“Beware of, Had I wist.”

Source: The Queen of the Damned

Pt. I, st. 3
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

The Earthly Paradise (1868-70), The Lady of the Land
Context: What man art thou that thus hast wandered here,
And found this lonely chamber where I dwell?
Beware, beware! for I have many a spell;
If greed of power and gold have led thee on,
Not lightly shall this untold wealth be won.
But if thou com'st here knowing of my tale,
In hope to bear away my body fair,
Stout must thine heart be, nor shall that avail
If thou a wicked soul in thee dost bear;
So once again I bid thee to beware,
Because no base man things like this may see,
And live thereafter long and happily.

Source: Things Fall Apart (1958), Chapter 11 (p. 95)

Source: The Taming of the Shrew

Source: Frankenstein

"The Precept of Silence"
Context: p>The winds are sometimes sad to me,
The starry spaces, full of fear;
Mine is the sorrow on the sea,
And mine the sigh of places drear. Some players upon plaintive strings
Publish their wistfulness abroad;
I have not spoken of these things,
Save to one man, and unto God.</p

From the German (In Hyperion).
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)