William Cowper Quotes

309 Sourced Quotes

My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
O tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.

William Cowper
Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee;
'Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou me?'

William Cowper
Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn.

William Cowper
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

William Cowper
The Cross! There, and there only (though the deist rave, and the atheist, if Earth bears so base a slave); There and there only, is the power to save.

William Cowper
Lights of the world, and stars of human race.

William Cowper
He would not, with a peremptory tone,
Assert the nose upon his face his own.

William Cowper
This cabin, Mary, in my sight appears,
Built as it has been in our waning years,
A rest afforded to our weary feet,
Preliminary to - the last retreat.

William Cowper
Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.

William Cowper
Newton, childlike sage!
Sagacious reader of the works of God.

William Cowper
But that disease when soberly defined
Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind.

William Cowper
When poets talk of cottages and hermitages, and such like matters, they mean a house with six sashes in front, two comfortable parlours, a smart staircase and three bed-chambers of convenient dimensions; in short, exactly such a house as this.
Letter to Lady Hesketh, 26 November 1786

William Cowper
Lived in his saddle, loved the chase, the course, And always, ere he mounted, kiss'd his horse.

William Cowper
'T is Providence alone secures
In every change both mine and yours.

William Cowper
Transforms old print
To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes
Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.

William Cowper
The pipe with solemn interposing puff,
Makes half a sentence at a time enough;
The dozing sages drop the drowsy strain,
Then pause, and puff—and speak, and pause again.

William Cowper
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.

William Cowper
Thus happiness depends, as Nature shows,
Less on exterior things than most suppose.

William Cowper
There is a bird who by his coat,
And by the hoarseness of his note,
Might be supposed a crow.

William Cowper
A man renowned for repartee will seldom scruple to make free with friendship's finest feeling, will thrust a dagger at your breast, and say he wounded you in jest, by way of balm for healing.

William Cowper
But what is man in his own proud esteem?
Hear him, himself the poet and the theme;
A monarch clothed with majesty and awe,
His mind his kingdom and his will his law.

William Cowper
Even in the stifling bosom of the town,
A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms
That soothes the rich possessor; much consol'd,
That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint,
Or nightshade, or valerian, grace the well
He cultivates.

William Cowper
It seems idolatry with some excuse,
When our forefather Druids in their oaks
Imagined sanctity.

William Cowper
Great contest follows, and much learned dust
Involves the combatants; each claiming truth,
And truth disclaiming both.

William Cowper
This fond attachment to the well-known place
Whence first we started into life's long race,
Maintains its hold with such unfailing sway,
We feel it e'en in age, and at our latest day.

William Cowper
Some to the fascination of a name
Surrender judgment hoodwink'd.

William Cowper
Our love is principle, and has its root
In reason, is judicious, manly, free.

William Cowper
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.

William Cowper
I praise the Frenchman [Voltaire], his remark was shrewd —
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude!
But grant me still a friend in my retreat
Whom I may whisper — solitude is sweet.

William Cowper
Grief is itself a med'cine, and bestow'd
T'improve the fortitude that bears the load,
To teach the wand'rer, as his woes increase,
The path of wisdom, all whose paths are peace.

William Cowper