O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place.
WILLIAM COWPERRemorse, the fatal egg by pleasure laid, In every bosom where her nest is made, Hatched by the beams of truth, denies him rest, And proves a raging scorpion in his breast.
More William Cowper Quotes
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If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
WILLIAM COWPER -
[My kitten’s] gambols are not to be described, and would be incredible, if they could.
WILLIAM COWPER -
The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear; And something, every day they live, To pity, and perhaps forgive.
WILLIAM COWPER -
The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick, / whom, snoring, she disturbs.
WILLIAM COWPER -
The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;
WILLIAM COWPER -
The only amaranthine flower on earth is virtue; the only lasting treasure, truth.
WILLIAM COWPER -
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds: And as the mind is pitch’d the ear is pleased With melting airs, or martial, brisk or grave; Some chord in unison with what we hear Is touch’d within us, and the heart replies.
WILLIAM COWPER -
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 -
There is mercy in every place. And mercy, encouraging thought gives even affliction a grace and reconciles man to his lot.
WILLIAM COWPER -
God made the country, and man made the town.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Ceremony leads her bigots forth, prepared to fight for shadows of no worth.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Alas! if my best Friend, who laid down His life for me, were to remember all the instances in which I have neglected Him, and to plead them against me in judgment, where should I hide my guilty head in the day of recompense?
WILLIAM COWPER -
Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
WILLIAM COWPER