Careful Words

listen (n.)

listen (v.)

Angels listen when she speaks:

She's my delight, all mankind's wonder;

But my jealous heart would break

Should we live one day asunder.

Earl Of Rochester (1647-1680): Song.

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 859.

  Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow,—attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince Of Abyssinia.

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