The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

‘Ode upon a Copy of Verses of My Lord Broghill’s’ (1663)

Poet and Saint! to thee alone are given

The two most sacred names of earth and Heaven.

‘On the Death of Mr Crashaw’ (1656)

Hail, Bard triumphant! and some care bestow On us, the Poets Militant below!

‘On the Death of Mr Crashaw’ (1656)

Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, say, Have ye not seen us walking every day?

Was there a tree about which did not know The love betwixt us two?

‘On the Death of Mr William Hervey’ (1656)

Life is an incurable disease.

‘To Dr Scarborough’ (1656) st. 6

3.189 Hannah Cowley (nèe Parkhouse) 1743-1809

Five minutes! Zounds! I have been five minutes too late all my life-time!

‘The Belle’s Stratagem’ (1780) act 1, sc. 1

Vanity, like murder, will out.

‘The Belle’s Stratagem’ (1780) act 1, sc. 4

But what is woman?—only one of Nature’s agreeable blunders.

‘Who’s the Dupe?’ (1779) act 2

3.190 William Cowper 1731-1800

No voice divine the storm allayed, No light propitious shone;

When snatched from all effectual aid, We perished, each alone:

But I beneath a rougher sea,

And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he.

‘The Castaway’ (written 1799) l. 61

Grief is itself a med’cine.

‘Charity’ (1782) l. 159

He found it inconvenient to be poor.

‘Charity’ (1782) l. 189 (of a burglar)

Spare the poet for his subject sake.

‘Charity’ (1782) l. 636

’Tis hard if all is false that I advance

A fool must now and then be right, by chance.

‘Conversation’ (1782) l. 95

A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct; The language plain, and incidents well linked; Tell not as new what ev’ry body knows,

And new or old, still hasten to a close.

‘Conversation’ (1782) l. 235

The pipe with solemn interposing puff, Makes half a sentence at a time enough; The dozing sages drop the drowsy strain,

Then pause, and puff—and speak, and pause again.

‘Conversation’ (1781) l. 245

Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society’s chief joys.

‘Conversation’ (1782) l. 251 (on tobacco)

His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock it never is at home.

‘Conversation’ (1782) l. 303

Thousands, careless of the damning sin,

Kiss the book’s outside who ne’er look within.

‘Expostulation’ (1782) l. 388 (on oath-taking)

The man that hails you Tom or Jack, And proves by thumps upon your back How he esteems your merit,

Is such a friend, that one had need Be very much his friend indeed To pardon or to bear it.

‘Friendship’ (1782) l. 169

Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was.

‘Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion’ (written c.1774)

Man disavows, and Deity disowns me.

‘Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion’ (written c.1774)

Men deal with life, as children with their play, Who first misuse, then cast their toys away.

‘Hope’ (1782) l. 127

Could he with reason murmur at his case, Himself sole author of his own disgrace?

‘Hope’ (1782) l. 316

And differing judgements serve but to declare That truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.

‘Hope’ (1782) l. 423

John Gilpin was a citizen

Of credit and renown,

A train-band captain eke was he Of famous London town.

‘John Gilpin’ (1785) l. 1

My sister and my sister’s child, Myself and children three,

Will fill the chaise; so you must ride On horseback after we.

‘John Gilpin’ (1785) l. 13

O’erjoy’d was he to find

That, though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind.

‘John Gilpin’ (1785) l. 30

Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day (Live till tomorrow) will have passed away.

‘The Needless Alarm’ (written c.1790) l. 132

No dancing bear was so genteel, Or half so dègagè.

‘Of Himself’ (written 1752)

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Light Shining out of Darkness’

Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head.

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Light Shining out of Darkness’

Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Light Shining out of Darkness’

Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Light Shining out of Darkness’

Hark, my soul! it is the Lord; ’Tis thy Saviour, hear his word; Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee;

‘Say, poor sinner, lov’st thou me?’

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Lovest Thou Me?’

There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins,

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Praise for the Fountain Opened’

Oh! for a closer walk with God, A calm and heav’nly frame;

A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb!

‘Olney Hymns’ (1779) ‘Walking with God’

My dog! what remedy remains, Since, teach you all I can,

I see you, after all my pains, So much resemble man!

‘On a Spaniel called Beau, killing a young bird’ (written 1793)

Toll for the brave—

The brave! that are no more: All sunk beneath the wave, Fast by their native shore.

‘On the Loss of the Royal George’ (written 1782)

Oh, fond attempt to give a deathless lot To names ignoble, born to be forgot!

‘On Observing Some Names of Little Note Recorded in the Biographia Britannica’ (1782)

Thy morning bounties ere I left my home, The biscuit, or confectionary plum.

‘On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture out of Norfolk’ (written 1790, published 1798) l. 60

Me howling winds drive devious, tempest-tossed, Sails ripped, seams op’ning wide, and compass lost.

‘On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture out of Norfolk’ (written 1790, published 1798) l. 102

I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau, If birds confabulate or no.

‘Pairing Time Anticipated’ (written c.1788, published 1795)

The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade.

‘The Poplar-Field’ (written 1784)

Oh, laugh or mourn with me the rueful jest, A cassocked huntsman and a fiddling priest!

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 110

Himself a wand’rer from the narrow way, His silly sheep, what wonder if they stray?

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 118

Remorse, the fatal egg by pleasure laid.

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 239

As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, And hides the ruin that it feeds upon,

So sophistry, cleaves close to, and protects Sin’s rotten trunk, concealing its defects.

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 285

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home.

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 415

Thou god of our idolatry, the press...

Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise; Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies;

Like Eden’s dread probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil is from thee.

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 461

Laugh at all you trembled at before.

‘The Progress of Error’ (1782) l. 592

The disencumbered Atlas of the state.

‘Retirement’ (1781) l. 394 (the statesman)

He likes the country, but in truth must own, Most likes it, when he studies it in town.

‘Retirement’ (1782) l. 573

Philologists, who chase

A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark, To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah’s ark.

‘Retirement’ (1782) l. 691

‘Till authors hear at length, one gen’ral cry, Tickle and entertain us, or we die.

The loud demand from year to year the same, Beggars invention and makes fancy lame.

‘Retirement’ (1782) l. 707

Admirals extolled for standing still, Or doing nothing with a deal of skill.

‘Table Talk’ (1782) l. 192

Freedom has a thousand charms to show,

That slaves, howe’er contented, never know.

‘Table Talk’ (1782) l. 260

Stamps God’s own name upon a lie just made, To turn a penny in the way of trade.

‘Table Talk’ (1782) l. 420 (Perjury)

But he (his musical finesse was such, So nice his ear, so delicate his touch) Made poetry a mere mechanic art,

And ev’ry warbler has his tune by heart.

‘Table Talk’ (1782) l. 654 (on Pope)

Thus first necessity invented stools, Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, And luxury the accomplished sofa last.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 1 ‘The Sofa’ l. 86

The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick, Whom, snoring, she disturbs.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 1 ‘The Sofa’ l. 89

God made the country, and man made the town.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 1 ‘The Sofa’ l. 749.

Slaves cannot breathe in England, if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free; They touch our country, and their shackles fall.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 2 ‘The Timepiece’ l. 40.

England, with all thy faults, I love thee still— My country!

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 2 ‘The Timepiece’ l. 206.

There is a pleasure in poetic pains Which only poets know.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 2 ‘The Timepiece’ l. 285

Variety’s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 2 ‘The Timepiece’ l. 606

I was a stricken deer, that left the herd Long since.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 108.

Charge

His mind with meanings that he never had.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 148

Great contest follows, and much learned dust Involves the combatants.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 161

Defend me, therefore, common sense, say I, From reveries so airy, from the toil

Of dropping buckets into empty wells, And growing old in drawing nothing up!

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 187

Newton, childlike sage! Sagacious reader of the works of God.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 252

Detested sport,

That owes its pleasures to another’s pain.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 326 (on hunting)

Studious of laborious ease.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 361

To combat may be glorious, and success Perhaps may crown us; but to fly is safe.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 3 ‘The Garden’ l. 686

Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups, That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 4 ‘The Winter Evening’ l. 34.

’Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat To peep at such a world; to see the stir

Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 4 ‘The Winter Evening’ l. 88

I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 4 ‘The Winter Evening’ l. 139

A Roman meal...

...a radish and an egg.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 4 ‘The Winter Evening’ l. 168

The slope of faces, from the floor to th’ roof, (As if one master-spring controlled them all), Relaxed into a universal grin.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 4 ‘The Winter Evening’ l. 202 (on the theatre)

Shaggy, and lean, and shrewd, with pointed ears And tail cropped short, half lurcher and half cur.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 5 ‘The Winter Morning Walk’ l. 45

But war’s a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 5 ‘The Winter Morning Walk’ l. 187

Knowledge dwells

In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 89

Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 96

Nature is but a name for an effect, Whose cause is God.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 223

A cheap but wholesome salad from the brook.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 304

I would not enter on my list of friends

(Tho’ graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 560

Public schools ’tis public folly feeds.

‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 250

The parson knows enough who knows a duke.

‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 403

As a priest,

A piece of mere church furniture at best.

‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 425

Tenants of life’s middle state,

Securely placed between the small and great.

‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 807

He has no hope that never had a fear.

‘Truth’ (1782) l. 298

But what is man in his own proud esteem? Hear him, himself the poet and the theme; A monarch clothed with majesty and awe, His mind his kingdom and his will his law.

‘Truth’ (1782) l. 403

Oh! I could thresh his old jacket till I made his pension jingle in his pockets.

On Johnson’s inadequate treatment of ‘Paradise Lost’, in a letter to the Revd William Unwin, 31 October

Where all presented to the eye or ear, Oppressed the soul, with misery, grief, and fear.

‘The Borough’ (1810) Letter 22 ‘Peter Grimes’ l. 185

Lo! the poor toper whose untutored sense, Sees bliss in ale, and can with wine dispense; Whose head proud fancy never taught to steer, Beyond the muddy ecstasies of beer.

‘Inebriety’ (in imitation of Pope, 1775) pt. 1, l. 132.

With awe, around these silent walks I tread; These are the lasting mansions of the dead.

‘The Library’ (1808) l. 105

Lo! all in silence, all in order stand, And mighty folios first, a lordly band;

Then quartos their well-ordered ranks maintain, And light octavos fill a spacious plain;

See yonder, ranged in more frequented rows, A humbler band of duodecimos.

‘The Library’ (1808) l. 128

Fashion, though Folly’s child, and guide of fools, Rules e’en the wisest, and in learning rules.

‘The Library’ (1808) l. 167

Coldly profane and impiously gay.

‘The Library’ (1808) l. 265

The murmuring poor, who will not fast in peace.

‘The Newspaper’ (1785) l. 158

A master passion is the love of news.

‘The Newspaper’ (1785) l. 279

Our farmers round, well pleased with constant gain, Like other farmers, flourish and complain.

‘The Parish Register’ (1807 pt. 1, l. 273

That all was wrong because not all was right.

‘Tales’ (1812) ‘The Convert’ l. 313

He tried the luxury of doing good.

‘Tales of the Hall’ (1819) ‘Boys at School’ l. 139

‘The game’, said he, ‘is never lost till won.’

‘Tales of the Hall’ (1819) ‘Gretna Green’ l. 334

The face the index of a feeling mind.

‘Tales of the Hall’ (1819) ‘Lady Barbara’ l. 124

Secrets with girls, like loaded guns with boys, Are never valued till they make a noise.