-
Solitude, seeming a sanctuary, proves a grave; a sepulchre in which the living lie, where all good qualities grow sick and die
William Cowper -
An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.
William Cowper
-
Lived in his saddle, loved the chase, the course, And always, ere he mounted, kiss'd his horse.
William Cowper -
Poor England! thou art a devoted deer, Beset with every ill but that of fear. The nations hunt; all mock thee for a prey; They swarm around thee, and thou stand'st at bay.
William Cowper -
They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.
William Cowper -
Religion, if in heavenly truths attired, Needs only to be seen to be admired.
William Cowper -
Mansions once Knew their own masters, and laborious hinds, That had surviv'd the father, serv'd the son. Now the legitimate and rightful lord Is but a transient guest, newly arrived, And soon to be supplanted. He that saw His patrimonial timber cast its leaf, Sells the last scantling, and transfers the price To some shrewd sharper ere it buds again. Estates are landscapes, gazed upon awhile, Then advertised and auctioneer'd away.
William Cowper -
The cares of today are seldom those of tomorrow, and when we lie down at night we may safely say to most of our troubles, "Ye have done your worst, and we shall see you no more."
William Cowper
-
With spots quadrangular of diamond form, ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife, and spades, the emblems of untimely graves.
William Cowper -
Truth is the golden girdle of the globe.
William Cowper -
[My kitten] is dressed in a tortoise-shell suit, and I know you will delight in her.
William Cowper -
Some people are more nice than wise.
William Cowper -
An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path. But he that has humanity, forewarned, Will turn aside and let the reptile live.
William Cowper -
God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to performs
William Cowper
-
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
William Cowper -
Blest be the art that can immortalize,--the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim to quench it.
William Cowper -
The only amaranthine flower on earth is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth.
William Cowper -
No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.
William Cowper -
Tis Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours.
William Cowper -
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 ordained to fill.
William Cowper
-
Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
William Cowper -
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.
William Cowper -
The rich are too indolent, the poor too weak, to bear the insupportable fatigue of thinking.
William Cowper -
In man or woman, but far most in man, And most of all in man that ministers, And serves the altar, in my soul I loathe All affectation. 'Tis my perfect scorn: Object of my implacable disgust.
William Cowper