back is spent under his belly.

What is got over the devil's back is spent under his belly.

I often laugh at Satan, and there is nothing that makes him so angry as when I attack him to read more

I often laugh at Satan, and there is nothing that makes him so angry as when I attack him to his face, and tell him that through God I am more than a match for him

This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him; I have no
long spoon.

This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him; I have no
long spoon.

No, no! The devil is an egotist,
And is not apt, without why or wherefore,
"For God's read more

No, no! The devil is an egotist,
And is not apt, without why or wherefore,
"For God's sake," others to assist.
[Ger., Nein, nein! Der Teufel ist ein Egoist
Und thut nicht leicht um Gottes Willen,
Was einem Andern nutzlich ist.]