Date: December, 1781; 1835

"Smooth, ductile, and even, [the poet's] fancy must flow, / Must tinkle and glitter like gold to the sight / And catch in its progress a sensible glow."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Superficial education slights "the precious kernel of the stone" and polishes "its rough coat alone"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

In polishing the mind, Luxury gives it a "childish cast"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"Neglected talents rust into decay"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"Let heathen worthies, whose exalted mind / Left sensuality and dross behind, / Possess for me their undisputed lot"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: November 10, 1783

"He gives, what bankrupt Nature never can, / Whose noblest coin is light and brittle man, / Gold, purer far than Ophir ever knew, / A soul, an image of himself, and therefore true."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1785

Wisdom is a pearl "with most success / Sought in still water, and beneath clear skies"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1785

The mind may be "polish'd"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1785

"Mark now the proof I give thee, that the brave / Need no such aids as superstition lends / To steel their hearts against the dread of death!"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1786

One may steal "The gem of truth from his unguarded soul"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)