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Some men are born to feast, and not to fight;
Whose sluggish minds, e'en in fair honor's field,
Still on their dinner turn—
Let such pot-boiling varlets stay at home,
And wield a flesh-hook rather than a sword.

— Joanna Baillie Count Basil (1798)

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More quotes by Joanna Baillie

Words of affection, howsoe'er express'd,
The latest spoken still are deem'd the best.

The brave man is not he who feels no fear,
For that were stupid and irrational;
But he, whose noble soul its fear subdues,
And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.

Count Basil (1798)

A willing heart adds feather to the heel,
And makes the clown a winged Mercury.

De Montfort (1798)

But woman's grief is like a summer storm,
Short as it violent is.

Count Basil (1798)

Oh, swiftly glides the bonnie boat,
Just parted from the shore,
And to the fisher's chorus-note,
Soft moves the dipping oar!

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Joanna Baillie (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.