We bear it calmly, though a ponderous woe,

And still adore the hand that gives the blow.

John Pomfret (1667-1703): Verses to his Friend under Affliction.

Bless the hand that gave the blow.

John Dryden (1631-1701): The Spanish Friar. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,

Bold I can meet,—perhaps may turn his blow!

But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,

Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!

George Canning (1770-1827): New Morality.

Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying!

Blow, bugle! answer, echoes! dying, dying, dying.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): The Princess. Part iii. Line 352.

Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night Thoughts. Night v. Line 1011.

This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe,

For Freedom only deals the deadly blow;

Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade,

For gentle peace in Freedom's hallowed shade.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848): Written in an Album, 1842.

Another's sword has laid him low,

Another's and another's;

And every hand that dealt the blow—

Ah me! it was a brother's!

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): O'Connor's Child. Stanza 10.

We bear it calmly, though a ponderous woe,

And still adore the hand that gives the blow.

John Pomfret (1667-1703): Verses to his Friend under Affliction.

Liberty's in every blow!

Let us do or die.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): Bannockburn.

Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

The deep damnation of his taking-off;

And pity, like a naked new-born babe,

Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed

Upon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on the other.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 7.

I must have liberty

Withal, as large a charter as the wind,

To blow on whom I please.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.

Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,

Bold I can meet,—perhaps may turn his blow!

But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,

Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!

George Canning (1770-1827): New Morality.

Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act i. Sc. 1.

Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

The deep damnation of his taking-off;

And pity, like a naked new-born babe,

Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed

Upon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on the other.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 7.

Hereditary bondsmen! know ye not,

Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow?

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto ii. Stanza 76.

When the stormy winds do blow;

When the battle rages loud and long,

And the stormy winds do blow.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Ye Mariners of England.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind!

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.

If after every tempest come such calms,

May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Some have been beaten till they know

What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow;

Some kick'd until they can feel whether

A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part ii. Canto i. Line 221.

Blow, wind! come, wrack!

At least we 'll die with harness on our back.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act v. Sc. 5.

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.

A word and a blow.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act iii. Sc. 1.

A knock-down argument: 't is but a word and a blow.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Amphitryon. Act i. Sc. 1.