Take heed lest passion sway
Thy judgment to do aught, which else free will
Would not admit.
_Paradise Lost, Bk. VIII_. MILTON.
In men, we various ruling passions find;
In women two almost divide the kind;
Those only fixed, they first or last obey,
The love of pleasure, and the love of sway.
_Moral Essays, Epistle II_. A. POPE.
Passions are likened best to floods and streams,
The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb.
_The Silent Lover_. SIR W. RALEIGH.
A little fire is quickly trodden out;
Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench.
_Henry VI., Pt. III. Act iv. Sc. 8_ SHAKESPEARE.
The ruling passion, be it what it will,
The ruling passion conquers reason still.
* * * * *
Hear then the truth: 'Tis Heav'n each passion sends,
And different men directs to different ends.
Extremes in nature equal good produce;
Extremes in man concur to general use.
_Moral Essays, Epistle III_. A. POPE.
And hence one master passion in the breast,
Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.
_Essay on Man, Epistle II_. A. POPE.