“Not a flower
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain,
Of his unrivall'd pencil.”

— William Cowper , The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book VI, Winter Walk at Noon, Line 240.

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 "Not a flower But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain, Of his unrivall'd pencil." by William Cowper?

William Cowper 174

(1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist 1731–1800

Related quotes

“He wrote on a piece of paper with his pencil.
Psychosis: out of touch with reality.
Since then, I have been trying to find out what reality is, so that I can touch it.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

“With hue like that when some great painter dips
His pencil in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley The Revolt of Islam

Canto V, st. 23
The Revolt of Islam (1817)

“The proprietor had hair so red that pigmentation had flowed out into every visible inch of his skin and even into the pinks of his eyes, as the colour of flowering cherry trees stains their leaves.”

Quentin Crisp book The Naked Civil Servant

Source: The Naked Civil Servant (1968), Ch. 13

“Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

“The poet should touch our heart by showing his own”

Leslie Stephen (1832–1904) British author, literary critic, and first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography

Quote by Thomas Hardy from The life of Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 by Florence Emily Hardy ASIN: B0027MJJSI Macmillan (1 Jan 1962)
Attributed

“Some stains don't come out.”

Stephen King Pet Sematary

Morality
Pet Sematary (1983)
Variant: Some things it don't pay to be curious about.

“It was a lovely morning. We have not had many lovely days. And the sun was just coming through the stained glass windows and falling on some flowers right across the church and it just occurred to me that this was the day I was meant not to see.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

TV Interview for Channel 4 A plus 4 (15 October 1984) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=105764, referring to the Brighton bombing in which the IRA attempted to assassinate her.
Second term as Prime Minister