Modesty is the only sure bait when you are fishing for praise.

Modesty is the only sure bait when you are fishing for praise.

The line with its rod is a long instrument whose lesser end holds
a small reptile, while the other read more

The line with its rod is a long instrument whose lesser end holds
a small reptile, while the other is held by a great fool.
[Fr., La ligne avec sa canne est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
Et dont Pautre est tenu pau un grand imbecile.]

And angling too, that solitary vice,
What Izaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, read more

And angling too, that solitary vice,
What Izaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.

La ligne, avec sa canne, est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
read more

La ligne, avec sa canne, est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
Et dont l'autre est tenu par un grand imbecile.

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him,
We also go with thee. They read more

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him,
We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship
immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.

There is only one theory about angling in which I have perfect
confidence, and this is that the two read more

There is only one theory about angling in which I have perfect
confidence, and this is that the two words, least appropriate to
any statement, about it, are the words "always" and "never."

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

A rod twelve feet long and a ring of wire,
A winder and barrel, will help thy desire
read more

A rod twelve feet long and a ring of wire,
A winder and barrel, will help thy desire
In killing a Pike; but the forked stick,
With a slit and a bladder,--and that other fine trick,
Which our artists call snap, with a goose or a duck,--
Will kill two for one, if you have any luck;
The gentry of Shropshire do merrily smile,
To see a goose and a belt the fish to beguile;
When a Pike suns himselfe and a-frogging doth go,
The two-inched hook is better, I know,
Than the ord'nary snaring: but still I must cry,
When the Pike is at home, minde the cookery.