James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
Sir Walter Raleigh
“Fain would I climb, but that I fear a fall.”On a pane of glass, to which Queen Elizabeth added, “It thy heart fail thee, then why climb at all?”
Fain would I, but I dare not; I dare, and yet I may not; / I may, although I care not, for pleasure when I play not.
Flatterers are the worst kind of traitors.
Hear much and speak little; for the tongue is the instrument of the greatest good and the greatest evil that is done in this world.
Life’s a tragedy.
Men no sooner find their appetites unanswered than they complain the times are injurious.
No man is esteemed for gay garments but by fools and women.
No man is wise or safe but he that is honest.
Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
Passions are likened best to floods and streams; / The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb.
Speaking much is a sign of vanity; for he that is lavish in words is a niggard in deed.
Stab at thee who will, / No stab the soul can kill.
The gain of lying is nothing else but not to be trusted of any, nor to be believed when we say the truth.
The unlearned man knoweth not what it is to descend into himself and call himself to account; nor the pleasure of that most pleasant life which consists in our daily feeling ourselves become better.
“This is a sharp medicine, but it cures all disorders.”Of the axe of his executioner.
Use thy youth so that thou mayest have comfort to remember it when it hath forsaken thee, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof. Use it as the springtime which soon departeth, and wherein thou oughtest to plant and sow all provisions for a long and happy life.