Then never less alone than when alone.

Samuel Rogers (1763-1855): Human Life.

That air and harmony of shape express,

Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.

Matthew Prior (1664-1721): Henry and Emma.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,—

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

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

Some feelings are to mortals given

With less of earth in them than heaven.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lady of the Lake. Canto ii. Stanza 22.

Of harmes two the lesse is for to cheese.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Troilus and Creseide. Book ii. Line 470.

Rather than be less,

Car'd not to be at all.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 47.

The world's a bubble, and the life of man

Less than a span.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The World.

His form had yet not lost

All her original brightness, nor appear'd

Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess

Of glory obscur'd.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 591.

A little more than kin, and less than kind.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 2.