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
289 quotes
He has no hope that never had a fear.
The sounding jargon of the schools.
Still ending, and beginning still.
And differing judgments serve but to declare,
That truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.
And prate and preach about what others prove,
As if the world and they were hand and glove.
Seek to delight, that they may mend mankind,
And, while they captivate, inform the mind.
Oh, laugh or mourn with me the rueful jest,
A cassock’d huntsman and a fiddling priest!
No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest,
Till half mankind were like himself possess'd.
Himself a wanderer from the narrow way,
His silly sheep, what wonder if they stray?
The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
The solemn fop; significant and budge;
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
When admirals extoll'd for standing still,
Of doing nothing with a deal of skill.
Stamps God's own name upon a lie just made,
To turn a penny in the way of trade.
Attribution
Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Cowper (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.