John Dyer

A little rule, a little sway,
A sun beam in a winter’s day,
Is all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave.

John Dyer (1699 – 15 December 1757) was a Welsh poet who wrote in the English language.

Quotes

Grongar Hill (1727)

"Grongar Hill", in Dodsley's Collection, vol. 1 (2nd ed., 1763)

• A little rule, a little sway,
  A sun beam in a winter’s day,
  Is all the proud and mighty have
  Between the cradle and the grave.
  • l. 89

• See the rivers how they run
  Thro' woods and meads, in shade and sun,
  Sometimes swift, sometimes slow,
  Wave succeeding wave, they go
  A various journey to the deep,
  Like human life to endless sleep!
  • l. 93

• Ever charming, ever new,
  When will the landskip tire the view?
  • l. 103 · Variant: 'landscape' not 'landskip'

• While the wanton Zephyr sings,
  And in the vale perfumes his wings.
  • l. 139

• So little distant dangers seem:
  So we mistake the future's face,
  Ey'd thro' hope's deluding glass:
  As yon summits soft and fair,
  Clad in colours of the air,
  Which to those who journey near,
  Barren, brown, and rough appear.
  • l. 120

The Ruins of Rome (1740)

•      Disparting towers,
  Tumbling all precipitate down-dashed,
  Rattling around, loud thundering to the moon.
  • l. 40 · Variant: 'Trembling' not 'Tumbling'

• The solitary, silent, solemn scene,
  Where Caesars, heroes, peasants, hermits lie,
  Blended in dust together; where the slave
  Rests from his labours; where the insulting proud
  Resigns his power; the miser drops his hoard;
  Where human folly sleeps.
  • l. 339

• There is a kindly mood of melancholy,
  That wings the soul, and points her to the skies.
  • l. 346

Misattributed

• A man may go to heaven without health, without riches, without honors, without learning, without friends; but he can never go there without Christ.
  • Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 88. Based on a quotation by William Dyer: "You may go to Heaven without health, without wealth, without honours, without pleasures, without friends, without learning; but you can never go to Heaven without Christ."

• A little rule, a little sway,
  A sunbeam in a winter's day,
  Is all the proud and mighty have
  Between the cradle and the grave.
  • Grongar Hill (1726), line 89.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on John Dyer on Wikipedia