Showing 1–50 of 112 entries

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"Is base in kind, and born to be a slave."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 28.

Table Talk. Line 28.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"As if the world and they were hand and glove."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 173.

Table Talk. Line 173.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Happiness depends, as Nature shows, Less on exterior things than most suppose."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 246.

Table Talk. Line 246.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 260.

Table Talk. Line 260.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ, The substitute for genius, sense, and wit."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 542.

Table Talk. Line 542.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 556.

Table Talk. Line 556.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Elegant as simplicity, and warm As ecstasy."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 588.

Table Talk. Line 588.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Low ambition and the thirst of praise."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 591.

Table Talk. Line 591.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Made poetry a mere mechanic art."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 654.

Table Talk. Line 654.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads."
William Cowper / Table Talk. Line 690.

Table Talk. Line 690.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Lights of the world, and stars of human race."
William Cowper / The Progress of Error. Line 97.

The Progress of Error. Line 97.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home!"
William Cowper / The Progress of Error. Line 415.

The Progress of Error. Line 415.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,-- A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew."
William Cowper / Truth. Line 327.

Truth. Line 327.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"The sounding jargon of the schools."
William Cowper / Truth. Line 367.

Truth. Line 367.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"When one that holds communion with the skies Has fill'd his urn where these pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, 'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings."
William Cowper / Charity. Line 435.

Charity. Line 435.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"A fool must now and then be right by chance."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 96.

Conversation. Line 96.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 121.

Conversation. Line 121.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me,--and no other can."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 193.

Conversation. Line 193.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys: Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 251.

Conversation. Line 251.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"I cannot talk with civet in the room, A fine puss-gentleman that 's all perfume."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 283.

Conversation. Line 283.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"The solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 299.

Conversation. Line 299.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 303.

Conversation. Line 303.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Our wasted oil unprofitably burns, Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 357.

Conversation. Line 357.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"That good diffused may more abundant grow."
William Cowper / Conversation. Line 443.

Conversation. Line 443.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"A business with an income at its heels Furnishes always oil for its own wheels."
William Cowper / Retirement. Line 614.

Retirement. Line 614.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd."
William Cowper / Retirement. Line 623.

Retirement. Line 623.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"An idler is a watch that wants both hands, As useless if it goes as if it stands."
William Cowper / Retirement. Line 681.

Retirement. Line 681.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn."
William Cowper / Retirement. Line 688.

Retirement. Line 688.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark."
William Cowper / Retirement. Line 691.

Retirement. Line 691.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"I praise the Frenchman, his remark was shrewd,-- How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, Whom I may whisper, Solitude is sweet."
William Cowper / Retirement. Line 739.

Retirement. Line 739.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"A kick that scarce would move a horse May kill a sound divine."
William Cowper / The Yearly Distress.

The Yearly Distress.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute."
William Cowper / Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face?"
William Cowper / Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; Ne'er sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd."
William Cowper / Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged, arrows of light."
William Cowper / Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"There goes the parson, O illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk."
William Cowper / On observing some Names of Little Note.

On observing some Names of Little Note.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost."
William Cowper / Human Frailty.

Human Frailty.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"And the tear that is wiped with a little address, May be follow'd perhaps by a smile."
William Cowper / The Rose.

The Rose.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"'T is Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours."
William Cowper / A Fable. Moral.

A Fable. Moral.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau If birds confabulate or no."
William Cowper / Pairing Time Anticipated.

Pairing Time Anticipated.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry,-- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry."
William Cowper / Pairing Time Anticipated.

Pairing Time Anticipated.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"That though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind."
William Cowper / History of John Gilpin.

History of John Gilpin.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"A hat not much the worse for wear."
William Cowper / History of John Gilpin.

History of John Gilpin.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Now let us sing, Long live the king! And Gilpin, Long live he! And when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see!"
William Cowper / History of John Gilpin.

History of John Gilpin.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."
William Cowper / To an Afflicted Protestant Lady.

To an Afflicted Protestant Lady.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"United yet divided, twain at once: So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne."
William Cowper / The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 77.

The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 77.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, Exhilarate the spirit, and restore The tone of languid nature."
William Cowper / The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 181.

The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 181.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change And pleased with novelty, might be indulged."
William Cowper / The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 506.

The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 506.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"Doing good, Disinterested good, is not our trade."
William Cowper / The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 673.

The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 673.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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"God made the country, and man made the town."
William Cowper / The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 749.

The Task. Book i. The Sofa. Line 749.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

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