John Dryden Quotes

War is the trade of kings.

It's a hard world, neighbors, if a man's oath must be his master.

Heaven be thanked, we live in such an age, When no man dies for love, but on the stage.

Truth is the object of our understanding, as good is of our will; and the understanding can no more be delighted with a lie than the will can choose an apparent evil.

By education most have been misled; So they believe, because they were bred. The priest continues where the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the man.

Learn to write well, or not to write at all.

Freedom which in no other land will thrive, Freedom an English subject's sole prerogative.

Self-defense is Nature's eldest law.

To breed up the son to common sense is evermore the parent's least expense.

Go miser go, for money sell your soul. Trade wares for wares and trudge from pole to pole, So others may say when you are dead and gone. See what a vast estate he left his son.

Not Heav'n itself upon the past has pow'r; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

So the false spider, when her nets are spread, deep ambushed in her silent den does lie.

But how can finite grasp Infinity?

Jealousy's a proof of love, But 'tis a weak and unavailing medicine; It puts out the disease and makes it show, But has no power to cure.

They that possess the prince possess the laws.

Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense, But good men starve for want of impudence.

Not to ask is not be denied.

Thou strong seducer, Opportunity!

A good conscience is a port which is landlocked on every side, where no winds can possibly invade. There a man may not only see his own image, but that of his Maker, clearly reflected from the undisturbed waters.

Successful crimes alone are justified.

For Art may err, but Nature cannot miss.

He who would search for pearls must dive below.

All habits gather by unseen degrees.

For all the happiness mankind can gain Is not in pleasure, but in rest from pain.

When we view elevated ideas of Nature, the result of that view is admiration, which is always the cause of pleasure.

The elephant is never won by anger; nor must that man who would reclaim a lion take him by the teeth.

Content with poverty, my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

All delays are dangerous in war.

Men are but children of a larger growth.

Resolved to ruin or to rule the state.

The fortitude of a Christian consists in patience, not in enterprises which the poets call heroic, and which are commonly the effects of interest, pride and worldly honor.

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Fowls, by winter forced, forsake the floods, and wing their hasty flight to happier lands.

But love's a malady without a cure.

Blown roses hold their sweetness to the last.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the radiant sun, Is Nature's eye.

And nobler is a limited command, Given by the love of all your native land, Than a successive title, long and dark, Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's Ark.

Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they pass'd.

How easy 'tis, when Destiny proves kind, With full-spread sails to run before the wind!

He wants worth who dares not praise a foe.

That gloomy outside, like a rusty chest, contains the shoring treasure of a soul resolved and brave.

Pride - Lord of human kind

They think too little who talk too much.

The conscience of a people is their power.

When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell.

When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!

The thought of being nothing after death is a burden insupportable to a virtuous man.

Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.