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No man's defects sought they to know;
So never made themselves a foe.
No man's good deeds did they commend;
So never rais'd themselves a friend.

— Matthew Prior

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More quotes by Matthew Prior

From ignorance our comfort flows.
The only wretched are the wise.

To the Honorable Charles Montague (1692)

For hope is but the dream of those that wake.

They never taste who always drink;
They always talk who never think.

Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?

Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn;
And he alone is bless'd who ne'er was born.

All Matthew Prior quotes →

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Affectation hides three times as many virtues as charity does sins.

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Attribution

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