John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester Quotes

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Love…
That cordial drop heaven in our cup has thrown
To make the nauseous draught of life go down.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Kind jealous doubts, tormenting fears,
And anxious cares, when past,
Prove our hearts' treasure fixed and dear,
And make us blest at last.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
The world appears like a great family,
Whose lord, oppressed with pride and poverty,
(That to the few great bounty he may show)
Is fain to starve the numerous train below.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Great Negative, how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies? Is, or is not, the Two great Ends of Fate,
And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Whilst the misguided Follower climbs with Pain,
Mountains of Whimsies, heapt in his own Brain,
Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down
Into Doubt's boundless Sea, where like to drown,
Books bear him up a-while, and make him try
To swim with Bladders of Philosophy.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
The clog of all pleasure, the luggage of life,
Is the best can be said for a very good wife.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Love a woman? You're an ass!
'Tis a most insipid passion
To choose out for your happiness
The silliest part of God's creation.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
For Wits are treated just like Common Whores;
First they're enjoy'd, and then kickt out of Doors.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
See the kind seed-receiving earth
To every grain affords a birth:
On her no showers unwelcome fall,
Her willing womb retains 'em all,
And shall my Caelia be confined?
No, live up to thy mighty mind,
And be the mistress of Mankind!

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
For Hell and the foul fiend that rules
God's everlasting fiery jails
(Devised by rogues, dreaded by fools),
With his grim, grisly dog that keeps the door,
Are senseless stories, idle tales,
Dreams, whimseys, and no more.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
For pointed satire I would Buckhurst choose,
The best good man with the worst-natured muse.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Love, the most generous passion of the mind
The softest refuge innocence can find

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
The Elephant is never won with Anger,
Nor must that man, who would reclaim a Lion,
Take him by the teeth.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
'Is there then no more?'
She cries. 'All this to love and rapture's due;
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?'

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Natural freedoms are but just:
There's something generous in mere lust.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Were I, who to my Cost already am
One of those strange, prodigious Creatures Man,
A Spirit free, to choose for my own Share,
What sort of Flesh and Blood I pleas'd to wear,
I'd be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear,
Or any thing, but that vain Animal,
Who is so proud of being Rational.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
It is a good world to live in,
To lend, or to spend, or to give in;
But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man's own,
It is the very worst world that ever was known.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Ancient person, for whom I
All the flattering youth defy,
Long be it ere thou grow old,
Aching, shaking, crazy, cold;
But still continue as thou art,
Ancient person of my heart.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
An age in her embraces passed
Would seem a winter's day,
Where life and light with envious haste
Are torn and snatched away.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
'Tis dangerous to think - For who by thinking tempts his jealous Fate, Is straight arraign'd as Traytor to the State, And none that come within the Verge of Sense, Have to Preferment now the least Pretence....

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester