James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899. Prior
Be to her virtues very kind; / Be to her faults a little blind. 1 Circles to square, and cubes to double, / Would give a man excessive trouble. 2 Fantastic tyrant of the amorous heart, / How hard thy yoke! how cruel is thy dart! / Those ’scape thy anger who refuse thy sway, / And those are punished most who most obey. 3 Fine by degrees and beautifully less. 4 For hope is but the dream of those that wake. 5 From ignorance our comfort flows; / The only wretched are the wise. 6 Joyful to live, yet not afraid to die. 7 Let him be kept from paper, pen, and ink; / So may he cease to write, and learn to think. 8 She should be humble who would please, / And she must suffer who can love. 9 They never taste who always drink; / They always talk who never think. 10 Thy sum of duty let two words contain; / Be humble and be just. 11 Timely advised, the coming evil shun; / Better not do the deed, than weep it done. 12 Variety alone gives joy; / The sweetest meats the soonest cloy. 13 We happiness pursue; we fly from pain; / Yet the pursuit, and yet the flight is vain. 14 When people once are in the wrong, / Each line they add is much too long. 15 Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn; / And he alone is bless’d who ne’er was born. 16 Who fastest walks, but walks astray, / Is only farthest from his way. 17
