Careful Words

bane (n.)

bane (adj.)

I'm weary of conjectures,—this must end 'em.

Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life,

My bane and antidote, are both before me:

This in a moment brings me to an end;

But this informs me I shall never die.

The soul, secured in her existence, smiles

At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself

Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years;

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,

Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act v. Sc. 1.

Power, like a desolating pestilence,

Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience,

Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,

Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame

A mechanized automaton.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): Queen Mab. iii.

The bane of all that dread the Devil.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Idiot Boy.

Let none admire

That riches grow in hell: that soil may best

Deserve the precious bane.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 690.