Careful Words

near (v.)

near (adv.)

near (adj.)

In part she is to blame that has been tried:

He comes too late that comes to be denied.

Mary W. Montagu: The Lady's Resolve.

Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide,—

In part she is to blame that has been tried:

He comes too near that comes to be denied.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1690-1762): The Lady's Resolve.

He seems so near, and yet so far.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. xcvii. Stanza 6.

So nigh is grandeur to our dust,

So near is God to man,

When Duty whispers low, Thou must,

The youth replies, I can!

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): Voluntaries.

Masters, it is proved already that you are little better than false knaves; and it will go near to be thought so shortly.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act iv. Sc. 2.

To kerke the narre from God more farre,

Has bene an old-sayd sawe;

And he that strives to touche a starre

Oft stombles at a strawe.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): The Shepheardes Calender. July. Line 97.