Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,

And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,

Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 201.

Strike—for your altars and your fires!

Strike—for the green graves of your sires!

God, and your native land!

Alfred Bunn (1790-1860): Marco Bozzaris.

Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Measure for Measure. Act i. Sc. 3.

Give me a look, give me a face,

That makes simplicity a grace;

Robes loosely flowing, hair as free,—

Such sweet neglect more taketh me

Than all the adulteries of art:

They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Epicoene; Or, the Silent Woman. Act i. Sc. 1.

And over them triumphant Death his dart

Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book xi. Line 491.

Hereditary bondsmen! know ye not,

Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow?

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto ii. Stanza 76.

It faded on the crowing of the cock.

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes

Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long:

And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 1.

When the iron is hot, strike.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

When the iron is hot, strike.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.