John Dryden Quotes

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"A knock-down argument; 'tis but a word and a blow."

"All objects lose by too familiar a view."

"All things are subject to decay and when fate summons, monarchs must obey."

"And love's the noblest frailty of the mind."

"And plenty makes us poor."

"Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten."

"Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease."

"Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray; Who can tread sure on the smooth, slippery way: Pleased with the surface, we glide swiftly on, And see the dangers that we cannot shun."

"Beware the fury of a patient man."

"Boldness is a mask for fear, however great."

"But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much."

"By education most have been misled; So they believe, because they were bred. The priest continues where the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the man."

"Drinking is the soldier's pleasure."

"Fool that I was, upon my eagle's wings I bore this wren, till I was tired with soaring, and now he mounts above me."

"For all have not the gift of martyrdom."

"For they conquer who believe they can."

"Genius must be born, and never can be taught."

"Go miser go, for money sell your soul. Trade wares for wares and trudge from pole to pole, So others may say when you are dead and gone. See what a vast estate he left his son."

"God never made His work for man to mend."

"Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide."

"Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today."

"He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear."

"He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him."

"Honor is but an empty bubble."

"If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed the deeper they burn."

"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."

"It is madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because by herself she is nothing and is ruled by prudence."

"Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue."

"Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue."

"Love is love's reward."

"Nature meant me a wife, a silly harmless household Dove, fond without art; and kind without deceit."

"Never was patriot yet, but was a fool."

"Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is with thoughts of what may be."

"Pains of love be sweeter far Than all other pleasures are."

"Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone."

"Resolved to ruin or to rule the state."

"Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail our lion now will foreign foes assail."

"Seek not to know what must not be reveal, for joy only flows where fate is most concealed. A busy person would find their sorrows much more; if future fortunes were known before!"

"Shame on the body for breaking down while the spirit perseveres."

"So over violent, or over civil that every man with him was God or Devil."

"Successful crimes alone are justified."

"The first is the law, the last prerogative."

"The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves."

"The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one."

"There is a pleasure in being mad which none but madmen know."

"They that possess the prince possess the laws."

"Thou strong seducer, Opportunity!"

"Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, but genius must be born; and never can be taught."

"Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today."

"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us."

"What passions cannot music raise or quell?"

"When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell."

"When I consider life, it is all a cheat. Yet fooled with hope, people favor this deceit."

"Words are but pictures of our thoughts."

"You see through love, and that deludes your sight, As what is straight seems crooked through the water."

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