Careful Words

fly (n.)

fly (v.)

fly (adv.)

fly (adj.)

Then fly betimes, for only they

Conquer Love that run away.

Thomas Carew (1589-1639): Conquest by Flight.

Busy, curious, thirsty fly,

Drink with me, and drink as I.

William Oldys (1696-1761): On a Fly drinking out of a Cup of Ale.

  "I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others."

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Rasselas. Chap. iii.

  The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt.

Old Testament: Isaiah vii. 18.

  The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt.

Old Testament: Isaiah vii. 18.

Which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;

And in the lowest deep a lower deep,

Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 73.

Fly, like a youthful hart or roe,

Over the hills where spices grow.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748): Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book i. Hymn 79.

Fly not yet; 't is just the hour

When pleasure, like the midnight flower

That scorns the eye of vulgar light,

Begins to bloom for sons of night

And maids who love the moon.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): Fly not yet.

Oh could I fly, I 'd fly with thee!

We 'd make with joyful wing

Our annual visit o'er the globe,

Companions of the spring.

John Logan (1748-1788): To the Cuckoo.

  The fly of the coach.

J De La Fontaine (1621-1695): Book vii. Fable 9.

But now my task is smoothly done,

I can fly, or I can run.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 1012.

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly;

"'T is the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy."

Mary Howitt (1804-1888): The Spider and the Fly.

The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.

John Gay (1688-1732): The Beggar's Opera. Act ii. Sc. 2.

For those that fly may fight again,

Which he can never do that's slain.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part iii. Canto iii. Line 243.

For those that run away and fly,

Take place at least o' the enemy.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part i. Canto iii. Line 609.

To waft a feather or to drown a fly.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night thoughts. Night i. Line 154.

Which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;

And in the lowest deep a lower deep,

Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 73.

I saw a flie within a beade

Of amber cleanly buried.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674): The Amber Bead.