Thomas Fuller quotes
Thomas Fuller (1608–1661): English churchman and historian. The library holds 88 quotes by Thomas Fuller, drawn from Holy and Profane State. Of Marriage, Holy and Profane State. Of Natural Fools, Holy and Profane State. Of Tombs and other works. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, faith, happiness, time, family, nature
The best-known Thomas Fuller quotes
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They that marry ancient people, merely in expectation to bury them, hang themselves in hope that one will come and cut the halter.
Holy and Profane State. Of Marriage -
Their heads sometimes so little that there is no room for wit; sometimes so long that there is no wit for so much room.
Holy and Profane State. Of Natural Fools -
An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness to serve God with.
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The Pyramids themselves, doting with age, have forgotten the names of their founders.
Holy and Profane State. Of Tombs -
He knows little who will tell his wife all he knows.
Holy and Profane State. The Good Husband -
Learning hath gained most by those books by which the printers have lost.
Holy and Profane State. Of Books -
Fame sometimes hath created something of nothing.
Holy and Profane State. Fame -
Give freely to him that deserveth well, and asketh nothing: and that is a way of giving to thyself.
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The lion is not so fierce as painted.
Holy and Profane State. Of Preferment -
Gunpowder is the emblem of politic revenge, for it biteth first and barketh afterwards; the bullet being at the mark before the noise is heard, so that it maketh a noise not by way of warning, but of triumph.
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Ethics makes man’s soul mannerly and wise, but logic is the armoury of reason, furnished with all offensive and defensive weapons.
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Memory is like a purse: if it be over-full, that it cannot be shut, all will drop out of it.
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Gravity is the ballast of the soul, which keeps the mind steady.
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Generosity, wrong placed, becomes a vice. A princely mind will undo a private family.
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Ha, is an exclamation denoting surprise or joy; ah, an exclamation expressive of pity or grief.
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The greatest man living may stand in need of the meanest as much as the meanest does of him.
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They who play with the devil’s rattles will be brought by degrees to wield his sword.
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He was one of a lean body and visage, as if his eager soul, biting for anger at the clog of his body, desired to fret a passage through it.
Life of the Duke of Alva -
Spill not the morning (the quintessence of the day) in recreation, for sleep itself is a recreation. Add not, therefore, sauce to sauce.
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Tombs are the clothes of the dead—a grave but a plain suit, and a rich monument one embroidered.
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Haste and rashness are storms and tempests, breaking and wrecking business; but nimbleness is a full, fair wind, blowing it with speed to the haven.
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To smell to a turf of fresh earth is wholesome for the body; no less are thoughts of mortality cordial to the soul.
Holy and Profane State. The Virtuous Lady -
The blush is Nature’s alarm at the approach of sin, and her testimony to the dignity of virtue.
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Many hope that the tree may be felled who expect to gather chips by the fall.
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Reasons are the pillars of the fabric of a sermon, but similitudes are the windows which give the best light.
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There is a Spanish proverb that a lapidary who would grow rich must buy of those who go to be executed, as not caring how cheap they sell; and sell to those who go to be married, as not caring how dear they buy.
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Try to be happy in this present moment, and put not off being so to a time to come,—as though that time should be of another make from this, which has already come and is ours.
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The frost is God’s plough, which he drives through every inch of ground, opening each clod and pulverising the whole.
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He who will not freely and sadly confess that he is much a fool is all a fool.
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When worthy men fall out, only one of them may be faulty at the first; but if strife continue long, commonly both become guilty.
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If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.
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Rashness is the faithful but unhappy parent of misfortune.
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Parents are commonly more careful to bestow wit on their children than virtue, the art of speaking well than of doing well; but their manners ought to be the great concern.
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He that will lose his friend for a jest, deserves to die a beggar by the bargain.
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Is there no way to bring home a wandering sheep but by worrying him to death?
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He who rises late, must trot all day, and will scarcely overtake his business at night.
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One that will not plead that cause wherein his tongue must be confuted by his conscience.
Holy and Profane State. The Good Advocate -
Poetry is music in words, and music is poetry in sound; both excellent sauce, but they have lived and died poor that made them their meal.
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Dwell not too long upon sports; for as they refresh a man that is weary, so they weary a man that is refreshed.
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He is a good time-server that improves the present for God’s glory and his own salvation.
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Real worth floats not with people’s fancies, no more than a rock in the sea rises and falls with the tide.
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Fancy runs most furiously when a guilty conscience drives it.
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Choose such pleasures as recreate much and cost little.
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Music is but wild sounds civilised into time and tune.
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Esteem a man of many words and many lies much alike.
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Often the cockloft is empty in those whom Nature hath built many stories high.
Andronicus, Sect. vi. Par. 18, 1 -
Purchase not friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give such will cease to love.
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A proverb is much matter decocted into few words.
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Soar not too high to fall, but stoop to rise.
Disputed attribution -
Often the cock-loft is empty in those whom Nature hath built many storeys high.
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If thou art a master, be sometimes blind, and sometimes deaf.
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If thou art a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes deaf.
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When thou makest presents, let them be of such things as will last long; to the end they may be in some sort immortal, and may frequently refresh the memory of the receiver.
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Purchase no friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give such will cease to love.
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She commandeth her husband, in any equal matter, by constant obeying him.
Holy and Profane State. The Good Wife -
Wanton jests make fools laugh and wise men frown.
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Contentment consisteth not in adding more fuel, but in taking away some fire.
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Search others for their virtues, and thyself for thy vices.
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History maketh a young man to be old, without either wrinkles or gray hairs,—privileging him with the experience of age, without either the infirmities or inconveniences thereof.
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Contentment consisteth not in heaping more fuel, but in taking away some fire.
Where these quotes come from
- Holy and Profane State. Of Marriage (1 quote)
- Holy and Profane State. Of Natural Fools (1 quote)
- Holy and Profane State. Of Tombs (1 quote)
- Holy and Profane State. The Good Husband (1 quote)
- Holy and Profane State. Of Books (1 quote)
- Holy and Profane State. Fame (1 quote)
- Holy and Profane State. Of Preferment (1 quote)
- Life of the Duke of Alva (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .