Fortune's unjust; she ruins oft the brave, and him who should be victor, makes the slave.
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.
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.
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.
Christ hath arisen! O mountain peaks, attest- Witness, resounding glen and torrent wave! The immortal courage in the human breast Sprung from that victory-tell how oft the brave To camp midst rock and cave, Nerved by those words, their struggling faith have borne, Planting the cross on high above the clouds of morn!
The greatest fools are oft the most satisfied.
Oft when the white, still dawn lifted the skies and pushed the hills apart, I have felt it like a glory in my heart.
Courtesy which oft is found in lowly sheds, with smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls and courts of princes, where it first was named.
Oft has good nature been the fool's defence, And honest meaning gilded want of sense.
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 that strives to touch the stars Oft stumbles at a straw.
Alas! sorrow from happiness is oft evolved.
Beware of flattery, 'tis a weed Which oft offends the very idol--vice, Whose shrine it would perfume.
Full oft we see Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.
The Lives of Great Men are more oft' at variance with their profess'd Phillosophies than consistent with 'em.
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Gods, that never change their state, vary oft their love and hate.
The apparel oft proclaims the man.
Though old the thought and oft exprest, Tis his at last who says it best.
Where dost thou careless lie, Buried in ease and sloth? Knowledge that sleeps, doth die; And this security, It is the common moth, That eats on wits and arts, and oft destroys them both.