“959. Bees that have Honey in their Mouths, have Stings in their Tails.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
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.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“208. The honey is sweet, but the bee stings.”
George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
“Go slowly, so that you do not bite your tail by accident.”
Christopher Paolini book Inheritance
Source: Inheritance
“The bee and the serpent often sip from the selfsame flower.”
Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782) Italian poet and librettist (born 3 January 1698, died 12 April 1782)
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”
Kurt Vonnegut book Breakfast of Champions
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.
Peter de Noronha (1897–1970) Indian businessman
The Pageant of Life (1964), On Anger
“I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. There's nobody as beautiful or as powerful as me!”
Billy Graham (wrestler) (1943–2023) American professional wrestler, american football player, bodybuilder
Billy Graham, Tangled Ropes: Superstar Billy Graham (2006)