22 Quotes By William Cowper


The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
William Cowper on change

Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
William Cowper on death

Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
William Cowper on gardening

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
William Cowper on god

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
William Cowper on happiness

Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
William Cowper on happiness

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
William Cowper on home

Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
William Cowper on hope

Knowledge is proud that it knows so much wisdom is humble that it knows no more.
William Cowper on knowledge

Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
William Cowper on learning

Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
William Cowper on life

Nature is a good name for an effect whose cause is God.
William Cowper on nature

Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
William Cowper on nature

Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.
William Cowper on positive

They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.
William Cowper on truth

Knowledge is proud that it knows so much wisdom is humble that it knows no more.
William Cowper on wisdom

Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
William Cowper on wisdom

They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed.
William Cowper on wisdom

I would not enter in my list of friends, Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path, But he has the humanity, forewarned, Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
William Cowper on friendship

Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
William Cowper on instinct