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Far happier are the dead methinks than they who look for death and fear it every day.
William Cowper -
Blest be the art that can immortalize.
William Cowper
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Man on the dubious waves of error toss'd.
William Cowper -
We bear our shades about us; self-deprived Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread, And range an Indian waste without a tree.
William Cowper -
Stamps God's own name upon a lie just made, To turn a penny in the way of trade.
William Cowper -
Pleasure admitted in undue degree, enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free.
William Cowper -
Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
William Cowper -
But what is truth? 'Twas Pilate's question put To Truth itself, that deign'd him no reply.
William Cowper
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I am out of humanity's reach.I must finish my journey alone,Never hear the sweet music of speech;I start at the sound of my own.
William Cowper -
Some drill and bore The solid earth, and from the strata there Extract a register, by which we learn, That he who made it, and reveal'd its date To Moses, was mistaken in its age.
William Cowper -
How shall I speak thee, or thy power address Thou God of our idolatry, the Press. . . . . Like Eden's dead probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil is from thee.
William Cowper -
Detested sport, That owes its pleasures to another's pain.
William Cowper -
Twere better to be born a stone Of ruder shape, and feeling none, Than with a tenderness like mine And sensibilities so fine! Ah, hapless wretch! condemn'd to dwell Forever in my native shell, Ordained to move when others please, Not for my own content or ease; But toss'd and buffeted about, Now in the water and now out.
William Cowper -
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds.
William Cowper
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War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.
William Cowper -
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.
William Cowper -
For when was public virtue to be found Where private was not?
William Cowper -
I seem forsaken and alone, / I hear the lion roar; / And every door is shut but one, / And that is Mercy's door.
William Cowper -
We are never more in danger than when we think ourselves most secure, nor in reality more secure than when we seem to be most in danger.
William Cowper -
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.
William Cowper
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And diff'ring judgments serve but to declare that truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.
William Cowper -
Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time.
William Cowper -
Scenes must be beautiful which daily view'd Please daily, and whose novelty survives Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years.
William Cowper -
If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one.
William Cowper