works-by-john-dryden

"Chaucer followed nature every where, but was never so bold to go beyond her."

"A satirical poet is the check of the laymen on bad priests."

"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?"

"It is sufficient to say, according to the proverb, that here is God's plenty. We have our forefathers and great-grand-dames all before us, as they were in Chaucer's days: their general characters are still remaining in mankind, and even in England, though they are called by other names than those of monks, and friars, and canons, and lady-abbesses, and nuns; for mankind is ever the same, and nothing lost out of nature, though every thing is altered."

"Fool, not to know, that love endures no tie, And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury."

"His promise Palamon accepts; but prayed To keep it better than the first he made."

"Since every man, who lives, is born to die, And none can boast sincere felicity, With equal mind, what happens, let us bear, Nor joy, nor grieve too much, for things beyond our care. Like pilgrims, to the appointed place we tend; The world's an inn, and death the journey's end."

"Pity is heaven's and your's; nor can she find A throne so soft as in a woman's mind."

"And new-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare."

"The wrath of Peleus' son, O Muse, resound; Whose dire effects the Grecian army found, And many a hero, king, and hardy knight, Were sent, in early youth, to shades of night."

"'Twas now the month in which the world began (If March beheld the first created man;) And since the vernal equinox, the sun In Aries twelve degrees, or more, had run; When casting up his eyes against the light, Both month, and day, and hour, he measured right, And told more truly than the Ephemeris; For art may err, but nature cannot miss. Thus numbering times and seasons in his breast, His second crowing the third hour confessed."

"And that one hunting, which the Devil designed For one fair female, lost him half the kind."

"The less had been our shame, The less his counselled crime, which brands the Grecian name."

"Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."

"Old as I am, for ladies love unfit, The power of beauty I remember yet."

"When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!"

"He trudged along, unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought."

"The fool of nature stood with stupid eyes, And gaping mouth, that testified surprise."

"Love taught him shame, and shame, with love at strife, Soon taught the sweet civilities of life."

"She hugged the offender, and forgave the offense, Sex to the last."

"And raw in fields the rude militia swarms; Mouths without hands; maintained at vast expense, In peace a charge, in war a weak defence; Stout once a month they march, a blustering band, And ever, but in times of need, at hand."

"Of seeming arms to make a short essay, Then hasten to be drunk, the business of the day."

"And oft with holy hymns he charm'd their ears, And music more melodious than the spheres."

"In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin."

"Then Israel's monarch after heaven's own heart, His vigorous warmth did variously impart To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command, Scattered his Maker's image through the land."

"Of all the numerous progeny was none So beautiful, so brave, as Absalon; Whether inspired by by some diviner lust, His father got him with a greater gust; Or that his conscious destiny made way, By manly beauty, to imperial sway."

"Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease, In him alone 'twas natural to please."

"His motions all accompanied with grace, And paradise was opened in his face."

"What faults he had,—for who from faults is free? His father could not, or he would not see."

"The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race."

"But when to sin our biassed nature leans, The careful devil is still at hand with means, And providently pimps for ill desires; The good old cause, revived, a plot requires."

"Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings."

"Some truth there was, but dashed and brewed with lies, To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise."

"Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade."

"Of these the false Achitophel was first; A name to all succeeding ages curst: For close designs, and crooked counsels fit; Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit; Restless, unfixed in principles and place; In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace."

"A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy-body to decay, And o'er-informed the tenement of clay."

"A daring pilot in extremity; Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands, to boast his wit."

"Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide; Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest, Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?"

"Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease."

"And all to leave what with his toil he won, To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son."

"In friendship false, implacable in hate; Resolved to ruin, or to rule the state."

"So easy still it proves in factious times, With public zeal to cancel private crimes."

"How safe is treason, and how sacred ill, Where none can sin against the people's will? Where crowds can wink, and no offence be known, Since in another's guilt they find their own?"

"And heaven had wanted one immortal song. But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land."

"He stood at bold defiance with his prince; Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws."

"For politicians neither love nor hate."

"Auspicious prince, at whose nativity Some royal planet ruled the southern sky; Thy longing country's darling and desire; Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire; Their second Moses, whose extended wand Divides the seas, and shews the promised land; Whose dawning day, in every distant age, Has exercised the sacred prophet's rage; The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream!"

"Behold him setting in his western skies, The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise."

"And nobler is a limited command, Given by the love of all your native land, Than a successive title, long and dark, Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark."

"I have found, by trial, Homer a more pleasing task than Virgil, though I say not the translation will be less laborious; for the Grecian is more according to my genius than the Latin poet."