Quote

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

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
Beam
Side
Grieving
Sides
Offensive
Age
Wit
Christian
Aids
Light
Active
Rous
Truth
Sight
Grieves
Always
Flush
Never
Youth

More quotes by William Cowper

Image
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin Not color'd like his own, and having pow'r T' enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
William Cowper
Image
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?
William Cowper
Image
Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, Rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze.
William Cowper
Image
Did Charity prevail, the press would prove A vehicle of virtue, truth, and love.
William Cowper
Image
Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
William Cowper
Image
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
Image
They best can judge a poet's worth, Who oft themselves have known The pangs of a poetic birth By labours of their own.
William Cowper
Image
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.
William Cowper
Image
A glory gilds the sacred page, Majestic like the sun, It gives a light to every age, It gives, but borrows none.
William Cowper
Image
Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
William Cowper
Image
Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry-- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.
William Cowper
Image
O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturbed Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
William Cowper
Image
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
William Cowper
Image
The man to solitude accustom'd long, Perceives in everything that lives a tongue Not animals alone, but shrubs and trees Have speech for him, and understood with ease, After long drought when rains abundant fall, He hears the herbs and flowers rejoicing all.
William Cowper
Image
Great contest follows, and much learned dust Involves the combatants each claiming truth, And truth disclaiming both.
William Cowper
Image
Time, as he passes us, has a dove's wing, Unsoil'd, and swift, and of a silken sound.
William Cowper
Image
A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct The language plain, and incidents well link'd Tell not as new what ev'ry body knows and, new or old, still hasten to a close.
William Cowper
Image
Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys: Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours.
William Cowper
Image
O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
William Cowper
Image
A fool must now and then be right, by chance
William Cowper