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We seek to know the moving of each sphere,
And the strange cause of th' ebbs and floods of Nile;
But of that clock within our breasts we bear,
The subtle motions we forget the while.

— John Davies Nosce Teipsum (1599)

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More quotes by John Davies

Much like a subtle spider which doth sit
In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide;
If aught do touch the utmost thread of it,
She feels it instantly on every side.

The Immortality of the Soul (1594)

We that acquaint ourselves with every zone,
And pass both tropics and behold the poles,
When we come home, are to ourselves unknown,
And unacquainted still with our own souls.

Nosce Teipsum (1599)

Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been
To public feasts, where meet a public rout,—
Where they that are without would fain go in,
And they that are within would fain go out.

As spiders touched seek their webs' inmost part,
As bees in storms unto their hives return,
As blood in danger gathers to the heart,
As men seek towns when foes the country burn.

Nosce Teipsum (1599)

For what made that in glory shine so long
But poets' Pens, pluckt from Archangels' wings?

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Attribution

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