William Cowper Quotes
-
Man in society is like a flow'r, Blown in its native bed. 'Tis there alone His faculties expanded in full bloom Shine out, there only reach their proper use.
-
Would I describe a preacher, I would express him simple, grave, sincere; In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain, And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, And natural in gesture; much impress'd Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds May feel it too; affectionate in look, And tender in address, as well becomes A messenger of grace to guilty men.
-
Sends Nature forth the daughter of the skies... To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.
-
Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same.
-
The bird that flutters least is longest on the wing.
-
We sacrifice to dress till household joys and comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar dry, and keeps our larder lean.
-
Fashion, leader of a chatt'ring train, Whom man for his own hurt permits to reign Who shifts and changes all things but his shape, And would degrade her vot'ry to an ape, The fruitful parent of abuse and wrong, Holds a usurp'd dominion o'er his tongue, There sits and prompts him with his own disgrace, Prescribes the theme, the tone, and the grimace, And when accomplish'd in her wayward school, Calls gentleman whom she has made a fool.
-
Folly ends where genuine hope begins.
-
But slaves that once conceive the glowing thought Of freedom, in that hope itself possess All that the contest calls for; spirit, strength, The scorn of danger, and united hearts, The surest presage of the good they seek.
-
When from soft love proceeds the deep distress, ah! why forbid the willing tears to flow?
-
Philologists, who chase A painting syllable through time and space Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark, To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's Ark.
-
Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.
-
Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
-
The proud are ever most provoked by pride.
-
Perhaps thou gav'st me, though unseen, a kiss; Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss.
-
He that attends to his interior self, That has a heart, and keeps it; has a mind That hungers, and supplies it; and who seeks A social, not a dissipated life, Has business.
-
The Spirit breathes upon the Word and brings the truth to sight.
-
Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd, And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.
-
There is a pleasure in poetic pains / Which only poets know.
-
Even in the stifling bosom of the town, A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms That soothes the rich possessor; much consol'd, That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint, Or nightshade, or valerian, grace the well He cultivates.
-
Man on the dubious waves of error toss'd.
-
Then liberty, like day, Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from Heaven Fires all the faculties with glorious joy.
-
Pity! Religion has so seldom found A skilful guide into poetic ground! The flowers would spring where'er she deign'd to stray And every muse attend her in her way.
-
The parable of the prodigal son, the most beautiful fiction that ever was invented; our Saviour's speech to His disciples, with which He closed His earthly ministrations, full of the sublimest dignity and tenderest affection, surpass everything that I ever read; and like the spirit by which they were dictated, fly directly to the heart.