John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 181
| John Webster. (1580?–1634) (continued) |
| 2069 |
| Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright, But look’d too near have neither heat nor light. 1 |
| The White Devil. Act iv. Sc. 4. |
| 2070 |
| Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren, Since o’er shady groves they hover, And with leaves and flowers do cover The friendless bodies of unburied men. |
| The White Devil. Act v. Sc. 2. |
| 2071 |
| Is not old wine wholesomest, old pippins toothsomest, old wood burns brightest, old linen wash whitest? Old soldiers, sweetheart, are surest, and old lovers are soundest. 2 |
| Westward Hoe. Act ii. Sc. 2. |
| 2072 |
| I saw him now going the way of all flesh. |
| Westward Hoe. Act ii. Sc. 2. |
| Thomas Dekker. (1570–1632) |
| 2073 |
| A wise man poor Is like a sacred book that ’s never read,— To himself he lives, and to all else seems dead. This age thinks better of a gilded fool Than of a threadbare saint in wisdom’s school. |
| Old Fortunatus. |
| 2074 |
| And though mine arm should conquer twenty worlds, There ’s a lean fellow beats all conquerors. |
| Old Fortunatus. |
| Note 1. The mountains, too, at a distance appear airy masses and smooth, but when beheld close they are rough.—Diogenes Laertius: Pyrrho. Love is like a landscape which doth stand Smooth at a distance, rough at hand. Robert Hegge: On Love. We ’re charm’d with distant views of happiness, But near approaches make the prospect less. Yalden: Against Enjoyment. As distant prospects please us, but when near We find but desert rocks and fleeting air. Samuel Garth: The Dispensatory, canto iii. line 27. ’T is distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue. Thomas Campbell: Pleasures of Hope, part i. line 7. [back] |
| Note 2. See Bacon, Quotation 57. [back] |