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Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.

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
Heart
Books
Useful
Think
Hours
Yoga
Thinking
Moments
Lessons
Give
Meditation
May
Grow
Book
Learning
Finitude
Without
Head
Wiser
Giving
Grows
Lesson

More quotes by William Cowper

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There is a pleasure in poetic pains / Which only poets know.
William Cowper
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Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
William Cowper
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Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st taste His works. Admitted once to his embrace, Thou shalt perceive that thou was blind before: Thine eye shall be instructed and thine heart Made pure shall relish with divine delight Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.
William Cowper
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A lawyer's dealings should be just and fair Honesty shines with great advantage there.
William Cowper
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My soul is sick with every day's report of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.
William Cowper
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Grief is itself a medicine.
William Cowper
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But truths on which depends our main concern, That 'tis our shame and misery not to learn, Shine by the side of every path we tread With such a lustre he that runs may read.
William Cowper
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Strange as it may seem, the most ludicrous lines I ever wrote have been written in the saddest mood.
William Cowper
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Oh, popular applause! what heart of man Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms? The wisest and the best feel urgent need Of all their caution in thy gentlest gales But swell'd into a gust--who then, alas! With all his canvas set, and inexpert, And therefore, heedless, can withstand thy power?
William Cowper
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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.
William Cowper
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Some drill and bore The solid earth, and from the strata there Extract a register, by which we learn, That he who made it, and reveal'd its date To Moses, was mistaken in its age.
William Cowper
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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.
William Cowper
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Fancy, like the finger of a clock, Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.
William Cowper
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Religion! what treasure untold resides in that heavenly word!
William Cowper
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Detested sport, That owes its pleasures to another's pain.
William Cowper
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Transforms old print To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.
William Cowper
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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
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Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.
William Cowper
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Those flimsy webs that break as soon as wrought, attain not to the dignity of thought.
William Cowper
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A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct The language plain, and incidents well link'd Tell not as new what ev'ry body knows and, new or old, still hasten to a close.
William Cowper