It's wiser being good than bad;

It's safer being meek than fierce;

It's fitter being sane than mad.

My own hope is, a sun will pierce

The thickest cloud earth ever stretched;

That after Last returns the First,

Though a wide compass round be fetched;

That what began best can't end worst,

Nor what God blessed once prove accurst.

Robert Browning (1812-1890): Apparent Failure. vii.

Although the last, not least.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.

Not she with trait'rous kiss her Saviour stung,

Not she denied him with unholy tongue;

She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave,

Last at his cross and earliest at his grave.

Eaton S. Barrett (1785-1820): Woman, Part i. (ed. 1822).

My latest found,

Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight!

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 18.

While Resignation gently slopes away,

And all his prospects brightening to the last,

His heaven commences ere the world be past.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Deserted Village. Line 110.

Comes at the last, and with a little pin

Bores through his castle wall—and farewell king!

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

Were 't the last drop in the well,

As I gasp'd upon the brink,

Ere my fainting spirit fell

'T is to thee that I would drink.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: To Thomas Moore.

And make each day a critic on the last.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part iii. Line 12.

Eyes, look your last!

Arms, take your last embrace!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3.

Eyes, look your last!

Arms, take your last embrace!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3.

The first in banquets, but the last in fight.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book iv. Line 401.

Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,

If better thou belong not to the dawn.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 166.

On his last legs.

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627): The Old Law. Act v. Sc. 1.

The last link is broken

That bound me to thee,

And the words thou hast spoken

Have render'd me free.

Fanny Steers: Song.

On parent knees, a naked new-born child,

Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled;

So live, that sinking in thy last long sleep,

Calm thou mayst smile, while all around thee weep.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): From the Persian.

Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;

Corruption wins not more than honesty.

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,

Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!

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

Though last, not least in love.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act iii. Sc. 1.

The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act v. Sc. 3.

This will last out a night in Russia,

When nights are longest there.

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

Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food,

And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 83.

When the last reader reads no more.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Last Reader.

'T is the last rose of summer,

Left blooming alone.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): The Last Rose of Summer.

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard;

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

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

She hugg'd the offender, and forgave the offence:

Sex to the last.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 367.

Parting day

Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues

With a new colour as it gasps away,

The last still loveliest, till—'t is gone, and all is gray.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto iv. Stanza 29.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

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

The setting sun, and music at the close,

As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,

Writ in remembrance more than things long past.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.

The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.

Though old the thought and oft exprest,

'T is his at last who says it best.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): For an Autograph.

In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold,

Alike fantastic if too new or old:

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,

Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 133.

"Odious! in woollen! 't would a saint provoke,"

Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Moral Essays. Epistle i. Line 246.

"Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!"

Were the last words of Marmion.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 32.