The land lies desolate and stripped; Across its waste has thinly strayed A tattered host of eucalypt. From whose gaunt uniform is made A ragged penury of shade.
In all labour there is profit: but thetalkof the lips tendeth only to penury.
But knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.
Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2010 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Learn more about penury
link/cite print suggestion box