Quote#Time
Philologists, who chase
Quote byWilliam Cowper · 1731–1800
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Retirement (1782), Line 691.
English (original)
Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark, To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark.
— William Cowper
More from William Cowper
But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of Heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost.
Beware of desp'rate steps! The darkest day (Live till tomorrow) will have passed away.
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, And frustrate hope severer than despair.
Man disobeys, and deity disowns me.
Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was.
Oh! I could thresh his old jacket till I made his pension jingle in his pockets.