Merit challenges envy.
JOHN DRYDENMerit challenges envy.
JOHN DRYDENFame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; And they have kept it since by being dead.
JOHN DRYDENWords are but pictures of our thoughts.
JOHN DRYDENMore liberty begets desire of more; The hunger still increases with the store.
JOHN DRYDENOur vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care To grant, before we can conclude the prayer: Preventing angels met it half the way, And sent us back to praise, who came to pray.
JOHN DRYDENThey, who would combat general authority with particular opinion, must first establish themselves a reputation of understanding better than other men.
JOHN DRYDENThey that possess the prince possess the laws.
JOHN DRYDENFattened in vice, so callous and so gross, he sins and sees not, senseless of his loss.
JOHN DRYDENVirtue is her own reward.
JOHN DRYDENTime glides with undiscover’d haste; The future but a length behind the past.
JOHN DRYDENAn horrible stillness first invades our ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear.
JOHN DRYDENFor secrets are edged tools, And must be kept from children and from fools.
JOHN DRYDENMen are but children of a larger growth, Our appetites as apt to change as theirs, And full as craving too, and full as vain.
JOHN DRYDENTruth is the foundation of all knowledge and the cement of all societies.
JOHN DRYDENIf 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 DRYDENI’m a little wounded, but I am not slain; I will lay me down to bleed a while. Then I’ll rise and fight again.
JOHN DRYDEN