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William Cowper
216 quotes
“Made poetry a mere mechanic art.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“When one that holds communion with the skies Has fill'd his urn where these pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, 'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“A fool must now and then be right by chance.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“An idler is a watch that wants both hands, As useless if it goes as if it stands.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face?”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“'T is Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“That though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“United yet divided, twain at once: So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, Exhilarate the spirit, and restore The tone of languid nature.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Doing good, Disinterested good, is not our trade.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“God made the country, and man made the town.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“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.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Mountains interposed Make enemies of nations who had else, Like kindred drops, been mingled into one.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free! They touch our country, and their shackles fall.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Fast-anchor'd isle.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“England, with all thy faults I love thee still, My country!”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Presume to lay their hand upon the ark Of her magnificent and awful cause.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Praise enough To fill the ambition of a private man, That Chatham's language was his mother tongue.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“There is a pleasure in poetic pains Which only poets know.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Transforms old print To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Reading what they never wrote, Just fifteen minutes, huddle up their work, And with a well-bred whisper close the scene.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Whoe'er was edified, themselves were not.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Variety 's the very spice of life.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“She that asks Her dear five hundred friends.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“His head, Not yet by time completely silver'd o'er, Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth, But strong for service still, and unimpair'd.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of Paradise that has survived the fall!”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Great contest follows, and much learned dust.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“From reveries so airy, from the toil Of dropping buckets into empty wells, And growing old in drawing nothing up.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“How various his employments whom the world Calls idle, and who justly in return Esteems that busy world an idler too!”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“I burn to set the imprison'd wranglers free, And give them voice and utterance once again. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Which not even critics criticise.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“What is it but a map of busy life, Its fluctuations, and its vast concerns?”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“And Katerfelto, with his hair on end At his own wonders, wondering for his bread. 'T is pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, To peep at such a world,--to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“While fancy, like the finger of a clock, Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“O Winter, ruler of the inverted year!”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“With spots quadrangular of diamond form, Ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife, And spades, the emblems of untimely graves.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“In indolent vacuity of thought.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“It seems the part of wisdom.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“All learned, and all drunk!”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Gloriously drunk, obey the important call.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Those golden times And those Arcadian scenes that Maro sings, And Sidney, warbler of poetic prose.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The Frenchman's darling.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Some must be great. Great offices will have Great talents. And God gives to every man The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, That lifts him into life, and lets him fall Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Silently as a dream the fabric rose, No sound of hammer or of saw was there.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“But war 's a game which were their subjects wise Kings would not play at.”
William Cowper (1731–1800) said by 1800 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source