Careful Words

done (n.)

done (v.)

done (adj.)

Now a' is done that men can do,

And a' is done in vain.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): A' for our Rightfu' King.

Now a' is done that men can do,

And a' is done in vain.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): A' for our Rightfu' King.

  Let all things be done decently and in order.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians xiv. 40.

It is so soon that I am done for,

I wonder what I was begun for.

Epitaph on a child who died at the age of three weeks (Cheltenham Churchyard).

If it were done when 't is done, then 't were well

It were done quickly: if the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch

With his surcease success; that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We 'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases

We still have judgment here; that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which being taught, return

To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice

To our own lips.

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

  For this thing was not done in a corner.

New Testament: Acts xxvi. 26.

  Only think of Cockie Graves having gone and done it!

Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield) (1805-1881): Sybil. Book i. Chap. ii.

It must be done like lightning.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Every Man in his Humour. Act iv. Sc. v.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds

Make deeds ill done!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iv. Sc. 2.

When I'm not thank'd at all, I'm thank'd enough;

I 've done my duty, and I 've done no more.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754): Tom Thumb the Great. Act i. Sc. 3.

If it were done when 't is done, then 't were well

It were done quickly: if the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch

With his surcease success; that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We 'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases

We still have judgment here; that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which being taught, return

To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice

To our own lips.

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

So many worlds, so much to do,

So little done, such things to be.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. lxxiii. Stanza 1.

  We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

Book Of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer.

Done to death by slanderous tongues.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 3.

What's done we partly may compute,

But know not what's resisted.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): Address to the Unco Guid.

  If I have done well, and as is fitting, . . . it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto.

Old Testament: 2 Maccabees xv. 38.

What is well done is done soon enough.

Du Bartas (1544-1590): First Week, First Day.

Things without all remedy

Should be without regard; what's done is done.

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

  This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Prayers and Meditations. Against inquisitive and perplexing Thoughts.

Whate'er he did was done with so much ease,

In him alone 't was natural to please.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 27.