Quote#Happiness
I can enjoy her while she's kind
Quote byJohn Dryden · 1631–1700
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Imitation of Horace (1685), Bk. III, Ode 29, ll. 81–87; On Fortune.
English (original)
I can enjoy her while she's kind; But when she dances in the wind, And shakes the wings and will not stay, I puff the prostitute away: The little or the much she gave is quietly resign'd: Content with poverty, my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.
— John Dryden
More from John Dryden
An horrid stillness first invades the ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear.
But Shakespeare's magic could not copied be; Within that circle none durst walk but he.
Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.
So softly death succeeded life in her, She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.
All things are hush'd, as Nature's self lay dead, The Mountains seem to nod their drowsy head; The little Birds in dreams their Songs repeat, And sleeping Flowers, beneath the night-dew sweat; Even Lust and Envy sleep.
Their heavenly harps a lower strain began, And in soft music mourn the fall of man.