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William Cowper Quotes

1731–1800 England

William Cowper (26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist.

England
Hymnwriters
Poets
Translators

Also known as: Cowper, William

Random William Cowper quote

289 quotes

I play with syllables and sport in song.

Table Talk (1782)

Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid.

The Progress of Error (1782)

Nature, exerting an unwearied power,
Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower;
Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads
The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.

Table Talk (1782)

And hast thou sworn on every slight, pretence,
Till perjuries are common as bad pence,
While thousands, careless of the damning sin,
Kiss the book's outside, who ne'er look'd within?

Old Tiney, the surliest of his kind!
Who, nursed with tender care,
And to domestic bounds confined,
Was still a wild Jack hare.
Though duly from my hand he took
His pittance every night,
He did it with a jealous look;
And, when he could, would bite.

I will venture to assert, that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme is impossible. No human ingenuity can be equal to the task of closing every couplet with sounds homotonous, expressing at the same time the full sense, and only the full sense of his original.

The Iliad of Homer: translated into English blank verse (1791)

My soul
Shall bear that also; for, by practice taught,
I have learned patience, having much endured.

The Odyssey of Homer: translated into English blank verse (1791)

No, Freedom has a thousand charms to show
That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.

A business with an income at its heels
Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.

Retirement (1782)

But that disease when soberly defined
Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind.

Conversation (1782)

Admirals extolled for standing still,
Or doing nothing with a deal of skill.

Table Talk (1782)

Domestic happiness, thou only bliss
Of Paradise that has surviv'd the fall!

The Task (1785)

Prove that you have human feelings,
Ere you proudly question ours!

The Negro's Complaint (1788)

And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

Olney Hymns (1779)

But they whom truth and wisdom lead
Can gather honey from a weed.

For 'tis a truth well known to most,
That whatsoever thing is lost,
We seek it, ere it come to light,
In every cranny but the right.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)

Wit, now and then, struck smartly, shows a spark.

Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was.

Whoe'er was edified, themselves were not.

The Task (1785)

By low ambition and the thirst of praise.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Cowper (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.