John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
men anxious-thoughts worry
Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is with thoughts of what may be.
party men order
If the faults of men in orders are only to be judged among themselves, they are all in some sort parties; for, since they say the honour of their order is concerned in every member of it, how can we be sure that they will be impartial judges?
kings political plot
Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths and ruin kings.
death fear knows
Death in itself is nothing; but we fear to be we know not what, we know not where.
order grace peculiar
Set all things in their own peculiar place, and know that order is the greatest grace.
pain gains pleasure
For all the happiness mankind can gain Is not in pleasure, but in rest from pain.
death woe kind
Death ends our woes, and the kind grave shuts up the mournful scene.
revenge night mind
Not sharp revenge, nor hell itself can find, A fiercer torment than a guilty mind, Which day and night doth dreadfully accuse, Condemns the wretch, and still the charge renews.
want unknowing
He trudged along unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
moving wind sea
Seas are the fields of combat for the winds; but when they sweep along some flowery coast, their wings move mildly, and their rage is lost.
men thinking light
Let those find fault whose wit's so very small, They've need to show that they can think at all; Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls, must dive below. Fops may have leave to level all they can; As pigmies would be glad to lop a man. Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light, We scarce could know they live, but that they bite.
running past thinking
None would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; And, from the dregs of life, think to receive, What the first sprightly running could not give.
life cheating people
When I consider life, it is all a cheat. Yet fooled with hope, people favor this deceit.
wise fitness health
Better to hunt in fields, for health unbought, Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught, The wise, for cure, on exercise depend; God never made his work for man to mend.