Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowleywas an English poet born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
hopeless
Hope is the most hopeless thing of all.
book my-best-friend leading-me
Come, my best friends, my best books, and lead me on.
book garden house
May I a small house and large garden have; And a few friends, And many books, both true.
life nice might
His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right.
time past being-thankful
Enjoy the present hour, Be thankful for the past, And neither fear nor wish Th' approaches of the last.
life giving doubt
Life for delays and doubts no time does give, None ever yet made haste enough to live.
book nests world
Build yourself a book-nest to forget the world without.
women blunders
But what is woman? Only one of nature's agreeable blunders.
humble inspire may
Awake, awake, my Lyre!And tell thy silent master's humble taleIn sounds that may prevail;Sounds that gentle thoughts inspire:Though so exalted sheAnd I so lowly beTell her, such different notes make all thy harmony.
friends kings earth
There have been fewer friends on earth than kings.
sleep thinking naps
The Sunflow'r, thinking 'twas for him foul shame To nap by daylight, strove t' excuse the blame; It was not sleep that made him nod, he said, But too great weight and largeness of his head.
running space race
Thus would I double my life's fading space;For he that runs it well, runs twice his race.
fate giving ready
The present is all the ready money Fate can give.
nice heart men
It is a hard and nice subject for a man to speak of himself: it grates his own heart to say anything of disparagement, and the reader's ear to hear anything of praise from him.