Robert Herrick quotes
Robert Herrick (1591–1674): English poet and cleric. The library holds 42 quotes by Robert Herrick, drawn from The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarrie of Pearls, Sorrows Succeed, Delight in Disorder and other works. The 42 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, love, time, grief, change, nature
The best-known Robert Herrick quotes
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Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt; Nothing’s so hard but search will find it out.
Seek and Find -
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying, And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying.
To the Virgins to make much of Time -
’Twixt kings and tyrants there’s this difference known—Kings seek their subjects’ good, tyrants their own.
Aph. Kings and Tyrants -
Fair daffadills, we weep to see You haste away so soon: As yet the early rising sun Has not attained his noon.
To Daffadills -
Some asked how pearls did grow, and where? Then spoke I to my girl To part her lips, and showed them there The quarelets of pearl.
The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarrie of Pearls -
When one is past, another care we have; Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave.
Sorrows Succeed -
Her pretty feet, like snails, did creep A little out, and then, As if they played at bo-peep, Did soon draw in again.
To Mistress Susanna Southwell -
Some asked me where the rubies grew, And nothing I did say; But with my finger pointed to The lips of Julia.
The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarrie of Pearls -
You say to me-wards your affection’s strong; Pray love me little, so you love me long.
Love me Little, Love me Long -
Cherry ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry, Full and fair ones,—come and buy! If so be you ask me where They do grow, I answer, there, Where my Julia’s lips do smile,—There’s the land, or cherry-isle.
Cherry Ripe -
I saw a flie within a beade Of amber cleanly buried.
The Amber Bead -
Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave.
Sorrows Succeed -
Despair takes heart when there’s no hope to speed; The coward then takes arms and does the deed.
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Temptations hurt not, though they have accesse; Satan o’ercomes none but by willingnesse.
Hesperides’ Temptations -
Like will to like: each creature loves his kind, Chaste words proceed still from a bashful mind.
Aph. Like Loves His Like -
By time and counsel do the best we can: Th’ event is never in the power of man.
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What though the sea be calm? trust to the shore, Ships have been drowned, where late they danced before.
Safety on the Shore -
How often love is maintained by wealth: When all is spent adversity then breeds the discontent.
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Know when to speak—for many times it brings Danger, to give the best advice to kings.
Aph. Caution in Council -
Against diseases here the strongest fence Is the defensive virtue abstinence.
Aph. Abstinence -
Thus times do shift,—each thing his turn does hold; New things succeed, as former things grow old.
Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve -
Love’s of itself too sweet; the best of all Is when love’s honey has a dash of gall.
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How rich a man is, all desire to know, But none enquire if good he be or no.
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A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles in clothes a wantonness.
Delight in Disorder -
Let’s live with that small pittance which we have; Who covets more is evermore a slave.
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If little labor, little are our gaines: Man’s fortunes are according to his paines.
Hesperides: No Paines, No Gaines -
Our present tears here, not our present laughter, Are but the handsells of our joys hereafter.
Noble Numbers, Tears -
A winning wave, deserving note, In the tempestuous petticoat; A careless shoe-string, in whose tie I see a wild civility,—Do more bewitch me than when art Is too precise in every part.
Delight in Disorder -
In prayer the lips ne’er act the winning part Without the sweet concurrence of the heart.
Hesperides: The Heart -
Fall on me like a silent dew, Or like those maiden showers Which, by the peep of day, do strew A baptism o’er the flowers.
To Music, to becalm his Fever -
The stars of the night Will lend thee their light, Like tapers clear without number!
Aph. Night Piece, To Julia -
Oft have I heard both youths and virgins say, Birds choose their mates, and couple too, this day; But by their flight I never can divine When I shall couple with my Valentine.
Aph. To His Valentine -
Conquer we shall, but we must first contend; ’Tis not the fight that crowns us, but the end.
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Kings ought to shear, not skin their sheep.
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Nothing is new; we walk where others went; There’s no vice now but has its precedent.
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Out-did the meat, out-did the frolick wine.
Ode for Ben Jonson -
A spark neglected makes a mighty fire.
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Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, The shooting-stars attend thee; And the elves also, Whose little eyes glow Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.
The Night Piece to Julia -
Fame is the breath of popular applause.
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’Tis the will that makes the action good or ill.
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Give me a kisse, and to that kisse a score; Then to that twenty adde a hundred more; A thousand to that hundred; so kisse on, To make that thousand up a million; Treble that million, and when that is done, Let’s kisse afresh, as when we first begun.
Hesperides to Anthea -
Ne’er the rose without the thorn.
Where these quotes come from
- The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarrie of Pearls (2 quotes)
- Sorrows Succeed (2 quotes)
- Delight in Disorder (2 quotes)
- Seek and Find (1 quote)
- To the Virgins to make much of Time (1 quote)
- Aph. Kings and Tyrants (1 quote)
- To Daffadills (1 quote)
- To Mistress Susanna Southwell (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .