Let me skim the water with one oar, and with the other touch
sand. [Go not out of your read more

Let me skim the water with one oar, and with the other touch
sand. [Go not out of your depth.]

Modesty once lost, never returns into favour.

Modesty once lost, never returns into favour.

It is a most miserable lot to be without an enemy. [No man can
be successful without being envied read more

It is a most miserable lot to be without an enemy. [No man can
be successful without being envied and hated.]

But he, whose humours spurn law's awful yoke,
Must herd with those, by whom law's bonds are broke.

But he, whose humours spurn law's awful yoke,
Must herd with those, by whom law's bonds are broke.

The ox longs for the gaudy trappings of the horse; the lazy
pack-horse would fain plough. [We envy the read more

The ox longs for the gaudy trappings of the horse; the lazy
pack-horse would fain plough. [We envy the position of others,
dissatisfied with our own.]

A gift much expected is paid, not given.

A gift much expected is paid, not given.

She only said, My life is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said I am aweary, read more

She only said, My life is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said I am aweary, aweary,
Oh God, that I were dead.

Fear not the future, weep not for the past.

Fear not the future, weep not for the past.

As the sweet voice of a bird,
Heard by the lander in a lonely isle,
Moves him read more

As the sweet voice of a bird,
Heard by the lander in a lonely isle,
Moves him to think what kind of bird it is,
That sings so delicately clear, and make
Conjecture of the plumage and the form.