And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth;
Four things greater than all things are—
Women and Horses and Power and War.
Then he will talk—good gods, how he will talk!
In general those who nothing have to say
Contrive to spend the longest time in doing it.
Oft has it been my lot to mark
A proud, conceited, talking spark.
His talk was like a stream which runs
With rapid change from rock to roses;
It slipped from politics to puns;
It passed from Mahomet to Moses;
Beginning with the laws that keep
The planets in their radiant courses,
And ending with some precept deep
For dressing eels or shoeing horses.
Praed—The Vicar.
They never taste who always drink;
They always talk who never think.
Prior—Upon a Passage in the Scaligerana.
I prythee, take the cork out of thy mouth
that I may drink thy tidings.
As You Like It. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 12.
If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me;
I had it from my father.
Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 26.
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{{Hoyt quote
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| text = The red wine first must rise
In their fair cheeks, my lord; then we shall have 'em
Talk us to silence.
Henry VIII. Aet I. Sc. 4. L. 43.
What cracker is this same that deafs our ears
With this abundance of superfluous breath?
King John. Act II, Sc. 1. L. 147.
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{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk;
Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other
, I shall digest it.
Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 5. L. 93.
Talk with a man out at a window—a proper saying.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act IV. Sc. 1 L. 190.
My lord shall never rest:
I'll watch him, tame and talk him out of patience: His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift. Othello. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 22. </poem>
Talkers are no good doers; be assur'd
We come to use our hands and not our tongues.
Richard III. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 352.
A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.
She sits tormenting every guest,
Nor gives her tongue one moment's rest,
In phrases batter'd, stale, and trite,
Which modern ladies call polite.
Swift—The Journal of a Modern Lady.
Good talkers are only found in Paris.
Francois Villon—Z)es Femmes de Paris. II.
Le secret d'ennuyer est celui de tout dire.
The secret of being tiresome is in telling everything.
Voltaire—Discours Preiminaire.
Little said is soonest mended.
TASTE
De gustibus non disputandum.
There is no disputing about taste.
TAXATION (See Government, Politics)
TEA
Matrons, who toss the cup, and see
The grounds of fate in grounds of tea.
Tea! thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid, * * * thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart-opening, wink-tippling cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
Here, thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.
Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? how did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.
Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene.
