Careful Words

timber (n.)

timber (adj.)

  Knowledge and timber should n't be much used till they are seasoned.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. vi.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,

Like seasoned timber, never gives.

George Herbert (1593-1632): Virtue.

Remember Milo's end,

Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.

Earl Of Roscommon (1633-1684): Essay on Translated Verse. Line 87.