William Cowper Quotes

Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.

A teacher should be sparing of his smile.

The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.

Vice stings us even in our pleasures, but virtue consoles us even in our pains.

The only amaranthine flower on earth is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth.

Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.

The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick, / whom, snoring, she disturbs.

Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.

The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear; And something, every day they live, To pity, and perhaps forgive.

War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.

Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa around, 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

The parson knows enough who knows a Duke.

As if the world and they were hand and glove.

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.

An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.

He that runs may read.

When nations are to perish in their sins, 'tis in the Church the leprosy begins.

[My kitten's] gambols are not to be described, and would be incredible, if they could.

... she, that will with kittens jest, Should bear a kitten's joke.

A life all turbulence and noise may seem To him that leads it wise and to be praised, But wisdom is a pearl with most success Sought in still waters.

Sends Nature forth the daughter of the skies... To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.

Admirals extolled for standing still, or doing nothing with a deal of skill.

Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.

My soul is sick with every day's report of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.

Could he with reason murmur at his case, Himself sole author of his own disgrace?

Lights of the world, and stars of human race.

Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ills that checker life.

...So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

Accomplishments have taken virtue's place, and wisdom falls before exterior grace.

A fretful temper will divide the closest knot that may be tied, by ceaseless sharp corrosion; a temper passionate and fierce may suddenly your joys disperse at one immense explosion.

He that has seen both sides of fifty has lived to little purpose if he has no other views of the world than he had when he was much younger.

A man renowned for repartee will seldom scruple to make free with friendship's finest feeling, will thrust a dagger at your breast, and say he wounded you in jest, by way of balm for healing.

And diff'ring judgments serve but to declare that truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.

Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,- A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew.

A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.

Still ending, and beginning still.

Books are not seldom talismans and spells.

We sacrifice to dress till household joys and comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar dry, and keeps our larder lean.

No wild enthusiast could rest, till half the world like him was possessed.

But, oh, Thou bounteous Giver of all good, Thou art, of all Thy gifts, Thyself thy crown!

There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart; he does not feel for man.

Spare feast! a radish and an egg.

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.

Some write a narrative of wars and feats, Of heroes little known, and call the rant A history.

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.

To trace in Nature's most minute design The signature and stamp of power divine. ... The Invisible in things scarce seen revealed, To whom an atom is an ample field.

Good sense, good health, good conscience, and good fame,--all these belong to virtue, and all prove that virtue has a title to your love.

A fool must now and then be right, by chance