718 Quotes by John Dryden

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

When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat; / Yet, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit; / Trust on and think tomorrow will repay, / Tomorrow's falser than the former day.

He made all countries where he came his own; / And, viewing monarchs' secret arts of sway, / A royal factor for their kingdoms lay. / Thus, banished David spent abroad his time, / When to be God's anointed was his crime; / And, when restored, made his proud neighbours rue / Those choice remarks he from his travels drew. / Nor is he only by afflictions shown / To conquer others' realms, but rule his own.

And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, / As brooks make rivers, rivers run into seas.

The wise for cure, on exercise depend; / God never made his work, for man to mend.

And to explain what your forefathers meant, By real presence in the sacrament, After long fencing pushed against a wall, Your salvo comes, that he's not there at all:

Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seen, Whose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin.

A rough diamond who must be polished first ere he shines.