Quote

Words learn'd by rote a parrot may rehearse, But talking is not always to converse, Not more distinct from harmony divine The constant creaking of a country sign.

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
Talking
Parrots
Words
Converse
Learn
Converses
May
Distinct
Country
Sign
Creaking
Always
Harmony
Rote
Constant
Parrot
Divine
Rehearse

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Poor England! thou art a devoted deer, Beset with every ill but that of fear. The nations hunt all mock thee for a prey They swarm around thee, and thou stand'st at bay.
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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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Books are not seldom talismans and spells.
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And, of all lies (be that one poet's boast) / The lie that flatters I abhor the most.
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How! leap into the pit our life to save? To save our life leap all into the grave.
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Folly ends where genuine hope begins.
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The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick, / whom, snoring, she disturbs.
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A life all turbulence and noise may seem To him that leads it wise and to be praised, But wisdom is a pearl with most success Sought in still waters.
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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.
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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.
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God forbid that Judges upon their oath should make resolutions to enlarge jurisdiction.
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For when was public virtue to be found Where private was not?
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Truth is the golden girdle of the globe.
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I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd.
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A teacher should be sparing of his smile.
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How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, whom I may whisper, solitude is sweet.
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Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
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To impute our recovery to medicine, and to carry our view no further, is to rob God of His honor, and is saying in effect that He has parted with the keys of life and death, and, by giving to a drug the power to heal us, has placed our lives out of His own reach.
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We turn to dust, and all our mightiest works die too.
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The darkest day, if you live till tomorrow, will have passed away.
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