As you can not do what you wish, you should wish what you can do.
[Lat., Quoniam id fieri read more

As you can not do what you wish, you should wish what you can do.
[Lat., Quoniam id fieri quod vis non potest
Id velis quod possis.]

Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can read more

Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained

If I live to grow old, as I find I go down,
Let this be my fate in a read more

If I live to grow old, as I find I go down,
Let this be my fate in a country town;
May I have a warm house, with a stone at my gate,
And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate.
May I govern my passions with an absolute sway,
Grow wiser and better as my strength wears away,
Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.
- Walter Pope, The Old Man's Wish,

He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he called another; that arrives,
read more

He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he called another; that arrives,
Meets the same welcome; yet he still calls on;
Till one calls him, who varies not his call,
But holds him fast, in chains of darkness bound,
Till Nature dies, and judgment sets him free;
A freedom far less welcome than this chain.

Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious and free,
First flower of the earth, and first gem read more

Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious and free,
First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea.

I wish I knew the good of wishing.

I wish I knew the good of wishing.

You pursue, I fly; you fly, I pursue; such is my humor. What you
wish, Dondymus, I do not read more

You pursue, I fly; you fly, I pursue; such is my humor. What you
wish, Dondymus, I do not wish, what you do not wish, I do.

I've often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year,
A handsome house read more

I've often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year,
A handsome house to lodge a friend,
A river at my garden's end,
A terrace walk, and half a rood
Of land, set out to plant a wood.

He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted

He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted