But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd

Than that which withering on the virgin thorn

Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 1.

Like two single gentlemen rolled into one.

George Colman, The Younger (1762-1836): Lodgings for Single Gentlemen.

Oh for a single hour of that Dundee

Who on that day the word of onset gave!

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Sonnet, in the Pass of Killicranky.

So careful of the type she seems,

So careless of the single life.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. lv. Stanza 2.

And sure th' Eternal Master found

His single talent well employ'd.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 7.