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A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pygmy-body to decay,
And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay.

— John Dryden Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

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Source and credibility

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Source: Absalom and Achitophel (1681), Part I, line 156.
Work: Absalom and Achitophel, 1681
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by John Dryden

Love taught him shame, and shame, with love at strife,
Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.

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Pains of love be sweeter far
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They say everything in the world is good for something.

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When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!

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Your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.

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A knockdown argument: 'tis but a word and a blow.

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Whistling to keep myself from being afraid.

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This is the porcelain clay of humankind.

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Topics

Spirituality

More quotes by John Dryden

Death in itself is nothing; but we fear
To be we know not what, we know not where.

Aureng-Zebe (1676)

Whate’er he did, was done with so much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

Love conquers all, and we must yield to Love.

The Works of Virgil (1697)

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

A Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1687)

Whatever is, is in its causes just.

Œdipus (1679)

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Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

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Attribution

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