Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Business
But certainly, some there are that know the resorts and falls of business that can not sink into the main of it; like a house that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair room.
—Francis Bacon
Let business, like ill watches, go
Sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow.
—Samuel Butler
The tide of business, like the running stream,
Is sometimes high and sometimes low,
A quiet ebb, or a tempestuous flow,
And always in extreme.
Now with a noiseless gentle course,
It keeps within the middle bed,
Anon it lifts aloft the head,
And bears down all before it with impetuous force.
—John Dryden