William Cowper Quotes
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Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more.
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Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor; And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
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A lawyer's dealings should be just and fair; Honesty shines with great advantage there.
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Habits are soon assumed; but when we strive to strip them off, 'tis being flayed alive.
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Necessity invented stools, Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, And luxury the accomplish'd Sofa last.
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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.
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God forbid that Judges upon their oath should make resolutions to enlarge jurisdiction.
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No, Freedom has a thousand charms to show That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
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True modesty is a discerning grace And only blushes in the proper place; But counterfeit is blind, and skulks through fear, Where 'tis a shame to be asham'd t' appear: Humility the parent of the first, The last by vanity produc'd and nurs'd.
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Built God a church and laughed His word to scorn.
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An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless if it goes as when it stands.
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I will venture to assert, that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme is impossible. No human ingenuity can be equal to the task of closing every couplet with sounds homotonous, expressing at the same time the full sense, and only the full sense of his original.
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The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.
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Come, evening, once again, season of peace; Return, sweet evening, and continue long! Methinks I see thee in the streaky west, With matron step, slow moving, while the night Treads on thy sweeping train; one hand employ'd In letting fall the curtain of repose On bird and beast, the other charged for man With sweet oblivion of the cares of day.
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The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear; And something, every day they live, To pity, and perhaps forgive.
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This cabin, Mary, in my sight appears, Built as it has been in our waning years, A rest afforded to our weary feet, Preliminary to - the last retreat.
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I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
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As if the world and they were hand and glove.
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The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns; The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown, And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort, And mar the face of beauty, when no cause For such immeasurable woe appears; These Flora banishes, and gives the fair Sweet smiles, and bloom less transient than her own.
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God made the country, and man made the town.
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A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
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Accomplishments have taken virtue's place, and wisdom falls before exterior grace.
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I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute, From the centre all round to the sea, I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
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All zeal for a reform, that gives offence To peace and charity, is mere pretence.