John Dryden Quotes

344 Sourced Quotes

The gods, (if gods to goodness are inclined If acts of mercy touch their heavenly mind), And, more than all the gods, your generous heart, Conscious of worth, requite its own desert!

John Dryden
My heart's so full of joy, That I shall do some wild extravagance Of love in public; and the foolish world, Which knows not tenderness, will think me mad.

John Dryden
Happy the man, who studying Nature's laws, Through known effects can trace the secret cause — His mind, possessing in a quiet state, Fearless of fortune and resigned to fate.

John Dryden
The sun was enter'd into Capricorn; Which, by their bad astronomer's account, That week the Virgin Balance should remount.

John Dryden
Good Heaven, whose darling attribute we find is boundless grace, and mercy to mankind, abhors the cruel.

John Dryden
Men's virtues I have commended as freely as I have taxed their crimes.

John Dryden
The propriety of thoughts and words, which are the hidden beauties of a play, are but confusedly judged in the vehemence of action.

John Dryden
Maintain your post: That's all the fame you need; For 'tis impossible you should proceed.

John Dryden
And oft, before tempestuous winds arise, The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies, And shooting through the darkness, gild the night With sweeping flories and long trails of light.

John Dryden
A goldfinch there I saw, with gawdy pride Of painted plumes, that hopped from side to side, Still pecking as she pass'd; and still she drew The sweets from every flower, and suck'd the dew: Sufficed at length, she warbled in her throat, And turned her voice to many a merry note...

John Dryden
I am devilishly afraid, that's certain; but... I'll sing, that I may seem valiant.

John Dryden
And after hearing what our Church can say, If still our reason runs another way, That private reason 'tis more just to curb, Than by disputes the public peace disturb; For points obscure are of small use to learn, But common quiet is mankind's concern.

John Dryden
That, if the Gentiles, (whom no Law inspir'd,)
By Nature did what was by Law requir'd;
They, who the written Rule and never known,
Were to themselves both Rule and Law alone:
To Natures plain Indictment they shall plead;
And, by their Conscience, be condemn'd or freed.

John Dryden
My whole life Has been a golden dream of love and friendship.

John Dryden
Thoughts cannot form themselves in words so horrid As can express my guilt.

John Dryden
Imagination in a poet is a faculty so wild and lawless that, like a high ranging spaniel, it must have clogs tied to it, lest it outrun the judgment. The great easiness of blank verse renders the poet too luxuriant. He is tempted to say many things which might better be omitted, or, at least shut up in fewer words.

John Dryden
Since a true knowledge of nature gives us pleasure, a lively imitation of it, either in poetry or painting, must produce a much greater; for both these arts are not only true imitations of nature, but of the best nature.

John Dryden
At home the hateful names of parties cease, And factious souls are wearied into peace.

John Dryden
The good we have enjoyed from Heaven's free will, and shall we murmur to endure the ill?

John Dryden
What I have left is from my native spring; I've still a heart that swells, in scorn of fate, And lifts me to my banks.

John Dryden
They, who would combat general authority with particular opinion, must first establish themselves a reputation of understanding better than other men.

John Dryden
When we view elevated ideas of Nature, the result of that view is admiration, which is always the cause of pleasure.

John Dryden
Be juster, Heaven: such virtue punished thus, Will make us think that Chance rules all above, And shuffles, with a random hand, the Lots Which Man is forc'd to draw.

John Dryden
The perverseness of my fate is such that he's not mine because he's mine too much.

John Dryden
Inspire the Vocal Brass, Inspire;
The World is past its Infant Age:
Arms and Honour,
Arms and Honour,
Set the Martial Mind on Fire,
And kindle Manly Rage.

John Dryden
Sure there is none but fears a future state;
And when the most obdurate swear they do not,
Their trembling hearts belie their boasting tongues.

John Dryden
Shakespeare was the Homer, or father of our dramatic poets;Jonson was theVirgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.

John Dryden
To take up half on trust, and half to try, Name it not faith but bungling bigotry.

John Dryden
Science distinguishes a Man of Honour from one of those Athletick Brutes whom undeservedly we call Heroes.

John Dryden
Virtue without success is a fair picture shown by an ill light; but lucky men are favorites of heaven; all own the chief, when fortune owns the cause.

John Dryden