Careful Words

let (n.)

let (v.)

let (adj.)

This house is to be let for life or years;

Her rent is sorrow, and her income tears.

Cupid, 't has long stood void; her bills make known,

She must be dearly let, or let alone.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674): Emblems. Book ii. Emblem 10, Ep. 10.

  Let down the curtain: the farce is done.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Motteux's Life.

This house is to be let for life or years;

Her rent is sorrow, and her income tears.

Cupid, 't has long stood void; her bills make known,

She must be dearly let, or let alone.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674): Emblems. Book ii. Emblem 10, Ep. 10.

Such as take lodgings in a head

That's to be let unfurnished.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 161.

If I do prove her haggard,

Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,

I 'ld whistle her off and let her down the wind,

To prey at fortune.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act iii. Sc. 3.

  Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773.

  Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773.

  Let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.

Book Of Common Prayer: Solemnization of Matrimony.

  Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians x. 12.

What boots it at one gate to make defence,

And at another to let in the foe?

John Milton (1608-1674): Samson Agonistes. Line 560.

  History repeats itself.

Let knowledge grow from more to more.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. Prologue. Line 25.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.

A M Toplady (1740-1778): Salvation through Christ.

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:

God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epitaph intended for Sir Isaac Newton.

  Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided. No personal considerations should stand in the way of performing a duty.

Ulysses S Grant (1822-1885): Indorsement of a Letter relating to the Whiskey Ring, July 29, 1875.

The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;

The motions of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act v. Sc. 1.

Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women

Rail on the Lord's anointed.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Richard III. Act iv. Sc. 4.

  Let not your heart be troubled.

New Testament: John xiv. 1.

Let others hail the rising sun:

I bow to that whose course is run.

David Garrick (1716-1779): On the Death of Mr. Pelham.

Let the end try the man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen;

Here's to the widow of fifty;

Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean,

And here's to the housewife that's thrifty!

Let the toast pass;

Drink to the lass;

I 'll warrant she 'll prove an excuse for the glass.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): School for Scandal. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Let the world slide, let the world go;

A fig for care, and a fig for woe!

If I can't pay, why I can owe,

And death makes equal the high and low.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Be Merry Friends.

Let the world slide.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Taming of the Shrew. Induc. Sc. 1.

Let the world slide.

Beaumont And Fletcher: Wit Without Money. Act v. Sc. 2.

  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Old Testament: Genesis i. 3.

  Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me.

Old Testament: Genesis xiii. 8.

Let those love now who never loved before;

Let those who always loved, now love the more.

Thomas Parnell (1679-1717): Translation of the Pervigilium Veneris.

  Let thy words be few.

Old Testament: Ecclesiastes v. 2.

Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close;

And let us all to meditation.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Primrose, first-born child of Ver,

Merry springtime's harbinger.

Beaumont And Fletcher: The Two Noble Kinsmen. Act i. Sc. 1.

  O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3.

  Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.

Sir John Powell (1633-1696): Coggs vs. Bernard, 2 Lord Raymond, 911.

Let us do or die.

John Fletcher (1576-1625): The Island Princess. Act ii. Sc. 4.

Liberty's in every blow!

Let us do or die.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): Bannockburn.

  Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die.

Old Testament: Isaiah xxii. 13.

  Let us have peace.

Ulysses S Grant (1822-1885): Accepting a Nomination for the Presidency, May 29, 1868.

And nothing can we call our own but death

And that small model of the barren earth

Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground

And tell sad stories of the death of kings.

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

And nothing can we call our own but death

And that small model of the barren earth

Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground

And tell sad stories of the death of kings.

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

He wales a portion with judicious care;

And "Let us worship God," he says with solemn air.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): The Cotter's Saturday Night.

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:

And so make life, death, and that vast forever

One grand sweet song.

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875): A Farewell.

  Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.

New Testament: Luke xii. 35.