Careful Words

willing (n.)

willing (adj.)

Nothing is impossible to a willing hart.

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

  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

New Testament: Matthew xxvi. 41.

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.