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
wise art men
Curs'd be that wretch (Death's factor sure) who brought Dire swords into the peaceful world, and taught Smiths (who before could only make The spade, the plough-share, and the rake) Arts, in most cruel wise Man's left to epitomize!
running space race
Thus would I double my life's fading space;For he that runs it well, runs twice his race.
eternal
The present is an eternal now.
fate giving ready
The present is all the ready money Fate can give.
appreciation blame praise
Neither the praise nor the blame is our own.
bible aeneas land
Does not the passage of Moses and the Israelites into the Holy Land yield incomparably more poetic variety than the voyages of Ulysses or Aeneas?
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.
sea land israel
When Israel was from bondage led,Led by the Almighty's handFrom out of foreign land,The great sea beheld and fled.
hope cheating fortune
Hope! fortune's cheating lottery; when for one prize an hundred blanks there be!
lying doctors sight
As for being much known by sight, and pointed out, I cannot comprehend the honor that lies withal; whatsoever it be, every mountebank has it more than the best doctor.
book sleep night
Books should, not Business, entertain the Light; And Sleep, as undisturb'd as Death, the Night.
lovers silent mute
Why to mute fish should'st thou thyself discoverAnd not to me, thy no less silent lover?
drinking men glasses
Nothing in Nature's sober found, But an eternal Health goes round. Fill up the Bowl then, fill it high-- Fill all the Glasses there; for why Should every Creature Drink but I? Why, Man of Morals, tell me why?
busy shall
Well then; I now do plainly see, / This busy world and I shall ne'er agree.