ast?
Or wallow naked in December snow,
By thinking on fantastic Summer's heat?
O, no! the apprehension of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse.
_King Richard II., Act i. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.
_King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

Eating the bitter bread of banishment.
_King Richard II., Act iii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
_Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. 8_. SHAKESPEARE.

Lord of himself,--that heritage of woe!
_Lara, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.

Lord of thy presence, and no land beside.
_King John, Act i. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

Heaven is not always angry when he strikes,
But most chastises those whom most he likes.
_Verses to his Friend under Affliction_. J. POMFRET.

As sunshine, broken in the rill,
Though turned astray, is sunshine still.
_Fire Worshippers_. T. MOORE.

On Fortune's cap we are not the very button.
_Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 2_. SHAKESPEARE.

Cheered up himself with ends of verse,
And sayings of philosophers.
_Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto III_. S. BUTLER.

O life! thou art a galling load,
Along a rough, a weary road,
To wretches such as I!
_Despondency_. R. BURNS.

A wretched soul, bruised with adversity.
_Comedy of Errors, Act ii. Sc_. 1. SHAKESPEARE.

Affliction's sons are brothers in distress;
A brother to relieve, how exquisite the bliss!
_A Winter Night_. R. BURNS.

Henceforth I'll bear
Affliction till it do cry out itself,
Enough, enough, and die.
_King Lear, Act iv. Sc_. 6. SHAKESPEARE.

On me, on me
Time and change can heap no more!
The painful past with blighting grief
Hath left my heart a withered leaf.
Time and change can do no more.
_Dirge_. R.H. HORNE.

I wish thy lot, now bad, still worse, my friend,
For when at worst, they say, things always mend.
_To a Friend in Distress_. DR. J. OWEN.

The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
_Macbeth, Act ii. Sc_. 8. SHAKESPEARE.

Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before.
_Macbeth, Act iv. Sc_. 2. SHAKESPEARE.

I am not now in fortune's power;
He that is down can fall no lower.
_Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto III_. S. BUTLER.

The worst is not
So long as we can say, _This is the worst.
King Lear, Act iv. Sc_. 1. SHAKESPEARE.