John Dryden Quotes (236 Quotes)

Beggared by fools whom still he found too late, He had his jest, but they had his estate

Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 't was natural to please.

Of no distemper, of no blast he died, But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long, Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner. Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years, Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more Till like a clock worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still.

Love is a passion Which kindles honor into noble acts.

Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you don't let other people spend it for you.

Love is not in our choice but in our fate.

A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pygmy-body to decay, And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay. A daring pilot in extremity Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms.

Dar'st thou, poor worm, offend Infinity?

Better to hunt in fields for health unsought, Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. The wise for cure on exercise depend God never made his work for man to mend.

War, he sung, is toil and trouble Honour but an empty bubble.

Even victors are by victories undone.

Can life be a blessing,
Or worth the possessing,
Can life be a blessing if love were away?

A thing well said will be wit in all languages.

But life can never be sincerely blest:
Heav'n punishes the bad, and proves the best.

Accurst ambition, How dearly I have bought you.

During his office, treason was no crime. The sons of Belial had a glorious time.

Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.

Courage from hearts and not from numbers grows.

Whatever is, is in its causes just.

Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped And they have kept it since by being dead.

Better shun the bait than struggle in the snare.

I am as free as nature first made man.

I trade both with the living and the dead, for the enrichment of our native language.

Not is the people's judgment always true The most may err as grossly as the few.

For present joys are more to flesh and blood than a dull prospect of a distant good.

Here lies my wife here let her lie Now she's at rest, and so am I.

Thou tyrant, tyrant Jealousy, Thou tyrant of the mind.

The legend of love no couple can find,
So easy to part, or so equally join'd.

Honor is but an empty bubble.

Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today.

As one that neither seeks, nor shuns his foe.

So over violent, or over civil, That every man with him was God or Devil.

For politicians neither love nor hate.

She knows her man, and when you rant or swear, Can draw you to her with a single hair.

Beware the fury of a patient man.

All things are subject to decay and when fate summons, monarchs must obey.

He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease.

But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much.

Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.

The fool of nature stood with stupid eyes And gaping mouth, that testified surprise.

Whistling to keep myself from being afraid.

Woman's honor is nice as ermine it will not bear a soil.

For truth has such a face and such a mien, as to be loved needs only to be seen.

His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen.

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.

Since every man who lives is born to die, And none can boast sincere felicity, With equal mind, what happens, let us bear, Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond our care. Like pilgrims to the appointed place we tend The worlds an inn, and death the journeys end.

Nature meant me a wife, a silly harmless household Dove, fond without art and kind without deceit.

Dancing is the poetry of the foot.

Shame on the body for breaking down while the spirit perseveres.