William Cowper: Trending quotes (page 8)

“His head,
Not yet by time completely silvered o'er,
Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth,
But strong for service still, and unimpaired.”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book II, The Timepiece, Line 702.

Youth , Strong , Time , Past

“Fate steals along with silent tread,
Found oftenest in what least we dread,
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine strikes the blow.”

William Cowper

"A Fable" (or "The Raven"), line 36.

Fate

“I burn to set the imprison'd wranglers free,
And give them voice and utterance once again.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book IV, The Winter Evening, Line 34.

Peace , Waiting

“Glory, built
On selfish principles, is shame and guilt.”

William Cowper

Source: Table Talk (1782), Line 1.

Selfishness

“An idler is a watch that wants both hands;
As useless when it goes as when it stands.”

William Cowper Retirement

Source: Retirement (1782), Line 681.

“Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriendly to society's chief joys,
Thy worst effect is banishing for hours
The sex whose presence civilizes ours.”

William Cowper

Source: Conversation (1782), Line 251.

Sex , Joy

“But that disease when soberly defined
Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind.”

William Cowper

Source: Conversation (1782), Line 667; of fanaticism.

Disease , Falseness

“Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid.”

William Cowper

Source: The Progress of Error (1782), Line 240.

Pleasure

“When one that holds communion with the skies
Has fill'd his urn where these pure waters rise,
And once more mingles with us meaner things,
'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings.”

William Cowper

Charity, line 435.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Angels , Water

“Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.”

William Cowper

No. 35, "Light Shining out of Darkness".
Olney Hymns (1779)

God

“I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the center all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.”

William Cowper

Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782), Line 1.

Sea

“Candid, and generous, and just,
Boys care but little whom they trust,
An error soon corrected—
For who but learns in riper years
That man, when smoothest he appears
Is most to be suspected?”

William Cowper

"Friendship", line 19 (1782).

Error , Boy , Learning , Appearance

“What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.”

William Cowper

No. 1, "Walking With God"
Olney Hymns (1779)

World , Peace , Memory

“The sounding jargon of the schools.”

William Cowper

Truth, line 367.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

School

“Nature, exerting an unwearied power,
Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower;
Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads
The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.”

William Cowper

Source: Table Talk (1782), Line 690.

Flowers , Nature , Dance

“And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.”

William Cowper

No. 29, "Exhortation to Prayer".
Olney Hymns (1779)

“Lights of the world, and stars of human race.”

William Cowper

Source: The Progress of Error (1782), Line 97.

World , Star , Light

“Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream.”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book III, The Garden, Line 265.

Dreams

“Variety's the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book II, The Timepiece, Line 606.

Life

“A hat not much the worse for wear.”

William Cowper

St. 46.
The Diverting History of John Gilpin (1785)