There grewe an aged tree on the greene;
A goodly Oake sometime had it bene,
With armes read more

There grewe an aged tree on the greene;
A goodly Oake sometime had it bene,
With armes full strong and largely displayed,
But of their leaves they were disarayde
The bodie bigge, and mightely pight,
Thoroughly rooted, and of wond'rous hight;
Whilome had bene the king of the field,
And mochell mast to the husband did yielde,
And with his nuts larded many swine:
But now the gray mosse marred his rine;
His bared boughes were beaten with stormes,
His toppe was bald, and wasted with wormes,
His honour decayed, his brauches sere.

Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,
Dream, and so dream read more

Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,
Dream, and so dream all night without a stir.

He is of the race of the mushroom; he covers himself altogether
with his head.
[Lat., Fungino genere read more

He is of the race of the mushroom; he covers himself altogether
with his head.
[Lat., Fungino genere est; capite se totum tegit.]

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long read more

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it falls and die that night--
It was the plant and flower of Light.

He who moves not forward, goes backward

He who moves not forward, goes backward

Alas! worse every day! this colony grows backward like the tail
of a calf.
[Lat., Heu quotidie pejus! read more

Alas! worse every day! this colony grows backward like the tail
of a calf.
[Lat., Heu quotidie pejus! haec colonia retroversus crescit
tanquam coda vituli.]

Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are found and
perfected by degrees, by often handling read more

Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are found and
perfected by degrees, by often handling and polishing, as bears
leisurely lick their clubs into shape.

The gem cannot be polished without friction, not a man perfected without trials.

The gem cannot be polished without friction, not a man perfected without trials.

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.