From ignorance our comfort flows.
The only wretched are the wise.
Matthew Prior Quotes
1664–1721 England
Matthew Prior (July 21, 1664 – September 18, 1721) was an English poet and diplomat.
- England
- Poets
Also known as: Prior, Matthew
63 quotes
For hope is but the dream of those that wake.
They never taste who always drink;
They always talk who never think.
Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?
Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn;
And he alone is bless'd who ne'er was born.
He ranged his tropes, and preached up patience;
Backed his opinion with quotations.
Paulo Purganti and His Wife (1708)
That air and harmony of shape express,
Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.
His noble negligences teach
What others' toils despair to reach.
In argument
Similes are like songs in love:
They must describe; they nothing prove.
He, perfect dancer, climbs the rope,
And balances your fear and hope.
Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise.
Carmen Seculare (1700)
Thy sum of duty let two words contain,
(O may they graven in thy heart remain!)
Be humble and be just.
They say * * *
That, putting all his words together,
'Tis three blue beans in one blue bladder.
Till their own dreams at length decive 'em,
And oft repeating, they believe 'em.
Till their own dreams at length deceive 'em
And oft repeating, they believe 'em.
Alma (1718)
And thought the nation ne'er would thrive
Till all the whores were burnt alive.
Paulo Purganti and His Wife (1708)
That if weak women went astray,
Their stars were more in fault than they.
Hans Carvel (1700)
For when one's proofs are aptly chosen,
Four are as valid as four dozen.
Alma (1718)
The little pleasure of the game
Is from afar to view the flight.
An English Padlock (1707)
Attribution
Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Matthew Prior (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.