Francis Quarles Quotes - Page 3

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• Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself. If thou find anything questionable there, use the commentary of a severe friend, rather than the gloss of a sweet-lipped flatterer there is more profit in a distasteful truth than in deceitful sweetness.

  Francis Quarles

  Friendship, Sweet, Lying

  17 Copy quote

• Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thine equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the worst there.

  Francis Quarles

  Mean, Choices, Way

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.36

  5 Copy quote

• It is the lot of man but once to die.

  Francis Quarles

  Men, Literature, Dies

  Francis Quarles, Christopher Harvey (1866). “Emblems, divine and moral; The school of the heart [really by C. Harvey] and Hieroglyphies of the life of man”, p.206

  5 Copy quote

• When two agree in their desire,
  One sparke will set them both on fire.

  Francis Quarles

  Fire, Two, Desire

  4 Copy quote

• Let the ground of all thy religious actions be obedience; examine not why it is commanded, but observe it because it is commanded. True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.

  Francis Quarles

  Religious, Action, Obedience

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.85

  10 Copy quote

• The World's a Printing-House, our words, our thoughts,
  Our deeds, are characters of several sizes.
  Each soul is a Compos'tor, of whose faults
  The Levites are Correctors; Heaven Revises.
  Death is the common Press, from whence being driven,
  We're gather'd, Sheet by Sheet, and bound for Heaven.

  Francis Quarles

  Character, House, Heaven

  5 Copy quote

• If thou be rich, strive to command thy money, lest it command thee.

  Francis Quarles

  Rich, Strive, Thee

  7 Copy quote

• Sweet Phosphor, bring the dayWhose conquering rayMay chase these fogs;Sweet Phosphor, bring the day!Sweet Phosphor, bring the day!Light will repayThe wrongs of night;Sweet Phosphor, bring the day!

  Francis Quarles

  Sweet, Night, Light

  4 Copy quote

• If God send thee a cross, take it up willingly and follow him. Use it wisely, lest it be unprofitable. Bear it patiently, lest it be intolerable. If it be light, slight it not. If it be heavy, murmur not. After the cross is the crown.

  Francis Quarles

  Light, Use, Crowns

  9 Copy quote

• To fear death is the way to live long; to lie afraid of death is to be long a dying.

  Francis Quarles

  Death, Lying, Long

  7 Copy quote

• Nor fire, nor rocks, can stop our furious minds, Nor waves, nor winds.

  Francis Quarles

  Fire, Rocks, Wind

  Francis Quarles, William Walker Wilkins (1866). “Emblems, Divine and Moral: The School of the Heart ; And, Hieroglyphics of the Life of Man”, p.41

  4 Copy quote

• Seest thou good days? Prepare for evil times. No summer but hath its winter. He never reaped comfort in adversity that sowed not in prosperity.

  Francis Quarles

  Summer, Adversity, Good Day

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.78

  4 Copy quote

• Before thy undertaking of any design, weigh the glory of thy action with the danger of the attempt; if the glory outweigh the danger, it is cowardice to neglect it; if the danger exceed the glory, it is rashness to attempt it; if the balances stand poised, let thy own genius cast them.

  Francis Quarles

  Design, Balance, Genius

  5 Copy quote

• Immortal life is something to be earned, By slow self-conquest, comradeship with Pain, And patient seeking after higher truths.

  Francis Quarles

  Pain, Self, Immortal Life

  5 Copy quote

• Diogenes found more rest in his tub than Alexander on his throne.

  Francis Quarles

  Thrones, Tubs, Found

  Francis Quarles (1856). “Enchiridon: containing institutions divine, moral”, p.106

  5 Copy quote

• Luxury is an enticing pleasure, a bastard mirth, which hath honey in her mouth, gall in her heart, and a sting in her tail.

  Francis Quarles

  Heart, Luxury, Tails

  Christopher Harvey, Francis Quarles (1808). “The school of the heart, or The heart of itself gone away from God brought back again to him and instructed by him, by Francis Quarles [really by C. Harvey. Adapted from B. van Haeften's Schola cordis]. To which is added, The learning of the heart by the same author [really by C. Harvey. Ed. by C.E. De Coetlogon. Issued as vol. 2 of Emblems divine and moral, by F. Quarles. Wanting the title-leaf and plates].”

  26 Copy quote

• Tis not, to cry God mercy, or to sit
  And droop, or to confess that thou hast fail'd:
  'Tis to bewail the sins thou didst commit:
  And not commit those sins thou hast bewail' d.
  He that bewails and not forsakes them too;
  Confesses rather what he means to do.

  Francis Quarles

  Mean, Cry, Sin

  9 Copy quote

• Sin is a basilisk whose eyes are full of venom. If the eye of thy soul see her first, it reflects her own poison and kills her; if she see thy soul, unseen, or seen too late, with her poison, she kills thee: since therefore thou canst not escape thy sin, let not thy sin escape thy observation.

  Francis Quarles

  Eye, Soul, Firsts

  8 Copy quote

• That action is not warrantable which either fears to ask the divine blessing on its performance, or having succeeded, does not come with thanksgiving to God for its success.

  Francis Quarles

  Blessing, Doe, Action

  6 Copy quote

• In thy apparel avoid singularity, profuseness, and gaudiness. Be not too early in the fashion, nor too late. Decency is half way between affectation and neglect. The body is the shell of the soul, apparel is the husk of that shell; the husk often tells you what the kernel is.

  Francis Quarles

  Fashion, Soul, Too Late

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.47

  4 Copy quote

• No man is born unto himself alone; Who lives unto himself, he lives to none.

  Francis Quarles

  Life, Men, Born

  4 Copy quote

• The voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric.

  Francis Quarles

  Humility, Voice, Silence

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.91

  7 Copy quote

• The fountain of beauty is the heart and every generous thought illustrates the walls of your chamber.

  Francis Quarles

  Inspirational, Beauty, Wall

  14 Copy quote

• Gold is Caesar's treasure, man is God's; thy gold hath Caesar's image, and thou hast God's.

  Francis Quarles

  Men, Gold, Treasure

  Francis Quarles (1856). “Enchiridon: containing institutions divine, moral”, p.76

  5 Copy quote

• In the height of thy prosperity expect adversity, but fear it not. If it come not, thou art the more sweetly possessed of the happiness thou hast, and the more strongly confirmed. If it come, thou art the more gently dispossessed of the happiness thou hadst, and the more firmly prepared.

  Francis Quarles

  Happiness, Art, Adversity

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.37

  4 Copy quote

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