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None are so busy as the fool and the knave.

John Dryden

Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine, The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
JOHN DRYDEN

Fair Fate Myself Possession Rain Shine Time
The glorious lamp of heaven, the radiant sun, Is Nature’s eye.
JOHN DRYDEN

Eyes Heaven Nature
I am resolved to grow fat and look young till forty, and then slip out of the world with the first wrinkle and the reputation of five-and-twenty.
JOHN DRYDEN

Growth Myself Reputation Young
Order is the greatest grace.
JOHN DRYDEN

Greatness One Liner Order Peace
Beware of the fury of the patient man.
JOHN DRYDEN

Beware Man Patience
Kings fight for empires, madmen for applause.
JOHN DRYDEN

Fight King Mad Man Praise
Swift was the race, but short the time to run.
JOHN DRYDEN

Race Run Swift Time
The conscience of a people is their power.
JOHN DRYDEN

Conscience People Power
Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; And they have kept it since by being dead.
JOHN DRYDEN

Cheap Death Fame
Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections.
JOHN DRYDEN

Affection Goodness Grace Principal
Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.
JOHN DRYDEN

Grace Strength
Satire is a kind of poetry in which human vices are reprehended.
JOHN DRYDEN

Human Kind Poetry Satire Vice
Griefs assured are felt before they come.
JOHN DRYDEN

Assurance Feeling Grief
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

Admire Drama Father Himself Home Poet Writing
The winds are out of breath.
JOHN DRYDEN

Breathe Wind
Some of our philosophizing divines have too much exalted the faculties of our souls, when they have maintained that by their force mankind has been able to find out God.
JOHN DRYDEN

Divine Faculty Force God Kind Man Philosophy
There is a pleasure in being mad, which none but madmen know.
JOHN DRYDEN

Known Mad Pleasure
Love and Time with reverence use, Treat them like a parting friend: Nor the golden gifts refuse Which in youth sincere they send: For each year their price is more, And they less simple than before.
JOHN DRYDEN

Friendship Love Price Time Treat
To die for faction is a common evil, But to be hanged for nonsense is the devil.
JOHN DRYDEN

Common Death Devil Evil
Sweet is pleasure after pain.
JOHN DRYDEN

Pain Pleasure Sweet
I never saw any good that came of telling truth.
JOHN DRYDEN

Goodness Myself Talk Truth
Repentance is but want of power to sin.
JOHN DRYDEN

One Liner Power Regret Sin
If all the world be worth thy winning. / Think, oh think it worth enjoying: / Lovely Thaïs sits beside thee, / Take the good the gods provide thee.
JOHN DRYDEN

God Goodness Love Thinking World
An horrible stillness first invades our ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear.
JOHN DRYDEN

Fear Horrible Ourselves Silence Temptation
If the faults of men in orders are only to be judged among themselves, they are all in some sort parties; for, since they say the honour of their order is concerned in every member of it, how can we be sure that they will be impartial judges?
JOHN DRYDEN

Honor Judgement Man Member Mistake Order
He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him.
JOHN DRYDEN

Author Himself Poet Theft Victory
For all the happiness mankind can gain Is not in pleasure, but in rest from pain.
JOHN DRYDEN

Happiness Kind Man Sadness

None are so busy as the fool and the knave.

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None are so busy as the fool and the knave.

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