537 quotes
He raised a mortal to the skies;
She drew an angel down.
Alexander's Feast (1697)
Too black for heav'n, and yet too white for hell.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)
But genius must be born, and never can be taught.
My right eye itches, some good luck is near.
Joy rul'd the day, and Love the night.
The Secular Masque (1700)
Second thoughts, they say, are best.
The Spanish Friar (1681)
All delays are dangerous in war.
Tyrannick Love (1669)
As long as words a different sense will bear,
And each may be his own interpreter,
Our airy faith will no foundation find;
The word's a weathercock for every wind.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)
A good poet is no more like himself in a dull translation than his carcass would be to his living body.
He's somewhat lewd; but a well-meaning mind;
Weeps much; fights little; but is wond'rous kind.
All for Love (1678)
And threat'ning France, plac'd like a painted Jove,
Kept idle thunder in his lifted hand.
Annus Mirabilis (1667)
Timotheus, to his breathing flute,
And sounding lyre,
Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.
Alexander's Feast (1697)
With ravish'd ears
The monarch hears,
Assumes the god,
Affects to nod,
And seems to shake the spheres.
Alexander's Feast (1697)
T' abhor the makers, and their laws approve,
Is to hate traitors and the treason love.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)
The soft complaining flute,
In dying notes, discovers
The woes of hopeless lovers.
A Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1687)
Thespis, the first professor of our art,
At country wakes sung ballads from a cart.
Prologue to Lee's Sophonisba (1675)
Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show,
Or exercise their spite in human woe?
The Works of Virgil (1697)
Nor is the people's judgment always true:
The most may err as grossly as the few.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Murder may pass unpunish'd for a time,
But tardy justice will o'ertake the crime.
Like you, an alien in a land unknown,
I learn to pity woes so like my own.
The Works of Virgil (1697)