“A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedæmonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can."”

— Plutarch

Remarkable Speeches
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

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Plutarch 251

ancient Greek historian and philosopher 46–127

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“I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: — Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.”

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Context: I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: — Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
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