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'Tis Fate that flings the dice,
And as she flings
Of kings makes peasants,
And of peasants kings.
Topic: Fate
Source: Works (vol. XV, p. 103)
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The clouds dispell'd, the sky resum'd her light,
And Nature stood recover'd of her fright.
But fear, the last of ills, remain'd behind,
And horrow heavy sat on every mind.
Topic: Fear
Source: Theodore and Honoria (l. 336)
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Damn'd neuters, in their middle way of steering,
Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.
Topic: Fish
Source: Duke of Guise (epilogue, l. 39)
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Forgiveness to the injured does belong,
But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.
Topic: Forgiveness
Source: Conquest of Granada (pt. II, act I, sc. 2)
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She hugged the offender, and forgave the offense,
Sex to the last.
Topic: Forgiveness
Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (l. 367)
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Ill fortune seldom comes alone.
Topic: Fortune
Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (l. 592)
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Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me.
I have a soul that, like an ample shield,
Can take in all, and verge enough for more.
Topic: Fortune
Source: Don Sebastian (act I, sc. 1)
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It is a madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because in herself she is nothing, but is ruled by prudence.
Topic: Fortune
Source: None
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I am as free as nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
Topic: Freedom
Source: Conquest of Granada (act I, sc. 1)
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For friendship, of itself a holy tie,
Is made more sacred by adversity.
Topic: Friendship
Source: The Hind and the Panther (pt. III, l. 47)
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But genius must be born, and never can be taught.
Topic: Genius
Source: Epistle X--To Congreve (l. 60)
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Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent
perspiration.
Topic: Genius
Source: Epistle X--To Congreve (l. 60)
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Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius--and a lot of courage--to move in the
opposite direction.
Topic: Genius
Source: Epistle X--To Congreve (l. 60)
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Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more
complex. . . . It takes a touch of genius--and a lot of courage
to move in the opposite direction.
Topic: Genius
Source: Epistle X--To Congreve (l. 60)
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Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, But Genius must be born; and never can be taught.
Topic: Genius
Source: None
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God never made His work for man to mend.
Topic: God
Source: None
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With ravish'd ears
The monarch hears,
Assumes the god,
Affects to nod,
And seems to shake the spheres.
Topic: Gods
Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 37)
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Creator Venus, genial power of love,
The bliss of men below, and gods above!
Beneath the sliding sun thou runn'st thy race,
Dost fairest shine, and best become thy place;
For thee the winds their eastern blasts forbear,
Thy mouth reveals the spring, and opens all the year;
Thee, goddess, thee, the storms of winter fly,
Earth smiles with flowers renewing, laughs the sky.
Topic: Gods
Source: Palamon and Arcite (bk. III, l. 1405)
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Look around the habitable world, how few
Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.
Topic: Goodness
Source: Juvenal (satire X)
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Whatever he did, was done with so much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please.
Topic: Grace
Source: Absalom and Achitophel (pt. I, l. 27)
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Those wanting wit affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men.
Topic: Gravity
Source: None
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She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her with a single hair.
Topic: Hair
Source: Persius (satire V, l. 246)
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Since Heaven's eternal year is thine.
Topic: Heaven
Source: Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew (l. 15)
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Nor can his blessed soul look down from heaven,
Or break the eternal sabbath of his rest.
Topic: Heaven
Source: The Spanish Friar (act V, sc. 2)
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We spirits have just such natures
We had for all the world, when human creatures;
And, therefore, I, that was an actress here,
Play all my tricks in hell, a goblin there.
Topic: Hell
Source: Tyrannic Love (epilogue)
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And all at Worcester but the honour lost.
Topic: Honor
Source: Astraea Redux
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For your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.
Topic: Ignorance
Source: The Maiden Queen (act I, sc. 2)
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His ignorance is encyclopedic.
Topic: Ignorance
Source: The Maiden Queen (act I, sc. 2)
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He raised a mortal to the skies;
She drew an angel down.
Topic: Influence
Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 169)
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Deserted, at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth exposed he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.
Topic: Ingratitude
Source: Alexander's Feast (st. 4)
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And all to leave what with his toil he won,
To that unfeather'd two-legged thing, a son.
Topic: Inheritance
Source: Absalom and Achitophel (pt. I, l. 169)
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For those whom God to ruin has designed
He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.
Topic: Insanity
Source: Fables--The Hind and the Panther (pt. III, l. 2,387)
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There is a pleasure, sure,
In being mad, which none but madmen know!
Topic: Insanity
Source: Spanish Friar (act II, st. 1)
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results.
Topic: Insanity
Source: Spanish Friar (act II, st. 1)
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Then hasten to be drunk, the business of the day.
Topic: Intemperance
Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (l. 407)
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Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul.
Topic: Jealousy
Source: None
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Joy rul'd the day, and Love the night.
Topic: Joy
Source: The Secular Masque (l. 82)
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Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.
Topic: Joy
Source: The Secular Masque (l. 82)
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Who climbs the grammar-tree, distinctly knows
Where noun, and verb, and participle grows.
Topic: Language
Source: Sixth Satire of Juvenal (l. 583)
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The love of liberty with life is given,
And life itself the inferior gift of Heaven.
Topic: Liberty
Source: Palamon and Arcite (bk. II, l. 291)
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When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell.
Topic: Love
Source: None
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And nobler is a limited command,
Given by the love of all your native land,
Than a successive title, long and dark,
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's Ark.
Topic: Love of Country
Source: Absalom and Achitophel (pt. I, l. 299)
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He made all countries where he came his own.
Topic: Love of Country
Source: Astroea Redux (l. 76)
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Some truth there was, but dash'd and brew'd with lies,
To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise.
Topic: Lying
Source: Absalom and Achitophel
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Better to hunt in fields for health unbought,
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught.
The wise for cure on exercise depend;
God never made his work for man to mend.
Topic: Medicine
Source: Epistle to John Dryden of Chesterton (l. 92)
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So liv'd our sires, ere doctors learn'd to kill,
And multiplied with theirs the weekly bill.
Topic: Medicine
Source: To John Dryden, Esq. (l. 71)
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There's a proud modesty in merit; averse from asking, and resolved to pay ten times the gifts it asks.
Topic: Merit
Source: None
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A very merry, dancing, drinking,
Laughing, quaffing, and unthinking time.
Topic: Merriment
Source: The Secular Masque (l. 40)
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Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.
Topic: Misfortune
Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 77)
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When Misfortune is asleep, let no one wake her.
[Lat., Quando la mala ventura se duerme, nadie la despierte.]
Topic: Misfortune
Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 77)
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