He that will steal a pin
Will steal a better thing. [ Proverb ]
Why should a rich man steal? [ Proverb ]
Never does a wilder song
Steal the breezy lyre along,
When the wind in odors dying,
Wooes it with enamored sighing. [ Moore ]
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown.
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie. [ Pope ]
He that steals an egg will steal an ox. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away. [ Longfellow ]
Now from the world,
Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal,
And pour their souls in transport. [ Thomson ]
To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences. [ William Shakespeare ]
To steal the hog and give the feet for alms. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
And steal immortal kisses from her lips;
Which even in pure and vestal modesty.
Still blush as thinking their own kisses sin. [ William Shakespeare ]
Ah! that deceit should steal such gentle shapes
And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice. [ William Shakespeare, Richard III ]
Years following years, steal something every day;
At last they steal us from ourselves away. [ Pope ]
It is a shame to steal, but a worse to carry home. [ Proverb ]
Devotion's self shall steal a thought from heaven. [ Pope ]
And when once the young heart of a maiden is stolen,
The maiden herself will steal after it soon. [ Moore ]
Years steal
Fire from the mind, as vigour from the limb;
And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim. [ Byron ]
Years steal fire from the mind as vigor from the limb. [ Byron ]
If you steal for others, you shall be hanged yourself. [ Proverb ]
To steal the pig, and give away the feet for God's sake. [ Spanish Proverb ]
Go steal a horse, and then you'll die without being sick. [ Proverb ]
They (obliged by law) spare a mill, but steal a province!
Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no steal when he's auld. [ Scotch Proverb ]
One man may better steal a horse than another look over the hedge. [ Proverb ]
He's so much a thief, that he will steal away even the commandments. [ Proverb ]
Careless men let their end steal upon them unawares, and unprovided. [ Proverb ]
Thieves for their robbery have authority, when judges steal themselves. [ William Shakespeare ]
O, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! [ William Shakespeare ]
It is wit to pick a lock and steal a horse, but it is wisdom to let it alone. [ Proverb ]
The heart is like an instrument whose strings steal nobler music from life's many frets. [ Gerald Massey ]
Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse. If we attempt to steal a glimpse of its features it disappears. [ Alexander Smith ]
Amongst so many borrowed things , I am glad if I can steal one, disguising and altering it for some new service. [ Montaigne ]
We can say nothing but what hath been said. Our poets steal from Homer. Our storydressers do as much; he that comes last is commonly best. [ Burton ]
He will steal himself into a man's favor and for a week escape a great deal of discoveries; but when you find him out, you have him ever after. [ William Shakespeare ]
Steal! to be sure they may, and, egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children, - disfigure them to make them pass for their own. [ Sheridan ]
Let men say, we be men of good government; being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. [ William Shakespeare ]
And the prettiest foot; Oh, if a man could but fasten his eyes to her feet as they steal in and out, and play at bo-peep under her petticoats, Ah! Mr. Trapland? [ Congreve ]
It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature, that a man, having once shown himself capable of original writing, is entitled thenceforth to steal from the writings of others at discretion. [ Emerson ]
If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition. But in this respect every author is a Spartan, being more ashamed of the discovery than of the depredation. [ Colton ]
The gloomy recess of an ecclesiastical library is like a harbor, into which a far-travelling curiosity has sailed with its freight, and cast anchor; the ponderous tomes are bales of the mind's merchandise; odors of distant countries and times steal from the red leaves the swelling ridges of vellum, and the titles in tarnished gold. [ R. A. Willmott ]
Association is the delight of the heart not less than of poetry. Alison observes that an autumn sunset, with its crimson clouds, glimmering trunks of trees, and wavering tints upon the grass, seems scarcely capable of embellishment. But if in this calm and beautiful glow the chime of a distant bell steal over the fields, the bosom heaves with the sensation that Dante so tenderly describes. [ Willmott ]
As monarchs have a right to call in the specie of a state, and raise its value, by their own impression; so are there certain prerogative geniuses, who are above plagiaries, who cannot be said to steal, but, from their improvement of a thought, rather to borrow it, and repay the commonwealth of letters with interest again; and may more properly be said to adopt, than to kidnap a sentiment, by leaving it heir to their own fame. [ Sterne ]
It is to be hoped that, with all the modern improvements, a mode will be discovered of getting rid of bores: for it is too bad that a poor wretch can be punished for stealing your pocket handkerchief or gloves, and that no punishment can be inflicted on those who steal your time, and with it your temper and patience, as well as the bright thoughts that might have entered into your mind (like the Irishman who lost the fortune before he had got it), but were frightened away by the bore. [ Byron ]
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. You don't have to tell me,
I said. I'm off the team, aren't I?
Well,
said Coach, you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times.
It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on. [ Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts ]