The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 5 ‘The Winter Morning Walk’ l. 45
But war’s a game, which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at.
‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 5 ‘The Winter Morning Walk’ l. 187
Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men;
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.
‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 89
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 96
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.
‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 223
A cheap but wholesome salad from the brook.
‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 304
I would not enter on my list of friends
(Tho’ graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
‘The Task’ (1785) bk. 6 ‘The Winter Walk at Noon’ l. 560
Public schools ’tis public folly feeds.
‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 250
The parson knows enough who knows a duke.
‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 403
As a priest,
A piece of mere church furniture at best.
‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 425
Tenants of life’s middle state,
Securely placed between the small and great.
‘Tirocinium’ (1785) l. 807
He has no hope that never had a fear.
‘Truth’ (1782) l. 298
But what is man in his own proud esteem?
Hear him, himself the poet and the theme;
A monarch clothed with majesty and awe,
His mind his kingdom and his will his law.
‘Truth’ (1782) l. 403
Oh! I could thresh his old jacket till I made his pension jingle in his pockets.
On Johnson’s inadequate treatment of ‘Paradise Lost’, in a letter to the Revd William Unwin, 31 October