John Dryden Quotes

Timotheus, to his breathing flute, And sounding lyre,
Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.

And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.

Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again.

Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he soothed his soul to pleasures.
War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honor but an empty bubble;
Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying.
If all the world be worth thy winning.
Think, oh think it worth enjoying:
Lovely Thaïs sits beside thee,
Take the good the gods provide thee.

For pity melts the mind to love.

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted, at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed,
On the bare earth exposed he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.

Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain;
Fought all his battles o'er again;
And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain.

Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure;
Rich the treasure;
Sweet the pleasure;
Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Bacchus, ever fair and ever young.

Sound the trumpets; beat the drums...
Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes.

With ravished ears
The monarch hears;
Assumes the god,
Affects the nod,
And seems to shake the spheres.

Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave, None but the brave,
None but the brave deserves the fair.

I have a soul that like an ample shield
Can take in all, and verge enough for more.

This is the porcelain clay of humankind.

The true Amphitryon is the Amphitryon where we dine.