718 Quotes by John Dryden

…So when the last and dreadful hourThis crumbling pageant shall devour,The trumpet shall be heard on high,The dead shall live, the living die,And Music shall untune the sky

To die is landing on some distant shore.

Dim as the borrowed beams of moons and starsTo lonely, weary, wandering travelers,Is Reason to the soul; and, as on highThose rolling fires discover but the sky,Not light us here, so Reason's glimmering rayWas lent, not to assure our doubtful way,But guide us upward to a better day.

Thus, in a Pageant Show, a Plot is made; And Peace it self is War in Masquerade.

From Plots and Treasons Heaven preserve my years,But Save me most from my Petitioners.Unsatiate as the barren Womb or Grave;God cannot Grant so much as they can Crave.

Of no distemper, of no blast he died, But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long — Even wondered at, because he dropped no sooner. Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years, Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more; Till like a clock worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still.

Maintain your post: That's all the fame you need; For 'tis impossible you should proceed.

And after hearing what our Church can say, If still our reason runs another way, That private reason 'tis more just to curb, Than by disputes the public peace disturb; For points obscure are of small use to learn, But common quiet is mankind's concern.

So the false spider, when her nets are spread, deep ambushed in her silent den does lie.