63 quotes
He's half absolved, who has confessed.
Of two evils I have chosen the least.
No longer shall the bodice aptly lac'd
From thy full bosom to thy slender waist,
That air and harmony of shape express,
Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.
Of two evils I have chose the least.
The man who by his labour gets
His bread, in independent state,
Who never begs, and seldom eats,
Himself can fix or change his fate.
Ere on thy chin the springing beard began
To spread a doubtful down, and promise man.
Venus, take my votive glass;
Since I am not what I was,
What from this day I shall be,
Venus, let me never see.
The Lady Who Offers Her Looking-Glass to Venus (1718)
Cured yesterday of my disease,
I died last night of my physician.
The Remedy Worse than the Disease (1714)
Now fitted the halter, now travers'd the cart,
And often took leave; but was loth to part.
Abra was ready ere I call'd her name;
And, though I call'd another, Abra came.
Abra was ready ere I called her name;
And though I called another, Abra came.
My copper lamps, at any rate,
For being true antique, I bought;
Yet wisely melted down my plate,
On modern models to be wrought.
Alma (1718)
Nobles and heralds, by your leave,
Here lies what once was Matthew Prior;
The son of Adam and of Eve:
Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?
Epitaph (1721)
For some in ancient books delight,
Others prefer what moderns write;
Now I should be extremely loth
Not to be thought expert in both.
Soon their crude notions with each other fought;
The adverse sect denied what this had taught;
And he at length the amplest triumph gain'd,
Who contradicted what the last maintain'd.
So vanishes our state; so pass our days;
So life but opens now, and now decays;
The cradle and the tomb, alas! so nigh,
To live is scarce distinguish'd from to die.
To John I owed great obligation;
But John, unhappily, thought fit
To publish it to all the nation:
Sure John and I are more than quit.
Epigram (1718)
One single positive weighs more,
You know, than negatives a score.
All jargon of the schools.
Ev'n so, with all submission, I
* * * * *
Send you each year a homely letter,
Who may return me much a better.