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JOHN DRYDEN QUOTES

English poet and dramatist (1631-1700)

John Dryden quote

Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up commonwealths and ruin kings.

JOHN DRYDEN, Absalom and Achitophel

We must beat the iron while it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure.

JOHN DRYDEN, Dedication of the Aeneis

All empire is no more than power in trust.

JOHN DRYDEN, Absalom and Achitophel

Death, in itself, is nothing; but we fear,
To be we know not what, we know not where.

JOHN DRYDEN, Aureng-Zebe

Learn to write well, or not to write at all.

JOHN DRYDEN, Essay on Satire

A thing well said will be wit in all languages.

JOHN DRYDEN, Essay of Dramatic Poesy

Men are but children of a larger growth.

JOHN DRYDEN, All For Love

Beware the fury of a patient man.

JOHN DRYDEN, Absalom and Achitophel

Ill fortune seldom comes alone.

JOHN DRYDEN, Cymon and Iphigenia

War is the trade of kings.

JOHN DRYDEN, King Arthur

All delays are dangerous in war.

JOHN DRYDEN, Tyrannic Love

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

JOHN DRYDEN, St. Cecilia's Day

There is a pleasure sure,
In being mad, which none but madmen know!

JOHN DRYDEN, The Spanish Friar

Great wits are sure to madness near allied;
And thin partitions do their bonds divide.

JOHN DRYDEN, Absalom and Achitophel

I never saw any good that came of telling truth.

JOHN DRYDEN, Amphitryon

Bacchus ever fair and young,
Drinking joys did first ordain.
Bachus's blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure,
Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure--
Sweet is pleasure after pain.

JOHN DRYDEN, Alexander's Feast

Repentance is but want of power to sin.

JOHN DRYDEN, Palamon and Arcite

By viewing nature, nature's handmaid art,
Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow:
Thus fishes first to shipping did impart,
Their tail the rudder, and their head the prow.

JOHN DRYDEN, Annus Mirabilis

The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.

JOHN DRYDEN, Palamon and Arcite

A knockdown argument: 'tis but a word and a blow.

JOHN DRYDEN, Amphitryon

Jealousy, the jaundice of the soul.

JOHN DRYDEN, The Hind and the Panther

When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!

JOHN DRYDEN, Cymon and Iphigenia

All human things are subject to decay,
And, when fate summons, monarchs must obey.

JOHN DRYDEN, Mac Flecknoe

Of all the tyrannies on human kind
The worst is that which persecutes the mind.

JOHN DRYDEN, The Hind and the Panther

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 possessed.

JOHN DRYDEN, Aureng-Zebe

Genius must be born, and never can be taught.

JOHN DRYDEN, Epistle to Congreve, 1693

For present joys are more to flesh and blood
Than a dull prospect of a distant good.

JOHN DRYDEN, The Hind and the Panther

Content with poverty, my soul I arm;
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

JOHN DRYDEN, Imitation of Horace

With how much ease believe we what we wish!

JOHN DRYDEN, Cleopatra

War seldom enters but where wealth allures.

JOHN DRYDEN, The Hind and the Panther

Ah, how sweet it is to love!
Ah, how gay is young Desire!
And what pleasing pains we prove
When we first approach Love's fire!

JOHN DRYDEN Tyrannic Love

To die for faction is a common evil,
But to be hanged for nonsense is the devil.

JOHN DRYDEN, Abaslom and Achitophel

I strongly wish, for what I faintly hope:
Like the daydreams of melancholy men,
I think and think on things impossible,
Yet love to wander in that golden maze.

JOHN DRYDEN, The Rival Ladies

See how the madman bleed! behold the gains
With which their master, Love, rewards their pains!

JOHN DRYDEN, Palamon and Arcite

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

JOHN DRYDEN, Absalom and Achitophel

They would leave out the words, and fall to dancing.
The poetry of the foot takes most of late.

JOHN DRYDEN, The Rival Ladies

None but the brave deserves the fair.

JOHN DRYDEN, Alexander's Feast

Browse John Dryden Quotes II

Browse John Dryden Quotes III

John Dryden - a biography.

John Dryden Poems - a collection of his poetry.

John Dryden Bibliography - a bibliography, including list of critical resources.

Restoration Drama - an overview of Restoration theatre.


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