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John Dryden Quotes
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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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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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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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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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As the true height and bigness of a star Exceeds the measures of th' astronomer.
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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All human things are subject to decay,
And, when fate summons, monarchs must obey.
John Dryden
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His hair just grizzled,
As in a green old age.
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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O gracious God! how far have we
Profaned thy heavenly gift of poesy!
John Dryden
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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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And that one hunting, which the Devil design'd
For one fair female, lost him half the kind.
John Dryden
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Refined himself to soul, to curb the sense
And made almost a sin of abstinence.
John Dryden
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Love taught him shame; and shame, with love at strife,
Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.
John Dryden
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Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.
John Dryden
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How easy 'tis, when Destiny proves kind, With full-spread sails to run before the wind!
John Dryden
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I trade both with the living and the dead, for the enrichment of our native language.
John Dryden
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As long as words a different sense will bear,
And each may be his own interpreter,
Our airy faith will no foundation find;
The word's a weathercock for every wind.
John Dryden
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The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall untune the sky.
John Dryden
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She fear'd no danger, for she knew no sin.
John Dryden
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Ill habits gather by unseen degrees —
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
John Dryden
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He was exhaled; his great Creator drew
His spirit, as the sun the morning dew.
John Dryden
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Happy who in his verse can gently steer
From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.
John Dryden
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What precious drops are those
Which silently each other's track pursue,
Bright as young diamonds in their infant dew?
John Dryden
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The Famous Rules which the French call, Des Trois Unités, or, The Three Unities, which ought to be observ'd in every Regular Play; namely, of Time, Place, and Action.
John Dryden
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Quote of the day
Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.
John Betjeman
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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