Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyts New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Service
If I had always served God as I have served you, Madam, I should not have a great account to render at my death. BaconLife and Times of Francis the First. Vol. I. P. 46, of ed. 2.
And Master Kingston, this I will sayhad I but served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs. Pierre de Bourdeille (Brantome), quoting Thomas Cromwell to his keeper.
When I have attempted to join myself to others by services, it proved an intellectual trick,no more. They eat your service like apples, and leave you out. But love them, and they feel you, and delight in you all the time. EmersonEssays. Of Gifts.
Had I but written as many odes in praise of Muhammad and Ali as I have composed for King Mahmud, they would have showered a hundred blessings on me. Firdusi.
Sidney Godolphin, said Charles (II), is never in the way and never out of the way. MacaulayHistory of England. Vol. I. P. 265. Cabinet Ed. Phrase used later to describe a good valet
God curse Moawiyah. If I had served God so well as I have served him, he would never have damned me to all eternity. Found in Ockleys History of the Saracens. An. Hegira 54, A. D. 673.
I am an ass, indeed, you may prove it by my long ears. I have served him from the hour of my nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beating. Comedy of Errors. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 29.
Had I but servd my God with half the zeal I servd my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies. Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 455.
Small service is true service while it lasts: Of humblest friends, bright Creature! scorn not one; The Daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Protects the lingering dew drop from the Sun. WordsworthTo a Child: Written in Her Album.