Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

John Ford

Ambition, like a seeled [blind] dove mounts upward,
Higher and higher still, to perch on clouds,
But tumbles headlong down with heavier ruin.

Bitter as Penthea’s curse.

Chaste as fate.

Courtly as the French.

Foul and cursed as if some holy temple had been robbed.

Demurely as a judge that pronounceth sentence of death.

Gay as Apollo’s locks.

Breathe as gently, as a perfumed pair of sucking bellows, in some sweet lady’s chamber.

Agonies as hot as flames of sulphur.

As humble as the child of one that sweats, to eat the dear-earn’d bread of honest thrift.

Loyal to her plighted faith as is the sun in Heaven.

Natural as to eat, sleep, and wear a nightcap.

Pure as unwritten papers.

Resolute as thunder.

Sweetly scented as the incense smoking on Vesta’s altars.

Sparkles like a lusty wine new broached.

Strong in silence as mysteries locked up in Jove’s own bosom.

Struts like a juggler.

Suddenly as a rain sound can pass from your ear.

As sweet as a violet.

Vagrant as the wind.