Visits are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who,…

Quote byWilliam Cowper · 1731–1800

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letter to the Rev. John Johnson (29 September 1793).

English (original)

Visits are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not that, would do nothing.

— 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.