Quote#Wisdom
Me howling winds drive devious, tempest-tossed
Quote byWilliam Cowper · 1731–1800
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture out of Norfolk", l. 102 (1798).
English (original)
Me howling winds drive devious, tempest-tossed, Sails ripped, seams op'ning wide, and compass lost.
— William Cowper
More from William Cowper
Man disobeys, and deity disowns me.
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.
Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was.
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.
Oh! I could thresh his old jacket till I made his pension jingle in his pockets.