S.J. Adair Fitz GeraldThinkers

A Fable is a fictitious story about nothing that ever happened, related by nobody that ever lived carrying the moral that every one is quite innocent, only they must not do it again.

Life is but a mingled song, sung in diverse keys; sweet and tender, brave and strong, as the heart agrees.

The Phoenix is also very much like an intelligent eagle, with gold and crimson plumage and an exceptionally waggish tail. It has the advantage of fifty orifices in his bill, through which he occasionally sings melodious songs to oblige the company. As he never appears to anyone more than once in five hundred years, sometimes, when he has the toothache for instance, only once in a thousand years—which is why he is called a rara avis—if you ever meet him at any time take particular notice of him. And if you can draw, if it is only the long bow, make a sketch of him. He lives chiefly on poets—which is why so many refer to him. He has been a good friend to the poets of all ages, as your cousin William will explain. If you have not got a cousin William, ask some one who has.

A Proverb is something you always theoretically remember to practically forget.