
“959. Bees that have Honey in their Mouths, have Stings in their Tails.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
"The Symbols"
The Janitor's Boy And Other Poems (1924)
Context: p>The very serpents bite their tails; the bees forget to sting,
For a language so celestial setteth up a wondering.And the touch of absent mindedness is more than any line,
Since direction counts for nothing when the gods set up a sign.</p
“959. Bees that have Honey in their Mouths, have Stings in their Tails.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“208. The honey is sweet, but the bee stings.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
“The bee and the serpent often sip from the selfsame flower.”
L'ape e la serpe spesso
Suggon l'istesso umore;
Part I.
Morte d' Abele (1732)
“What is time? It is a serpent which eats its tail”
Breakfast of Champions (1973)
Context: I was on par with the Creator of the Universe there in the dark in the cocktail lounge. I shrunk the Universe to a ball exactly one light-year in diameter. I had it explode. I had it disperse itself again.
Ask me a question, any question. How old is the Universe? It is one half-second old, but the half-second has lasted one quintillion years so far. Who created it? Nobody created it. It has always been here.
What is time? It is a serpent which eats its tail, like this:
This is the snake which uncoiled itself long enough to offer Eve the apple, which looked like this:
What was the apple which Eve and Adam ate? It was the Creator of the Universe.
And so on.
Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes.
“I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. There's nobody as beautiful or as powerful as me!”
Billy Graham, Tangled Ropes: Superstar Billy Graham (2006)