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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 100

 
 
William Shakespeare. (1564–1616) (continued)
 
1140
    Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in;
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
          King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
1141
    I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels.
          King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
1142
    Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s,
Thy God’s, and truth’s; then if thou fall’st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall’st a blessed martyr!
          King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
1143
    Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.
          King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
1144
    A royal train, believe me.
          King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 1.
1145
    An old man, broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye:
Give him a little earth for charity!
          King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
1146
    He gave his honours to the world again,
His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.
          King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
1147
    So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him!
          King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
1148
    He was a man
Of an unbounded stomach.
          King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
1149
    Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues
We write in water. 1
          King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
 
Note 1.
For men use, if they have an evil tourne, to write it in marble; and whoso doth us a good tourne we write it in duste.—Sir Thomas More: Richard III. and his miserable End.

All your better deeds
Shall be in water writ, but this in marble.
Beaumont and Fletcher: Philaster, act v. sc. 3.

L’injure se grave en métal; et le bienfait s’escrit en l’onde.
(An injury graves itself in metal, but a benefit writes itself in water.)
Jean Bertaut. Circa 1611. [back]