Quote

An idler is a watch that wants both hands As useless if it goes as when it stands.

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
Hands
Idlers
Idleness
Stands
Useless
Watches
Watch
Goes
Wants
Idler

More quotes by William Cowper

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Pleasure admitted in undue degree, enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free.
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Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
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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.
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To see the Law by Christ fulfilled, And hear His pardoning voice Changes a slave into a child, And duty into choice.
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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
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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
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No wisdom that she may gain by experience and reflection hereafter, will compensate the loss of her present hilarity.
William Cowper
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But slaves that once conceive the glowing thought Of freedom, in that hope itself possess All that the contest calls for spirit, strength, The scorn of danger, and united hearts, The surest presage of the good they seek.
William Cowper
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But poverty, with most who whimper forth Their long complaints, is self-inflicted woe The effect of laziness, or sottish write.
William Cowper
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The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
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Ever let the Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home.
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Th' embroid'ry of poetic dreams.
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Sin let loose speaks punishment at hand.
William Cowper
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Necessity invented stools, Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, And luxury the accomplish'd Sofa last.
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They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.
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Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd, And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.
William Cowper
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Our love is principle, and has its root In reason, is judicious, manly, free.
William Cowper
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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.
William Cowper
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If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one.
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