crab-tree quotes

They who would be great in our little government seem as ridiculous to me as schoolboys who†climb a crab- tree, venturing their necks for fruit which solid pigs would disdain if they were not starving.

-JohnWilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
c.1676  Letter to Henry Savile. InTheLetters ofJohnWilmot, Earl of Rochester, edited byJeremyTreglown (1980).