Mine be a cot beside the hill;

A beehive's hum shall soothe my ear;

A willowy brook that turns a mill,

With many a fall, shall linger near.

Samuel Rogers (1763-1855): A Wish.

God's mill grinds slow, but sure.

George Herbert (1593-1632): Jacula Prudentum.

I wandered by the brookside,

I wandered by the mill;

I could not hear the brook flow,

The noisy wheel was still.

Richard Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) (1809-1885): The Brookside.

She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;

She is a woman, therefore may be won;

She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved.

What, man! more water glideth by the mill

Than wots the miller of; and easy it is

Of a cut loaf to steal a shive.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Titus Andronicus. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Much water goeth by the mill

That the miller knoweth not of.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.