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Quotes from The Temple — George Herbert

1593–1633 England

← All quotes by George Herbert

69 quotes

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see
And what I do in any thing,
To do it as for thee.

The Temple (1633)

Then let wrath remove;
Love will do the deed:
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.

The Temple (1633)

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.

The Temple (1633)

By all means use sometimes to be alone.

The Temple (1633)

Do not beguile my heart,
Because thou art
My power and wisdom. Put me not to shame,
Because I am
Thy clay that weeps, thy dust that calls.

The Temple (1633)

He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

The Temple (1633)

Grief melts away
Like snow in May,
As if there were no such cold thing.

The Temple (1633)

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

The Temple (1633)

When thou dost tell another's jest, therein
Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need;
Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the sin.

The Temple (1633)

Man is no star, but a quick coal
Of mortal fire:
Who blows it not, nor doth control
A faint desire,
Lets his own ashes choke his soul.

The Temple (1633)

Less at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance,
Make not thy sport abuses: for the fly
That feeds on dung is colored thereby.

The Temple (1633)

Most things move th' under-jaw; the Crocodile not.
Most things sleep lying; th' Elephant leans or stands.

The Temple (1633)

Throw away thy rod;
Though man frailties hath,
Thou art God:
Throw away thy wrath.

The Temple (1633)

I gave to Hope a watch of mine; but he
An Anchor gave to me.

The Temple (1633)

Thy rope of sands,
Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee
Good cable, to enforce and draw,
And be thy law,
While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.

The Temple (1633)

Throw away thy rod,
Throw away thy wrath:
O my God,
Take the gentle path.

The Temple (1633)

Whether I fly with angels, fall with dust,
Thy hands made both, and I am there;
Thy power and love, my love and trust
Make one place ev'ry where.

The Temple (1633)

Laugh not too much; the witty man laughs least:
For wit is news only to ignorance.
Lesse at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest
Thy person share, and the conceit advance.

The Temple (1633)

Dresse and undresse thy soul: mark the decay
And growth of it: if, with thy watch, that too
Be down, then winde up both: since we shall be
Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree.

The Temple (1633)

Yet Lord restore thine image, hear my call:
And though my hard heart scare to thee can groan,
Remember that thou once didst write in stone.

The Temple (1633)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: George Herbert (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.