John Dryden

Men are but children of a larger growth, Our appetites as apt to change as theirs, And full as craving too, and full as vain.

— John Dryden

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.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Drinking is the soldier's pleasure.

— John Dryden

Fortune befriends the bold.

— John Dryden

For they conquer who believe they can.

— John Dryden

For all have not the gift of martyrdom.

— John Dryden

Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail our lion now will foreign foes assail.

— John Dryden

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.

— John Dryden

Successful crimes alone are justified.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

He was exhaled; his great Creator drew His spirit, as the sun the morning dew.

— John Dryden

Like pilgrims to the appointed place we tend; The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.

— John Dryden

To die is landing on some distant shore.

— John Dryden

Be slow to resolve, but quick in performance.

— John Dryden

Self-defense is Nature's eldest law.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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.

— John Dryden

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.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

All objects lose by too familiar a view.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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!

— John Dryden

He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Genius must be born, and never can be taught.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

All heiresses are beautiful.

— John Dryden

Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Kings fight for empires, madmen for applause.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Love is love's reward.

— John Dryden

Love is not in our choice but in our fate.

— John Dryden

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.

— John Dryden

Thou strong seducer, Opportunity!

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Beware the fury of a patient man.

— John Dryden

Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Resolved to ruin or to rule the state.

— John Dryden

Mighty things from small beginnings grow.

— John Dryden

He who would search for pearls must dive below.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Repentance is but want of power to sin.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden

Not to ask is not be denied.

— John Dryden

She feared no danger, for she knew no sin.

— John Dryden

Far more numerous are those as such; who think too little and talk too much.

— John Dryden

Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you don't let other people spend it for you.

— John Dryden

Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today.

— John Dryden

He who trusts secrets to a servant makes him his master.

— John Dryden

Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.

— John Dryden

War is the trade of Kings.

— John Dryden

War, he sung, is toil and trouble; Honor but an empty bubble.

— John Dryden

Nature meant me a wife, a silly harmless household Dove, fond without art; and kind without deceit.

— John Dryden

Such subtle Covenants shall be made,Till Peace it self is War in Masquerade.

— John Dryden

Fortune, that with malicious joyDoes man her slave oppress,Proud of her office to destroy,Is seldom pleasd to bless.

— John Dryden

Why should a foolish marriage vow Which long ago was made, Oblige us to each other now When passion is decayed?

— John Dryden

I am resolved to grow fat, and look young till forty, and then slip out of the world, with the first wrinkle, and the reputation of five-and-twenty.

— John Dryden

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

— John Dryden