“Look round the habitable world: how few
Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.”

—  John Dryden

Juvenal, Satire X (1693), lines 1–2.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Look round the habitable world: how few Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue." by John Dryden?
John Dryden photo
John Dryden 196
English poet and playwright of the XVIIth century 1631–1700

Related quotes

Pythagoras photo

“You will know that wretched men are the cause of their own suffering, who neither see nor hear the good that is near them, and few are the ones who know how to secure release from their troubles.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

As quoted in Divine Harmony: The Life and Teachings of Pythagoras by John Strohmeier and Peter Westbrook (1999)
The Golden Verses
Context: You will know that wretched men are the cause of their own suffering, who neither see nor hear the good that is near them, and few are the ones who know how to secure release from their troubles. Such is the fate that harms their minds; like pebbles they are tossed about from one thing to another with cares unceasing. For the dread companion Strife harms them unawares, whom one must not walk behind, but withdraw from and flee.

Rudolf Steiner photo

“To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.”

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) Austrian esotericist

Verses and Meditations

François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“Few know how to be old.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Peu de gens savent être vieux.
Maxim 423.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

Anaïs Nin photo

“I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

“There's not much you need to know about the world. Except how to use a sword and trust very few.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Froi of the Exiles

Patrick Swift photo

“You may know a good painter by his habit of work: a good painter works constantly.”

Patrick Swift (1927–1983) British artist

The Artist Speaks (1951)

William Wordsworth photo

“Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good:
Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow.”

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Romantic poet

Personal Talk, sonnet 3 (1806).

Edith Wharton photo

“We live in our own souls as in an unmapped region, a few acres of which we have cleared for our habitation; while of the nature of those nearest us we know but the boundaries that march with ours.”

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer
Britney Spears photo

“Oh, I've wept. Yeah, I've definitely wept just with the world, you know, how judgmental they are. You know what, I know I'm a good mom.”

Britney Spears (1981) American singer, dancer and actress

Matt Lauer interview http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13347509/page/4/, MSNBC (14 June 2006)

Stephen Crane photo

“I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.”

Stephen Crane book The Black Riders and Other Lines

Source: The Black Riders and Other Lines (1895), XXIV
Context: I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never—""You lie," he cried,
And ran on.

Related topics