John Denham Quotes (18 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

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Cooper's Hill

John Denham

John Denham: 18 quotes 0 likes

Famous John Denham Quotes

“Youth, what man's age is like to be doth show,
We may our ends by our beginnings know.”

John Denham

Of Prudence, line 225.

“Actions o' th' last age are like almanacks o' th' last year.”

John Denham

The Sophy: A Tragedy (1642), Act I, scene ii.

“We're ne'er like angels till our passion dies.”

John Denham

Not by Denham, as often stated, but by Thomas Dekker. It is in his The Honest Whore Part 2, Act I, scene 2.
Misattributed

“Nor ought a genius less than his that writ
Attempt translation.”

John Denham

To Sir Richard Fanshaw, Upon his Translation of Pastor Fido, line 9.

“Though with those streams he no resemblance hold,
Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold;
His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore,
Search not his bottom, but survey his shore.”

John Denham Cooper's Hill

Cooper's Hill, Line 165.

“But whither am I strayed? I need not raise
Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise;
Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built;
Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt
Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign,
Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain.”

John Denham

On Mr. John Fletcher's Works. Compare: "Poets are sultans, if they had their will; For every author would his brother kill", Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Prologues (republished in Dramatic Works, 1739); "Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne", Alexander Pope, Prologue to the Satires, line 197.

John Denham Quotes about searching

“Search not to find what lies too deeply hid,
Nor to know things, whose knowledge is forbid.”

John Denham

Of Prudence, line 231.

“Search not to find what lies too deeply hid,
Nor to know things whose knowledge is forbid;
Nor climb on pyramids, which thy head turn round
Standing, and whence no safe descent is found.”

John Denham

Source: Of Prudence (1668), line 231

“Search not to find how other men offend,
But by that glass thy own offences mend;
Still seek to learn, yet care not much from whom,
(So it be learning) or from whence it come.
Of thy own actions, others' judgments learn;
Often by small, great matters we discern:
Youth what man's age is like to be doth show;
We may our ends by our beginnings know.”

John Denham

Source: Of Prudence (1668), line 225

“Wisdom of what herself approves makes choice,
Nor is led captive by the common voice.
Clear-sighted Reason Wisdom's judgment leads,
And Sense, her vassal, in her footsteps treads.
That thou to Truth the perfect way may'st know,
To thee all her specific forms I'll show:
He that the way to honesty will learn,
First what's to be avoided must discern.
Thyself from flatt'ring self-conceit defend,
Nor what thou dost not know to know pretend.
Some secrets deep in abstruse darkness lie:
To search them thou wilt need a piercing eye.
Not rashly therefore to such things assent,
Which, undeceived, thou after may'st repent;
Study and time in these must thee instruct,
And others' old experience may conduct.
Wisdom herself her ear doth often lend
To counsel offer'd by a faithful friend.”

John Denham

Source: Of Prudence (1668), line 11