Quote#Nature
Think'st thou there are no serpents in the world
Quote byJoanna Baillie · 1762–1851
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: De Montfort (1798), Act I, scene 2; in A Series of Plays..
English (original)
Think'st thou there are no serpents in the world But those who slide along the grassy sod, And sting the luckless foot that presses them? There are who in the path of social life Do bask their spotted skins in Fortune's sun, And sting the soul.
— Joanna Baillie
More from Joanna Baillie
Oh, swiftly glides the bonnie boat, Just parted from the shore, And to the fisher's chorus-note, Soft moves the dipping oar!
The tyrant now Trusts not to men: nightly within his chamber The watch-dog guards his couch, the only friend He now dare trust.
A willing heart adds feather to the heel, And makes the clown a winged Mercury.
Sweet sleep be with us, one and all! And if upon its stillness fall The visions of a busy brain, We'll have our pleasure o'er again, To warm the heart, to charm the sight, Gay dreams to all! good night, good night.
Words of affection, howsoe'er express'd, The latest spoken still are deem'd the best.
The hushed winds wail with feeble moan Like infant charity.