We figure to ourselves

The thing we like; and then we build it up,

As chance will have it, on the rock or sand,—

For thought is tired of wandering o'er the world,

And homebound Fancy runs her bark ashore.

Sir Henry Taylor (1800-18—): Philip Van Artevelde. Part i. Act i. Sc. 5.

Too low they build, who build beneath the stars.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night Thoughts. Night viii. Line 215.

But how can he expect that others should

Build for him, sow for him, and at his call

Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Resolution and Independence. Stanza 6.

He lives to build, not boast, a generous race;

No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.

Richard Savage (1698-1743): The Bastard. Line 7.

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Chambered Nautilus.

He knew

Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.

John Milton (1608-1674): Lycidas. Line 10.

So build we up the being that we are.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Excursion. Book iv.

When we mean to build,

We first survey the plot, then draw the model;

And when we see the figure of the house,

Then must we rate the cost of the erection.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 3.