John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
286 John Lyly 1554?-1606 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 286 |
| AUTHOR: | John Lyly (1554?–1606) |
| QUOTATION: | The soft droppes of rain perce the hard marble; 1 many strokes overthrow the tallest oaks. 2 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Euphues, 1579 (Arber’s reprint), page 81. |
| Note 1. Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.—Plutarch: Of the Training of Children. Stillicidi casus lapidem cavat (Continual dropping wears away a stone). Lucretius: i. 314. [back] |
| Note 2. Many strokes, though with a little axe, Hew down and fell the hardest-timber’d oak. William Shakespeare: 3 Henry VI. act ii. sc. 1. [back] |