Familiar Quotations / A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to / Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature - Unknown

But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man's own,

It is the very worst world that ever was known.[279:2]

[279:1] Thou best-humour'd man with the worst-humour'd muse!—Goldsmith: Retaliation. Postscript.

[279:2] These last four lines are attributed to Rochester.

Of all those arts in which the wise excel,

Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

Essay on Poetry.