John Dryden (1631–1700) was an English poet, literary critic, and playwright who so dominated the literary scene of his day that it came to be known as the Age of Dryden. He wrote nearly 30 plays and was one of the great dramatists of the Augustan Age.
Born in Aldwinkle All Saints, Northamptonshire, Dryden was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge’s Trinity College. He became known for his Heroic Stanzas (1658) on General Oliver Cromwell’s death. It was tactfully followed by Astraea Redux (1660,) praising King Charles II. Dryden was the first Poet Laureate 1668–88 when King James II was ousted in the Glorious Revolution.
Dryden’s other poems include Annus Mirabilis (1667,) the verse satires Absalom and Achitophel (1681,) the religious allegory The Hind and the Panther (1687,) and the ode Alexander’s Feast (1693.)
Dryden is best known for his outstanding plays, including Marriage à la mode (comedy, 1673,) All for Love (a tragedy based on Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, 1678.) His final work, Fables, Ancient and Modern (1699,) consisting of interpretations of Geoffrey Chaucer, Ovid, and Giovanni Boccaccio, continues to be popular.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John Dryden
It is a good thing to laugh, at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness. Beasts can weep when they suffer, but they cannot laugh.
—John Dryden
Topics: Laughter
I’m a little wounded, but I am not slain; I will lay me down to bleed a while. Then I’ll rise and fight again.
—John Dryden
Topics: Perseverance, Endurance, Resolve
Stiff in opinion; always in the wrong.
—John Dryden
Truth is never to be expected from authors whose understanding is warped with enthusiasm.
—John Dryden
Topics: Truth, Enthusiasm
The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one.
—John Dryden
Topics: Parents
We find but few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth. It is their common method to take on trust what they distribute to the public; by which means, a falsehood, once received from a famed writer, becomes traditional to posterity.
—John Dryden
Topics: Truth, History
Mighty things from small beginnings grow.
—John Dryden
Topics: Power
Her head was bare, but for her native ornament of hair, which in a simple knot was tied; sweet negligence—unheeded bait of love.
—John Dryden
Topics: Hair
Repentance is but want of power to sin.
—John Dryden
Topics: Forgiveness
Courage from hearts and not from numbers grows.
—John Dryden
Topics: Courage
Friendship, of itself a holy tie, is made more sacred by adversity.
—John Dryden
Topics: Friendship
He who purposes to be an author, should first be a student.
—John Dryden
None but the brave deserve the fair.
—John Dryden
Topics: Love, Courage
Fool that I was, upon my eagle’s wings I bore this wren, till I was tired with soaring, and now he mounts above me.
—John Dryden
When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell.
—John Dryden
Topics: Snow
A narrow mind begets obstinacy; we do not easily believe what we cannot see.
—John Dryden
My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.
—John Dryden
Topics: Guilt
Thou strong seducer, Opportunity!
—John Dryden
Topics: Opportunity
She feared no danger, for she knew no sin.
—John Dryden
Topics: Sin
Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul.
—John Dryden
Topics: Jealousy
Plots, true or false, are necessary things, to raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings.
—John Dryden
Topics: Revolution
Good sense and good nature are never separated; and good nature is the product of right reason.—It makes allowance for the failings of others by considering that there is nothing perfect in mankind; and by distinguishing that which comes nearest to excellence, though not absolutely free from faults, will certainly produce candor in judging.
—John Dryden
Be slow to resolve, but quick in performance.
—John Dryden
Topics: Decisions
Fortune, that with malicious joy
Does man her slave oppress,
Proud of her office to destroy,
Is seldom pleasd to bless.
—John Dryden
Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue.
—John Dryden
Topics: Grace, Love
We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
—John Dryden
A mob is the scum that rises upmost when the nation boils.
—John Dryden
Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today.
—John Dryden
Topics: Tomorrow, Time, The Future
Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well; the chiefest part of which is to observe those excellencies which delight a reasonable reader
—John Dryden
Topics: Critics, Criticism
They never pardon who commit the wrong.
—John Dryden
Topics: Forgiveness
Such subtle Covenants shall be made,
Till Peace it self is War in Masquerade.
—John Dryden
Beware the fury of a patient man.
—John Dryden
Topics: Anger, Patience
I felt the while a pleasing kind of smart; the kiss went tingling to my panting heart.—When it was gone, the sense of it did stay; the sweetness cling’d upon my lips all day, like drops of honey, loth to fall away.
—John Dryden
Most confidence has still most cause to doubt.
—John Dryden
Topics: Temptation
Bacchus’ blessings are a treasure; Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure.
—John Dryden
Topics: Blessings
Youth should watch joys and shoot them as they fly.
—John Dryden
Topics: Youth
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.
—John Dryden
Topics: Time Management, Happiness, The Present, Contentment
Genius must be born; it never can be taught.
—John Dryden
Topics: Genius
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