Famous quotes containing the word oft:
“How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquered; beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I, who had heard of music in the spheres,
But not of speech in stars, began to muse:
But turning to my God, whose ministers
The stars and all things are; If I refuse,
Dread Lord, said I, so oft my good;
Then I refuse not ev’n with blood
To wash away my stubborn thought:
For I will do or suffer what I ought.”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)
“The wit of man has devised cruel statutes,
And nature oft permits what is by law forbid.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)