"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley, And leave us nought but grief and pain, For promised joy."

"Like to the apples on the Dead Sea's shore, All ashes to the taste."

"As distant prospects please us, but when near We find but desert rocks and fleeting air."

"The Cause of Sorrow is always desire. If a man has no desires, if he is not striving for place or power or wealth, th…"

"But O! as to embrace me she inclin'd, I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night."

"There can be no entire disappointment to a wise man, because he maketh it a cause of succeeding another time. A fool …"

"All is but toys; renown and grace is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of."

"We may avoid much disappointment and bitterness of soul by learning to understand how little necessary to our joy and…"

"But evil fortune has decreed, (The foe of mice as well as men) The royal mouse at last should bleed, Should fall—ne'e…"

"Lightly I sped when hope was high And youth beguiled the chase,— I follow, follow still: But I Shall never see her face."