William Cowper ( 10 of 184 )
An idler is a watch that wants both hands;
As useless if it goes as when it stands.
An idler is a watch that wants both hands;
As useless if it goes as when it stands.
How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle; and who justly in return
Esteems that busy read more
How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle; and who justly in return
Esteems that busy world an idler too!
Defend me, therefore, common sense, say
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into read more
Defend me, therefore, common sense, say
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up.
The priest he merry is, and blithe
Three-quarters of a year,
But oh! it cuts him like read more
The priest he merry is, and blithe
Three-quarters of a year,
But oh! it cuts him like a scythe
When tithing time draws near.
Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts.
It's what you do with what read more
Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts.
It's what you do with what you have left.
An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting
An epigram is but a feeble thing - With straw in tail, stuck there by way of sting
The sinews of affairs are cut.
The sinews of affairs are cut.
Absence from whom we love is worse than death.
Absence from whom we love is worse than death.
'Twere better to be born a stone
Of ruder shape, and feeling none,
Than with a tenderness read more
'Twere better to be born a stone
Of ruder shape, and feeling none,
Than with a tenderness like mine
And sensibilities so fine!
Ah, hapless wretch! condemn'd to dwell
Forever in my native shell,
Ordained to move when others please,
Not for my own content or ease;
But toss'd and buffeted about,
Now in the water and now out.
Whoever keeps an open ear
For tattlers will be sure to hear
The trumpet of contention.
Whoever keeps an open ear
For tattlers will be sure to hear
The trumpet of contention.
