110+ John Dryden Quotes On Satirical, Poetic And Metaphorical

John Dryden was an English poet, playwright, and literary critic from the 17th century. He was appointed England's first Poet Laureate in 1668 and is known for writing the poem "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day". He was an influential figure in the restoration period, and is known for his works in the genres of satire and heroic couplets. Following is our collection on famous quotes by John Dryden on love, satirical, poetic.

Top 10 John Dryden Quotes

1. Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul.
2. Self-defense is Nature's eldest law.
3. …So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky
4. When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Dead men tell no tales.
8. Kings fight for empires, madmen for applause.
9. Love is not in our choice but in our fate.
10. The sooner you treat your son as a man, the sooner he will be one.

John Dryden Image Quotes

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

John Dryden Short Quotes

• We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
• Fortune befriends the bold.
• Beware the fury of a patient man.
• All, as they say, that glitters is not gold.
• She feared no danger, for she knew no sin.
• When bounteous autumn rears her head, he joys to pull the ripened pear.
• He who would search for pearls must dive below.
• Mighty things from small beginnings grow.
• Wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line.
• Fortune confounds the wise, And when they least expect it turns the dice.

John Dryden Quotes About Love

Love works a different way in different minds, the fool it enlightens and the wise it blinds. — John Dryden

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

Love is a child that talks in broken language, yet then he speaks most plain. — 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

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

You see through love, and that deludes your sight, As what is straight seems crooked through the water. — John Dryden

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

Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. — John Dryden

Love is love's reward. — John Dryden

Fool, not to know that love endures no tie, And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury. — John Dryden

John Dryden Quotes About Satirical

The end of satire is the amendment of vices by correction; and he who writes honestly is no more an enemy to the offender than the physician to the patient when he prescribes harsh remedies. — John Dryden

Satire among the Romans, but not among the Greeks, was a bitter invective poem. — John Dryden

Satire is a kind of poetry in which human vices are reprehended. — John Dryden

A satirical poet is the check of the laymen on bad priests. — John Dryden

John Dryden Quotes About Fate

Let Fortune empty her whole quiver on me, I have a soul that, like an ample shield, Can take in all, and verge enough for more; Fate was not mine, nor am I Fate's: Souls know no conquerors. — John Dryden

The Fates but only spin the coarser clue; The finest of the wool is left for you. — John Dryden

All things are subject to decay and when fate summons, monarchs must obey. — John Dryden

Tis Fate that flings the dice, And as she flings Of kings makes peasants, And of peasants kings. — John Dryden

Seek not to know what must not be reveal, for joy only flows where fate is most concealed. A busy person would find their sorrows much more; if future fortunes were known before! — John Dryden

What I have left is from my native spring; I've still a heart that swells, in scorn of fate, And lifts me to my banks. — John Dryden

Ill news is wing'd with fate, and flies apace. — John Dryden

Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine, The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour. — John Dryden

For those whom God to ruin has design'd, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind. — John Dryden

An hour will come, with pleasure to relate Your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate. — John Dryden

John Dryden Quotes About Reason

Revealed religion first informed thy sight, and reason saw not till faith sprung to light. — John Dryden

Reason to rule, mercy to forgive: The first is law, the last prerogative. Life is an adventure in forgiveness. — John Dryden

Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone. — John Dryden

Dreams are but interludes, which fancy makes; When monarch reason sleeps, this mimic wakes. — John Dryden

Reason to rule but mercy to forgive: The first is the law, the last prerogative. — John Dryden

And after hearing what our Church can say, If still our reason runs another way, That private reason 'tis more just to curb, Than by disputes the public peace disturb; For points obscure are of small use to learn, But common quiet is mankind's concern. — John Dryden

God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love. — John Dryden

Good sense and good-nature are never separated, though the ignorant world has thought otherwise. Good-nature, by which I mean beneficence and candor, is the product of right reason. — John Dryden

Mere poets are sottish as mere drunkards are, who live in a continual mist, without seeing or judging anything clearly. A man should be learned in several sciences, and should have a reasonable, philosophical and in some measure a mathematical head, to be a complete and excellent poet. — John Dryden

The longest tyranny that ever sway'd Was that wherein our ancestors betray'd Their free-born reason to the Stagirite [Aristotle], And made his torch their universal light. So truth, while only one suppli'd the state, Grew scarce, and dear, and yet sophisticate. — John Dryden

John Dryden Quotes About Rule

Resolved to ruin or to rule the state. — John Dryden

It is madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because by herself she is nothing and is ruled by prudence. — John Dryden

Reason to rule but mercy to forgive The first is the law, the last prerogative. — John Dryden

If passion rules, how weak does reason prove! — John Dryden

That, if the Gentiles, (whom no Law inspir'd,) By Nature did what was by Law requir'd; They, who the written Rule and never known, Were to themselves both Rule and Law alone: To Natures plain Indictment they shall plead; And, by their Conscience, be condemn'd or freed. — John Dryden

[T]he Famous Rules which the French call, Des Trois Unitez , or, The Three Unities, which ought to be observ'd in every Regular Play; namely, of Time, Place, and Action. — John Dryden

John Dryden Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

Thou spring'st a leak already in thy crown, A flaw is in thy ill-bak'd vessel found; 'Tis hollow, and returns a jarring sound, Yet thy moist clay is pliant to command, Unwrought, and easy to the potter's hand: Now take the mould; now bend thy mind to feel The first sharp motions of the forming wheel. — John Dryden

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

He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear. — John Dryden

Hushed as midnight silence. — John Dryden

Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure,- Sweet is pleasure after pain. — John Dryden

He look'd in years, yet in his years were seen A youthful vigor, and autumnal green. — John Dryden

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

Genius must be born, and never can be taught. — John Dryden

The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race. — John Dryden

So the false spider, when her nets are spread, deep ambushed in her silent den does lie. — John Dryden

And that the Scriptures, though not everywhere Free from corruption, or entire, or clear, Are uncorrupt, sufficient, clear, entire In all things which our needful faith require. — John Dryden

We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what they help distribute to the public; by which means a falsehood once received from a famed writer becomes traditional to posterity. — John Dryden

None would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; And, from the dregs of life, think to receive, What the first sprightly running could not give. — John Dryden

Ye moon and stars, bear witness to the truth. — John Dryden

The unhappy man, who once has trail'd a pen, Lives not to please himself, but other men; Is always drudging, wastes his life and blood, Yet only eats and drinks what you think good. — John Dryden

For they conquer who believe they can. — John Dryden

Merit challenges envy. — John Dryden

Better to hunt in fields, for health unbought, Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught, The wise, for cure, on exercise depend; God never made his work for man to mend. — John Dryden

Shame on the body for breaking down while the spirit perseveres. — John Dryden

Drinking is the soldier's pleasure. — John Dryden

Look around the inhabited world; how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue. — John Dryden

He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him. — John Dryden

Since every man who lives is born to die, And none can boast sincere felicity, With equal mind, what happens, let us bear, Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond our care. Like pilgrims to the' appointed place we tend; The world's an inn, and death the journey's end. — John Dryden

Not to ask is not be denied. — John Dryden

By education most have been misled. — John Dryden

When I consider life, it is all a cheat. Yet fooled with hope, people favor this deceit. — John Dryden

Far more numerous are those as such; who think to little and talk to much. — John Dryden

Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is, with thoughts of what may be. — John Dryden

Possess your soul with patience. — John Dryden

Be slow to resolve, but quick in performance. — 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

Presence of mind and courage in distress, Are more than arrives to procure success? — John Dryden

Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray; Who can tread sure on the smooth, slippery way: Pleased with the surface, we glide swiftly on, And see the dangers that we cannot shun. — John Dryden

Bacchus ever fair and young, Drinking joys did first ordain. Bachus's blessings are a treasure, Drinking is the soldier's pleasure, Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure- Sweet is pleasure after pain. — John Dryden

The scum that rises upmost, when the nation boils. — John Dryden

And love's the noblest frailty of the mind. — John Dryden

Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense, But good men starve for want of impudence. — John Dryden

None, none descends into himself, to find The secret imperfections of his mind: But every one is eagle-ey'd to see Another's faults, and his deformity. — John Dryden

Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. — John Dryden

We can never be grieved for their miseries who are thoroughly wicked, and have thereby justly called their calamities on themselves. — John Dryden

All heiresses are beautiful. — John Dryden

Desire of greatness is a godlike sin. — John Dryden

Repentance is but want of power to sin. — John Dryden

He who would pry behind the scenes oft sees a counterfeit. — John Dryden

For all have not the gift of martyrdom. — John Dryden

Joy rul'd the day, and Love the night. — John Dryden

Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail our lion now will foreign foes assail. — John Dryden

By education most have been misled; So they believe, because they were bred. The priest continues where the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the man. — John Dryden

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

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

Such subtle Covenants shall be made,Till Peace it self is War in Masquerade. — John Dryden

Errors like straws upon the surface flow, Who would search for pearls to be grateful for often must dive below. — John Dryden

Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today. — John Dryden

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

Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is with thoughts of what may be. — John Dryden

A lazy frost, a numbness of the mind. — John Dryden

Nor is the people's judgement always true;The most may err as grossly as the few. — John Dryden

Men are but children of a larger growth, Our appetites as apt to change as theirs, And full as craving too, and full as vain. — John Dryden

Order is the greatest grace. — John Dryden

Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide. — John Dryden

Never was patriot yet, but was a fool. — John Dryden

Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit, The power of beauty I remember yet. — John Dryden

Murder may pass unpunishd for a time, But tardy justice will oertake the crime. — John Dryden

But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much. — John Dryden

Affability, mildness, tenderness, and a word which I would fain bring back to its original signification of virtue,--I mean good-nature,--are of daily use; they are the bread of mankind and staff of life. — John Dryden

Of no distemper, of no blast he died, But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long: Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner. Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years; Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more; Till like a clock worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still. — John Dryden

Sure there's contagion in the tears of friends. — John Dryden

For Art may err, but Nature cannot miss. — John Dryden

Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors. — John Dryden

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

Rhyme is the rock on which thou art to wreck. — John Dryden

What precious drops are those, Which silently each other's track pursue, Bright as young diamonds in their faint dew? — John Dryden

Life Lessons by John Dryden

1. John Dryden's poetry emphasizes the importance of understanding the power of words and the impact they can have on our lives. He encourages readers to use language to express themselves clearly and to think carefully before speaking.
2. His works also remind us to remain humble and to recognize our own mortality, as well as the importance of living in the present moment and cherishing the people and things we have in our lives.
3. Dryden's poetry also encourages us to be open to change and to embrace the beauty of life's journey, no matter how difficult it may be.