English poet (1683-1765)
He who, superior to the checks of nature,
Dares make his life the victim of his reason,
Does in some sort that reason deify,
And take a flight at heav'n.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Revenge
The house of laughter makes a house of woe.
EDWARD YOUNG
Night Thoughts
When human glory rises high
As human glory can;
When though the king is truly great,
Still greater is the man.
EDWARD YOUNG
"Resignation"
By night an atheist half believes in God.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Complaint, or Night-Thoughts on Life, Death & Immortality
A man I knew who lived upon a smile,
And well it fed him; he look'd plump and fair
EDWARD YOUNG
Night Thoughts
A God all mercy is a God unjust.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Complaint, or Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality
Look into those they call unfortunate,
And closer view'd, you'll find they are unwise.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Revenge
Ah! what is human life?
How, like the dial's tardy-moving shade,
Day after day slides from us unperceiv'd!
The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth;
Too subtle is the movement to be seen;
Yet soon the hour is up--and we are gone.
EDWARD YOUNG
Busiris, King of Egypt: A Tragedy
Thoughts shut up want air,
And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun.
EDWARD YOUNG
Night Thoughts
Live now; be damn'd hereafter.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Revenge
Ocean into tempest wrought,
To waft a feather, or to drown a fly.
EDWARD YOUNG
Night Thoughts
If, my lord, the dead alone
Are all your care, life is no more a blessing.
EDWARD YOUNG
Busiris, King of Egypt: A Tragedy
Rising glory occasions the greatest envy, as kindling fires the greatest smoke.
EDWARD YOUNG
A Vindication of Providence; Or, a True Estimate of Human Life
But love, like wine, gives a tumultuous bliss,
Heighten'd indeed beyond all mortal pleasures;
But mingles pangs and madness in the bowl.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Revenge
O sacred solitude! divine retreat!
Choice of the prudent! envy of the great,
By thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade,
We court fair wisdom, that celestial maid.
EDWARD YOUNG
Love of Fame
Some go to Church, proud humbly to repent,
And come back much more guilty than they went:
One way they look, another way they steer,
Pray to the Gods; but would have Mortals hear;
And when their sins they set sincerely down,
They'll find that their Religion has been one.
EDWARD YOUNG
Love of Fame: The Universal Passion in Seven Characteristical Satires
Men are but men; we did not make ourselves.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Revenge
He that's ungrateful, has no guilt but one;
All other crimes may pass for virtues in him.
EDWARD YOUNG
Busiris
The clouds may drop down titles and estates, wealth may seek us; but wisdom must be sought.
EDWARD YOUNG
The Complaint; Or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality
Polite diseases make some idiots vain,
Which, if unfortunately well, they feign.
EDWARD YOUNG
Love of Fame: The Universal Passion in Seven Characteristical Satires