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Thrice happy's the wooing that's not long adoing.
So much time is saved in the billing and cooing.
Author: Richard Harris Barham
Source: Sir Rupert the Fearless
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Why don't the men propose, mamma?
Why don't the men propose?
Author: Thomas Haynes Bayly
Source: Songs and Ballads--Why Don't the Men Propose?
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After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even
forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities,
even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Author: Bible
Source: Numbers (ch. XIV, v. 34)
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There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four
which I know not:
The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock;
the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man
with a maid.
Author: Bible
Source: Proverbs (ch. XXX, v. 18-19)
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'Twas he that ranged the words at random flung,
Pierced the fair pearls and them together strung.
Author: Bidpai (Pilpay)
Source: Anvari Suhaili, (Eastwick's rendering)
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"Yes," I answered you last night;
"No," this morning, sir, I say:
Colors seen by candle-light
Will not look the same by day.
Author: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Source: The Lady's "Yes"
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Woo the fair one when around
Early birds are singing;
When o'er all the fragrant ground
Early herbs are springing:
When the brookside, bank, and grove
All with blossom laden,
Shine with beauty, breathe of love,
Woo the timid maiden.
Author: William Cullen Bryant
Source: Love's Lessons
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Alas! to seize the moment
When the heart inclines to heart,
And press a suit with passion,
Is not a woman's part.
If man come not to gather
The roses where they stand,
They fade among their foliage,
They cannot seek his hand.
Author: William Cullen Bryant
Source: Song, translated from the Spanish of Iglesias
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Duncan Gray cam here to woo,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't!
On blithe Yuletide when we were fou,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't!
Maggie coost her head fu' high,
Looked asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh:
Ha, ha! the wooing o't!
Author: Robert Burns
Source: Duncan Gray
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The landlady and Tam grew gracious
Wi' favours secret, sweet and precious.
Author: Robert Burns
Source: Tam o'Shanter (st. 7)
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And let us mind, faint heart ne'er wan
A lady fair.
Wha does the utmost that he can
Will whyles do mair.
Author: Robert Burns
Source: To Dr. Blackjack
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How often in the summer-tide,
His graver business set aside,
His stripling Will, the thoughtful-eyed
As to the pipe of Pan,
Stepped blithesomely with lover's pride
Across the fields to Anne.
Author: Richard Eugene Burton
Source: Across the Fields to Anne
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Blessed is the wooing
That is not long a-doing.
Author: Richard Eugene Burton
Source: Across the Fields to Anne
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He that will win his dame must do
As love does when he draws his bow;
With one hand thrust the lady from,
And with the other pull her home.
Author: Samuel Butler (1)
Source: Hudibras (pt. II, canto I, l. 449)
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She that with poetry is won,
Is but a desk to write upon;
And what men say of her they mean
No more than on the thing they lean.
Author: Samuel Butler (1)
Source: Hudibras (pt. II, canto I, l. 591)
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Do proper homage to thine idol's eyes;
But no too humbly, or she will despise
Thee and thy suit, though told in moving tropes:
Disguise even tenderness if thou art wise.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Childe Harold (canto II, st. 34)
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Not much he kens, I ween, of woman's breast,
Who thinks that wanton thing is won by sighs.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Childe Harold (canto II, st. 34)
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'Tis an old lesson; time approves it true,
And those who know it best, deplore it most;
When all is won that all desire to woo,
The paltry prize is hardly worth the cost.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Childe Harold (canto II, st. 35)
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And whispering, "I will ne'er consent," consented.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Don Juan (canto I, st. 117)
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There is a tide in the affairs of women
Which, taken at the flood, leads--God knows where.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Don Juan (canto VI, st. 2)
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Some are soon bagg'd but some reject three dozen.
'Tis fine to see them scattering refusals
And wild dismay, o'er every angry cousin
(Friends of the party) who begin accusals,
Such as--"Unless Miss (Blank) meant to have chosen
Poor Frederick, why did she accord perusals
To his billets? Why waltz with him? Why, I pray,
Look yes least night, and yet say No to-day?"
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Don Juan (canto XII, st. 34)
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'Tis enough--
Who listens once will listen twice;
Her heart be sure is not of ice,
And one refusal no rebuff.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Mazeppa (st. 6)
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Better be courted and jilted
Than never be courted at all.
Author: Thomas Campbell
Source: The Jilted Nymph
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Never wedding, ever wooing,
Still a lovelorn heart pursuing,
Read you not the wrong you're doing
In my cheek's pale hue?
All my life with sorrow strewing;
Wed or cease to woo.
Author: Thomas Campbell
Source: The Maid's Remonstrance
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So mourn'd the dame of Ephesus her Love,
And thus the Soldier arm'd with Resolution
Told his soft Tale, and was a thriving Wooer.
Author: Colley Cibber
Source: Richard III (act II, sc. 1), (altered from Shakespeare)
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