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Words are the life of knowledge; they set free,
And bring forth truth by way of midwif'ry:
The activ'st creatures of the teeming brain,
The judges who the inward man arraign:
Reason's chief engine and artillery
To batter error, and make falsehood fly;
The cannons of the mind, who sometimes bounce
Nothing but war, then peace again pronounce.

— James Howell Attributed Poetical Quotations (1829)

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More quotes by James Howell

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

English Proverbs (1659)

Goose [pen] bee [wax] and calf [parchment] govern the world.

One hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen.

Familiar Letters (1645)

Nor is this lower world but a huge inn,
And men the rambling passengers.

Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it.

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Attribution

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