EDWARD YOUNG QUOTES III

English poet (1683-1765)

At thirty a man suspects himself a fool;
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;
At fifty chides his infamous delay,
Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve;
In all the magnanimity of thought
Resolves; and re-resolves; then dies the same.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts

Tags: fools


If he provokes a war, his empire shakes,
And all her lofty glories nod to ruin.

EDWARD YOUNG

The Brothers


Blest leisure is our curse; like that of Cain, It, makes us wander, wander earth around, To fly that tyrant Thought. As Atlas groan'd The world beneath, we groan beneath an hour.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality

Tags: leisure


He rams his quill with scandal and with scoff,
But 'tis so very foul, it won't go off.

EDWARD YOUNG

Epistles to Pope

Tags: scandal


How poor, how rich, how abject, how august,
How complicate, how wonderful, is man!...
Midway from nothing to the Deity!

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts

Tags: men


The man of wisdom is the man of years.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts


What is a miracle?--'Tis a reproach,
'Tis an implicit satire on mankind;
And while it satisfies, it censures too.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts

Tags: miracles


Procrastination is the thief of time.

EDWARD YOUNG

The Complaint, or Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality

Tags: procrastination


High stations tumult, but not bliss create;
None think the Great unhappy, but the Great.

EDWARD YOUNG

Love of Fame: The Universal Passion in Seven Characteristical Satires


In youth, what disappointments of our own making: in age, what disappointments from the nature of things.

EDWARD YOUNG

A Vindication of Providence

Tags: disappointment


Who combats with a brother, wounds himself.

EDWARD YOUNG

The Brothers


A tardy vengeance shares the tyrant's guilt.

EDWARD YOUNG

Busiris, King of Egypt: A Tragedy

Tags: vengeance


Youth is not rich in time; it may be poor;
Part with it as with money, sparing; pay
No moment but in purchase of its worth,
And what it's worth, ask death-beds; they can tell.

EDWARD YOUNG

The Complaint, or Night-Thoughts on Life, Death & Immortality

Tags: youth


Old men love novelties; the last arriv'd
Still pleases best; the youngest steals their smiles.

EDWARD YOUNG

The Brothers


Will toys amuse, when med'cines cannot cure?
When spirits ebb, when life's enchanting scenes
Their lustre lose, and lessen in our sight,
As lands and cities, with their glittering spires,
To the poor shatter'd bark by sudden storm
Thrown off to sea, and soon to perish there?
Will toys amuse? No: thrones will then be toys,
And earth and skies seem dust upon the scale.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts

Tags: toys


O let me be undone the common way,
And have the common comfort to be pity'd,
And not be ruin'd in the mask of bliss,
And so be envy'd, and be wretched too!

EDWARD YOUNG

The Revenge

Tags: pity


The course of Nature is the art of God.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts

Tags: Nature


Has the dark adder venom? So have I,
When trod upon.

EDWARD YOUNG

The Revenge


Titles are marks of honest men, and wise;
The Fool or Knave that wears a title, lies.

EDWARD YOUNG

Love of Fame: The Universal Passion in Seven Characteristical Satires


Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world.

EDWARD YOUNG

Night Thoughts

Tags: night