Quote#Truth
It's guid to be merry and wise
Quote byRobert Burns · 1759–1796
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Posthumous Pieces (1799), Here's a Health to Them That's Awa, st. 1.
English (original)
It's guid to be merry and wise, It's guid to be honest and true, It's guid to support Caledonia's cause And bide by the buff and the blue.
— Robert Burns
More from Robert Burns
All in this mottie, misty clime, I backward mus'd on wasted time, How I had spent my youthfu' prime An' done nae-thing, But stringing blethers up to rhyme For fools to sing.
The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy.
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie, O what a panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle!
Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the rye, Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry?
I'm truly sorry Man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal!
When chill November's surly blast Made fields and forests bare.