Quotes by William Cowper

A fool must now and then be right, by chance.
– William Cowper
A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.
– William Cowper
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
– William Cowper
Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
– William Cowper
Absence of proof is not proof of absence.
– William Cowper
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.
– William Cowper
Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
– William Cowper
God made the country, and man made the town.
– William Cowper
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
– William Cowper
I would not enter in my list of friends, Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path, But he has the humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
– William Cowper
It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme.
– William Cowper
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much;Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
– William Cowper
Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.
– William Cowper
Nature is a good name for an effect whose cause is God.
– William Cowper
No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.
– William Cowper
No one was ever scolded out of their sins.
– William Cowper
No wild enthusiast could rest, till half the world like him was possessed.
– William Cowper
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.
– William Cowper
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 Cowper
O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
– 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
Religion! what treasure untold resides in that heavenly word!
– William Cowper
Remorse, the fatal egg that pleasure laid.
– William Cowper
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
– William Cowper
The dogs did bark, the children screamed, Up flew the windows all; And every soul bawled out, Well done! As loud as he could bawl.
– William Cowper
The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.
– William Cowper
The parson knows enough who knows a Duke.
– William Cowper
Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
– William Cowper
Glory built on selfish principles is shame and guilt.
– William Cowper
O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
– William Cowper
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
– William Cowper
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.
– William Cowper
Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
– William Cowper
They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.
– William Cowper
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
– 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.
– William Cowper
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
– William Cowper