John Dryden Quotes

Thus in a pageant-show a plot is made;
And peace itself is war in masquerade.

Look round the habitable world, how few
Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!

War seldom enters but where wealth allures.

So, when the last and dreadful Hour
This crumbling Pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And musick shall untune the Sky.

The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.

But grieve not, while thou stayest,
My last disastrous times:
Think we have had a clear and glorious day
And Heaven did kindly to delay the storm,
Just till our close of evening.

By viewing Nature, Nature's handmaid Art,
Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow.

The midwife laid her hand on his thick skull,
With this prophetic blessing — Be thou dull; 60
Drink, swear, and roar, forbear no lewd delight
Fit for thy bulk, do anything but write.
Thou art of lasting make, like thoughtless men,
A strong nativity — but for the pen;
Eat opium, mingle arsenic in thy drink, 65
Still thou mayest live, avoiding pen and ink.
I see, I see, ’tis counsel given in vain,
For treason, botched in rhyme, will be thy bane;
Rhyme is the rock on which thou art to wreck,
’Tis fatal to thy fame and to thy neck.

Through all the realms of Non-sense, absolute

A man is to be cheated into passion, but to be reasoned into truth.

Whatever is, is in its causes just;
But purblind man
Sees but a part o' th' chain; the nearest link;
His eyes not carrying to that equal beam
That poises all above.

As long as words a different sense will bear, And each may be his own interpreter, Our airy faith will no foundation find; The word's a weathercock for every wind.

But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The carefull Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires:
The Good old Cause reviv'd, a Plot requires.
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up Common-wealths, and ruin Kings.

When I consider life, it is all a cheat. Yet fooled with hope, people favor this deceit.

Forgiveness to the injured does belong;
But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.