Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (c. 1633 – 18 January 1685), was an Irish nobleman and poet.
What you keep by you, you may change and mend but words, once spoken, can never be recalled.
Praise Him, each savage furious beast That on His stores do daily feast; And you tame slaves, of the laborious plough, Your weary knees to your Creator bow.
The first great work (a task performed by few) Is that yourself may to yourself be true.
. . . truth shines brightest thro' the plainest dress.
We weep and laugh, as we see others do.
Sound judgment is the ground of writing well.
Tis I that call, remember Milo's end, Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.
The press, the pulpit, and the stage, Conspire to censure and expose our age.
You must not think that a satiric style allows of scandalous and brutish words; the better sort abhor scurrility.
Invention is not so much the result of labor as of judgment.
The men, who labour and digest things most, Will be much apter to despond than boast; For if your author be profoundly good, 'Twill cost you dear before he's understood.
Let us not write at a loose rambling rate, in hope the world will wink at all our faults.
Words are like leaves; some wither every year, and every year a younger race succeed.
Those things which now seem frivolous and slight, Will be of serious consequence to you, When they have made you once ridiculous.
Whatsoever contradicts my sense, I hate to see, and never can believe.
Our heroes of the former days deserved and gained their never-fading bays.
Pride (of all others the most dang'rous fault) Proceeds from want of sense, or want of thought.
Choose an author as you would a friend.
The multitude is always wrong.
You gain your point if your industrious art can make unusual words easy.