"Our passions are most like to floods and streams; The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb."
— Walter Raleigh

January 1, 1970

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Politicians from EnglandExecuted peoplePoets from EnglandExplorers from EnglandSailors
Original Language: English

Sources

Sir Walter Raleigh to the Queen (published 1655); alternately reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919) as: "Passions are likened best to floods and streams: The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb" and titled The Silent Lover. Compare: "Altissima quæque flumina minimo sono labi", (translated: "The deepest rivers flow with the least sound"), Q. Curtius, vii. 4. 13. "Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep", William Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act iii. sc. i.