Francis Quarles quotes
Francis Quarles (1592–1644): English poet. The library holds 100 quotes by Francis Quarles, drawn from Emblems, Divine Poems (ed. 1669), Esther. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, faith, love, wisdom, nature, happiness
The best-known Francis Quarles quotes
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The heart is a small thing, but desireth great matters. It is not sufficient for a kite’s dinner, yet the whole world is not sufficient for it.
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The slender debt to Nature’s quickly paid, Discharged, perchance, with greater ease than made.
Emblems, Book ii. Emblem 13 -
Be wisely worldly, be not worldly wise.
Emblems, Book ii. Emblem 2 -
Death aims with fouler spite At fairer marks.
Divine Poems (ed. 1669) -
In a fair gale every fool may sail, but wise behaviour in a storm commends the wisdom of the pilot.
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As there is no worldly gain without some loss, so there is no worldly loss without some gain.
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That action is not warrantable which either blushes to beg a blessing, or, having succeeded, dares not present a thanksgiving.
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Understanding is the wages of a lively faith, and faith is the reward of a humble ignorance.
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God is alpha and omega in the great world; endeavour to make Him so in the little world.
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Where lies are easily admitted, the father of lies will not easily be excluded.
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Anger, when it is long in coming, is the stronger when it comes, and the longer kept.
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It is but vain to waste honey on those that will be caught with gall.
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That friendship will not continue to the end that is begun for an end.
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Faith evermore looks upward and descries objects remote; but reason can discover things only near,—sees nothing that’s above her.
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Use law and physic only for necessity. They that use them otherwise abuse themselves into weak bodies and light purses. They are good remedies, bad businesses, and worse recreations.
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When ambitious men find an open passage, they are rather busy than dangerous; and if well watched in their proceedings, they will catch themselves in their own snare, and prepare a way for their own destruction.
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Heaven’s fire confounds when fann’d with folly’s breath.
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Charity feeds the poor, so does pride; charity builds an hospital, so does pride. In this they differ: charity gives her glory to God; pride takes her glory from man.
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Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thy equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best of the company is the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the worst there.
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Trust not this hollow world; she’s empty; hark, she sounds.
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The popular ear weighs what you are, not what you were.
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A monarchy is apt to fall by tyranny; an aristocracy, by ambition; a democracy, by tumults.
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Meditation is the life of the soul; action, the soul of meditation; honour, the reward of action.
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Knowledge, when wisdom is too weak to guide her, Is like a headstrong horse that throws the rider.
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He repents on thorns that sleeps in beds of roses.
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My soul, what’s lighter than a feather? Wind. Than wind? The fire. And what than fire? The mind. What’s lighter than the mind? A thought. Than thought? This bubble world. What than this bubble? Nought.
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Of more than earth can earth make none possesst; And he that least Regards this restless world, shall in this world find rest.
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The way to bliss lies not on beds of down, And he that had no cross deserves no crown.
Esther -
Falls have their risings, wanings have their primes, And desperate sorrows wait for better times.
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Heaven is never deaf but when man’s heart is dumb.
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The ill that’s wisely feared is half withstood, And fear of bad is the best foil to good.
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What bitter pills, Compos’d of real ills, Men swallow down to purchase one false good.
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Fear not where Heaven bids come; Heaven’s never deaf but when man’s heart is dumb.
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O who would trust this world, or prize what’s in it, That gives and takes, and chops and changes, ev’ry minute?
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There’s none that can Read God aright, unless he first spell man.
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Whining lover may as well request A scornful breast To melt in gentle tears, as woo the world for rest.
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He that hath but gained the title of a jester, let him assure himself the fool is not far off.
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A lamb appears a lion, and we fear Each bash we see’s a bear.
Emblems, Bk. I.-XIII -
The greater height sends down the deeper fall: And good declin’d turns bad, turns worst of all.
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Which is the lightest in the scale of Fate? That where fond Cupid still is adding weight.
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The righteous man falls oft, Yet falls but soft; There may be dirt to mire him, but no stones To crush his bones.
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Knowledge descries alone, wisdom applies; That makes some fools, this maketh none but wise.
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True love will creep, not having strength to go.
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Heav’n finds an ear when sinners find a tongue.
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Prayer is the cable, at whose end appears The anchor hope, ne’er slipp’d but in our fears.
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Hold up thy head; the taper lifted high Will brook the wind when lower tapers die.
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He is below himself who is not above an injury.
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Enough requires too much; too much craves more.
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The way’s not easy where the prize is great.
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The fairest tulip’s not the sweetest flower.
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The next way home’s the farthest way about.
Emblems, Book iv. Emblem 2, Ep. 2 -
Sweet Phosphor, bring the day; Light will repay The wrongs of night; Sweet Phosphor, bring the day!
Emblems, Bk. I -
We gape, we grasp, we gripe, add store to store; Enough requires too much; too much craves more.
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Heav’n is not day’d. Repentance is not dated.
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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.
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Beware of drunkenness, lest all good men beware of thee; where drunkenness reigns, there reason is an exile, virtue a stranger, God an enemy; blasphemy is wit, oaths are rhetoric, and secrets are proclamations.
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This house is to be let for life or years; Her rent is sorrow, and her income tears. Cupid, ’t has long stood void; her bills make known, She must be dearly let, or let alone.
Emblems, Book ii. Emblem 10, Ep. 10 -
Convey thy love to thy friend as an arrow to the mark; not as a ball against the wall, to rebound back again.
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The fruit that’s yellow Is found not always mellow.
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Let those have night that love the night.
Where these quotes come from
- Emblems (7 quotes)
- Divine Poems (ed. 1669) (1 quote)
- Esther (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .