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Quotes from Imitation of Horace — John Dryden

1631–1700 England

← All quotes by John Dryden

7 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)

Content with poverty, my soul I arm;
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

Imitation of Horace (1685)

Fortune, that with malicious joy
Does man her slave oppress,
Proud of her office to destroy,
Is seldom pleas'd to bless.

Imitation of Horace (1685)

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

Imitation of Horace (1685)

How happy in his low degree,
How rich in humble poverty, is he,
Who leads a quiet country life;
Discharged of business, void of strife

Imitation of Horace (1685)

Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine,
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not heaven itself upon the past has power;
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

Imitation of Horace (1685)

I can enjoy her while she's kind;
But when she dances in the wind,
And shakes the wings and will not stay,
I puff the prostitute away:
The little or the much she gave is quietly resign'd:
Content with poverty, my soul I arm;
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

Imitation of Horace (1685)

Attribution

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