Careful Words

know (n.)

know (v.)

  Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. ix.

I know a trick worth two of that.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 1.

To those who know thee not, no words can paint!

And those who know thee, know all words are faint!

Hannah More (1745-1833): Sensibility.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

John Keats (1795-1821): Ode on a Grecian Urn.

So much one man can do,

That does both act and know.

Andrew Marvell (1620-1678): Upon Cromwell's return from Ireland.

Know then this truth (enough for man to know),—

"Virtue alone is happiness below."

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 309.

I know everything except myself.

Dante (1265-1321): Autre Ballade. i.

And feel that I am happier than I know.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 282.

So well to know

Her own, that what she wills to do or say

Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 548.

She was good as she was fair,

None—none on earth above her!

As pure in thought as angels are:

To know her was to love her.

Samuel Rogers (1763-1855): Jacqueline. Stanza 1.

  He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

Old Testament: Job vii. 10; cf. xvi. 22.

  Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

Old Testament: Psalm xxxix. 4.

Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.

One self-approving hour whole years outweighs

Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas;

And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels

Than Caesar with a senate at his heels.

In parts superior what advantage lies?

Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise?

'T is but to know how little can be known;

To see all others' faults, and feel our own.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 254.

Oh, fear not in a world like this,

And thou shalt know erelong,—

Know how sublime a thing it is

To suffer and be strong.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): The Light of Stars.

Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy,

It is not safe to know.

Sir William Davenant (1605-1668): The Just Italian. Act v. Sc. 1.

That virtue only makes our bliss below,

And all our knowledge is ourselves to know.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 397.

Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,

The lowest of your throng.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 830.

Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour,

I 've seen my fondest hopes decay;

I never loved a tree or flower

But 't was the first to fade away.

I never nurs'd a dear gazelle,

To glad me with its soft black eye,

But when it came to know me well

And love me, it was sure to die.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): The Fire-Worshippers.

What constitutes a state?

 .   .   .   .   .   .   .

Men who their duties know,

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain.

 .   .   .   .   .   .   .

And sovereign law, that state's collected will,

O'er thrones and globes elate,

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus.

  Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

Old Testament: Psalm xxxix. 4.

  Not if I know myself at all.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834): The Old and New Schoolmaster.

I know not, I ask not, if guilt's in that heart,

I but know that I love thee whatever thou art.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): Come, rest in this Bosom.

  He that knows not what the world is, knows not where he is himself. He that knows not for what he was made, knows not what he is nor what the world is.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 a d): Meditations. viii. 52.

Death in itself is nothing; but we fear

To be we know not what, we know not where.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Aurengzebe. Act iv. Sc. 1.

What's done we partly may compute,

But know not what's resisted.

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

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iv. Sc. 5.

  Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down."

Diogenes Laertius (Circa 200 a d): Pyrrho. viii.

  When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, "To know one's self." And what was easy, "To advise another."

Diogenes Laertius (Circa 200 a d): Thales. ix.

Come to the bridal chamber, Death!

Come to the mother's, when she feels

For the first time her first-born's breath!

Come when the blessed seals

That close the pestilence are broke,

And crowded cities wail its stroke!

Come in consumption's ghastly form,

The earthquake shock, the ocean storm!

Come when the heart beats high and warm,

With banquet song, and dance, and wine!

And thou art terrible!—the tear,

The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier,

And all we know or dream or fear

Of agony are thine.

Alfred Bunn (1790-1860): Marco Bozzaris.

Say first, of God above or man below,

What can we reason but from what we know?

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 17.

I know that Deformed.

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

I know not, I ask not, if guilt's in that heart,

I but know that I love thee whatever thou art.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): Come, rest in this Bosom.

To those who know thee not, no words can paint!

And those who know thee, know all words are faint!

Hannah More (1745-1833): Sensibility.

Look round the habitable world: how few

Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Juvenal. Satire x.

What constitutes a state?

 .   .   .   .   .   .   .

Men who their duties know,

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain.

 .   .   .   .   .   .   .

And sovereign law, that state's collected will,

O'er thrones and globes elate,

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus.

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

The proper study of mankind is man.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 1.

Life is a jest, and all things show it;

I thought so once, but now I know it.

John Gay (1688-1732): My own Epitaph.

  Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xlii.

  There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself," and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend.

Plutarch (46(?)-120(?) a d): Consolation to Apollonius.

To know, to esteem, to love, and then to part,

Makes up life's tale to many a feeling heart!

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): On taking Leave of ——, 1817.

  Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.

Michael De Montaigne (1533-1592): Book i. Chap. xxxi. Of Divine Ordinances.

I only know we loved in vain;

I only feel—farewell! farewell!

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Farewell! if ever fondest Prayer.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iv. Sc. 5.

  If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 2.

  Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. v. Chap. ix.

The sunshine is a glorious birth;

But yet I know, where'er I go,

That there hath passed away a glory from the earth.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 2.

Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle

Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime;

Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle,

Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime?

Lord Byron 1788-1824: The Bride of Abydos. Canto i. Stanza 1.