Men are sponges, which, to pour out, receive;  
  Who know false play, rather than lose, deceive.  
  For in best understandings sin began,  
  Angels sinn'd first, then devils, and then man.  
  Only perchance beasts sin not ; wretched we  
  Are beasts in all but white integrity.
The Poetical Works of Dr. John Donne: With a Memoir (ed. 1855)























