Quote #4

Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread, Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.

More from William Cowper

  1. Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
  2. True Charity, a plant divinely nurs'd.
  3. But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of Heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.
  4. 'Regions Caesar never knew Thy posterity shall sway; Where his eagles never flew, None invincible as they.' Such the bard's prophetic words…
  5. Absence from whom we love is worse than death, And frustrate hope severer than despair.
  6. Sweet stream that winds through yonder glade, Apt emblem of a virtuous maid Silent and chaste she steals along, Far from the world's gay bu…
  7. Candid, and generous, and just, Boys care but little whom they trust, An error soon corrected- For who but learns in riper years That man, …
  8. Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.

All William Cowper quotes