Charles Churchill
Charles Churchill
wise men giving
Satire, whilst envy and ill-humor sway The mind of man, must always make her way; Nor to a bosom, with discretion fraught, Is all her malice worth a single thought. The wise have not the will, nor fools the power, To stop her headstrong course; within the hour Left to herself, she dies; opposing strife Gives her fresh vigor, and prolongs her life.
wise home men
There's a strange something, which without a brain Fools feel, and which e'en wise men can't explain, Planted in man, to bind him to that earth, In dearest ties, from whence he drew his birth.
empty loud
So loud each tongue, so empty was each head, / So much they talked, so very little said.
humor serious serious-things
A joke's a very serious thing.
fashion use may
Fashion--a word which knaves and fools may use, Their knavery and folly to excuse.
fool dunces folly
Fool beckons fool, and dunce awakens dunce.
haste speed worst
The more haste, ever the worst speed.
son men justice
Amongst the sons of men how few are known Who dare be just to merit not their own.
land knaves fool
Knaves starve not in the land of fools.
mind attention blank
Constant attention wears the active mind, Blots out our pow'rs, and leaves a blank behind.
woods flood command
The oak, when living, monarch of the wood; The English oak, which, dead, commands the flood.
poet rapture prose
Who all in raptures their own works rehearse, And drawl out measur'd prose, which they call verse.
religion saint mercy
The rigid saint, by whom no mercy's shown To saints whose lives are better than his own.
reputation
And reputation bleeds in ev'ry word.