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Strange as it may seem, the most ludicrous lines I ever wrote have been written in the saddest mood.

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
Strange
Lines
Written
Ludicrous
Seems
Saddest
May
Contrast
Ever
Mood
Wrote
Seem

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A fool must now and then be right, by chance
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England, with all thy faults I love thee still, My country!
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Absence of proof is not proof of absence.
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Misery still delights to trace Its semblance in another's case.
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How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
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Restraining prayer, we cease to fight Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.
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A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.
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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.
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No tree in all the grove but has its charms, Though each its hue peculiar.
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I will venture to assert, that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme is impossible. No human ingenuity can be equal to the task of closing every couplet with sounds homotonous, expressing at the same time the full sense, and only the full sense of his original.
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Religion, richest favor of the skies.
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And in that hour, The seeds of cruelty, that since have swell'd To such gigantic and enormous growth, Were sown in human nature's fruitful soil. Hence date the persecution and the pain That man inflicts on all inferior kinds, Regardless of their plaints.
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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.
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I pity them greatly, but I must be mum, for how could we do without sugar and rum?
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Tis Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours.
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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.
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Defend me, therefore, common sense, say From reveries so airy, from the toil Of dropping buckets into empty wells, And growing old in drawing nothing up.
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Trials make the promise sweet, Trials give new life to prayer Trials bring me to His feet, Lay me low, and keep me there.
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It is a terrible thought, that nothing is ever forgotten that not an oath is ever uttered that does not continue to vibrate through all times, in the wide spreading current of sound that not a prayer is lisped, that its record is not to be found st
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When all within is peace How nature seems to smile Delights that never cease The live-long day beguile
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