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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 183

 
 
John Fletcher. (1579–1625)
 
2085
    Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate.
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 1
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
          Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune.”
2086
    All things that are
Made for our general uses are at war,—
Even we among ourselves.
          Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune.”
2087
    Man is his own star; and that soul that can
Be honest is the only perfect man. 2
          Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune.”
2088
    Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan,
Sorrow calls no time that ’s gone;
Violets plucked, the sweetest rain
Makes not fresh nor grow again. 3
          The Queen of Corinth. Act iii. Sc. 2.
2089
    O woman, perfect woman! what distraction
Was meant to mankind when thou wast made a devil!
          Monsieur Thomas. Act iii. Sc. 1.
2090
    Let us do or die. 4
          The Island Princess. Act ii. Sc. 4.
2091
    Hit the nail on the head.
          Love’s Cure. Act ii. Sc. 1.
 
Note 1.
Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular all his life long.—Robert Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2, memb. 1, subsect. 2. Burton also quotes Anthony Rusca in this connection, v. xviii. [back]
Note 2.
An honest man ’s the noblest work of God.—Alexander Pope: Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 248. Robert Burns: The Cotter’s Saturday Night. [back]
Note 3.
Weep no more, Lady! weep no more,
Thy sorrow is in vain;
For violets plucked, the sweetest showers
Will ne’er make grow again.
Thomas Percy: Reliques. The Friar of Orders Gray. [back]
Note 4.
Let us do or die.—Robert Burns: Bannockburn. Thomas Campbell: Gertrude of Wyoming, part iii. stanza 37.

Scott says, “This expression is a kind of common property, being the motto, we believe, of a Scottish family.”—Review of Gertrude, Scott’s Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 153. [back]