Top 8 Quotes by William Drummond

Put a bridle on thy tongue; set a guard before thy lips, lest the words of thine own mouth destroy thy peace... on much speaking cometh repentance, but in silence is safety.

Put a bridle on thy tongue; set a guard before thy lips, lest the words of thine own mouth destroy thy peace... on much speaking cometh repentance, but in silence is safety.

William Drummond

Safety, Silence, Mouths

Books have that strange quality, that being of the frailest and tenderest matter, they outlast brass, iron and marble.

William Drummond

Book, Iron, Quality

What sweet delight a quiet life affords.

William Drummond

Marriage, Sweet, Delight

William Drummond, P. C., Peter Cunningham (1852). “Poems by ... W. D. [Edited, with a life by P. C., i.e. Peter Cunningham.]”, p.199

He who dares not (reason), is a slave.

William Drummond

Freedom, Slave, Reason

Sleep, Silence's child, sweet father of soft rest, Prince whose approach peace to all mortals brings Indifferent host to shepherds and kings Sole comforter to minds with grief oppressed.

William Drummond

Sweet, Kings, Children

Thrice happy he, who by some shady grove, Far from the clamorous world; doth live his own; Though solitary, who is not alone, But doth converse with that eternal love.

William Drummond

Solitude, Eternal Love, World

William Drummond (1856). “The Poetical Works”, p.85

So that my life be brave, what though not long?

William Drummond

Life, Long, Brave

William Drummond (1856). “The poetical works ed. by W. B. Turnbull”, p.17

My thoughts hold mortal strife, I do detest my life, And with lamenting cries, Peace to my soul to bring, Oft calls that prince which here doth monarchize; But he, grim-grinning king, Who caitiffs scorns and doth the blest surprise, Late having deck'd with beauty's rose his tomb, Disdains to crop a weed, and will not come.

William Drummond

Sad, Weed, Kings

William Drummond, Peter Cunningham (1833). “The Poems of William Drummond of Hawthornden: With Life, by Peter Cunningham”, p.234