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Fame's but a hollow echo; gold, pure clay;
Honour, the darling but of one short day,
Beauty—th' eye's idol—but a damasked skin;
State, but a golden prison to live in
And torture free-born minds.

— Walter Raleigh Attributed

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More quotes by Walter Raleigh

No man is wise or safe, but he that is honest.

Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his Travels (1596)

A wise man ought not to desire to inhabit that country where men have more authority than laws.

The Cabinet Council (1658)

Silence in love bewrays more woe
Than words, though ne’er so witty:
A beggar that is dumb, you know,
May challenge double pity.

Bestow therefore thy youth so, that thou mayest have comfort to remember it when it hath forsaken thee, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof.

Instructions to his Son and to Posterity (1632)

War begets quiet, quiet idleness, idleness disorder, disorder ruin; likewise ruin order, order virtue, virtue glory and good fortune.

The Cabinet Council (1658)

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Attribution

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