
Naught venture naught have. spare to speak spare to speed.
Unknown unkissed. it is lost that is unsought.
As good seek nought, said I, as seek and find naught.
Part I, chapter 11.
Proverbs (1546)
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 38–39 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)
Ὡς ἑκὼν ἐγὼ μαθοῦσιν αὐδῶ κοὐ μαθοῦσι λήθομαι.
Naught venture naught have. spare to speak spare to speed.
Unknown unkissed. it is lost that is unsought.
As good seek nought, said I, as seek and find naught.
Part I, chapter 11.
Proverbs (1546)
“When speaking to a Bear of Very Little Brain, remember that long words may bother him.”
Variant: For I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me.
Source: Pooh's Little Instruction Book
Part I, No. 25 - Missions and Travels.
Ecclesiastical Sonnets (1821)
Love is Enough (1872), Song VII: Dawn Talks to Day
Context: Let us speak, love, together some words of our story,
That our lips as they part may remember the glory!
O soft day, O calm day, made clear for our sake!
“Achilles weeps. He cradles me, and will not eat, nor speak a word other than my name.”
Source: The Song of Achilles
“6164. To the Wise
A Word may suffice.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Timber: or Discoveries
Ben Jonson
Misattributed