Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
He trudged along unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much.
Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is with thoughts of what may be.
The good we have enjoyed from Heaven's free will, and shall we murmur to endure the ill?
Truth is never to be expected from authors whose understanding is warped with enthusiasm.
Fortune's unjust; she ruins oft the brave, and him who should be victor, makes the slave.
Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; And they have kept it since by being dead.
Time and death shall depart and say in flying Love has found out a way to live, by dying.
For those whom God to ruin has design'd, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.
Who climbs the grammar-tree, distinctly knows Where noun, and verb, and participle grows.
Maintain your post: That's all the fame you need; For 'tis impossible you should proceed.
Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense, But good men starve for want of impudence.
Fowls, by winter forced, forsake the floods, and wing their hasty flight to happier lands.
Revealed religion first informed thy sight, and reason saw not till faith sprung to light.
Freedom which in no other land will thrive, Freedom an English subject's sole prerogative.
If you have lived, take thankfully the past. Make, as you can, the sweet remembrance last.
Dreams are but interludes, which fancy makes; When monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes.
And that one hunting, which the Devil design'd For one fair female, lost him half the kind.
For what can power give more than food and drink, To live at ease, and not be bound to think?
Love works a different way in different minds, the fool it enlightens and the wise it blinds.
She, though in full-blown flower of glorious beauty, Grows cold even in the summer of her age.
Like pilgrims to th' appointed place we tend; The World's an Inn, and Death the journey's end.
Love taught him shame, and shame with love at strife Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.
Not Heav'n itself upon the past has pow'r; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream!
Good sense and good nature are never separated; and good nature is the product of right reason.
For lawful power is still superior found, When long driven back, at length it stands the ground.
Tis Fate that flings the dice, And as she flings Of kings makes peasants, And of peasants kings.
Those who write ill, and they who ne'er durst write, Turn critics out of mere revenge and spite.
Even kings but play; and when their part is done, some other, worse or better, mounts the throne.
He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him.
Damn'd neuters, in their middle way of steering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.
The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves.
That gloomy outside, like a rusty chest, contains the shoring treasure of a soul resolved and brave.
Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, but genius must be born; and never can be taught.
Nature meant me A wife, a silly, harmless, household dove, Fond without art, and kind without deceit.
One of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems which either this age or nation has produced.
The elephant is never won by anger; nor must that man who would reclaim a lion take him by the teeth.
There's a proud modesty in merit; averse from asking, and resolved to pay ten times the gifts it asks.
You see through love, and that deludes your sight, As what is straight seems crooked through the water.
No government has ever been, or can ever be, wherein time-servers and blockheads will not be uppermost.
Good Heaven, whose darling attribute we find is boundless grace, and mercy to mankind, abhors the cruel.
I am reading Jonson's verses to the memory of Shakespeare; an insolent, sparing, and invidious panegyric.
'Tis a good thing to laugh at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness.
Every age has a kind of universal genius, which inclines those that live in it to some particular studies.
How happy the lover, How easy his chain, How pleasing his pain, How sweet to discover He sighs not in vain.
The commendation of adversaries is the greatest triumph of a writer, because it never comes unless extorted.
not judging truth to be in nature better than falsehood, but setting a value upon both according to interest.
Reason to rule, mercy to forgive: The first is law, the last prerogative. Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
I'm a little wounded, but I am not slain; I will lay me down to bleed a while. Then I'll rise and fight again.