Samuel Butler ( 10 of 155 )
Great wits and valours, like great states,
Do sometimes sink with their own weights.
Great wits and valours, like great states,
Do sometimes sink with their own weights.
Authority is never without hate.
Authority is never without hate.
Whatever I can say or do.
I'm sure not much avails;
I shall still Vicar be of read more
Whatever I can say or do.
I'm sure not much avails;
I shall still Vicar be of Bray,
Whichever side prevails.
To be at all is to be religious more or less
To be at all is to be religious more or less
I've heard old cunning stagers
Say, fools for arguments use wagers.
I've heard old cunning stagers
Say, fools for arguments use wagers.
'Tis virtue, wit, and worth, and all
That men divine and sacred call;
For what is worth, read more
'Tis virtue, wit, and worth, and all
That men divine and sacred call;
For what is worth, in anything,
But so much money as 't will bring?
And force them, though it was in spite
Of Nature and their stars, to write.
And force them, though it was in spite
Of Nature and their stars, to write.
Learn'd he was in medic'nal lore,
For by his side a pouch he wore,
Replete with strange read more
Learn'd he was in medic'nal lore,
For by his side a pouch he wore,
Replete with strange hermetic powder
That wounds nine miles point-blank would solder.
As men of inward light are wont
To turn their optics in upon't.
As men of inward light are wont
To turn their optics in upon't.
For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope.
For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope.
