It is wretched business to be digging a well just as thirst is
mastering you.
[Lat., Miserum est read more

It is wretched business to be digging a well just as thirst is
mastering you.
[Lat., Miserum est opus,
Igitur demum fodere puteum, ubi sitis fauces tedet.]

The world turns softly
Not to spill its lakes and rivers,
The water is held in its read more

The world turns softly
Not to spill its lakes and rivers,
The water is held in its arms
And the sky is held in the water.
What is water,
That pours silver,
And can hold the sky?

I have drunk deep of the waters of my ancestors.

I have drunk deep of the waters of my ancestors.

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.

Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, read more

Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.

'Tis a little thing
To give a cup of water; yet its draught
Of cool refreshment, drain'd read more

'Tis a little thing
To give a cup of water; yet its draught
Of cool refreshment, drain'd by fever'd lips,
May give a shock of pleasure to the frame
More exquisite than when nectarean juice
Renews the life of joy in happiest hours.

And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves.

And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves.

O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
read more

O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!
Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks;
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatt'red in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men's skulls, and in the holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,
That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep
And mocked the dead bones that lay scatt'red by.

With true friends . . . even water drunk together is sweet enough.

With true friends . . . even water drunk together is sweet enough.