Quote #6

'Regions Caesar never knew Thy posterity shall sway; Where his eagles never flew, None invincible as they.' Such the bard's prophetic words, Pregnant with celestial fire, Bending as he swept the chords Of his sweet but awful lyre.

More from William Cowper

  1. True Charity, a plant divinely nurs'd.
  2. 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…
  3. Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread, Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strike…
  4. 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, …
  5. Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
  6. Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.
  7. 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.
  8. I believe no man was ever scolded out of his sins.

All William Cowper quotes