Skip to content

Then, seek a poet who your way does bend,
And choose an author as you choose a friend;
United by this sympathetic bond,
You grow familiar, intimate and fond;
Your thoughts, your words, your styles, your souls agree,
No longer his interpreter, but he.

— Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Another quote →

More quotes by Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon

Immodest words admit of no defence,
For want of decency is want of sense.

Essay on Translated Verse (1684)

Abstruse and mystic thoughts you must express
With painful care, but seeming easiness;
For truth shines brightest thro' the plainest dress.

The first great work (a task performed by few)
Is that yourself may to yourself be true.

'Tis I that call, remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.

The press, the pulpit, and the stage,
Conspire to censure and expose our age.

All Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.