239 quotes
Keep up the loud harmonious song,
And imitate the blest above,
In joy, and harmony, and love.
Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1692)
If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.
The Spectator (1711)
'Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
We are growing serious, and,
Let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.
The Drummer (1716)
Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.
The Spectator (1711)
The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.
The Spectator (1711)
I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.
The Spectator (1711)
Music, the greatest good that mortals know,
And all of heaven we have below.
Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1692)
If there's a power above us,
(And that there is all nature cries aloud
Through all her works) he must delight in virtue.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.
The Spectator (1711)
Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.
The Spectator (1711)
Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Is there not some chosen curse,
Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven,
Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man
Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin?
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Should the whole frame of Nature round him break,
In ruin and confusion hurled,
He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack,
And stand secure amidst a falling world.
Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.
The Guardian (1713)
Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.
The Spectator (1711)
From hence, let fierce contending nations know,
What dire effects from civil discord flow.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul:
I think the Romans call it Stoicism.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)