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

More quotes by William Cowper

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Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen, Delightful industry enjoy'd at home, An Nature, in her cultivated trim Dress'ed to his taste, inviting him abroad - Can he want occupation who has these?
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Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry-- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.
William Cowper
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O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
William Cowper
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And, of all lies (be that one poet's boast) / The lie that flatters I abhor the most.
William Cowper
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O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place.
William Cowper
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Man on the dubious waves of error toss'd.
William Cowper
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An idler is a watch that wants both hands As useless if it goes as when it stands.
William Cowper
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An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.
William Cowper
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The only amaranthine flower on earth is virtue the only lasting treasure, truth.
William Cowper
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Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
William Cowper
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How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
William Cowper
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Visits are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not that, would do nothing.
William Cowper
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When nations are to perish in their sins, 'tis in the Church the leprosy begins.
William Cowper
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A Christian's wit is offensive light, A beam that aids, but never grieves the sight Vig'rous in age as in the flush of youth, 'Tis always active on the side of truth.
William Cowper
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There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart he does not feel for man.
William Cowper
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How readily we wish time spent revoked, that we might try the ground again where once--through inexperience, as we now perceive--we missed that happiness we might have found!
William Cowper
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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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Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have oft-times no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.
William Cowper
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But conversation, choose what theme we may, And chiefly when religion leads the way, Should flow, like waters after summer show'rs, Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers.
William Cowper
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And diff'ring judgments serve but to declare that truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.
William Cowper