Quotes by John Dryden
Thou strong seducer, Opportunity!
A knock-down argument; 'tis but a word and a blow.
Words are but pictures of our thoughts.
But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much.
Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.
Pains of love be sweeter far Than all other pleasures are.
Seek not to know what must not be reveal, for joy only flows where fate is most concealed. A busy person would find their sorrows much more; if future fortunes were known before!
For they conquer who believe they can.
They that possess the prince possess the laws.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide.
There is a pleasure in being mad which none but madmen know.
Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
So over violent, or over civil that every man with him was God or Devil.
You see through love, and that deludes your sight, As what is straight seems crooked through the water.
And plenty makes us poor.
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today.
The first is the law, the last prerogative.
Nature meant me a wife, a silly harmless household Dove, fond without art; and kind without deceit.
When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell.
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state.
By education most have been misled; So they believe, because they were bred. The priest continues where the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the man.
He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him.
Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
