William Cowper
Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more.Collection: Wisdom
No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.Collection: Patriotism
They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.Collection: Wisdom
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.Collection: Positive
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.Collection: Gardening
Nature is a good name for an effect whose cause is God.Collection: Nature
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.Collection: Hope
Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.Collection: Happiness
God made the country, and man made the town.Collection: God
Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.Collection: Happiness
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.Collection: God
How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.Collection: Home
Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.Collection: Life
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.Collection: Wisdom
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.
O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place.
The darkest day, if you live till tomorrow, will have passed away.
A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.
The innocent seldom find an uncomfortable pillow.
Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
Remorse, the fatal egg that pleasure laid.
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
A fool must now and then be right, by chance.
The parson knows enough who knows a Duke.
Absence of proof is not proof of absence.
No one was ever scolded out of their sins.
Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.
Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
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 wild enthusiast could rest, till half the world like him was possessed.
O, popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme.
An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting.
Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
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.
My soul is sick with every day's report of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.Collection: Sick
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.Collection: Courage
No traveler e'er reached that blest abode who found not thorns and briers in his road.Collection: Acceptance
The path of sorrow, and that path alone, leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.Collection: Sadness
Trials make the promise sweet, Trials give new life to prayer; Trials bring me to His feet, Lay me low, and keep me there.Collection: Sweet
We are never more in danger than when we think ourselves most secure, nor in reality more secure than when we seem to be most in danger.Collection: Reality
Grief is itself a medicine.Collection: Death
God made bees, and bees made honey, God made man, and man made money, Pride made the devil, and the devil made sin; So God made a cole-pit to put the devil in.Collection: Pride
But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of Heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.Collection: Heaven
The bird that flutters least is longest on the wing.Collection: Wings
When nations are to perish in their sins, 'tis in the Church the leprosy begins.Collection: Church
The Spirit breathes upon the Word and brings the truth to sight.Collection: Sight
Some people are more nice than wise.Collection: Wise