537 quotes
Skill'd in the globe and sphere, he gravely stands,
And, with his compass, measures seas and lands.
A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went high
He sought the storms.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls, must dive below.
Dreams are but interludes, which fancy makes;
When monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes.
By viewing Nature, Nature's handmaid Art,
Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow.
Annus Mirabilis (1667)
Maintain your post: That's all the fame you need;
For 'tis impossible you should proceed.
Who climbs the grammar-tree, distinctly knows
Where noun, and verb, and participle grows.
He trudg'd along, unknowing what he sought,
And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
Cymon and Iphigenia (1700)
With ravished ears
The monarch hears;
Assumes the god,
Affects the nod,
And seems to shake the spheres.
Alexander's Feast (1697)
At home the hateful names of parties cease,
And factious souls are wearied into peace.
Words, once my stock, are wanting to commend
So great a poet and so good a friend.
Epistle to Peter Antony Motteux (1698)
Whatever he did, was done with so much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
I trade both with the living and the dead for the enrichment of our native language.
I saw myself the lambent easy light
Gild the brown horror, and dispel the night.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)
Ever a glutton, at another's cost,
But in whose kitchen dwells perpetual frost.
Treason is not own'd when 'tis descried;
Successful crimes alone are justified.
She hugg'd the offender, and forgave the offence;
Sex to the last.
Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit,
The power of beauty I remember yet,
Which once inflam'd my soul, and still inspires my wit.
Cymon and Iphigenia (1700)
Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain;
Fought all his battles o'er again;
And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain.
Alexander's Feast (1697)
But Esau's hands suit ill with Jacob's voice.