The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
I have laid sorrow to sleep;Love sleeps. She who oft made me weepNow weeps.
Best men oft are moulded out of faults.
Oft stumbles at a straw.
I am in Rome! Oft as the morning ray Visits these eyes, waking at once I cry, Whence this excess of joy? What has befallen me? And from within a thrilling voice replies, Thou art in Rome! A thousand busy thoughts Rush on my mind, a thousand images; And I spring up as girt to run a race!
And he is oft the wisest manWho is not wise at all.
Full oft we see Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.
E'en in mid-harvest, while the jocund swain Pluck'd from the brittle stalk the golden grain, Oft have I seen the war of winds contend, And prone on earth th' infuriate storm descend, Waste far and wide, and by the roots uptorn, The heavy harvest sweep through ether borne, As light straw and rapid stubble fly In dark'ning whirlwinds round the wintry sky.
Alas! sorrow from happiness is oft evolved.
I have no way and therefore want no eyes I stumbled when I saw. Full oft 'tis seen our means secure us, and our mere defects prove our commodities.
And oft, my jealousy shapes faults that are not.
Though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft let by the nose with gold.
But see how oft ambition's aims are cross'd, and chiefs contend 'til all the prize is lost!
Beware of flattery, 'tis a weed Which oft offends the very idol--vice, Whose shrine it would perfume.
God, who oft descends to visit men Unseen, and through their habitations walks To mark their doings.
For it oft happens that a notion, when it is cloathed with words, seems tedious and operose and hard to be conceived, which yet being striped of that garniture, the ideas shrink into a narrow compass, and are viewed almost by one glance of thought.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
But as some muskets so contrive it As oft to miss the mark they drive at, And though well aimed at dock or plover Bear wide, and kick their owners over.
Who cannot but see oftentimes how strange the threads of our destiny run? Oft it is only for a moment the favorable instant is presented. We miss it, and months and years are lost.
Courtesy which oft is found in lowly sheds, with smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls and courts of princes, where it first was named.