FQFrancis Quarles

134 collected words

Francis Quarles

Life dates: 1592 AD — 1644 AD

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

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Quotations and sayings

01c. 1618 AD

Physicians, of all men, are most happy; whatever good success soever they have, the world proclaimeth; and what faults they commit, the earth covereth.

Francis Quarles / quote

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02c. 1618 AD

Prayer is the cable, at whose end appears / The anchor hope, ne'er slipp'd but in our fears.

Francis Quarles / quote

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03c. 1618 AD

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 deceitful sweetness.

Francis Quarles / quote

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04c. 1618 AD

That action is not warrantable which either blushes to beg a blessing, or, having succeeded, dares not present a thanksgiving.

Francis Quarles / quote

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05c. 1618 AD

The fruit that's yellow / Is found not always mellow.

Francis Quarles / quote

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06c. 1618 AD

The greater height sends down the deeper fall: / And good declin'd turns bad, turns worst of all.

Francis Quarles / quote

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07c. 1618 AD

The ill that's wisely feared is half withstood, / And fear of bad is the best foil to good.

Francis Quarles / quote

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08c. 1618 AD

Francis Quarles / quote

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09c. 1618 AD

The righteous man falls oft, / Yet falls but soft; / There may be dirt to mire him, but no stones / To crush his bones.

Francis Quarles / quote

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10c. 1618 AD

The way's not easy where the prize is great.

Francis Quarles / quote

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11c. 1618 AD

There is no loss / In being small; great bulks but swell with dross. / Man is heaven's masterpiece; if it appear / More great, the value's less; if less, more dear.

Francis Quarles / quote

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12c. 1618 AD

There's none that can / Read God aright, unless he first spell man.

Francis Quarles / quote

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13c. 1618 AD

Thou art Heaven's tasker; and thy God requires / The purest of thy flour, as well as of thy fires.

Francis Quarles / quote

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14c. 1618 AD

True love will creep, not having strength to go.

Francis Quarles / quote

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15c. 1618 AD

Trust not this hollow world; she's empty; hark, she sounds.

Francis Quarles / quote

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16c. 1618 AD

Understanding is the wages of a lively faith, and faith is the reward of a humble ignorance.

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17c. 1618 AD

We gape, we grasp, we gripe, add store to store; / Enough requires too much; too much craves more.

Francis Quarles / quote

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18c. 1618 AD

What bitter pills, / Compos'd of real ills, / Men swallow down to purchase one false good.

Francis Quarles / quote

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19c. 1618 AD

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.

Francis Quarles / quote

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20c. 1618 AD

Where lies are easily admitted, the father of lies will not easily be excluded.

Francis Quarles / quote

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21c. 1618 AD

Which is the lightest in the scale of Fate? / That where fond Cupid still is adding weight.

Francis Quarles / quote

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22c. 1618 AD

Whining lover may as well request / A scornful breast / To melt in gentle tears, as woo the world for rest.

Francis Quarles / quote

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23c. 1618 AD

Wisdom not only gets, but, got, retains.

Francis Quarles / quote

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24c. 1618 AD

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 / quote

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