Quote#Humour & Wit
So, when my Days of Impotence approach
Quote byJohn Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester · 1647–1680
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Poems on Several Occasions (c. 1680), The Maim'd Debauchee, ll. 13–20.
English (original)
So, when my Days of Impotence approach, And I'm by Pox and Wine's unlucky chance Driv'n from the pleasing Billows of debauch On the dull Shore of lazy Temperance;My Pains at least some Respite shall afford While I behold the Battles you maintain When Fleets of Glasses sail about the Board, From whose Broad-sides Volleys of Wit shall rain.
— John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
More from John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Were I, who to my Cost already am One of those strange, prodigious Creatures Man, A Spirit free, to choose for my own Share, What sort of Flesh and Blood I pleas'd to wear, I'd be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear, Or any thing, but that vain …
He saw her lovely bosom bare, Her strawberry nipples made him stare.
The Elephant is never won with Anger, Nor must that man, who would reclaim a Lion, Take him by the teeth.
When my young master's worship comes to town, From pedagogue and mother just fit free, The heir and hopes of a great famiiy; Who with strong beer and beef the country rules, And ever since the Conquest have been fools; And now, with …
Love, the most generous passion of the mind The softest refuge innocence can find.
Reason, an Ignis fatuus of the Mind, Which leaves the light of Nature, Sense, behind.