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.

They may the better fish in the water when it is troubled.

They may the better fish in the water when it is troubled.

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series read more

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope

Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it
gives it strength and makes it read more

Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it
gives it strength and makes it stand out.

Of all the world's enjoyments
That ever valued were,
There's none of our employments
read more

Of all the world's enjoyments
That ever valued were,
There's none of our employments
With fishing can compare.
- Thomas Durfee (or D'Urfey),

He takes the greatest ornament from friendship, who takes modesty
from it.
[Lat., Maximum ornamentum amicitiae tollit, qui read more

He takes the greatest ornament from friendship, who takes modesty
from it.
[Lat., Maximum ornamentum amicitiae tollit, qui ex ea tollit
verecudiam.]

Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.

Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.

Modesty in woman is a virtue most deserving, since we do all we can to cure her of it

Modesty in woman is a virtue most deserving, since we do all we can to cure her of it

Still he fishes that catches one.

Still he fishes that catches one.