A Fox, very hungry, chanced to come into a Vineyard, where there hung many bunches of charming ripe grapes; but nailed up to a trellis so high, that he leaped till he quite tired himself without being able to reach one of them. At last, Let who will take them! says he; they are but green and sour; so I’ll even let them alone.
Morals.
When a man finds it impossible to obtain the things he longs for, it is a mark of sound wisdom and discretion to make a virtue of necessity.
Old maids who loathe the matrimonial state,
Poor rogues who laugh to scorn the rich and great,
Patriots who rail at placemen and at pow’r,
All, like sly Reynard, say “The Grapes are sour.”