The miller feeds the mill, and the mill the miller;
So death feeds life, and life, too, feeds its killer.
--John Sterling.
If I were dead I think that you would come
And look upon me, cold and white, and say,
"Poor child! I'm sorry you have gone away."
But just because my body has to live
Through hopeless years, you do not come and say,
"Dear child, I'm glad that you are here to-day."
Who heeds not experience, trust him not; tell him
The scope of our mind can but trifles achieve;
The weakest who draws from the mine will excel him--
The wealth of mankind is the wisdom they leave.
--John Boyle O'Reilly.
A pious friend one day of Rabia asked
How she had learned the truth of Allah wholly;
By what instructions was her memory tasked?
How was her heart estranged from the world's folly?
She answered, "Thou who knowest God in parts
Thy spirit's moods and processes canst tell:
I only know that in my heart of hearts
I have despised myself and loved him well."
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
--William Shakespeare.