204 Famous Quotes by William Cowper
11/26/1731 - 4/25/1800
Also Known As:
Cowper, William
Professions:
Information:
About William Cowper
William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak. He was a nephew of the poet Judith Madan.
Although after being institutionalised for insanity in the period 1763-65, Cowper found refuge in a fervent evangelical Christianity, the inspiration behind his much-loved hymns, he often experienced doubt and after a dream in 1773 believed that he was doomed to eternal damnation. His religious sentiment and association with John Newton led to much of the poetry for which he is best remembered. His poem "Light Shining out of Darkness" gave the English language the idiom "God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform."
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Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared,
And ages ere the Mantuan Swan was heard;
To carry nature lengths unknown before,
To give a Milton birth, asked ages more.
Poets
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Table Talk
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They best can judge a poet's worth,
Who oft themselves have known
The pangs of a poetic birth
By labours of their own.
Poets
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: To Dr. Darwin (st. 2)
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Greece, sound, thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name,
But England's Milton equals both in fame.
Poets
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: To John Milton
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None but an author knows an author's cares,
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears.
Authorship
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: The Progress of Error (l. 518)
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Habits of close attention, thinking heads,
Become more rare as dissipation spreads,
Till authors hear at length one general cry
Tickle and entertain us, or we die!
Authorship
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Retirement (l. 707)
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So that the jest is clearly to be seen,
Not in the words--but in the gap between;
Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
Authorship
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Table Talk (l. 540)
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The mind, relaxing into needful sport,
Should turn to writers of an abler sort,
Whose wit well managed, and whose classic style,
Give truth a lustre, and make wisdom smile.
Reading
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Retirement (l. 715)
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But truths on which depends our main concern,
That 'tis our shame and misery not to learn,
Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a lustre he that runs may read.
Reading
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Tirocinium (l. 77)
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Not a flower
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain,
Of his unrivall'd pencil.
Flowers
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. VI, l. 241)
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But many a crime deemed innocent on earth
Is registered in Heaven; and these no doubt
Have each their record, with a curse annex'd.
Crime
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. VI, l. 439)
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The solemn fog; significant and budge;
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
Folly
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Conversation (l. 299)
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Defend me, therefore, common sense, say
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up.
Folly
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. III, l. 187)
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Exactness is the sublimity of fools.
[Fr., L'exactitude est le sublime des sots.]
Folly
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. III, l. 187)
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I praise the Frenchman; his remark was shrewd,--
"How sweet, how passing sweet is solitude."
But grant me still a friend in my retreat,
Whom I may whisper--Solitude is sweet.
Solitude
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Retirement (l. 739), quotation is also attributed to Jean de la Bruyere and to Jean Louis Guez de Ba
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Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more!
Solitude
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. II, l. 1)
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O solitude, where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.
Solitude
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk
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'Twere better to be born a stone
Of ruder shape, and feeling none,
Than with a tenderness like mine
And sensibilities so fine!
Ah, hapless wretch! condemn'd to dwell
Forever in my native shell,
Ordained to move when others please,
Not for my own content or ease;
But toss'd and buffeted about,
Now in the water and now out.
Oysters
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: The Poet, the Oyster and Sensitive Plant
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Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor;
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
Content
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task--Winter Morning Walk (bk. V, last lines)
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While fancy, like the finger of a clock,
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.
Fancy
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. IV, l. 118)
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'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower
Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume;
And we are weeds without it.
Liberty
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. V, l. 446)
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Then liberty, like day,
Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from Heaven
Fires all the faculties with glorious joy.
Liberty
Quotes, by William Cowper , Source: Task (bk. V, l. 882)
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