Top 20 Quotes & Sayings by John Denham

We are never like angels till our passion dies.

Nor ought a genius less than his that writ attempt translation.

Poetry is of so subtle a spirit, that in the pouring out of one language into another it will evaporate.

Books should to one of these fours ends conduce, for wisdom, piety, delight, or use.

Search not to find things too deeply hid; Nor try to know things whose knowledge is forbid.

Youth, what man's age is like to be, doth show; We may our ends by our beginnings know.

Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst That the best things corrupted, are the worst; 'Twas the corrupted Light of knowledge, hurl'd Sin, Death, and Ignorance o'er all the world; That Sun like this (from which our sight we have) Gaz'd on too long, resumes the light he gave.

Uncertain ways unsafest are, and doubt a greater mischief than despair.

You prove but too clearly that seeking to know Is too frequently learning to doubt.

Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year.

But whither am I strayed? I need not raise Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built; Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain.

Sure there are poets which did never dream Upon Parnassus, nor did taste the stream Of Helicon; we therefore may suppose Those made not poets, but the poets those.

Who fears not to do ill fears the name, And free from conscience, is a slave to fame.

It is no exaggeration to say that Israeli policy in the occupied territories is not simply a matter of foreign policy - it is a matter for British domestic security policy too.

Though with those streams he no resemblance hold, Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold; His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore, Search not his bottom, but survey his shore.

Learn to live well, that thou may'st die so too; To live and die is all we have to do.

When any great design thou dost intend, Think on the means, the manner, and the end.

The man who first abused his fellows with swear-words instead of bashing their brains out with a club should be counted among those who laid the foundations of civilization.

Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, That few, but such as cannot write, translate.

Whatsoever is worthy of their love is worth their anger.