Careful Words

smiling (n.)

smiling (adj.)

  An you had any eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels than fortunes before you.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Twelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 5.

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!

My tables,—meet it is I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain:

At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 5.

Man, false man, smiling, destructive man!

Nathaniel Lee (1655-1692): Theodosius. Act iii. Sc. 2.

There shall he love when genial morn appears,

Like pensive Beauty smiling in her tears.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Pleasures of Hope. Part ii. Line 95.

I'm weary of conjectures,—this must end 'em.

Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life,

My bane and antidote, are both before me:

This in a moment brings me to an end;

But this informs me I shall never die.

The soul, secured in her existence, smiles

At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself

Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years;

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,

Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act v. Sc. 1.