Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by William Cowper (English Anglican Poet)

William Cowper (1731–1800) was a British poet and hymn-writer. Often recognized as a “transitional” writer, he anticipated the attitudes and subjects of Romantic and Victorian authors.

Born in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, Cowper was educated at Westminster School. He studied law and was called to the Bar in 1754, but did not practice. He showed signs of insanity—in 1763, he tried to commit suicide and was sent to a sanatorium.

Together with the evangelical minister John Newton, Cowper wrote the Olney Hymns (1779,) to which Cowper contributed some hymns. His well-known hymns, including “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” and “Oh for a Closer Walk with God” have become standards of the Anglican Church.

Cowper’s other works include the ballad ‘John Gilpin’ (1783,) ‘Castaway,’ The Task (1785,) an intimate sketch of rural life, and translations including poet John Milton’s Latin poems.

Cowper is generally regarded as the poet of the evangelical revival and as the precursor of William Wordsworth as a poet of nature. Novelist Jane Austen’s characters often quote some of Cowper’s poems.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by William Cowper

Who hath not owned, with rapture-smitten frame, the power of grace, the magic of a name.
—William Cowper
Topics: Names

The lie that flatters I abhor the most.
—William Cowper
Topics: Flattery

If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one … .
—William Cowper
Topics: Attitude

Unless a love of virtue light the flame,
Satire is, more than those he brands, to blame;
He hides behind a magisterial air
He own offences, and strips others’ bare.
—William Cowper

God made the country, and man made the town.—What wonder, then, that health and virtue should most abound, and least be threatened in the fields and groves.
—William Cowper
Topics: Country

Knowledge is proud that she knows so much; Wisdom is humble that she knows no more.
—William Cowper
Topics: Now, Knowledge, Wisdom

Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor, and with thee rich, take what thou wilt away.
—William Cowper

This folio of four pages, what is it but a map of busy life—its fluctuations, and its vast concerns?
—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
Topics: Earth

To dally mucn with subjects mean and low, proves that the mind is weak or makes it so.
—William Cowper

How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! but grant me still a friend in my retreat, whom I may whisper, solitude is sweet.
—William Cowper
Topics: Solitude

Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.
—William Cowper
Topics: Kindness, Compassion

Nature is but a name for an effect whose cause is God.
—William Cowper
Topics: Nature

O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, … I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb’d Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
—William Cowper
Topics: Winter

Visitors are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not visit, would do nothing.
—William Cowper

Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, rocked in the cradle of the western breeze.
—William Cowper
Topics: Spring

An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless if it goes as when it stands.
—William Cowper
Topics: Idleness

Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
—William Cowper
Topics: Absence, Romance

To follow foolish precedents, and wink with both our eyes, is easier than to think.
—William Cowper
Topics: Custom, Fools

The age of virtuous politics is past, and we are deep in that of cold pretence.—Patriots are grown too shrewd to be sincere, and we too wise to trust them.
—William Cowper
Topics: Patriotism

Meditation may think down hours to moments. The heart may give most useful lessons to the head, and learning wiser grow without his books.
—William Cowper
Topics: Meditation

Words learned by rote a parrot may rehearse; but talking is not always to converse; not more distinct from harmony divine, the constant creaking of a country sign.
—William Cowper
Topics: Talking

A self-made man? Yes, and one who worships his creator.
—William Cowper
Topics: Pride

Knowledge dwells in heads replete with thoughts of other men; wisdom, in minds attentive to their own.
—William Cowper
Topics: Knowledge

Religion! what treasure untold resides in that heavenly word!
—William Cowper
Topics: Religion

O popular applause! what heart of man is proof against thy sweet seducing charms? The wisest and the best feel urgent need of all their caution in thy gentlest gales; but swell’d into a gust—who then, alas! with all his canvas set, and inexpert, and therefore heedless, can withstand thy power?
—William Cowper
Topics: Popularity, Applause, Praise

Habits are soon assumed; but when we endeavor to strip them off, it is being flayed alive.
—William Cowper
Topics: Habit

Not rural sights alone, but rural sounds exhilarate the spirits, and restore the tone of languid nature. Mighty winds, that sweep the skirts of some far-spreading wood of ancient growth, make music not unlike the dash of ocean on his winding shore, and lull the spirit while they fill the mind.
—William Cowper
Topics: Country

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
—William Cowper
Topics: Professionalism, Experts

Ceremony leads her bigots forth, prepared to fight for shadows of no worth. While truths, on which eternal things depend, can hardly find a single friend.
—William Cowper
Topics: Truth

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