The foolish oft times teach the wise: I strain too much this string of life, belike, Meaning to make such music as shall save. Mine eyes are dim now that they see the truth, My strength is waned now that my need is most; Would that I had such help as man must have, For I shall die, whose life was all mens hope. Edwin ArnoldLight of Asia. Bk. VI. L. 109.
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Into his nest again, I shall not live in vain. Emily DickinsonLife.
Homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam, Quasi lumen de suo lumine accendit, facit: Nihilominus ipsi luceat, cum illi accenderit. He who civilly shows the way to one who has missed it, is as one who has lighted anothers lamp from his own lamp; it none the less gives light to himself when it burns for the other. Ennius. Quoted by Cicero. De Officiis. 1. 16.
Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale, And guide my lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray. GoldsmithVicar of Wakefield. The Hermit. Ch. VIII.
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help? Samuel JohnsonBoswells Life of Johnson. (1754).