Quote

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

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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
Birth
Milton
Heard
Lamp
Asks
Lamps
Age
Ages
Elapsed
Nature
Length
Lengths
Give
Unknown
Swan
Giving
Appear
Homer
Carry
Swans

More quotes by William Cowper

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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.
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Strange as it may seem, the most ludicrous lines I ever wrote have been written in the saddest mood.
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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.
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He finds his fellow guilty of a skin Not color'd like his own, and having pow'r T' enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
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Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
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Religion, if in heavenly truths attired, Needs only to be seen to be admired.
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Events of all sorts creep or fly exactly as God pleases.
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Books are not seldom talismans and spells.
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How happy it is to believe, with a steadfast assurance, that our petitions are heard even while we are making them and how delightful to meet with a proof of it in the effectual and actual grant of them.
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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.
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I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted ev'ning, know.
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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!
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Remorse begets reform.
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An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.
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There is in souls a sympathy with sounds.
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Blest be the art that can immortalize,--the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim to quench it.
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Absence of occupation is not rest.
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Whoever keeps an open ear For tattlers will be sure to hear The trumpet of contention.
William Cowper
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Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
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All we behold is miracle.
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