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William Cowper Quotes (1731-1800)
Poet
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About William Cowper
William Cowper (26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist.
Best William Cowper Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful William Cowper quotes.
“A hat not much the worse for wear.”
“Laugh at all you trembled at before.”
“Public schools 'tis public folly feeds.”
“Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.”
“The parson knows enough who knows a duke.”
“The son of parents pass'd into the skies.”
“That good diffused may more abundant grow.”
“Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was.”
“But strive still to be a man before your mother.”
“Elegant as simplicity, and warm
As ecstasy.”
As ecstasy.”
“Glory, built
On selfish principles, is shame and guilt.”
On selfish principles, is shame and guilt.”
William Cowper Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of William Cowper quotes by topic.
William Cowper on Preaching 7 quotes
“A kick that scarce would move a horse, May kill a sound divine.”
William Cowper on Wisdom 5 quotes
View all 5 quotes on Wisdom →William Cowper on Poets 5 quotes
“And spare the poet for his subject's sake.”
William Cowper on Character 4 quotes
“Elegant as simplicity, and warm As ecstasy.”
William Cowper on God 4 quotes
“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 Mind 3 quotes
View all 3 quotes on Mind →William Cowper on Foolishness 3 quotes
View all 3 quotes on Foolishness →William Cowper on Man 3 quotes
“But strive still to be a man before your mother.”
William Cowper on Religion 3 quotes
View all 3 quotes on Religion →William Cowper on Journalism 3 quotes
View all 3 quotes on Journalism →William Cowper on Friendship 3 quotes
“She that asks Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them all, And hates their coming.”
What William Cowper Said About Others
Discover personal opinions William Cowper shared regarding contemporaries.
William Cowper on Alexander Pope
William Cowper on Black people
William Cowper on Nathaniel Hawthorne
“All brave men love; for he only is brave who has affections to fight for, whether in the daily battle of life, or in physical contests.”
William Cowper on Wives
“What is there in the vale of life Half so delightful as a wife, When friendship, love, and peace combine To stamp the marriage-bond divine?”
William Cowper on Women
“Well thou play'dst the housewife's part, And all thy threads with magic art Have wound themselves about this heart, My Mary.”
William Cowper on Vincent Bourne
“I love the memory of Vinny Bourne. I think him a better Latin poet than Tibullus, Propertius, Ausonius, or any of the writers in his way, except Ovid, and not at all inferior to him.”
William Cowper on Thomas Hobbes
“I have seen a translation by Hobbes, which I prefer for its greater clumsiness. Many years have passed since I saw it, but it made me laugh immoderately. Poetry that is not good can only make amends for that deficiency by being ridiculous...”
William Cowper on Thomas Gray
“I have been reading Gray's Works, and think him the only poet since Shakespeare entitled to the character of sublime... I once thought Swift's letters the best that could be written; but I like Gray's better. His humour, or his wit, or whatever it is to be called, is never ill-natured or offensive, and yet, I think equally poignant with the Dean's.”
Quotes About William Cowper
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about William Cowper from others.
Walter Bagehot on William Cowper
“The mind of Cowper was, so to speak, naturally terrestrial. If a man wishes for a nice appreciation of the details of time and sense, let him consult Cowper's miscellaneous letters. Each simple event of every day—each petty object of external observation or inward suggestion, is there chronicled with a fine and female fondness, a wise and happy faculty, let us say, of deriving a gentle happiness from the tranquil and passing hour.”
John Conington on William Cowper
“Cowper, writing after Pope, had the advantage of knowing what to avoid; but he was misled by a false analogy, and seeing in Milton a great epic poet, austere in his manner and repellent of meretricious ornament, attempted to force on Homer a style which, rightly considered, is almost as artificial as Virgil's, and which, moreover, he was himself unequal to wield.”
C. S. Lewis on William Cowper
“Have you ever read the letters of the poet Cowper? He had nothing—literally nothing—to tell anyone about; private life in a sleepy country town where Evangelical distrust of "the world" denied him even such miserable society as the place would have afforded. And yet one reads a whole volume of his letters with unfailing interest. How his tooth came loose at dinner, how he made a hutch for a tame hare, what he is doing about his cucumbers—all this he makes one follow as if the fate of empires hung on it.”
A. Edmund Spender on William Cowper
“We can not but admire a man who, subject to a lifelong illness that inflicted with frequent recurrence an intense mental agony, fought persistently against his weakness—at times their master, at times a victim to their influence. Still he did not flinch even under this torture, but held his pen and pressed it to write in a cause which was distinctly unpopular. Cowper was preeminently a poet of feelings; he may have been melancholy, but he pointed out to his readers how they were themselves subjects of emotion. He owed a debt to Providence, and he rebuked the people for their follies. In doing so he was regardless of his own fame and of their opprobrium. He gave them tolerable advice, and strove to awaken them from their apathy to a sense of their duty towards their neighbours. First of poets, since the days of Milton, to champion the sacredness of religion, he was the forerunner of a new school that disliked the political satires of the disciples of Pope, and aimed at borrowing for their lines of song from the simple beauties of a perfect nature.”
Leslie Stephen on William Cowper 2 quotes
“In the ‘Task,’ his playfulness, his exquisite appreciation of simple natural beauties, and his fine moral perceptions found full expression. Cowper now revealed himself in his natural character. He speaks as the gentle recluse, describes his surroundings playfully and pathetically, and is no longer declaiming from the rostrum or pulpit of the old-fashioned satirist.”
Misattributed Quotes
Quotes mistakenly credited to William Cowper
About William Cowper
William Cowper (26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist.