John Dryden
John Dryden
John Drydenwas an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668...
candidate heaven
While yet a young probationer, / And candidate of heaven.
close eyes far meet sit souls touch
Our souls sit close and silently within, And their own webs from their own entrails spin; And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such, That, spider-like, we feel the tenderest touch
mercy reason rule
Reason to rule but mercy to forgive: the first is law; the last, prerogative.
false whipped
Who, for false quantities, was whipped at school.
heaps
To see and to be seen, in heaps they run; / Some to undo, and some to be undone.
bones corners four rattling together
When rattling bones together fly, / From the four corners of the sky.
earth kindly welcome
Welcome as kindly showers to the long parched earth.
few inhabited knowing
Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.
action genius pains taught
Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, But Genius must be born; and never can be taught
condensed deeper english-poet words
If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed the deeper they burn.
bound
To live at ease, and not be bound to think.
file finish fool fools-and-foolishness god help school true
True fops help nature's work, and go to school - to file and finish God Almighty's fool
age begin time tis
Tis well an old age is out, And time to begin a new.
ancient boast bred fashion manners themselves
Well may they boast themselves an ancient Nation; For they were bred e'er manners were in fashion