Top 15 John Dryden Quotes

17th-century English poet and playwright (1631–1700)

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John Dryden (19 August 1631 {9 August O.S.} – 12 May 1700 {1 May O.S.}) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright. He was Poet Laureate, 1668–1689.

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Beware the fury of a patient man.

Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense,
But good men starve for want of impudence.

We first make our habits, then our habits make us.

I am sore wounded but not slain
I will lay me down and bleed a while
And then rise up to fight again

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls, must dive below.

There is a pleasure sure in being mad which none but madmen know.

Great wits are to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.

Better shun the bait, than struggle in the snare.

Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call today his own: He who, secure within, can say, Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

…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 Music shall untune the sky

Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide.

Secret guilt is by silence revealed.

But far more numerous was the herd of such,
Who think too little, and who talk too much.

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

When I consider Life, 'tis all a cheat;
Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:
To-morrow's falser than the former day;
Lies worse; and while it says, we shall be blest
With some new joys, cuts off what we possesst.