“Like summer friends,
Flies of estate and sunneshine.”

— George Herbert

The Answer, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

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George Herbert 216

Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest 1593–1633

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Misattributed

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Improve each moment as it flies;
Life's a short Summer — man a flower,
He dies — alas! how soon he dies!”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

Winter, An Ode. The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1787), p. 355

“Like summer friends,Flies of estate and sunneshine.”

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George Herbert 216

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“Like summer friends,
Flies of estate and sunneshine.”