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Charles Churchill Quotes

1731–1764 England

Charles Churchill (February 1731 – November 4, 1764) was an English poet and satirist.

England
Poets
Satirists

Also known as: Charles Churchill, Churchill, Charles

Random Charles Churchill quote

61 quotes

When fiction rises pleasing to the eye,
Men will believe, because they love the lie;
But Truth herself, if clouded with a frown,
Must have some solemn proof to pass her down.

An Epistle to William Hogarth (1763)

With curious art the brain, too finely wrought,
Preys on herself, and is destroy'd by thought:
Constant attention wears the active mind,
Blots out our powers, and leaves a blank behind.

An Epistle to William Hogarth (1763)

He's of stature somewhat low—
Your hero always should be tall, you know.

The Rosciad (1761)

No statesman e'er will find it worth his pains
To tax our labours and excise our brains.

Night: An Epistle to Robert Lloyd (1761)

To varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.

Fool beckons fool, and dunce awakens dunce.

Drawn by Conceit from Reason's plan,
How vain is that poor creature, Man!
How pleased is every paltry elf
To prate about that thing, himself.

The Ghost (1763)

His voice no touch of harmony admits,
Irregularly deep, and shrill by fits.
The two extremes appear like man and wife
Coupled together for the sake of strife.

The Rosciad (1761)

Fashion—a word which knaves and fools may use,
Their knavery and folly to excuse.
To copy beauties, forfeits all pretence
To fame—to copy faults, is want of sense.

The Rosciad (1761)

There webs were spread of more than common size,
And half-starved spiders prey’d on half-starved flies.

The Prophecy of Famine: A Scots Pastoral (1763)

Though by whim, envy, or resentment led,
They damn those authors whom they never read.

Genius is of no country; her pure ray
Spreads all abroad, as general as the day.

The Rosciad (1761)

Thy danger chiefly lies in acting well;
No crime's so great as daring to excel.

An Epistle to William Hogarth (1763)

And adepts in the speaking trade
Keep a cough by them ready made.

The Ghost (1763)

Why should we fear; and what? The laws?
They all are armed in virtue's cause;
And aiming at the self-same end,
Satire is always virtue's friend.

The Ghost (1763)

View the whole scene, with critic judgment scan,
And then deny him merit if you can.
Where he falls short, 'tis Nature's fault alone
Where he succeeds, the merit's all his own.

The Rosciad (1761)

Who all in raptures their own works rehearse,
And drawl out measur'd prose, which they call verse.

His thirst he slakes at some pure neighboring brook,
Nor seeks for sauce where Appetite stands cook.

Greatly his foes he dreads, but more his friends,
He hurts me most who lavishly commends.

Not without Art, but yet to Nature true,
She charms the town with humour just, yet new.

The Rosciad (1761)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Charles Churchill (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.