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John Dryden Quotes
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Welcome, thou kind deceiver! Thou best of thieves; who, with an easy key, Dost open life, and, unperceived by us, Even steal us from ourselves.
John Dryden
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O gracious God! how far have we
Profaned thy heavenly gift of poesy!
John Dryden
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He's somewhat lewd; but a well-meaning mind;
Weeps much; fights little; but is wond'rous kind.
John Dryden
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His hair just grizzled,
As in a green old age.
John Dryden
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All human things are subject to decay,
And, when fate summons, monarchs must obey.
John Dryden
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'T is not for nothing that we life pursue;
It pays our hopes with something still that's new.
John Dryden
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As the true height and bigness of a star Exceeds the measures of th' astronomer.
John Dryden
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Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed, Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed: In God 'tisglory; and when men aspire, 'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.
John Dryden
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Ah, how sweet it is to love! Ah, how gay is young Desire! And what pleasing pains we prove When we first approach Love's fire!
John Dryden
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None, none descends into himself, to find
The secret imperfections of his mind:
But every one is eagle-ey'd to see
Another's faults, and his deformity.
John Dryden
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Truth is the object of our understanding, as good is of our will; and the understanding can no more be delighted with a lie than the will can choose an apparent evil.
John Dryden
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The first Physicians by Debauch were made: Excess began, and Sloth sustains the Trade.
John Dryden
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Virgil is so exact in every word, that none can be changed but for a worse; nor any one removed from its place, but the harmony will be altered. He pretends sometimes to trip; but it is only to make you think him in danger of a fall, when he is most secure.
John Dryden
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From plots and treasons Heaven preserve my years, But save me most from my petitioners. Unsatiate as the barren womb or grave; God cannot grant so much as they can crave.
John Dryden
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For lawful power is still superior found, When long driven back, at length it stands the ground.
John Dryden
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With odorous oil thy head and hair are sleek; And then thou kemb'st the tuzzes on thy cheek: Of these, my barbers take a costly care.
John Dryden
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Many things impossible to thought have been by need to full perfection brought.
John Dryden
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For granting we have sinned, and that the offence
Of man is made against Omnipotence,
Some price that bears proportion must be paid,
And infinite with infinite be weighed.
John Dryden
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May, tho' our atoms should resolve by chance.
John Dryden
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Satire among the Romans, but not among the Greeks, was a bitter invective poem.
John Dryden
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'Tis a good thing to laugh at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness.
John Dryden
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Good sense and good-nature are never separated, though the ignorant world has thought otherwise. Good-nature, by which I mean beneficence and candor, is the product of right reason.
John Dryden
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Damn'd neuters, in their middle way of steering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.
John Dryden
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Jealousy's a proof of love, But 'tis a weak and unavailing medicine; It puts out the disease and makes it show, But has no power to cure.
John Dryden
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To die for faction is a common evil, But to be hanged for nonsense is the devil.
John Dryden
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Quote of the day
Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.
Georges Bataille
John Dryden
Creative Commons
Born:
August 9, 1631
Died:
May 1, 1700
(aged 68)
Bio:
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668.
Known for:
Mac Flecknoe
Absalom and Achitophel
Annus Mirabilis
The Hind and the Panther
Religio Laici
Most used words:
man
love
life
soul
nature
kind
time
live
age
day
sense
god
harmony
land
wit
John Dryden on Wikipedia
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John Dryden works on Wikisource
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