Trickle, but anon, in such muddy driblets,

Is pumped up brisk now, through the main ventricle,

And genially floats me about the giblets.

R. Browning (The Flight of the Duchess).


A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday.

Alexander Pope.


We have all of us considerable regard for our past self, and are not fond of casting reflections on that respected individual by a total negation of his opinions.

George Eliot (Scenes from Clerical Life).