Skip to content

Of no distemper, of no blast he died,
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long —
Even wondered at, because he dropped no sooner.
Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years,
Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more;
Till like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stood still.

— John Dryden Œdipus (1679)

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Act IV, sc. i
Work: Œdipus, 1679
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.

Cymon and Iphigenia (1700)

Pains of love be sweeter far
Than all other pleasures are.

Tyrannick Love (1669)

They say everything in the world is good for something.

The Spanish Friar (1681)

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

Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700)

Your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.

The Maiden Queen (1667)

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

Amphitryon (1690)

Whistling to keep myself from being afraid.

Amphitryon (1690)

This is the porcelain clay of humankind.

Don Sebastian (1690)

All John Dryden quotes →

Topics

Death

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)

All John Dryden quotes →

You may also like

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die.

Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

The thunderstorm is a constant phenomenon, raging alternately over some part of the world or the other. Can a single man or creature escape death if all that charge of lightning strikes the earth?

Kalki Krishnamurthy Sivakozhundu of Tiruvazhundur (1939)

So what if a kid dies? God will take care of him.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev

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.