Samuel Butler ( 10 of 155 )
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.
Look before you ere you leap.
Look before you ere you leap.
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.
It has been said that although God cannot alter the past, historians can --it is perhaps because they can be read more
It has been said that although God cannot alter the past, historians can --it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence.
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.
Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
read more
Authority intoxicates,
And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud, and vain.
A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.
A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.
He ne'er consider'd it as loth
To look a gift-horse in the mouth,
And very wisely would read more
He ne'er consider'd it as loth
To look a gift-horse in the mouth,
And very wisely would lay forth
No more upon it than 'twas worth;
But as he got it freely, so
He spent it frank and freely too:
For saints themselves will sometimes be,
Of gifts that cost them nothing, free.
He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.
He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.
