Careful Words

refined (adj.)

Love divine, all love excelling,

Joy of heaven to earth come down.

Divine Love.

Of right and wrong he taught

Truths as refined as ever Athens heard;

And (strange to tell!) he practised what he preached.

John Armstrong (1709-1779): The Art of Preserving Health. Book iv. Line 301.

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,

To throw a perfume on the violet,

To smooth the ice, or add another hue

Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,

Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iv. Sc. 2.