A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
_Essay on Criticism, Pt. II_. A. POPE.
When night hath set her silver lamp on high,
Then is the time for study.
_Festus, Sc. A Village Feast_. P.J. BAILEY.
BIRON.--What is the end of Study? let me know.
KING.--Why, that to know, which else we should not know.
BIRON.--Things hid and barred, you mean, from common sense?
KING.--Ay, that is study's godlike recompense.
_Love's Labor's Lost, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en;
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.
_Taming of the Shrew, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
Some, for renown, on scraps of learning dote,
And think they grow immortal as they quote.
_Love of Fame, Satire I_. DR. E. YOUNG.
With just enough of learning to misquote.
_English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_. LORD BYRON.
Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil
O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
_Fables: The Shepherd and the Philosopher_. J. GAY.
And thou art worthy; full of power;
As gentle; liberal-minded, great,
Consistent; wearing all that weight
Of learning lightly like a flower.
_In Memoriam: Conclusion_. A. TENNYSON.
Small have continual plodders ever won,
Save base authority from others' books.
These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more profit of their shining nights
Than those that walk, and wot not what they are.
_Love's Labor's Lost, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.
_The Wife of Bath: Her Prologue._ A. POPE.
Here the heart
May give a useful lesson to the head,
And learning wiser grow without his books.
_The Task, Bk. VI. Winter Walk at Noon_. W. COWPER.
Learning by study must be won;
'Twas ne'er entailed from son to son.
_The Pack Horse and Carrier_. J. GAY.
Much learning shows how little mortals know;
Much wealth, how little worldlings can enjoy.
_Night Thoughts, Night VI_. DR. E. YOUNG.
Were man to live coeval with the sun.
The patriarch-pupil would be learning still.
_Night Thoughts, Night VII_. DR. E. YOUNG.