LOWLINESS.—Lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber—upward turns his face:
But
when he once attains the utmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning
the base degrees
By which he did ascend.
Shakespeare.—Julius Cæsar, Act II. Scene 1. (Brutus to Lucius.)
Fool that I was! upon my eagle’s wings
I bore this wren, till I was tir’d with soaring,
And now he mounts
above me.
Dryden.—All for Love, Act II. Scene 1.
LUCKY.—The lucky have whole days, which still they choose;
Th’ unlucky have but hours, and those
they lose.
Dryden.—Tyrannick Love, Act I. Scene 1.
LYING.—Lydia, you ought to know that lying don’t become a young woman!
Sheridan.—The Rivals, Act III. Scene 3.
LYING.—Lord, lord, how the world is given to lying! I grant you I was down, and out of breath; and so was he: but we rose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock.
Shakespeare.—King Henry IV. Part I. Act V. Scene 4. (Falstaff to Prince Henry and Prince John.)
If I do lie, and do no harm by it, though the gods hear, I hope they’ll pardon it.
Shakespeare.—Cymbeline, Act IV. Scene 2. (Imogen to Lucius.)