The Sunflow’r, thinking ’twas for him foul shame To nap by daylight, strove t’ excuse the blame
ABRAHAM COWLEYTo be a husbandman, is but a retreat from the city; to be a philosopher, from the world; or rather, a retreat from the world, as it is man’s, into the world, as it is God’s.
More Abraham Cowley Quotes
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Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure.
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The spade, the plough-share, and the rake) Arts, in most cruel wise Man’s left to epitomize!
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And I myself a Catholic will be, So far at least, great saint, to pray to thee. Hail, Bard triumphant! and some care bestow On us, the Poets militant below.
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Thus would I double my life’s fading space;For he that runs it well, runs twice his race.
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Nay, in death’s hand, the grape-stone proves As strong as thunder is in Jove’s.
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I confess I love littleness almost in all things. A little convenient estate, a little cheerful house, a little company, and a little feast.
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Why to mute fish should’st thou thyself discoverAnd not to me, thy no less silent lover?
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Nature waits upon thee still, And thy verdant cup does fill; ‘Tis fill’d wherever thou dost tread, Nature’s self’s thy Ganymede.
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Beauty, thou wild fantastic ape Who dost in every country change thy shape!
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Life is an incurable disease.
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All this world’s noise appears to me a dull, ill-acted comedy!
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Water and air He for the Tenor chose, Earth made the Base, the Treble Fame arose,
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I might be master at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my life to the culture of them and the study of nature.
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When Harvey’s violent passion she did see, Began to tremble and to flee; Took sanctuary, like Daphne, in a tree
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Coy Nature, (which remain’d, though aged grown, A beauteous virgin still, enjoy’d by none, Nor seen unveil’d by anyone),
ABRAHAM COWLEY






