But oars alone can ne’er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of Heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.
WILLIAM COWPERThere is a pleasure in poetic pains / Which only poets know.
More William Cowper Quotes
-
-
[My kitten’s] gambols are not to be described, and would be incredible, if they could.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Still ending, and beginning still.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill He treasures up his bright designs,
WILLIAM COWPER -
In a fleshly tomb, I am buried above ground.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.
WILLIAM COWPER -
And natural in gesture; much impress’d Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds May feel it too; affectionate in look, And tender in address, as well becomes A messenger of grace to guilty men.
WILLIAM COWPER -
We are never more in danger than when we think ourselves most secure, nor in reality more secure than when we seem to be most in danger.
WILLIAM COWPER -
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin Not color’d like his own, and having pow’r T’ enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
WILLIAM COWPER -
The cares of today are seldom those of tomorrow, and when we lie down at night we may safely say to most of our troubles, “Ye have done your worst, and we shall see you no more.”
WILLIAM COWPER -
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds.
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 -
Absence of occupation is not rest.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Trials make the promise sweet, Trials give new life to prayer; Trials bring me to His feet, Lay me low, and keep me there.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have oft-times no connection.
WILLIAM COWPER -
Built God a church and laughed His word to scorn.
WILLIAM COWPER