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William Cowper on Birthday

1731–1800 England

← All quotes by William Cowper

8 quotes

Time, as he passes us, has a dove's wing,
Unsoil'd, and swift, and of a silken sound.

The Task (1785)

Thus happiness depends, as Nature shows,
Less on exterior things than most suppose.

Table Talk (1782)

Society friendship and love
Divinely bestow'd upon man,
O had I the wings of a dove
How soon I would taste you again!

Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782)

She that asks
Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them all,
And hates their coming.

The Task (1785)

Pleasure admitted in undue degree
Enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free.

That, though on pleasure she was bent,
She had a frugal mind.

I would not enter on my list of friends
(Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

The Task (1785)

The man that hails you Tom or Jack,
And proves by thumps upon your back
How he esteems your merit,
Is such a friend, that one had need
Be very much his friend indeed
To pardon or to bear it.

Attribution

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