Quotes
Quotes - Cowper
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
England with all thy faults, I love thee still-- My country! and, while yet a nook is left Where English minds and manners may be found, Shall be constrained to love thee.
Without one friend, above all foes, Britannia gives the world repose.
Man on the dubious waves of error toss'd.
Fanaticism, the false fire of an overheated mind.
While fancy, like the finger of a clock, Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.
Ever let the Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home.
Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread; Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe As left him not, till penitence had won Lost favor back again, and clos'd the breach.
Words pregnant with celestial fire.
Not a flower But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain, Of his unrivall'd pencil.
The solemn fog; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
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.
Exactness is the sublimity of fools. [Fr., L'exactitude est le sublime des sots.]
If hindrances obstruct the way, Thy magnanimity display. And let thy strength be seen: But O, if Fortune fill thy sail With more than a propitious gale, Take half thy canvas in.
The Frenchman, easy, debonair, and brisk, Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk, Is always happy, reign whoever may, And laughs the sense of mis'ry far away.
No, Freedom has a thousand charms to show That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves besides.
The man that hails you Tom or Jack, And proves by thumps upon your back How he esteems your merit, Is such a friend, that one had need Be very much his friend indeed To pardon or to bear it.
. . . glory built On selfish principles is shame and guilt.
Glory built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
God made the country and man made the town.
That good diffused may more abundant grow.
Doing good, Disinterested good, is not our trade.
Whoever keeps an open ear For tattlers will be sure to hear The trumpet of contention.
