Best John Dryden Quotes & Sayings

Time, place, and action may with pains be wrought, but genius must be born; and never can be taught. — John Dryden

They that possess the prince possess the laws. — John Dryden

I am as free as nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran. — John Dryden

Welcome, thou kind deceiver!
Thou best of thieves: who, with an easy key,
Dost open life, and, unperceived by us,
Even steal us from ourselves. — John Dryden

Prodigious actions may as well be done, by weaver's issue, as the prince's son. — John Dryden

Beauty is nothing else but a just accord and mutual harmony of the members, animated by a healthful constitution. — John Dryden

Whatever is, is in its causes just;
But purblind man
Sees but a part o' th' chain; the nearest link;
His eyes not carrying to that equal beam
That poises all above. — John Dryden

He with a graceful pride, While his rider every hand survey'd, Sprung loose, and flew into an escapade; Not moving forward, yet with every bound Pressing, and seeming still to quit his ground. — John Dryden

Better shun the bait, than struggle in the snare. — John Dryden

The brave man seeks not popular applause, Nor, overpower'd with arms, deserts his cause; Unsham'd, though foil'd, he does the best he can, Force is of brutes, but honor is of man. — John Dryden

Self-defense is Nature's eldest law. — John Dryden

Pains of love be sweeter far than all other pleasures are. — John Dryden

Bets at first were fool-traps, where the wise like spiders lay in ambush for the flies. — John Dryden

All authors to their own defects are blind. — John Dryden

Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age. — John Dryden

There is a proud modesty in merit. — John Dryden

Hold, are you mad? you damn'd confounded Dog,
I am to rise, and speak the Epilogue. — John Dryden

Parting is worse than death; it is death of love! — John Dryden

Zeal, the blind conductor of the will. — John Dryden

Trust reposed in noble natures obliges them the more. — John Dryden

The commendation of adversaries is the greatest triumph of a writer, because it never comes unless extorted. — John Dryden

To die is landing on some distant shore. — John Dryden

Second thoughts, they say, are best. — John Dryden

If one must be rejected, one succeed, make him my lord within whose faithful breast is fixed my image, and who loves me best. — John Dryden

Silence in times of suffering is the best. — John Dryden

Love either finds equality or makes it. — John Dryden

There is an inimitable grace in Virgil's words, and in them principally consists that beauty which gives so inexpressible a pleasure to him who best understands their force. This diction of his, I must once again say, is never to be copied; and since it cannot, he will appear but lame in the best translation. — John Dryden

Since a true knowledge of nature gives us pleasure, a lively imitation of it, either in poetry or painting, must produce a much greater; for both these arts are not only true imitations of nature, but of the best nature. — John Dryden

The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one. — John Dryden

All heiresses are beautiful. — John Dryden

Confidence is the feeling we have before knowing all the facts — John Dryden

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

I feel my sinews slackened with the fright, and a cold sweat trills down all over my limbs, as if I were dissolving into water. — John Dryden

These are the effects of doting age,
vain doubts and idle cares and over caution. — John Dryden

Imagination in a poet is a faculty so wild and lawless that, like a high ranging spaniel, it must have clogs tied to it, lest it outrun the judgment. The great easiness of blank verse renders the poet too luxuriant. He is tempted to say many things which might better be omitted, or, at least shut up in fewer words. — John Dryden

And write whatever Time shall bring to pass
With pens of adamant on plates of brass. — 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

Light sufferings give us leisure to complain. — John Dryden

Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade. — John Dryden

Night came, but unattended with repose.
Alone she came, no sleep their eyes to close.
Alone and black she came; no friendly stars arose. — John Dryden

Genius must be born, it can't be taught. — John Dryden

He who trusts secrets to a servant makes him his master — John Dryden

So poetry, which is in Oxford made An art, in London only is a trade. — John Dryden

None are so busy as the fool and the knave. — John Dryden

Be secret and discreet; the fairy favors are lost when not concealed. — John Dryden

Successful crimes alone are justified. — John Dryden