Quotes by George Herbert

“The best mirror is an old friend.”

“Who says that fictions only and false hairBecome a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?Is all good structure in a winding stair?”

“Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,The bridal of the earth and sky;The dew shall weep thy fall tonight,For thou must die.”

“Man is no star, but a quick coalOf mortal fire:Who blows it not, nor doth controlA faint desire,”

“I will complain, yet praise;I will bewail, approve:And all my sowre-sweet dayesI will lament, and love.”

“Woe be to him that reads but one book.”

“Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,Guiltie of dust and sin.”

“Throw away thy rod, throw away thy wrath; O my God, take the gentle path.”

“Be calm in arguing: for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.”

“A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread.”

“Sometimes the best gain is to lose.”

“Good words are worth much, and cost little.”

“Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

“He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise.”

“The intelligence of the lower forms of animal life, like a great deal of human intelligence, does not involve a self.”

“A man of great memory without learning hath a rock and a spindle and no staff to spin.”

“Living well is the best revenge.”

“Social psychology is especially interested in the effect which the social group has in the determination of the experience and conduct of the individual member.”

“Our specious present as such is very short. We do, however, experience passing events; part of the process of the passage of events is directly there in our experience, including some of the past a...”

“There would be no great men if there were no little ones.”