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We then, who are this new soul, know
Of what we are composed and made,
For the' atomies of which we grow
Are souls, whom no change can invade.
But oh alas, so long, so far,
Our bodies why do we forbear?
They're ours, though they're not we; we are
The intelligences, they the spheres.

— John Donne Poems (1633)

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More quotes by John Donne

Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend.

Poems (1633)

Fill'd with her love, may I be rather grown
Mad with much heart, than idiot with none.

Poems (1633)

To rage, to lust, to write to, to commend,
All is the purlieu of the god of love.

Poems (1633)

Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant,
The only harmless great thing.

The Progress of the Soul (1601)

Hail Bishop Valentine, whose day this is;
All the air is thy diocese.

All John Donne quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Donne (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.