Maids say nay, and take it. [ Proverb ]
Old maids lead apes in hell. [ Proverb ]
Empty chambers make foolish maids. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
Old maids sweeten their tea with scandal. [ H. W. Shaw ]
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim.
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes.
Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses,
That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength - a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown-imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one! [ William Shakespeare ]
Maids make much of one; good men are scarce. [ Proverb ]
All are good maids, but whence come the bad wives? [ Proverb ]
There are more maids than Moggy, and more men than Jockey. [ Proverb ]
Maids want nothing but husbands, and then they want everything. [ Proverb ]
Since all the maids are good and lovable, from whence come the evil wives? [ Lamb ]
Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. [ William Shakespeare ]
Bachelors are providential beings: God created them for the consolation of widows and the hope of maids. [ De Finod ]
When pleasure, like the midnight flower that scorns the eye of vulgar light, begins to bloom for sons of night and maids who love the moon. [ Moore ]
The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue. [ Moliere ]
Nature, when she amused herself by giving stiff manners to old maids, put virtue in a very bad light. A woman must have been a mother to preserve under the chilling influences of time that grace of manner and sweetness of temper, which prompt us to say, One sees that love has dwelt there.
[ Lemontey ]