Proverbial Wisdom

Express the idea behind each of these proverbs using different words as much as you can.

271. He that is but able to express
No sense at all in several languages,
Will pass for learneder than he that’s known
To speak the strongest reason in his own.

Samuel Butler (1613-1680)

Satire upon Human Learning, Pt I, line 65

272. O woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please.
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Marmion, Can. VI, XXX

273. What strong mysterious links enchain the heart,
To regions where the morn of life was spent.

James Grahame (1765-1811)

The Sabbath, line 404

274. He who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth himself.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)

Christian Morals, Pt I, XXXIV

275. Treason doth never prosper; what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

Sir James Harrington (1430-1485)

Epigrams

276. Who lets slip fortune, her shall never find;
Occasion, once past by, is bald behind.

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667)

Pyramus and Thisbe, XV