Quote

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

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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
Tale
Stills
Links
Still
Plain
Body
Tales
Succinct
Wells
Close
Judicious
Well
Clear
Hasten
Language
Incidents
Link
Tell

More quotes by William Cowper

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There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.
William Cowper
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We bear our shades about us self-deprived Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread, And range an Indian waste without a tree.
William Cowper
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Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.
William Cowper
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The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.
William Cowper
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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.
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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My soul is sick with every day's report of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.
William Cowper
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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.
William Cowper
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For 'tis a truth well known to most, That whatsoever thing is lost, We seek it, ere it comes to light, In every cranny but the right.
William Cowper
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The man that dares traduce, because he can with safety to himself, is not a man.
William Cowper
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Absence of occupation is not rest.
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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Absence of occupation is not rest A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
William Cowper
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Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise, We love the play-place of our early days The scene is touching, and the heart is stone, That feels not at that sight, and feels at none.
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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Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
William Cowper
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There is mercy in every place. And mercy, encouraging thought gives even affliction a grace and reconciles man to his lot.
William Cowper
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War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.
William Cowper
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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.
William Cowper
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For when was public virtue to be found Where private was not?
William Cowper