Quotes by Dryden, John

"Be slow to resolve, but quick in performance."

Dryden, John on decisions   

"Self-defense is Nature's eldest law."

Dryden, John on defense
5 fans of this quote   

"Nor is the people's judgment always true: the most may err as grossly as the few."

Dryden, John on democracy   

"Since every man who lives is born to die, and none can boast sincere felicity, with equal mind, what happens, let us bear, nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond our care."

Dryden, John on endurance   

"Railing and praising were his usual themes; and both showed his judgment in extremes. Either over violent or over civil, so everyone to him was either god or devil."

Dryden, John on extremes and extremists   

"So over violent, or over civil that every man with him was God or Devil."

Dryden, John on extremes and extremists   

"All objects lose by too familiar a view."

Dryden, John on familiarity   

"All things are subject to decay and when fate summons, monarchs must obey."

Dryden, John on fate   

"Seek not to know what must not be reveal, for joy only flows where fate is most concealed. A busy person would find their sorrows much more; if future fortunes were known before!"

Dryden, John on fate
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"He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear."

Dryden, John on fear
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"It is madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because by herself she is nothing and is ruled by prudence."

Dryden, John on fortune   

"Genius must be born, and never can be taught."

Dryden, John on genius
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"Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide."

Dryden, John on genius
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"Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, but genius must be born; and never can be taught."

Dryden, John on genius   

"Fool that I was, upon my eagle's wings I bore this wren, till I was tired with soaring, and now he mounts above me."

Dryden, John on aid and assistance   

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

Dryden, John on habit   

"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."

Dryden, John on habit   

"Woman's honor is nice as ermine; it will not bear a soil."

Dryden, John on honor   

"All heiresses are beautiful."

Dryden, John on inheritance   

"Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul."

Dryden, John on jealousy   

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

Dryden, John on joy   

"Kings fight for empires, madmen for applause."

Dryden, John on kings   

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

Dryden, John on life   

"Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is, with thoughts of what may be."

Dryden, John on anxiety
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"Drinking is the soldier's pleasure."

Dryden, John on army and navy   

"Love works a different way in different minds, the fool it enlightens and the wise it blinds."

Dryden, John on love
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"Love is love's reward."

Dryden, John on love
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"Love is not in our choice but in our fate."

Dryden, John on love
10 fans of this quote   

"Go miser go, for money sell your soul. Trade wares for wares and trudge from pole to pole, So others may say when you are dead and gone. See what a vast estate he left his son."

Dryden, John on misers and misery   

"Thou strong seducer, Opportunity!"

Dryden, John on opportunity   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"Pains of love be sweeter far than all the other pleasures are."

Dryden, John on pain
6 fans of this quote   

"The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one."

Dryden, John on parents and parenting
4 fans of this quote   

"Beware the fury of a patient man."

Dryden, John on patience
3 fans of this quote   

"Never was patriot yet, but was a fool."

Dryden, John on patriotism   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him."

Dryden, John on plagiarism   

"Resolved to ruin or to rule the state."

Dryden, John on politics   

"Mighty things from small beginnings grow."

Dryden, John on power
4 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"He who would search for pearls must dive below."

Dryden, John on price   

"Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone."

Dryden, John on reason   

"Repentance is but want of power to sin."

Dryden, John on repentance