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John Dryden
470 quotes
“An horrid stillness first invades the ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1660 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Astraea Redux (1660), ll. 7–8
“All things are hush'd, as Nature's self lay dead, The Mountains seem to nod their drowsy head; The little Birds in dreams their Songs repeat, And sleeping Flowers, beneath the night-dew sweat; Even Lust and Envy sleep.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1667 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Indian Emperor (1667), Act III, sc. ii
“But Shakespeare's magic could not copied be; Within that circle none durst walk but he.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1670 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tempest (1670), Prologue
“Their heavenly harps a lower strain began, And in soft music mourn the fall of man.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1677 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The State of Innocence (1677), Act V, sc. i
“Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sung ballads from a cart.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1675 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Prologue to Lee's Sophonisba (1675)
“Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1683 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Art of Poetry (1683), Canto I, l. 75
Also quoted by: Nicholas Boileau-despreaux
“Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense, But good men starve for want of impudence.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1684 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Constantine the Great (1684), Epilogue
“Wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1684 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Memory of Mr. Oldham, l. 15. Miscellany Poems (1684)
“Above any Greek or Roman name.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Upon the Death of Lord Hastings, l. 76. Miscellany Poems (ed. 1702). Cf. "Above all Greek, above all Roman fame"; Pope, Ep. I, Bk. 2, l. 26
“Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they passed.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1685 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Threnodia Augustalis (1685), ll. 124–127
“Since heaven's eternal year is thine.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1686 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Pious Memory of Mrs. Anne Killegrew (1686), l. 15
“O gracious God! how far have we Profaned thy heavenly gift of poesy!”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1686 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Pious Memory of Mrs. Anne Killegrew (1686), ll. 56–57
“Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1686 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Pious Memory of Mrs. Anne Killegrew (1686), l. 70
“Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1688 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Britannia Rediviva (1688), l. 1
“And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1688 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Britannia Rediviva (1688), l. 208
“Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; The next, in majesty; in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go. To make a third, she joined the former two.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1688 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Under Mr. Milton's Picture (1688)
“Fairest Isle, all isles excelling, Seat of pleasures, and of loves; Venus here will choose her dwelling, And forsake her Cyprian groves.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1691 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: King Arthur (1691), Act II, sc. v, Song of Venus
“Truth is the foundation of all knowledge, and the cement of all societies.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1692 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Character of Polybius", in H. S.'s The History of Polybius (1692)
“So softly death succeeded life in her, She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1692 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eleonora (1692), l. 315
“Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1693 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to Congreve (1693), l. 19
“Genius must be born, and never can be taught.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1693 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to Congreve (1693), l. 60
“Be kind to my remains; and oh defend, Against your judgment, your departed friend!”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1693 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to Congreve (1693), l. 72
“Words, once my stock, are wanting to commend So great a poet and so good a friend.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1698 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to Peter Antony Motteux (1698), ll. 54–55
“Lord of yourself, uncumbered with a wife.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1700 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to John Driden of Chesterton (1700), l. 18
“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.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1700 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to John Driden of Chesterton (1700), ll. 92–95
“He was exhaled; his great Creator drew His spirit, as the sun the morning dew.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) first seen 1700 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Death of a Very Young Gentleman (1700)
“Here lies my wife: here let her lie! Now she's at rest, and so am I.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And threat'ning France, plac'd like a painted Jove, Kept idle thunder in his lifted hand.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By viewing Nature, Nature's handmaid Art, Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So close behind some promontory lie The huge Leviathan to attend their prey, And give no chance, but swallow in the fry, Which through their gaping jaws mistake the way.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If confidence presage a victory, Eugenius, in his own opinion, has already triumphed over the Ancients: nothing seems more easy to him than to overcome those whom it is our greatest praise to have imitated well; for we do not only build upon their foundation, but by their models.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Famous Rules which the French call, Des Trois Unités, or, The Three Unities, which ought to be observ'd in every Regular Play; namely, of Time, Place, and Action.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music...is inarticulate poesy.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who servilely creeps after sense Is safe, but ne'er will reach an excellence.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All delays are dangerous in war.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pains of love be sweeter far Than all other pleasures are.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Midas me no midas.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Madam me no madam.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am as free as Nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Forgiveness to the injured does belong; But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What precious drops are those Which silently each other's track pursue, Bright as young diamonds in their infant dew?”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; And they have kept it since by being dead.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we could, Till our love was lov'd out in us both: But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled: 'Twas pleasure first made it an oath.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death in itself is nothing; but we fear To be we know not what, we know not where.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I consider life, 't is all a cheat. Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit; Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay. To-morrow 's falser than the former day; Lies worse, and while it says we shall be blest With some new joys, cuts off what we possest. Strange cozenage! none would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; And from the dregs of life think to receive What the first sprightly running could not give.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Tis not for nothing that we life pursue; It pays our hopes with something still that's new.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am resolved to grow fat, and look young till forty.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What flocks of critics hover here to-day, As vultures wait on armies for their prey, All gaping for the carcase of a play! With croaking notes they bode some dire event, And follow dying poets by the scent.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source