Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread; Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
—William Cowper
Topics: Fate
The rich are too indolent, the poor too weak, to bear the insupportable fatigue of thinking.
—William Cowper
Topics: Thought
Beware of desperate steps.—The darkest day, live till tomorrow, will have passed away.
—William Cowper
Topics: Despair
To follow foolish precedents, and wink with both our eyes, is easier than to think.
—William Cowper
Topics: Custom, Fools
He comes, the herald of a noisy world, news from all nations lumbering at his back; a messenger of grief perhaps to thousands, and a joy to some.
—William Cowper
Topics: News
Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.
—William Cowper
Topics: Kindness, Compassion
Reasoning at every step he treads,
Man yet mistakes his way,
Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads,
Are rarely known to stray.
—William Cowper
Topics: Intuition
An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless if it goes as when it stands.
—William Cowper
Topics: Idleness
Religion! what treasure untold resides in that heavenly word!
—William Cowper
Topics: Religion
Toil for the brave! The brave that are no more.
—William Cowper
Topics: Brave
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.
—William Cowper
Topics: Wisdom, Humility, Knowledge
The innocent seldom find an uneasy pillow.
—William Cowper
Topics: Innocence, Conscience
Man, in society, is like a flower blown in its native bud. It is there only that his faculties, expanded in full bloom, shine out, there only reach their proper use.
—William Cowper
Topics: Society
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
Topics: Truth
Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
That slaves, howe’er contented, never know.
—William Cowper
Topics: Freedom
Solitude, seeming a sanctuary, proves a grave; a sepulchre in which the living lie, where all good qualities grow sick and die.
—William Cowper
Topics: Solitude
If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one … .
—William Cowper
Topics: Attitude
A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
—William Cowper
Topics: Happiness, Life, Living, Idleness, Laziness
Knowledge is proud that she knows so much; Wisdom is humble that she knows no more.
—William Cowper
Topics: Knowledge, Now, Wisdom
A brave man knows no malice; but forgets, in peace, the injuries of war, and gives his direst foe a friend’s embrace.
—William Cowper
A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.
—William Cowper
Topics: Pride
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves beside.
—William Cowper
Topics: Freedom, Liberty, Truth
Once more I would adopt the graver style—a teacher should be sparing of his smile.
—William Cowper
Topics: Teachers, Teaching
Like Eden’s dead probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil is from thee.
—William Cowper
Topics: Journalism
In all the vast and the minute, we see the unambiguous footsteps of the God, who gives its luster to the insect’s wing, and wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.
—William Cowper
Topics: God
Fanaticism soberly defined, is the false fire of an over heated mind.
—William Cowper
Topics: Fanaticism
The kindest and the happiest pair, will find occasion to forbear; find something every day they live, to pity, and perhaps forgive.
—William Cowper
Topics: Marriage
Man disavows, and Deity disowns me: hell might afford my miseries a shelter; therefore hell keeps her ever-hungry mouths all bolted against me.
—William Cowper
Topics: Insanity
Habits are soon assumed; but when we endeavor to strip them off, it is being flayed alive.
—William Cowper
Topics: Habit
Knowledge dwells in heads replete with thoughts of other men; wisdom, in minds attentive to their own.
—William Cowper
Topics: Knowledge
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Frances Ridley Havergal English Anglican Poet
- Christina Rossetti English Poet
- George Herbert Welsh Anglican Poet
- John Wilkins English Anglican Clergyman
- William Ralph Inge English Anglican Clergyman
- Beilby Porteus Bishop of London
- Jeremy Collier English Anglican Clergyman
- Richard Hooker English Theologian, Political Theorist
- Sydney Smith English Preacher
- Abraham Cowley English Poet
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