Samuel Butler ( 10 of 155 )
The trenchant blade Toledo trusty.
For want of fighting was grown rusty,
And ate into itself for read more
The trenchant blade Toledo trusty.
For want of fighting was grown rusty,
And ate into itself for lack
Of somebody to hew and hack.
Look before you ere you leap.
Look before you ere you leap.
He made an instrument to know
If the moon shine at full or no;
That would, as read more
He made an instrument to know
If the moon shine at full or no;
That would, as soon as e'er she shone straight,
Whether 'twere day or night demonstrate;
Tell what her d'ameter to an inch is,
And prove that she's not made of green cheese.
For discords make the sweetest airs.
For discords make the sweetest airs.
She that with poetry is won,
Is but a desk to write upon;
And what men say read more
She that with poetry is won,
Is but a desk to write upon;
And what men say of her they mean
No more than on the thing they lean.
For rhyme the rudder is of verses,
With which, like ships, they steer their courses.
For rhyme the rudder is of verses,
With which, like ships, they steer their courses.
God cannot alter the past, though historians can.
God cannot alter the past, though historians can.
And bid the devil take the hin'most.
And bid the devil take the hin'most.
Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron!
Ay me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron!
He who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than
discover the sense of his heart deserves read more
He who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than
discover the sense of his heart deserves to have it pulled out
like a traitor's and shown publicly to the rabble.
