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To kerke the narre from God more farre,
Has bene an old-sayd sawe;
And he that strives to touche a starre
Oft stombles at a strawe.

— Edmund Spenser The Shepheardes Calender (1579)

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More quotes by Edmund Spenser

For of the soule the bodie forme doth take;
For the soule is forme, and doth the bodie make.

Fowre Hymnes (1596)

The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne.
For a man by nothing is so well bewrayd,
As by his manners.

The Faerie Queene (1589)

For all that faire is, is by nature good;
That is a signe to know the gentle blood.

Fowre Hymnes (1596)

I learned have, not to despise,
What ever thing seemes small in common eyes.

Complaints (1591)

Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.

The Faerie Queene (1589)

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Attribution

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