239 quotes
Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast,
And those who paint them truest praise them most.
The Campaign (1704)
Ambition raises a secret tumult in the soul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought.
The Spectator (1711)
The soul, secur’d in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
Cato (1712)
If the following day he chance to find
A new repast, or an untasted spring,
Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Cato (1713)
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.
The Spectator (1711)
All Heaven shall echo with their hymns divine,
And God himself with pleasure see
The whole creation in a chorus join.
Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1692)
I would... earnestly advise them for their good to order this paper to be punctually served up, and to be looked upon as a part of the tea equipage.
The Spectator (1711)
Curse on his virtues! they've undone his country.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
The glowing dames of Zama's royal court
Have faces finsh'd with more exalted charms.
Liberty
A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
The Spectator (1711)
I have but nine-pence in ready money, but I can draw for a thousand pounds.
Where love once pleads admission to our hearts,
In spite of all the virtue we can boast,
The woman that deliberates is lost.
But thou shall flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the wars of elements,
The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.
Let echo, too, perform her part,
Prolonging every note with art;
And in a low expiring strain,
Play all the concert o'er again.
Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1699)
Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,
Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
My death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me.
Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shows thee in the fairest point of light,
To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
When love's well-timed 'tis not a fault to love;
The strong, the brave, the virtuous, and the wise,
Sink in the soft captivity together.