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Quotes from Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson — John Dryden

1631–1700 England

← All quotes by John Dryden

246 quotes

Would I had been disposer of thy stars,
Thou shouldst have had thy wish, and died in wars.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Homer, whose name shall live in epic song,
While music numbers, or while verse has feet.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Orestes’ bulky rage,
Unsatisfied with margins closely writ,
Foams o’er the covers, and not finish’d yet.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Shadwell alone of all my sons is he
Who stands confirm’d in full stupidity.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

But Shakspeare’s magic could not copied be;
Within that circle none durst walk but he.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

You exclaim as loud as those that praise,
For scraps and coach-hire, a young noble’s plays.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

The bard that first adorn’d our native tongue
Tuned to his British lyre this ancient song.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Gentle or sharp, according to thy choice,
To laugh at follies, or to lash at vice.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Yet still thy fools shall stand in thy defence,
And justify their author’s want of sense.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Thy name, to Phoebus and the muses known,
Shall in the front of ev’ry page be shown.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Autumnal heat declines,
Ere heat is quite decay’d, or cold begun.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

But more have been by avarice opprest,
And heaps of money crowded in the chest.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

For should you to extortion be inclined,
Your cruel guilt will little booty find.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Like a miser ’midst his store,
Who grasps and grasps till he can hold no more.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

From hence the greatest part of ills descend,
When lust of getting more will have no end.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

I fought and fell like one, but death deceived me:
I wanted weight of feeble Moors upon me,
To crush my soul out.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

They follow their undaunted king;
Crowd through their gates; and, in the fields of light,
The shocking squadrons meet in mortal fight.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Two battles your auspicious cause has won;
Thy sword can perfect what it has begun.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

He to the town return’d,
Attended by the chiefs who fought the field,
Now friendly mix’d, and in one troop compell’d.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

The Grecians rally, and their powers unite;
With fury charge us, and renew the fight.

Disputed Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson (1880)

Attribution

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