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So was she soon exhaled, and vanished hence;
As a sweet odour, of a vast expense.
She vanished, we can scarcely say she died.

— John Dryden

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Elegiacs, To the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killegrew, line 303
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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When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!

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

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This is the porcelain clay of humankind.

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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?

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Whatever is, is in its causes just.

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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.