Careful Words

will (n.)

will (v.)

will (adv.)

will (adj.)

In discourse more sweet;

For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense.

Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,

In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high

Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,

Fix'd fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute;

And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 555.

Broad based upon her people's will,

And compassed by the inviolate sea.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): To the Queen.

In idle wishes fools supinely stay;

Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.

George Crabbe (1754-1832): The Birth of Flattery.

He that complies against his will

Is of his own opinion still.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part iii. Canto iii. Line 547.

So on the tip of his subduing tongue

All kinds of arguments and questions deep,

All replication prompt, and reason strong,

For his advantage still did wake and sleep.

To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,

He had the dialect and different skill,

Catching all passion in his craft of will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Lover's Complaint. Line 120.

He is a fool who thinks by force or skill

To turn the current of a woman's will.

Samuel Tuke (—— -1673): Adventures of Five Hours. Act v. Sc. 3.

A weapon that comes down as still

As snowflakes fall upon the sod;

But executes a freeman's will,

As lightning does the will of God;

And from its force nor doors nor locks

Can shield you,—'t is the ballot-box.

John Pierpont (1785-1866): A Word from a Petitioner.

Where is the man who has the power and skill

To stem the torrent of a woman's will?

For if she will, she will, you may depend on 't;

And if she won't, she won't; so there's an end on 't.

The Examiner, May 31, 1829.

You must take the will for the deed.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii.

The will for the deed.

Colley Cibber (1671-1757): The Rival Fools. Act iii.

We will take the good will for the deed.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Works. Book iv. Chap. xlix.

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will;

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Earth has not anything to show more fair.

Two rules we should always have ready,—that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.

Epictetus (Circa 60 a d): In what Manner we ought to bear Sickness. Book iii. Chap. x.

If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?

Epictetus (Circa 60 a d): Discourses. Chap. xxv.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

New Testament: Luke ii. 14.

She that was ever fair and never proud,

Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Will. Honeycomb calls these over-offended ladies the outrageously virtuous.

Sir Richard Steele (1671-1729): Spectator. No. 266.

I will take my corporal oath on it.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.

And binding Nature fast in fate,

Left free the human will.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Universal Prayer. Stanza 3.

Ap. My poverty, but not my will, consents.

Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act v. Sc. 1.

He that will not when he may,

When he would he shall have nay.

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

That to live by one man's will became the cause of all men's misery.

Richard Hooker (1553-1600): Ecclesiastical Polity. Book i.

First, then, a woman will or won't, depend on 't;

If she will do 't, she will; and there's an end on 't.

But if she won't, since safe and sound your trust is,

Fear is affront, and jealousy injustice.

Aaron Hill (1685-1750): Zara. Epilogue.

Ap. My poverty, but not my will, consents.

Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act v. Sc. 1.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep:

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to,—'t is a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.

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

The reason firm, the temperate will,

Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

A perfect woman, nobly planned,

To warn, to comfort, and command.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): She was a Phantom of Delight.

O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellions hell,

If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,

To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,

And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame

When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,

Since frost itself as actively doth burn,

And reason panders will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 4.

How happy is he born or taught,

That serveth not another's will;

Whose armour is his honest thought,

And simple truth his utmost skill!

Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639): The Character of a Happy Life.

The star of the unconquered will.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): The Light of Stars.

What constitutes a state?

. . . . . . .

Men who their duties know,

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain.

. . . . . . .

And sovereign law, that state's collected will,

O'er thrones and globes elate,

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus.

On his bold visage middle age

Had slightly press'd its signet sage,

Yet had not quench'd the open truth

And fiery vehemence of youth:

Forward and frolic glee was there,

The will to do, the soul to dare.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lady of the Lake. Canto i. Stanza 21.

Where is the man who has the power and skill

To stem the torrent of a woman's will?

For if she will, she will, you may depend on 't;

And if she won't, she won't; so there's an end on 't.

The Examiner, May 31, 1829.

What though the field be lost?

All is not lost; th' unconquerable will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 105.

I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won't; when you won't, they set their hearts upon you of their own inclination.

Terence (185-159 b c): Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 42. (812.)

Thence to the famous orators repair,

Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence

Wielded at will that fierce democratie,

Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece,

To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 267.