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That servile path thou nobly dost decline
Of tracing word by word, and line by line;
A new and nobler way thou dost pursue
To make translations, and translators too;
They but preserve the ashes, thou the flame,
True to his sense, but truer to his fame.

— John Denham To Sir Richard Fanshaw (1648)

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More quotes by John Denham

Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate,
That few but such as cannot write, translate.

To Sir Richard Fanshaw (1648)

Ambition is like love, impatient
Both of delays and rivals.

The Sophy (1641)

Wisdom's first progress is to take a view
What's decent or indecent, false or true.

Of Prudence (1668)

Books should to one of these four ends conduce,
For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.

Of Prudence (1668)

Whatsoever
Is worthy of their love, is worth their anger.

The Sophy (1641)

All John Denham quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Denham (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.