239 quotes
Nations with nations mix'd confus'dly die,
And lost in one promiscuous carnage lie.
The Campaign (1704)
The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
The Spectator (1711)
Music religious heat inspires,
It wakes the soul, and lifts it high,
And wings it with sublime desires,
And fits it to bespeak the Deity.
Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1692)
In short, if you banish modesty out of the world, she carries away with her half the virtue that is in it.
Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover,
Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Why wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer
Imaginary ills, and fancy'd tortures?
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.
The free-holder: or political essays (1716)
When love once pleas admission to our hearts,
(In spite of all the virtue we can boast),
The woman that deliberates is lost.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.
The Spectator (1711)
Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this virtue.
The Guardian (1713)
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
The Spectator (1711)
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.
The Spectator (1711)
Better to die ten thousand deaths,
Than wound my honour.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.
The Drummer (1716)
Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.
A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no virtue but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him in political principles.
The Spectator (1711)
'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Content thyself to be obscurely good.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honor is a private station.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his duty.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)