Top 488 Quotes & Sayings by John Dryden - Page 6

The World to Bacon does not only owe it's present knowledge, but its future too.

Interest makes all seem reason that leads to it.

Mankind is ever the same, and nothing lost out of nature, though everything is altered.

Better one suffer than a nation grieve.

Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they pass'd.

So poetry, which is in Oxford made An art, in London only is a trade.

The true Amphitryon is the Amphitryon where we dine.

To so perverse a sex all grace is vain.

Jealousy's a proof of love, But 'tis a weak and unavailing medicine; It puts out the disease and makes it show, But has no power to cure.

He who trusts a secret to his servant makes his own man his master.

…So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky

He who proposes to be an author should first be a student.

The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race.

Accurst ambition, how dearly I have bought you.

That gloomy outside, like a rusty chest, contains the shoring treasure of a soul resolved and brave.

But dying is a pleasure / When living is a pain.

Ye moon and stars, bear witness to the truth.

Thou spring'st a leak already in thy crown, A flaw is in thy ill-bak'd vessel found; 'Tis hollow, and returns a jarring sound, Yet thy moist clay is pliant to command, Unwrought, and easy to the potter's hand: Now take the mould; now bend thy mind to feel The first sharp motions of the forming wheel.

Genius must be born, it can't be taught.

Even kings but play; and when their part is done, some other, worse or better, mounts the throne.

For granting we have sinned, and that the offence Of man is made against Omnipotence, Some price that bears proportion must be paid, And infinite with infinite be weighed.

Virgil is so exact in every word, that none can be changed but for a worse; nor any one removed from its place, but the harmony will be altered. He pretends sometimes to trip; but it is only to make you think him in danger of a fall, when he is most secure.

There is an inimitable grace in Virgil's words, and in them principally consists that beauty which gives so inexpressible a pleasure to him who best understands their force. This diction of his, I must once again say, is never to be copied; and since it cannot, he will appear but lame in the best translation.

And, dying, bless the hand that gave the blow.

I am resolved to grow fat, and look young till forty.

One of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems which either this age or nation has produced.

Thou tyrant, tyrant Jealousy, Thou tyrant of the mind!

The poorest of the sex have still an itch To know their fortunes, equal to the rich. The dairy-maid inquires, if she shall take The trusty tailor, and the cook forsake.

Second thoughts, they say, are best.

One cannot say he wanted wit, but rather that he was frugal of it.

Pleasure never comes sincere to man; but lent by heaven upon hard usury.

A brave man scorns to quarrel once a day; Like Hectors in at every petty fray.

But 'tis the talent of our English nation, Still to be plotting some new reformation.

The perverseness of my fate is such that he's not mine because he's mine too much.

Government itself at length must fall To nature's state, where all have right to all.

Possess your soul with patience.

He wants worth who dares not praise a foe.

Drinking is the soldier's pleasure.

That, if the Gentiles, (whom no Law inspir'd,) By Nature did what was by Law requir'd; They, who the written Rule and never known, Were to themselves both Rule and Law alone: To Natures plain Indictment they shall plead; And, by their Conscience, be condemn'd or freed.

To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free, These are imperial arts.

Calms appear, when Storms are past; Love will have his Hour at last: Nature is my kindly Care; Mars destroys, and I repair; Take me, take me, while you may, Venus comes not ev'ry Day.

Heroic poetry has ever been esteemed the greatest work of human nature.

Good sense and good nature are never separated; and good nature is the product of right reason.

As when the dove returning bore the mark Of earth restored to the long labouring ark; The relics of mankind, secure at rest, Oped every window to receive the guest, And the fair bearer of the message bless'd.

The longest tyranny that ever sway'd Was that wherein our ancestors betray'd Their free-born reason to the Stagirite [Aristotle], And made his torch their universal light. So truth, while only one suppli'd the state, Grew scarce, and dear, and yet sophisticate.

Heaven be thanked, we live in such an age, When no man dies for love, but on the stage.

[T]he Famous Rules which the French call, Des Trois Unitez , or, The Three Unities, which ought to be observ'd in every Regular Play; namely, of Time, Place, and Action.

I have a soul that like an ample shield Can take in all, and verge enough for more.

Virtue without success is a fair picture shown by an ill light; but lucky men are favorites of heaven; all own the chief, when fortune owns the cause.

Home is the sacred refuge of our life.

The commendation of adversaries is the greatest triumph of a writer, because it never comes unless extorted.

Inspire the Vocal Brass, Inspire; The World is past its Infant Age: Arms and Honour, Arms and Honour, Set the Martial Mind on Fire, And kindle Manly Rage.

Repentance is the virtue of weak minds.

Chaucer followed Nature everywhere, but was never so bold to go beyond her.

Restless at home, and ever prone to range.

I learn to pity woes so like my own.

Music is inarticulate poesy.

War is a trade of kings.

My heart's so full of joy, That I shall do some wild extravagance Of love in public; and the foolish world, Which knows not tenderness, will think me mad.

Take the good the gods provide thee.