15 quotes
Free without scandal; wise without restraint;
Their virtue due to nature, not to fear.
Zara (1735)
Joys, which we do not know, we do not wish.
Zara (1735)
O'er Nature's laws, God cast the veil of night,
Out blaz'd a Newton's soul — and all was light.
Preserved in Hill's Works (1753)
Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.
She most attracts who longest can refuse.
The man who pauses on the paths of treason,
Halts on a quicksand, the first step engulfs him.
Reason gains all men, by compelling none.
Mercy was always Heaven's distinguished mark:
And he, who bears it not, has no friend there.
Alzira: A Tragedy (1736)
Youth is ever apt to judge in haste,
And lose the medium in the wild extreme,
Do not repent, but regulate your passion:
Though love is reason, its excess is rage.
Alzira: A Tragedy (1736)
Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains. ’Tis the same with common natures:
Use ’em kindly, they rebel;
But be rough as nutmeg-graters,
And the rogues obey you well.
First, then, a woman will or won’t, depend on ’t;
If she will do ’t, she will; and there ’s an end on ’t.
But if she won’t, since safe and sound your trust is,
Fear is affront, and jealousy injustice.
Zara (1735)
Let never man be bold enough to say,
Thus, and no farther shall my passion stray:
The first crime, past, compels us into more,
And guilt grows fate, that was but choice, before.
'Tis the same, with common natures,
Use 'em kindly, they rebel,
But, be rough as nutmeg graters,
And the rogues obey you well.
Yours is the guilt of all, who, judging wrong,
Mistake tuned nonsense for the poet's song!
Provoking dulness!—what a soul has he
Who fancies rhyme, and measure, poetry!—
He thinks, profanely, that this generous art
Stops at the ear—with power to shake the heart.
Advice to the Poets (1731)
When Christ at Cana's feast by pow'r divine,
Inspir'd cold water, with the warmth of wine,
See! cry'd they while, in red'ning tide, it gush'd,
The bashful stream hath seen its God and blush'd.
You talk no more of that gay nation now,
Where men adore their wives, and woman's power
Draws reverence from a polished people's softness,
Their husbands' equals, and their lovers' queens;
Free without scandal; wise without restraint;
Their virtue due to nature, not to fear.
Zara (1735)