| 204 Famous Quotes by William Cowper
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“The solemn fog; significant and budge;
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.”
Folly Quotes 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 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 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 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 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 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 Source: The Poet, the Oyster and Sensitive Plant
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“And prate and preach about what others prove,
As if the world and they were hand and glove.”
Hypocrisy Quotes Source: Table Talk (l. 173)
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“Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor;
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.”
Content Quotes 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 Source: Task (bk. IV, l. 118)
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“Ever let the Fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home.”
Fancy Quotes 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 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 Source: Task (bk. V, l. 882)
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“Transforms old print
To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes
Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.”
Printing Quotes Source: Task (bk. II, The Timepiece, l. 363)
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“He stands erect; his slouch becomes a walk;
He steps right onward, martial in his air,
His form and movement.”
Soldiers Quotes Source: Task (bk. IV, l. 638)
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“Ten thousand casks,
Forever dribbling out their base contents,
Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state,
Bleed gold for ministers to sport away.
Drink, and be mad then; 'tis your country bids!”
Wine and spirits Quotes Source: Task (bk. IV, l. 504)
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“When admirals extoll'd for standing still,
Of doing nothing with a deal of skill.”
Labor Quotes Source: Table Talk (l. 192)
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“And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.”
Prayer Quotes Source: Hymns--Exhortation to Prayer
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“Absence of occupation is not rest,
A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.”
Mind Quotes Source: Retirement (l. 623)
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“His mind his kingdom, and his will his law.”
Mind Quotes Source: Truth (l. 405)
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“How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift-winged arrows of light.”
Mind Quotes Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk
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“The church-going bell.”
Bells Quotes Source: verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk
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“How soft the music of those village bells,
Falling at interval upon the ear
In cadence sweet; now dying all away,
Now pealing loud again, and louder still,
Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on!
With easy force it opens all the cells
Where Memory slept.”
Bells Quotes Source: Task (bk. VI, l. 6)
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“No, Freedom has a thousand charms to show
That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.”
Freedom Quotes Source: Table Talk (l. 260)
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“He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
And all are slaves besides.”
Freedom Quotes Source: Task (bk. V, l. 733)
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William Cowper Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings
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