Quotes By William Cowper

Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.

An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.

A fool must now and then be right, by chance.

They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.

Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.

Nature is a good name for an effect whose cause is God.

It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme.

Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.

O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?

Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.

Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.

Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.

No wild enthusiast could rest, till half the world like him was possessed.

The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.

No one was ever scolded out of their sins.

Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.

Ceremony leads her bigots forth, prepared to fight for shadows of no worth. While truths, on which eternal things depend, can hardly find a single friend.

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.

The darkest day, if you live till tomorrow, will have passed away.

Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more.

Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.

The dogs did bark, the children screamed, Up flew the windows all; And every soul bawled out, Well done! As loud as he could bawl.

No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.

The parson knows enough who knows a Duke.

Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.