William Cowper Quotes

309 Sourced Quotes

Some must be great. Great offices will have
Great talents. And God gives to every man
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill.

William Cowper
For 't is a truth well known to most,
That whatsoever thing is lost,
We seek it, ere it come to light,
In every cranny but the right.

William Cowper
Nature, exerting an unwearied power,
Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower;
Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads
The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.

William Cowper
A business with an income at its heels
Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.

William Cowper
An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin,
Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.

William Cowper
I have a kitten, the drollest of all creatures that ever wore a cat's skin.

William Cowper
I would not enter on my list of friends,
(Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.

William Cowper
I am out of humanity's reach.
I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech;
I start at the sound of my own.

William Cowper
How happy it is to believe, with a steadfast assurance, that our petitions are heard even while we are making them; and how delightful to meet with a proof of it in the effectual and actual grant of them.

William Cowper
His head,
Not yet by time completely silvered o'er,
Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth,
But strong for service still, and unimpaired.

William Cowper
Men deal with life, as children with their play,
Who first misuse, then cast their toys away.

William Cowper
My sister and my sister's child,
Myself and children three,
Will fill the chaise; so you must ride
On horseback after we.

William Cowper
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

William Cowper
Prove that you have human feelings,
Ere you proudly question ours!

William Cowper
'Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat
To peep at such a world; to see the stir
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.

William Cowper
Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen,
Delightful industry enjoy'd at home,
An Nature, in her cultivated trim
Dress'ed to his taste, inviting him abroad -
Can he want occupation who has these?

William Cowper
Now let us sing — Long live the king,
And Gilpin, long live he;
And, when he next doth ride abroad,
May I be there to see!

William Cowper
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.

William Cowper
Lord, it is my chief complaint, That my love is weak and faint; Yet I love thee and adore, Oh for grace to love thee more!

William Cowper
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st taste
His works. Admitted once to his embrace,
Thou shalt perceive that thou was blind before:
Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart
Made pure shall relish with divine delight
Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.

William Cowper
Some drill and bore
The solid earth, and from the strata there
Extract a register, by which we learn,
That he who made it, and reveal'd its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age.

William Cowper
All zeal for a reform, that gives offense
To peace and charity, is mere pretense.

William Cowper
Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a luster, he that runs may read.

William Cowper
A fretful temper will divide the closest knot that may be tied, by ceaseless sharp corrosion; a temper passionate and fierce may suddenly your joys disperse at one immense explosion.

William Cowper
Pleasure admitted in undue degree, enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free.

William Cowper
Gloriously drunk, obey th' important call.

William Cowper
Admirals extolled for standing still,
Or doing nothing with a deal of skill.

William Cowper
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
And all are slaves besides.

William Cowper
She, that will with kittens jest, Should bear a kitten's joke.

William Cowper
To trace in Nature's most minute design The signature and stamp of power divine.... The Invisible in things scarce seen revealed, To whom an atom is an ample field.

William Cowper