Thomas Warton Quotes

“All human race, from China to Peru,
Pleasure, howe’er disguis’d by art, pursue.”

Thomas Warton

Universal Love of Pleasure, Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Let observation with extensive view/ Survey mankind, from China to Peru", Samuel Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes, Line 1.

“O! what's a table richly spread
Without a woman at its head!”

Thomas Warton

"The Progress of Discontent" (1750), line 39.

“Ye fetted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime,
Ye towers that wear the mossy vest of time;
Ye massy piles of old munificence,
At once the pride of learning and defence;
Ye cloisters pale, that, lengthening to the sight,
To contemplation, step by step, invite;
Ye temples dim, where pious duty pays
Her holy hymns of everlasting praise -
Hail! Oxford, hail!”

Thomas Warton

"Triumph of Isis" (1749).

“We are apt to form romantic and exaggerated notions about the moral innocence of our ancestors. Ages of ignorance and simplicity are thought to be ages of purity. The direct contrary, I believe, is the case…In the middle ages, not only the most flagrant violations of modesty were frequently practised and permitted, but the most infamous vices. Men are less ashamed as they are less polished.”

Thomas Warton book The History of English Poetry

The History of English Poetry (1774-81) vol. 1, p. 431.

“Nor rough, nor barren, are the winding ways
Of hoar antiquity, but strown with flowers.”

Thomas Warton

"Sonnet Written in a Blank Leaf of Dugdale's Monasticon" (1777), line 13.