Quotes by William Cowper
Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
The darkest day, if you live till tomorrow, will have passed away.
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more.
An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
No one was ever scolded out of their sins.
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st taste His works. Admitted once to his embrace, Thou shalt perceive that thou was blind before: Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart Made pure shall relish with divine delight Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa around, 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.
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.
Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
Absence of proof is not proof of absence.
No wild enthusiast could rest, till half the world like him was possessed.
Remorse, the fatal egg that pleasure laid.
Nature is a good name for an effect whose cause is God.
Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
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.
