"The Commons, faithful to their system, remained in a wise and masterly inactivity."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Diffused knowledge immortalizes itself."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Much like a subtle spider which doth sit In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide; If aught do touch the utmost thread of it, She feels it instantly on every side."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been To public feasts, where meet a public rout,-- Where they that are without would fain go in, And they that are within would fain go out."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"But whither am I strayed? I need not raise Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built; Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Though with those streams he no resemblance hold, Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold; His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore, Search not his bottom, but survey his shore."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage; without o'erflowing, full."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Treason doth never prosper: what 's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Her feet beneath her petticoat Like little mice stole in and out, As if they feared the light; But oh, she dances such a way! No sun upon an Easter-day Is half so fine a sight."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"'T is expectation makes a blessing dear; Heaven were not heaven if we knew what it were."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Her lips were red, and one was thin; Compared with that was next her chin,-- Some bee had stung it newly."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"But as when an authentic watch is shown, Each man winds up and rectifies his own, So in our very judgments."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Why so pale and wan, fond lover? Prithee, why so pale? Will, when looking well can't move her, Looking ill prevail? Prithee, why so pale?"

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Nick of time."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Her face is like the milky way i' the sky,-- A meeting of gentle lights without a name."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

""High characters," cries one, and he would see Things that ne'er were, nor are, nor e'er will be."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"She is pretty to walk with, And witty to talk with, And pleasant, too, to think on."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"My dear, my better half."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"He cometh unto you with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney-corner."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"High-erected thoughts seated in the heart of courtesy."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Have I caught my heav'nly jewel."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Fool! said my muse to me, look in thy heart, and write."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"O Douglas, O Douglas! Tendir and trewe."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Though her mien carries much more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to loose behaviour; to love her was a liberal education."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Will. Honeycomb calls these over-offended ladies the outrageously virtuous."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Anything but history, for history must be false."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The balance of power."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Quietly rested under the drums and tramplings of three conquests."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many million of faces there should be none alike."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Nature is the art of God."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes and pompous in the grave."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The heart of man is the place the Devil 's in: I feel sometimes a hell within myself."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The thousand doors that lead to death."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Ruat coelum, fiat voluntas tua."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"There is music in the beauty, and the silent note which Cupid strikes, far sweeter than the sound of an instrument; for there is music wherever there is harmony, order, or proportion; and thus far we may maintain the music of the spheres."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"I look upon you as gem of the old rock."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Too rashly charged the troops of error, and remain as trophies unto the enemies of truth."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"When we desire to confine our words, we commonly say they are spoken under the rose."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana; he is almost lost that built it."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Sleep is a death; oh, make me try By sleeping what it is to die, And as gently lay my head On my grave as now my bed!"

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Rich with the spoils of Nature."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"There is no road or ready way to virtue."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Times before you, when even living men were antiquities,--when the living might exceed the dead, and to depart this world could not be properly said to go unto the greater number."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"In part to blame is she, Which hath without consent bin only tride: He comes to neere that comes to be denide."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain