Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusserwas an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, an expanded version of his original title, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, first published in 1557...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
time trying
Time tries the troth in everything.
few lend
Who goeth a borrowing/ Goeth a sorrowing./ Few lend (but fools)/ Their working tools.
cow except forth ill none spring stands trees true turns wind yield
Yet true it is, as cow chews cud,/ And trees at spring do yield forth bud,/ Except wind stands as never it stood,/ It is an ill wind turns none to good.
both giveth god
God sendeth and giveth both mouth and meat.
fools-and-foolishness money
A fool and his money are soon parted.
affairs husbands weather
Some respite to husbands the weather may send,/ But housewives' affairs have never an end.
debate fool good hundred money points soon
A fool and his money be soon at debate (Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry)
bear buying pig selling wit
In doing of either, let wit bear a stroke,/ For buying or selling of pig in a poke.
fool debate
A fool and his money be soon at debate
cheer merry-christmas winter
Sing hey! Sing hey! For Christmas Day; Twine mistletoe and holly. For a friendship glows In winter snows, And so let's all be jolly! At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year
sadness misery borrowing
Who goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.
years shining age
For the first fourteen years for a rod they do while for the next as a pearl in the world they do shine. For the next trim beauty beginneth to swerve. For the next matrons or drudges they serve. For the next doth crave a staff for a stay. For the next a bier to fetch them away.
peace integrity patriotic
Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man.
running sheep hands
Provide of thine own, to have all things at hand; Less work and the workman, unoccupied, stand. Make dry over-head both hovel and shack. Wash sheep (for the better) where water doth run; Let him go cleanly, and dry in the sun. Thy houses and and barns would be looked upon; And all things a[...]ed, ere harvest come on. At midsummer, down with the brambles and brakes; And after, abroad, with thy forks and thy rakes; Set movers a mowing, where meadow is grown; The longer now standing, the worse to be mown.