Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies. Maréchal Villars.
Deference is the most complicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant of all compliments. Shenstone.
Defer no time; / Delays have dangerous ends. 1 Henry VI., iii. 2.
Defer not the least virtue; life's poor span / 5 Make not an ell, by trifling in thy woe. / If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains; / If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains. George Herbert.
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, / To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise. Congreve.
Deficiunt vires—Ability is wanting.
Defienda me Dios de my—God defend me from myself. Sp. Pr.
Definition of words has been commonly called a mere exercise of grammarians; but when we come to consider the innumerable evils men have inflicted on each other from mistaking the meaning of words, the exercise of definition certainly begins to assume rather a more dignified aspect. Sydney Smith.
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time / 10 Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, / And that so lamely and unfashionable, / That dogs bark at me as I halt by them. Rich. III., i. 1.
Deformity is daring; it is its essence to overtake mankind by heart and soul, and make itself the equal, ay, the superior of the rest. Byron.