289 quotes
Did Charity prevail, the press would prove
A vehicle of virtue, truth, and love.
Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit nature's claim;
Skins may differ, but affection
Dwells in white and black the same.
The Negro's Complaint (1788)
Detested sport,
That owes its pleasures to another's pain.
The Task (1785)
There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which only poets know.
A worm is in the bud of youth,
And at the root of age.
Stanzas subjoined to a Bill of Mortality (1787)
How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight
The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift-winged arrows of light.
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782)
Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds
Exhilarate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid Nature.
The Task (1785)
Regions Caesar never knew
Thy posterity shall sway;
Where his eagles never flew,
None invincible as they.
He likes the country, but in truth must own,
Most likes it, when he studies it in town.
Retirement (1782)
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
The Task (1785)
His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock it never is at home.
Conversation (1782)
'Tis Providence alone secures
In every change both mine and yours.
Virtue and vice had boundaries in old time,
Not to be pass'd.
The Task (1785)
Our severest winter, commonly called the spring.
Lights of the world, and stars of human race.
The Progress of Error (1782)
A fool must now and then be right by chance.
Conversation (1782)
Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.
The Task (1785)
Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream.
The Task (1785)
Gloriously drunk, obey the important call.
The Task (1785)
And spare the poet for his subject's sake.