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John Dryden on Birthday

1631–1700 England

← All quotes by John Dryden

12 quotes

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Imitation of Horace (1685)

His hair just grizzled,
As in a green old age.

Œdipus (1679)

Endure the hardships of your present state,
Live, and reserve yourselves for better fate.

The Works of Virgil (1697)

In friendship false, implacable in hate,
Resolved to ruin, or to rule the state.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

For friendship, of itself a holy tie,
Is made more sacred by adversity.

The Hind and the Panther (1687)

Joy rul'd the day, and Love the night.

The Secular Masque (1700)

And write whatever Time shall bring to pass
With pens of adamant on plates of brass.

Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure,
Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Alexander's Feast (1697)

Not heaven itself upon the past has power;
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

Imitation of Horace (1685)

Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years;
Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more;
Till like a clock worn put with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stood still.

Be kind to my remains; and O defend,
Against your judgment, your departed friend.

Old age, with silent pace, comes creeping on,
Nauseates the praise which in her youth she won,
And hates the muse by which she was undone.

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.