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Quotes from Retirement — William Cowper

1731–1800 England

← All quotes by William Cowper

9 quotes

Absence of occupation is not rest,
A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.

Retirement (1782)

He likes the country, but in truth must own,
Most likes it, when he studies it in town.

Retirement (1782)

An idler is a watch that wants both hands;
As useless when it goes as when it stands.

Retirement (1782)

Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn.

Retirement (1782)

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

Retirement (1782)

Philologists, who chase
A panting syllable through time and space,
Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark,
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark.

Retirement (1782)

The disencumbered Atlas of the state.

Retirement (1782)

Till authors hear at length, one general cry,
Tickle and entertain us, or we die!The loud demand from year to year the same,
Beggars invention and makes fancy lame.

Retirement (1782)

I praise the Frenchman, his remark was shrewd —
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude!
But grant me still a friend in my retreat
Whom I may whisper — solitude is sweet.

Retirement (1782)

Attribution

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