Quotes by William Cowper

William Cowper

William Cowper

English poet

Lived from: 1731 - 1800

Category: Poets (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 26 november 1731 Died: 25 april 1800

  • Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
  • Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
  • How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
  • The man that hails you Tom or Jack, and proves by thumps upon your back how he esteems your merit, is such a friend, that one had need be very much his friend indeed to pardon or to bear it.
  • Candid and generous and just. Boys care but little whom they trust. An error soon corrected - for who but learns in riper years. That man, when smoothest he appears, is most to be suspected?
  • Ceremony leads her bigots forth, prepared to fight for shadows of no worth. While truths, on which eternal things depend, can hardly find a single friend.
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  • Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
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  • Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
    ― William Cowper
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  • Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, the mere materials with which wisdom builds, till smoothed and squared and fitted to its place, does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
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  • Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
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  • Variety is the very spice of live, I that gives it all its flavour.
    The Timepiece 606
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  • A fool must now and then be right, by chance.
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  • A fretful temper will divide the closest knot that may be tied, by ceaseless sharp corrosion; a temper passionate and fierce may suddenly your joys disperse at one immense explosion.
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  • A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
    ― William Cowper
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  • A man renowned for repartee will seldom scruple to make free with friendship's finest feeling, will thrust a dagger at your breast, and say he wounded you in jest, by way of balm for healing.
    ― William Cowper
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  • A moral, sensible, and wellbred man, I will not affront me, and no other can.
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  • A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.
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  • Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
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  • Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, j live till tomorrow, will have pass'd away.
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  • Candid and generous and just. Boys care but little whom they trust. An error soon corrected - for who but learns in riper years. That man, when smoothest he appears, is most to be suspected?
    ― William Cowper
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  • Ceremony leads her bigots forth, prepared to fight for shadows of no worth. While truths, on which eternal things depend, can hardly find a single friend.
    ― William Cowper
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  • Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
    ― William Cowper
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  • Fanaticism soberly defined, is the false fire of an over heated mind.
    ― William Cowper
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  • Forced from home, and all its pleasures, afric coast I left forlorn; to increase a stranger's treasures, o the raging billows borne. Men from England bought and sold me, paid my price in paltry gold; but, though theirs they have enroll'd me, minds are never to be sold.
    ― William Cowper
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  • Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
    ― William Cowper
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  • God made the country and man made the town.
    ― William Cowper
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What are the most famous quotes from William Cowper?

The two most famous quotes from William Cowper are:

  • "Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair."
  • "Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more."

When did William Cowper live?

William Cowper was born in 1731 and died in the year 1800.