John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
truth saws telling-the-truth
I never saw any good that came of telling truth.
joy watches youth
Youth should watch joys and shoot them as they fly.
coquette plight vow
New vows to plight, and plighted vows to break.
spring heart fate
What I have left is from my native spring; I've still a heart that swells, in scorn of fate, And lifts me to my banks.
giving grace diction
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.
freedom men law
I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
grief felt assured
Griefs assured are felt before they come.
wise dice fortune
Fortune confounds the wise, And when they least expect it turns the dice.
trust confidence secret
He who trusts secrets to a servant makes him his master
evil common nonsense
To die for faction is a common evil, But to be hanged for nonsense is the devil.
art giving painting
Since a true knowledge of nature gives us pleasure, a lively imitation of it, either in poetry or painting, must produce a much greater; for both these arts are not only true imitations of nature, but of the best nature.
evil may valiant
I am devilishly afraid, that's certain; but ... I'll sing, that I may seem valiant.
truth literature faces
For truth has such a face and such a mien, as to be loved needs only to be seen.
laughter humorous men
'Tis a good thing to laugh at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness.