| 167 Famous Quotes by John Dryden
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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.”
Hell Quotes Source: Tyrannic Love (epilogue)
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“She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her with a single hair.”
Hair Quotes Source: Persius (satire V, l. 246)
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“The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme!
The young men's vision, and the old men's dream.”
Visions Quotes Source: Absalom and Achtiphel (pt. I, l. 238)
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“Above any Greek or Roman name.”
Names Quotes Source: Upon the Death of Lord Hastings (l. 76)
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“Not aw'd to duty by superior sway.”
Duty Quotes Source: Eleonora (l. 178)
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“Maintain your post: That's all the fame you need;
For 'tis impossible you should proceed.”
Duty Quotes Source: To Mr. Congreve, on his Comedy "The Double Dealer"
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“Our souls sit close and silently within,
And their own web from their own entrails spin;
And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such,
That, spider like, we feel the tenderest touch.”
Sympathy Quotes Source: Mariage a la Mode (act II, sc. 1)
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“And kind as kings upon their coronation day.”
Royalty Quotes Source: Fables--The Hind and the Panther (pt. I, l. 271)
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“Ay, these look like the workmanship of heaven;
This is the porcelain clay of human kind,
And therefore cast into these noble moulds.”
Nobility Quotes Source: Don Sebastian (act I, sc. 1)
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“For that can power give more than food and drink,
To live at ease, and not be bound to think?”
Power Quotes Source: Medal (l. 235)
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“Treason is not own'd when 'tis descried;
Successful crimes alone are justified.”
Treason Quotes Source: Medals (l. 207)
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“Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors.”
Criticism Quotes Source: Dedication of translations from Ovid
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“They who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write,
Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.”
Criticism Quotes Source: Prologue to Conquest of Granada
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“All who (like him) have writ ill plays before,
For they, like thieves, condemned, are hangman made,
To execute the members of their trade.”
Criticism Quotes Source: Prologue to Rival Queens
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“Damn'd neuters, in their middle way of steering,
Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.”
Fish Quotes Source: Duke of Guise (epilogue, l. 39)
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“The fool of nature stood with stupid eyes
And gaping mouth, that testified surprise.”
Stupidity Quotes Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (l. 107)
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“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity,
and I'm not sure about the former.”
Stupidity Quotes Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (l. 107)
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“There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and
stupidity. And I am unsure about the universe.”
Stupidity Quotes Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (l. 107)
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“But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand,
And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.”
Ambition Quotes Source: Absalom and Achitophel (pt. I, l. 198)
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“Be nice to people on your way up because you might meet 'em on
your way down.”
Ambition Quotes Source: Absalom and Achitophel (pt. I, l. 198)
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“Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure,
Sweet is pleasure after pain.”
Pleasure Quotes Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 58)
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“And after hearing what our Church can say,
If still our reason runs another way,
That private reason 'tis more just to curb,
Than by disputes the public peace disturb;
For points obscure are of small use to learn,
But common quiet is mankind's concern.”
Doctrine Quotes Source: Religio Laici (l. 445)
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“Ever a glutton, at another's cost,
But in whose kitchen dwells perpetual frost.”
Cookery Quotes Source: Fourth Satire of Persius (l. 58)
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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.”
Medicine Quotes 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.”
Medicine Quotes Source: To John Dryden, Esq. (l. 71)
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John Dryden Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings
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