John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
riches slave graves
Riches cannot rescue from the grave, which claims alike the monarch and the slave.
life men thinking
When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat; Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit; Trust on, and think tomorrow will repay. Tomorrow's falser than the former day.
age genius kind
Every age has a kind of universal genius, which inclines those that live in it to some particular studies.
genius
A happy genius is the gift of nature.
farewell thinking littles
Farewell, too little, and too lately known, Whom I began to think and call my own.
nature eye science
The glorious lamp of heaven, the radiant sun, Is Nature's eye.
love grace literature
Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue.
justice causes
Whatever is, is in its causes just.
happiness blood joy
Present joys are more to flesh and blood Than a dull prospect of a distant good.
education misled has-beens
By education most have been misled.
women wrinkles looks
I am resolved to grow fat and look young till forty, and then slip out of the world with the first wrinkle and the reputation of five-and-twenty.
forgiveness adventure law
Reason to rule, mercy to forgive: The first is law, the last prerogative. Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
life country blessed
How blessed is he, who leads a country life, Unvex'd with anxious cares, and void of strife! Who studying peace, and shunning civil rage, Enjoy'd his youth, and now enjoys his age: All who deserve his love, he makes his own; And, to be lov'd himself, needs only to be known.
philosophical learning men
Mere poets are sottish as mere drunkards are, who live in a continual mist, without seeing or judging anything clearly. A man should be learned in several sciences, and should have a reasonable, philosophical and in some measure a mathematical head, to be a complete and excellent poet.