Quotes from William Cowper

Assail'd by scandal and the tongue of strife, His only answer was, a blameless life.

The good we never miss we rarely prize

Their tameness is shocking to me.

Books are not seldom talismans and spells.

If the world like it not, so much the worse for them.

The tide of life, swift always in its course, May run in cities with a brisker force, But nowhere with a current so serene, Or half so clear, as in the rural scene.

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.

How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, Whom I may whisper, Solitude is sweet.

O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place.

I, fed with judgment, in a fleshy tomb, am Buried above ground.

Eternity for bubbles proves at last a senseless bargain.

Happy the bard, (if that fair name belong To him that blends no fable with his song) Whose lines uniting, by an honest art, The faithful monitors and poets part, Seek to delight, that they may mend mankind, And while they captivate, inform the mind. Still happier, if he till a thankful soil, And fruit reward his honorable toil: But happier far who comfort those that wait To hear plain truth at Judah's hallow'd gate

then to the dance, and make the sober moon... witness of joys that shun the sights of noon.

Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge—a rude, unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which Wisdom builds, Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place— Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.

Nay,--conduct hath the loudest tongue. The voice Is but an instrument on which the priest May play what tune he pleases. In the deed, The unequivocal authentic deed, We find sound argument, and read the heart.

Typerien edelläkävijoiden seuraaminen ja molempien silmien ummistaminen on helpompaa kuin ajatteleminen.

Nature is but a name for an effect whose cause is God"...

Be trusted with the Lord. Wait for His seasonable aid, And though it tarry, wait: The promise may be long delay'd, But cannot come too late.

My fugitive years are all hasting away, And I must ere long lie as lowly as they, With a turf on my breast, and a stone at my head, Ere another such grove shall arise in its stead. 'Tis a sight to engage me, if anything can, To muse on the perishing pleasures of man; Though his life be a dream, his enjoyments I see, Have a being less durable even than he.

So Fancy dreams - Disprove it, if ye can, Ye reas'ners broad awake, whose busy search Of argument, employ'd too oft amiss, Sifts half the pleasures of short life away.

The Castaway" Obscurest night involved the sky, The Atlantic billows roared, When such a destined wretch as I, washed headlong from on board. Of friends, of hope, of all bereft, His floating home forever left...

En apariencia abandonado y solo, escucho el león rugir: y toda puerta se cierra menos una, y esa es la puerta de la misericordia

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace, behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.