WIST Quotations

Quarles, Francis -- “A Mystical Ecstasy”

Dave — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 14:29:15 +0000

E’en like two little bank-dividing brooks,
That wash the pebbles with their wanton streams,
And having ranged and searched a thousand nooks,
Meet both at length in silver-breasted Thames,
Where in a greater current they conjoin:
So I my Best-Belovèd’s am; so He is mine.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
“A Mystical Ecstasy”
(Source)

Quarles, Francis -- “On the World”

Dave — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:57:53 +0000

The world’s an Inn; and I her guest.
I eat; I drink; I take my rest.
My hostess, nature, does deny me
Nothing, wherewith she can supply me;
Where, having stayed a while, I pay
Her lavish bills, and go my way.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
“On the World”
(Source)

Quarles, Francis -- Emblems, Emblem 11, Epigram (1634)

Dave — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:55:37 +0000

The way’s not easy where the prize is great:
I hope no virtues, where I smell no sweat.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Emblems, Emblem 11, Epigram (1634)
(Source)

Often given, "I see no virtue where I smell no sweat."

Quarles, Francis -- Enchyridion, Book 2, ch. 24 (1641)

Dave — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 14:46:20 +0000

Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thine equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is the way to grow worse. The best means to grow better is to be the worst there.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Enchyridion, Book 2, ch. 24 (1641)
(Source)

Quarles, Francis -- Enchyridion, Cent. 3, cap. 38

Dave — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 23:28:50 +0000

In giving of thy alms, inquire not so much into the person, as his necessity. God looks not so much upon the merits of him that requires, as into the manner of him that relieves; if the man deserve not, thou hast given it to humanity.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Enchyridion, Cent. 3, cap. 38
(Source)

Quarles, Francis -- Enchyridion, Century 3, cap. 18

Dave — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:30:51 +0000

If thou desire to see thy child virtuous, let him not see his father’s vices: thou canst not rebuke that in them, that they behold practiced in thee; till reason be ripe, examples direct more than precepts: such as thy behaviour is before thy children’s faces, such commonly is theirs behind their parents’ backs.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Enchyridion, Century 3, cap. 18
(Source)

Quarles, Francis -- Esther, Sec. 1, Meditation 1 (1621)

Dave — Mon, 16 May 2016 15:26:07 +0000

No man is born unto himself alone;
Who lives unto himself, he lives to none.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Esther, Sec. 1, Meditation 1 (1621)

Quarles, Francis -- Esther, Sec. 9, Meditation 9 (1621)

Dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 13:46:40 +0000

The way to bliss lies not on beds of down,
And he that has no cross deserves no crown.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Esther, Sec. 9, Meditation 9 (1621)

Quarles, Francis -- Respice Finem, Epigram (1635)

Dave — Tue, 31 May 2016 14:02:40 +0000

My soul, sit thou a patient looker-on;
Judge not the play before the play is done:
Her plot hath many changes; every day
Speaks a new scene; the last act crowns the play.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Respice Finem, Epigram (1635)