Anne Bradstreet Quotes

Wickedness comes to its height by degrees. He that dares say of a less sin, Is it not a little one? will ere long say of a greater, Tush, God regards it not! ~ Anne Bradstreet

O Time the fatal wrack of mortal things,
That draws oblivion's curtains over kings;
Their sumptuous monuments, men know them not,
Their names without a record are forgot,
Their parts, their ports, their pomps all laid in th' dust
Nor wit nor gold, nor buildings scape time's rust;
But he whose name is graved in the white stone
Shall last and shine when all of these are gone. ~ Anne Bradstreet

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold or all the riches that the East doth hold. ~ Anne Bradstreet

My love is such that rivers cannot quench ~ Anne Bradstreet

My hope and treasure lies above ~ Anne Bradstreet

He that would be content with a mean condition must not cast his eye upon one that is in a far better estate than himself, but let him look upon him that is lower than he is, and, if he see that such a one bears poverty comfortably, it will help to quiet him. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Let such as say our sex is void of reason,
Know it is slander now but once was treason. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Sin and shame ever go together; he that would be freed from the last must be sure to shun the company of the first. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are. ~ Anne Bradstreet

To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings/Of Cities founded, Common-wealths begun/For my mean Pen are too superior things, ~ Anne Bradstreet

Some laborers have hard hands, and old sinners have brawny consciences. ~ Anne Bradstreet

We must, therefore, be here as strangers and pilgrims, that we may plainly declare that we seek a city above. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Art can do much, but this maxim's most sure/A weak or wounded brain admits no cure. ~ Anne Bradstreet

The world no longer lets me love, My hope and treasure are above. ~ Anne Bradstreet

But man grows old, lies down, remains where once he's laid. ~ Anne Bradstreet

There is no object that we see, no action that we do, no good that we enjoy, no evil that we feel of fear, but we may make some spiritual advantage of all. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Wisdom with an inheritance is good, but wisdom without an inheritance is better than an inheritance without wisdom. ~ Anne Bradstreet

It is reported of the peacock that priding himself in his gay feathers he ruffles them up; but spying his black feet he soon lets fall his plumes. So he that glories in his gifts and adornings should look upon his corruptions, and that will damp his high thoughts. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Compare with me, ye women, if you can ~ Anne Bradstreet

My age I will not once lament, / But sing, my time so near is spent. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought; so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on his anvil into what frame he pleases. ~ Anne Bradstreet

What to my Saviour shall I giveWho freely hath done this for me?I'll serve him here whilst I shall liveAnd Loue him to Eternity ~ Anne Bradstreet

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
[Meditations Divine and Moral] ~ Anne Bradstreet

#The Vanity of all Worldly Things.

As he said vanity, so vain say I,
Oh! Vanity, O vain all under sky;
Where is the man can say, "Lo, I have found
On brittle earth a consolation sound"?
What isn't in honor to be set on high?
No, they like beasts and sons of men shall die,
And whilst they live, how oft doth turn their fate;
He's now a captive that was king of late.
What isn't in wealth great treasures to obtain?
No, that's but labor, anxious care, and pain.
He heaps up riches, and he heaps up sorrow,
It's his today, but who's his heir tomorrow?
What then? Content in pleasures canst thou find?
More vain than all, that's but to grasp the wind.
The sensual senses for a time they pleasure,
Meanwhile the conscience rage, who shall appease?
What isn't in beauty? No that's but a snare,
They're foul enough today, that once were fair.
What is't in flow'ring youth, or manly age?
The first is prone to vice, the last to rage.
Where is it then, in wisdom, learning, arts?
Sure if on earth, it must be in those parts;
Yet these the wisest man of men did find
But vanity, vexation of the mind.
And he that know the most doth still bemoan
He knows not all that here is to be known.
What is it then? To do as stoics tell,
Nor laugh, nor weep, let things go ill or well?
Such stoics are but stocks, such teaching vain,
While man is man, he shall hav ~ Anne Bradstreet

If ever wife was happy in a man, compare with me, ye women if you can. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Satan, that great angler, hath his sundry baits for sundry tempers of men, which they all catch greedily at, but few perceive the hook till it be too late. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Sweet words are like honey, a little may refresh, but too much gluts the stomach. ~ Anne Bradstreet

I wish my Sun may never set, but burn. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Fire hath its force abated by water, not by wind; and anger must be allayed by cold words, and not by blustering threats. ~ Anne Bradstreet

A prosperous state makes a secure Christian, but adversity makes him Consider. ~ Anne Bradstreet

The spring is a lively emblem of the Resurrection. ~ Anne Bradstreet

How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How one avoids it. It seems to imply rejection or unpopularity. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I wonder if anyone can ever succeed in making their children content. ~ Anne Frank

He couldn't have known. The moonlight wasn't enough to illuminate the room, and the tears that spilled silently down her cheeks didn't touch him. But suddenly the kiss softened, the hands gentled on her, the lips coaxed and teased and healed. And without any more thought she was kissing him back, reaching for him with her mouth while her hands were held back, seeking him out with her tongue, calling him to her in the only way she could. ~ Anne Stuart

When you get everything aligned, when love welcomes the longing, accepts it, learns to live with it, you make love. ~ Anne Calhoun

And a sad realization drifted through my head, something to do with how young she was, how good she looked in any light, how light didn't make the slightest difference with her. And how old I was, and how all young people, even plain young people, had begun to look beautiful to me. ~ Anne Rice

We are all writing God's poem. ~ Anne Sexton

Memnoch the Devil happen to be my favorite of all The Vampire Chronicles. ~ Anne Rice

Do you know what I think about crying? I think some people have to learn to do it. But once you learn, once you know how to really cry, there's nothing quite like it. I feel sorry for those who don't know the trick. It's like whistling or singing. ~ Anne Rice

Always stay true to your nature. Anything that you are being hired for in any aspect of life whether it is a banking job, acting directing, whatever it is you have to stay true to who you are because they hired you to do what you do. ~ Anne Fletcher

A mystery confounds the problem of industry in art. In the last analysis, to work is simply not enough. But we have to act as if it were, leaving reward aside. ~ Anne Truitt

You are not your bank account, our your ambitiousness. You're not the cold clay lump with a big belly you leave behind when you die. You're not your collection of walking personality disorders. You are spirit, you are love. ~ Anne Lamott

She's bewitched you! What good could she do us?"

"Well, now... We could do some good for her. ~ Mariah Marsden

No" is a complete sentence. ~ Anne Lamott

On writer's block: The word block suggests that you are constipated or stuck, when the truth is that you're empty. ~ Anne Lamott

Pamper the mad man. ~ Anne Rice

Being sixteen in the pants I died full of questions ~ Anne Sexton

The town does not exist
except where one black-haired tree slips
up like a drowned woman into the hot sky. ~ Anne Sexton

Because the road is rough and long,
Shall we despise the skylark's song,
That cheers the wanderer's way?
Or trample down, with reckless feet,
The smiling flowerets, bright and sweet,
Because they soon decay? ~ Anne Bronte

Everyone thinks I'm showing off when I talk, ridiculous when I'm silent, insolent when I answer, cunning when I have a good idea, lazy when I'm tired, selfish when I eat one bite more than I should. ~ Anne Frank

What is the "it" in "write it down"?
When you don't have an answer to that question, when you don't know what your goals are,
you can use your writing to point you in the right direction. If you don't know what you want,
start writing. Writing makes its own meaning ~ Henriette Anne Klauser

Sometimes grace works like water wings when you feel you are sinking. ~ Anne Lamott

The value of the television network is partly tradition, serving as a navigation device and as a brand. Research shows that people do know and understand ABC as a brand, like Disney. ~ Anne Sweeney

My body is no schoolboy. ~ Anne Rice

They wouldn't understand that bullshit was important in India, that if he said the word, he would be reminded that it was used as fuel to cook food and to fertilize the land. ~ Anne Cherian

I felt ravaged, and with both hands in a fantasy I reached out for her figure as we ran together through the meadow which belonged only to us and to which these others could never be admitted.
"Oh, inocent love," she said even as she drank from me, "oh, innocent innocent love. ~ Anne Rice

For me, writing was the only way out. ~ Anne Tyler

My father was a frustrated writer. I think he wanted to write the great American novel. ~ Anne Waldman

She squared her shoulders against his charms. "It depends on who kisses me. I highly suspect a kiss from you would instantly void sixteen years of savings."
"What good are savings if you never spend them? ~ Anne Fortier

Dickens is a very underrated writer at the moment. Everyone in his time admired him but I think right now he's not spoken of enough. ~ Anne Rice

In the garden of your days cultivate festivity, play and celebrations. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Sometimes I fantasize about getting my hands on my library records. . . my recurring bookworm dream is to peruse my personal library history like it's a historical document.

My bookshelves show me the books I've bought or been given. . . But my library books come into my house and go out again, leaving behind only memories and a jotted line in a journal (if I'm lucky). I long for a list that captures these ephemeral reads - all the books I've borrowed in a lifetime of reading, from last week's armful spanning back to when I was a seven-year-old kid with my first library card. I don't need many details - just the titles and dates would be fine - but oh, how I'd love to see them.

Those records preserve what my memory has not. I remember the highlights of my grade-school checkouts, but much is lost to time. How I'd love to see the complete list of what I chose to read in second grade, or sixth, or tenth. ~ Anne Bogel

St. Augustine wrote something once, something I think about often," he said. " 'God triumphs on the ruins of our plans.' And maybe that is what is happening here. We make blunders, we make mistakes, and somehow new doors open, new possibilities arise, opportunities of which we've never dreamed. ~ Anne Rice

God is a sure paymaster. He may not pay at the end of every week, or month, or year, but I charge you remember that He pays in the end. ~ Anne Of Austria