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

William Cowper

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William Cowper
Age: 68 †
Born: 1731
Born: November 26
Died: 1800
Died: April 25
Hymnwriter
Poet
Poet Lawyer
Translator
Writer
Berkhamsted
Hertfordshire
Vacant
Relaxation
Occupation
Absence
Rest
Quite
Wisdom
Mind
Distressed

More quotes by William Cowper

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Toil for the brave! The brave that are no more.
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Man disavows, and Deity disowns me: hell might afford my miseries a shelter therefore hell keeps her ever-hungry mouths all bolted against me.
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Me howling blasts drive devious, tempest-tossed, / Sails ripped, seams opening wide, and compass lost.
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But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast The breath of Heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.
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The still small voice is wanted.
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The proud are ever most provoked by pride.
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The slaves of custom and established mode, With pack-horse constancy we keep the road Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells, True to the jingling of our leader's bells.
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Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
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I am out of humanity's reach.
William Cowper
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How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight, The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged arrows of light.
William Cowper
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He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves besides.
William Cowper
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O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
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Could he with reason murmur at his case, Himself sole author of his own disgrace?
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But many a crime deemed innocent on earth Is registered in Heaven and these no doubt Have each their record, with a curse annex'd.
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Oh to have a lodge in some vast wilderness. Where rumors of oppression and deceit, of unsuccessful and successful wars may never reach me anymore.
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Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
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Dejection of spirits, which may have prevented many a man from becoming an author, made me one. I find constant employment necessary, and therefore take care to be constantly employed. . . . When I can find no other occupation, I think and when I think, I am very apt to do it in rhyme.
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Philologists, who chase A painting syllable through time and space Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark, To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's Ark.
William Cowper
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[My kitten's] gambols are not to be described, and would be incredible, if they could.
William Cowper
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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.
William Cowper