“'Tis not for nothing that we life pursue; It pays our hopes with something still that's new.”

— John Dryden, Aureng-Zebe (1676), Act IV, sc. i

About John Dryden

1631 – 1700

English poet and playwright, the first Poet Laureate of England.

“Beware the fury of a patient man.”

“Whatever is, is in its causes just.”

“Genius must be born, and never can be taught.”

“The wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can.”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.”

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.”