Quote

Slaves cannot breathe in England if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free They touch our country, and their shackles fall.

William Cowper

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William Cowper
Age: 68 †
Born: 1731
Born: November 26
Died: 1800
Died: April 25
Hymnwriter
Poet
Poet Lawyer
Translator
Writer
Berkhamsted
Hertfordshire
Cannot
Slave
Country
Touch
England
Shackles
Air
Lungs
Free
Slaves
Moment
Receive
Fall
Breathe
Moments
Slavery

More quotes by William Cowper

Image
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
Image
I pity them greatly, but I must be mum, for how could we do without sugar and rum?
William Cowper
Image
We turn to dust, and all our mightiest works die too.
William Cowper
Image
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
William Cowper
Image
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, whom I may whisper, solitude is sweet.
William Cowper
Image
Most satirists are indeed a public scourge Their mildest physic is a farrier's purge Their acrid temper turns, as soon as stirr'd, The milk of their good purpose all to curd. Their zeal begotten, as their works rehearse, By lean despair upon an empty purse.
William Cowper
Image
When I thinkof my own native land, In a moment I seem to be there But alas! recollection at hand Soon hurries me back to despair.
William Cowper
Image
...So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
William Cowper
Image
Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
William Cowper
Image
But war's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings should not play at. Nations would do well To extort their truncheons from the puny hands Of heroes, whose infirm and baby minds Are gratified with mischief, and who spoil, Because men suffer it, their toy the world.
William Cowper
Image
Unless a love of virtue light the flame, Satire is, more than those he brands, to blame He hides behind a magisterial air He own offences, and strips others' bare.
William Cowper
Image
As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, And hides the ruin that it feeds upon, So sophistry, cleaves close to, and protects Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects.
William Cowper
Image
To follow foolish precedents, and wink With both our eyes, is easier than to think.
William Cowper
Image
A story, in which native humour reigns, Is often useful, always entertains A graver fact, enlisted on your side, May furnish illustration, well applied But sedentary weavers of long tales Give me the fidgets, and my patience fails.
William Cowper
Image
Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of paradise that has surviv'd the fall!
William Cowper
Image
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
Image
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
William Cowper
Image
But what is truth? 'Twas Pilate's question put To Truth itself, that deign'd him no reply.
William Cowper
Image
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
Image
Folly ends where genuine hope begins.
William Cowper