William Cowper Quotes - Page 11

Quotes about:

• When scandal has new-minted an old lie,
  Or tax'd invention for a fresh supply,
  'Tis call'd a satire, and the world appears
  Gathering around it with erected ears;
  A thousand names are toss'd into the crowd,
  Some whisper'd softly, and some twang'd aloud,
  Just as the sapience of an author's brain,
  Suggests it safe or dangerous to be plain.

  William Cowper

  Lying, Names, Brain

  William Cowper, Henry Stebbing (1869). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper, Esq: Including the Hymns and Translations from Madame Guion, Milton, Etc. ; with a Memoir of the Author”, p.124

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• Fancy, like the finger of a clock,
  Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.

  William Cowper

  Running, Home, Fancy

  William Cowper, Henry Stebbing (1869). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper, Esq: Including the Hymns and Translations from Madame Guion, Milton, Etc. ; with a Memoir of the Author”, p.234

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• No, Freedom has a thousand charms to show
  That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.

  William Cowper

  Freedom, Slave, Charm

  'Table Talk' (1782) l. 260

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• The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns;
  The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown,
  And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort,
  And mar the face of beauty, when no cause
  For such immeasurable woe appears;
  These Flora banishes, and gives the fair
  Sweet smiles, and bloom less transient than her own.

  William Cowper

  Sweet, Sadness, Eye

  William Cowper, James Sambrook (2016). “William Cowper: The Task and Selected Other Poems”, p.72, Routledge

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• Go, mark the matchless working of the power
  That shuts within the seed the future flower;
  Bids these in elegance of form excel.
  In color these, and those delight the smell;
  Sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies,
  To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.

  William Cowper

  Daughter, Flower, Eye

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• The statesman, lawyer, merchant, man of trade
  Pants for the refuge of some rural shade,
  Where all his long anxieties forgot
  Amid the charms of a sequester'd spot,
  Or recollected only to gild o'er
  And add a smile to what was sweet before,
  He may possess the joys he thinks he sees,
  Lay his old age upon the lap of ease,
  Improve the remnant of his wasted span.
  And having lived a trifler, die a man.

  William Cowper

  Sweet, Retirement, Thinking

  William Cowper (1847). “Poems, with a memoir of the author”, p.146

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• He that attends to his interior self,
  That has a heart, and keeps it; has a mind
  That hungers, and supplies it; and who seeks
  A social, not a dissipated life,
  Has business.

  William Cowper

  Business, Heart, Self

  William Cowper (1855). “The complete poetical works of William Cowper, with life and critical notice of his writings”, p.155

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• Made poetry a mere mechanic art.

  William Cowper

  Art, Poetry, Mechanic

  'Table Talk' (1782) l. 654 (on Pope)

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• Pity! Religion has so seldom found
  A skilful guide into poetic ground!
  The flowers would spring where'er she deign'd to stray
  And every muse attend her in her way.

  William Cowper

  Spring, Flower, Religion

  William Cowper (1855). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper: With Life, and Critical Notice of His Writings. Eight Engravings on Steel”, p.14

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• 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.

  William Cowper

  Titles, Virtue, Fame

  William Cowper, Robert Southey (1854). “The Works: Comprising His Poems, Correspondence and Translations : in Eight Volumes. ¬The poetical works, Vol. 1”, p.119

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• Religion, richest favor of the skies.

  William Cowper

  Sky, Religion, Favors

  William Cowper (1856). “The task, Table talk, and other poems: With critical observations of various authors on his genius and character, and notes, critical and illustrative”, p.55

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• Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time.

  William Cowper

  Time, Spring, Fall

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• I would not enter on my list of friends
  (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
  Yet wanting sensibility) the man
  Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

  William Cowper

  Real, Men, Feet

  'The Task' (1785) bk. 6 'The Winter Walk at Noon' l. 560

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• All flesh is grass. and all its glory fades
  Like the fair flower dishevell'd in the wind;
  Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream;
  The man we celebrate must find a tomb,
  And we that worship him, ignoble graves.

  William Cowper

  Death, Dream, Flower

  William Cowper (1856). “The task, Table talk, and other poems: With critical observations of various authors on his genius and character, and notes, critical and illustrative”, p.186

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

  William Cowper

  Sacrifice, Joy, Comfort

  William Cowper (1874). “The poetical works of William Cowper, ed: with notes and biographical introd. by William Benham”, p.210

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• Poor England! thou art a devoted deer,
  Beset with every ill but that of fear.
  The nations hunt; all mock thee for a prey;
  They swarm around thee, and thou stand'st at bay.

  William Cowper

  Art, Deer, England

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• Those flimsy webs that break as soon as wrought, attain not to the dignity of thought.

  William Cowper

  Dignity, Break

  William Cowper, John William Cunningham (1835). “The works ¬of William Cowper: Poems : with an essay on the genius and poetry of Cowper”, p.210

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• This cabin, Mary, in my sight appears,
  Built as it has been in our waning years,
  A rest afforded to our weary feet,
  Preliminary to - the last retreat.

  William Cowper

  Home, Sight, Years

  William Cowper, John William Cunningham, William Hayley (1835). “The Life and Works of William Cowper: His life and letters by William Hayley. Now first completed by the introduction of Cowper's private correspondence”, p.172

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• God never meant that man should scale the Heavens
  By strides of human wisdom. In his works,
  Though wondrous, he commands us in his word
  To seek him rather where his mercy shines.

  William Cowper

  God, Men, Shining

  William Cowper (1855). “The complete poetical works of William Cowper, with life and critical notice of his writings”, p.152

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• He that runs may read.

  William Cowper

  Running, Reading, May

  William Cowper, James Thomson (1832). “The Works of Cowper and Thompson: Including Many Letters and Poems Never Before Published in this Country. With a New and Interesting Memoir of the Life of Thomson”, p.104

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• Come, evening, once again, season of peace;
  Return, sweet evening, and continue long!
  Methinks I see thee in the streaky west,
  With matron step, slow moving, while the night
  Treads on thy sweeping train; one hand employ'd
  In letting fall the curtain of repose
  On bird and beast, the other charged for man
  With sweet oblivion of the cares of day.

  William Cowper

  Sweet, Moving, Fall

  William Cowper, James Montgomery (1859). “Poems ... With an introductory essay by James Montgomery. [With plates.]”, p.215

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• Nature, exerting an unwearied power,
  Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower;
  Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads
  The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.

  William Cowper

  Nature, Flower, Giving

  William Cowper (1855). “The complete poetical works of William Cowper, with life and critical notice of his writings”, p.14

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• Religion does not censure or exclude
  Unnumbered pleasures, harmlessly pursued.

  William Cowper

  Religion, Doe, Pleasure

  William Cowper (1866). “Poems”, p.164

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• When from soft love proceeds the deep distress, ah! why forbid the willing tears to flow?

  William Cowper

  Tears, Flow, Distress

  William Cowper (1874). “The poetical works of William Cowper, ed: with notes and biographical introd. by William Benham”, p.10

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• Ten thousand casks, Forever dribbling out their base contents, Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state, Bleed gold for ministers to sport away. Drink, and be mad then; 'tis your country bids!

  William Cowper

  Sports, Country, Mad

  William Cowper, James Sambrook (2016). “William Cowper: The Task and Selected Other Poems”, p.156, Routledge

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