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
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.
garden cities firsts
God the first garden made, and the first city Cain.
nature passion roots
Coy Nature, (which remain'd, though aged grown, A beauteous virgin still, enjoy'd by none, Nor seen unveil'd by anyone), When Harvey's violent passion she did see, Began to tremble and to flee; Took sanctuary, like Daphne, in a tree: There Daphne's Lover stopped, and thought it much The very leaves of her to touch: But Harvey, our Apollo, stopp'd not so; Into the Bark and Root he after her did go!
lying mean envy
This only grant me, that my means may lie, too low for envy, for contempt to high.
friendship numbers choices
Acquaintance I would have, but when it depends; not on number, but the choice of friends.
wise running time
Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise, He who defers this work from day to day, Does on a river's bank expecting stay, Till the whole stream, which stopped him, should be gone, That runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on.
life nice might
His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right.
change scene inconstancy
s a scene of changes, and to be constant in Nature were inconstancy.
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.
men cities retreat
To be a husbandman, is but a retreat from the city; to be a philosopher, from the world; or rather, a retreat from the world, as it is man's, into the world, as it is God's.
love religion sin
Lukewarmness I account a sin, as great in love as in religion.
country apes shapes
Beauty, thou wild fantastic ape Who dost in every country change thy shape!