Robert Herrick Quotes

Praise they that will times past, I joy to see My selfe now live: this age best pleaseth mee. ~ Robert Herrick

And as this round (ring) is nowhere found to flaw, or else to sever. So let our love as endless prove and pure as gold forever. ~ Robert Herrick

No, not Jove
Himselfe, at one time, can be wise and love. ~ Robert Herrick

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt. Nothing's so hard but search will find it out. ~ Robert Herrick

Some would know
Why I so
Long still doe tarry,
And ask why
Here that I
Live, and not marry?
Thus I those
Doe oppose;
What man would be here,
Slave to Thrall,
If at all
He could live free here? ~ Robert Herrick

Bid me to love, and I will give a loving heart to thee. ~ Robert Herrick

Art quickens nature; care will make a face; Neglected beauty perisheth apace. ~ Robert Herrick

The person lives twice who lives the first life well. ~ Robert Herrick

Drink wine, and live here blitheful while ye may;
The morrow's life too late is; live to-day. ~ Robert Herrick

Who with a little cannot be content, endures an everlasting punishment. ~ Robert Herrick

Let my muse
Fail of thy former helps, and only use
Her inadulterate strength. What's done by me
Hereafter shall smell of the lamp, not thee. ~ Robert Herrick

In things a moderation keep; Kings ought to shear, not skin, their sheep. ~ Robert Herrick

It is an active flame that fliesFirst to the babies in the eyes. ~ Robert Herrick

That age is best which is the first
When youth and blood are warmer. ~ Robert Herrick

Things are evermore sincere; / Candor here, and lustre there / Delighting. ~ Robert Herrick

What is a kiss? Why this, as some approve: The sure, sweet cement, glue, and lime of love. ~ Robert Herrick

Necessity makes dastards valiant men. ~ Robert Herrick

He loves his bonds who, when the first are broke, Submits his neck into a second yoke. ~ Robert Herrick

Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand
That soils my land,
And giv'st me for my bushel sowne
Twice ten for one.
All this, and better, Thou dost send
Me, to this end,
That I should render, for my part,
A thankful heart. ~ Robert Herrick

The first act's doubtful, but we say, it is the last commends the play. ~ Robert Herrick

Hast thou attempted greatnesse? Then go on; Back-turning slackens resolution. ~ Robert Herrick

Wealth cannot make a life, but Love. ~ Robert Herrick

Feed him ye must, whose food fills you.
And that this pleasure is like raine,
Not sent ye for to drowne your paine,
But for to make it spring againe. ~ Robert Herrick

Humble we must be, if to heaven we go; High is the roof there, but the gate is low. ~ Robert Herrick

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying. ~ Robert Herrick

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun. ~ Robert Herrick

Welcome, maids of honor, You doe bring In the spring, And wait upon her. ~ Robert Herrick

It is the end that crowns us, not the fight. ~ Robert Herrick

Buying, possessing, accumulating
this is not worldliness. But doing this in the love of it, with no love of God paramount
doing it so that thoughts of eternity and God are an intrusion
doing it so that one's spirit is secularized in the process; this is worldliness. ~ Robert Herrick

To the Virgins, To Make much of Time
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he is to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while you may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry. ~ Robert Herrick

Seldom comes Glory till a man be dead. ~ Robert Herrick

Whatever comes, let's be content withal; Among God's blessings there is not one small. ~ Robert Herrick

But ne'er the rose without the thorn. ~ Robert Herrick

When the tempter me pursueth
With the sins of all my youth,
And half damns me with untruth,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me! ~ Robert Herrick

None pities him that is in the snare, who warned before, would not beware. ~ Robert Herrick

Love is a circle that doth restless move
In the same sweet eternity of love. ~ Robert Herrick

In the hour of my distress, When temptations me oppress, And when I my sins confess, Sweet Spirit, comfort me. ~ Robert Herrick

No pains. No gains ~ Robert Herrick

What though the sea be calm? trust to the shore, Ships have been drown'd, where late they danc'd before. ~ Robert Herrick

In prayer the lips ne'er act the winning part, Without the sweet concurrence of the heart. ~ Robert Herrick

The wonderful 17th Century poet, Robert Herrick, wrote a poem entitled, 'To Live Merrily and to Trust to Good Verses.' Easy to say, Robert Herrick; not always easy to do. But it's a good slogan, I think. ~ Robert Pinsky

Bid me despair, and I'll despair,Under that cypress tree;Or bid me die, and I will dareE'en Death, to die for thee. ~ Robert Herrick

So when or you or I are made A fable, song, or fleeting shade; All love, all liking, all delight Lies drowned with us in endless night. Then while time serves, and we are but decaying; Come, my Corinna, come, let's go a Maying. ~ Robert Herrick

He who has suffered shipwreck, fears to sail Upon the seas, though with a gentle gale. ~ Robert Herrick

Learn this of me, where'er thy lot doth fall,
Short lot, or not, to be content with all. ~ Robert Herrick

Here we are all, by day; by night, we're hurled
By dreams, each one, into a several world. ~ Robert Herrick

Know when to speak - for many times it brings danger, to give the best advice to kings. ~ Robert Herrick

Our present tears here, not our present laughter
Are but the handsells of our joys hereafter. ~ Robert Herrick

When a daffadill I see, Hanging down his head towards me, Guess I may, what I must be: First, I shall decline my head; Secondly, I shall be dead: Lastly, safely buryed. ~ Robert Herrick

I'll write, because I'll give - You critics means to live; For should I not supply - The cause, the effect would die ~ Robert Herrick

Certainly, if money could have been raised upon the book, Robert Herrick would long ago have sacrificed that last possession: but the demand for literature, which is so marked a feature in some parts of the South Seas, extends not so far as the dead tongues; and the Virgil, which he could not exchange against a meal had often consoled him in his hunger. He would study it, as he lay with tightened belt on the floor of the old calaboose, seeking favourite passages and finding new ones only less beautiful because they lacked the consecration of remembrance. The Ebb-Tide ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Let wealth come in by comely thrift,
And not by any sordid shift;
'T is haste
Makes waste;
Extremes have still their fault.
Who gripes too hard the dry and slipp'ry sand,
Holds none at all, or little, in his hand. ~ Robert Herrick

Go to your banquet then, but use delight
So as to rise still with an appetite. ~ Robert Herrick

Thou art my life, my love, my heart,
The very eyes of me:
And hast command of every part
To live and die for thee. ~ Robert Herrick

Give house-room to the best; 'tis never known
Verture and pleasure both to dwell in one. ~ Robert Herrick

Tears are the noble language of the eye. ~ Robert Herrick

Love is maintain'd by wealth: when all is spent,
Adversity then breeds the discontent. ~ Robert Herrick

Happy is the bride that the sun shines on. ~ Robert Herrick

Thus times do shift, each thing his turn does hold; New things succeed, as former things grow old. ~ Robert Herrick

When words we want, love teacheth to indite;
And what we blush to speak, she bids us write. ~ Robert Herrick

It takes great wit and interest and energy to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man has to accomplish. ~ Robert Herrick

Here a little child I stand, Heaving up my either hand; Cold as paddocks though they be, Here I lift them up to Thee, for a benison to fall on our meat, and on us all. Amen. ~ Robert Herrick

Oft have I heard both youths and virgins say,
Birds chuse their mates and couple too this day:
But by their flight I never can devine
When I shall couple with my valentine. ~ Robert Herrick

When one is past, another care we have; Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave. ~ Robert Herrick

T is the will that makes the action good or ill. ~ Robert Herrick

I dare not ask a kiss;
I dare not beg a smile;
Lest having that or this,
I might grow proud the while.
No, no, the utmost share
Of my desire shall be
Only to kiss that air,
That lately kissed thee. ~ Robert Herrick

Next, when I cast mine eyes and see
That brave vibration each way free,
O how that glittering taketh me! ~ Robert Herrick

Temptations hurt not, though they have accesse; Satan o'ercomes none but by willingnesse. ~ Robert Herrick

God doth not promise here to man that HeWill free him quickly from his misery;But in His own time, and when He thinks fit,Then He will give a happy end to it. ~ Robert Herrick

Before man's fall the rose was born,St. Ambrose says, without the thorn;But for man's fault then was the thornWithout the fragrant rose-bud born; But ne'er the rose without the thorn. ~ Robert Herrick

Well I sup and well I dine,
When I drink my frolic wine. ~ Robert Herrick

If you can find a way to add some adventure to a mundane daily commute, I suggest you do that. Life is too short, my friends. ~ Robert Hurst

The artist should be intoxicated with the idea of the thing he wants to express. ~ Robert Henri

The sublime and yet softened beauty of the scenery around, had filled the soul of Stanton with delight, and he enjoyed that delight as Englishmen generally do, silently. ~ Charles Robert Maturin

A canvas is never empty. ~ Robert Rauschenberg

If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that "Members not Present" and "Subjects Discussed" were one and the same. ~ Robert Breault

The teachers liked me. In grade school, they make you copy pictures from books. I think the first one was Robert Louis Stevenson. ~ Andy Warhol

I prefer music but sometimes if there's on talk radio - someone might be on that I like. I listen to the old - to "Air America," down at the - liberal talk shows and things like that I find kind of nice, their criticizing the conservatives. I find that quite relaxing, entertaining, but music, a lot of music. ~ Robert Barry

I pre-screen restaurants because my objective is to never have a bad meal, and I get pretty close to that. ~ Robert Sietsema

Jesus Christ is not a cosmic errand boy. I mean no disrespect or irreverence in so saying, but I do intend to convey the idea that while he loves us deeply and dearly, Christ the Lord is not perched on the edge of heaven, anxiously anticipating our next wish. When we speak of God being good to us, we generally mean that he is kind to us. In the words of the inimitable C. S. Lewis, "What would really satisfy us would be a god who said of anything we happened to like doing, 'What does it matter so long as they are contented?' We want, in fact, not so much a father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven--a senile benevolence who as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves,' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'a good time was had by all.'" You know and I know that our Lord is much, much more than that.

One writer observed: "When we so emphasize Christ's benefits that he becomes nothing more than what his significance is 'for me' we are in danger. . . . Evangelism that says 'come on, it's good for you'; discipleship that concentrates on the benefits package; sermons that 'use' Jesus as the means to a better life or marriage or job or attitude--these all turn Jesus into an expression of that nice god who always meets my spiritual needs. And this is why I am increasingly hesitant to speak of Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. As Ken Woodward put it in a 1994 essay, 'Now I think we all need to be ~ Robert L. Millet

The brutal intrusion of officialdom into private devastation. ~ Robert Galbraith

I suppose the pursuit of fashion has always carried a price, monetary or otherwise. ~ Robert Charles Wilson

You ask any moviemaker what their favorite movie experience was, and they'll say it was one of the first ones, where everyone had to pitch in and do everything together, and you had to struggle. ~ Robert Rodriguez

Now we've a real intellectual impasse. Our reason, which is supposed to make things more intelligible, seems to be making them less intelligible, and when reason thus defeats its own purpose something has to be changed in the structure of our reason itself. ~ Robert M. Pirsig

I was thinking that it was regrettable that your tastes have grown canalized so young. There it
was, raining soup-and you were caught without a spoon. Even three days of what you were
offered-urged on you!-would have been something to treasure when you reach my age. And you, you
young idiot, let jealousy chase you away! Believe me, at your age I would have gone Eskimo in a big
way, thankful that I had been given a free pass instead of having to attend church and study Martian to
qualify. I'm so vicariously vexed that my only consolation is the sour one that I know you will live to
regret it. Age does not bring wisdom, Ben, but it does give perspective . . . and the saddest perspective
of all is to see far, far behind you, the temptations you've passed up. I have such regrets myself but all of
them are as nothing to the whopper of a regret I am happily certain you will suffer. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

If you can find meaning in the type of running you need todo to stay on this team, chances are you can find meaning in another absurd pastime: Life. ~ Robert Towne

What people need to see is this openness, not this church that is so built on structure and religious order that you can't be free and worship God and have a good time because we're so caught up in condemnation, 'I can't say this I can't wear this I can't do this because of this perception of what a Christian is and is not'. It's not about that. God says 'come as you are'. ~ Robert Hood

We of Africa protest that, in this day and age, we should continue to be treated as lesser human beings than other races. ~ Robert Mugabe

Someday a computer will give a wrong answer to spare someone's feelings, and man will have invented artificial intelligence. ~ Robert Breault

Tree At My Window
Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.
Vague dream-head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.
But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.
That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather. ~ Robert Frost

It's a nasty divorce when they can't agree on how to divvy up the His and Hers towels. ~ Robert Breault

The rich are those who play to win. The middle class plays not to lose. ~ Robert Kiyosaki

You could reason with someone who was halfway educated and appeal to his intelligence, but I felt helpless in the face of utter stupidity. ~ Robert Cormier

He who does a kindness to an ungrateful person, sets his seal to a flint and sows his seed upon the sand; on the former he makes no impression, and from the latter finds no product. ~ Robert South

She heard melody and harmony and counterpoint; he heard something calling him from far, far away. ~ Robert Hellenga

If the purpose of the wall was to destroy Berlin, Herr Ulbricht and his cohorts have erred sadly. Berlin is not only going to continue to exist - it's going to grow and grow and grow. Its ties to West Germany will not be severed. ~ Robert Kennedy

Critics are the products of their own times and biases and what they have to say about works of art is as transient and insubstantial as fashion. ~ Robert Genn

If we think it takes a lot of effort and hard work to get what we want, then our life is going to be about struggle. ~ Robert Anthony

I don't want to be a professional cripple. And I don't see the suicide stuff as tragic. ~ Robert Wyatt

If as individuals we can improve the geography only slightly, if at all, perhaps the more appropriately scaled subject for reshaping is ourselves. ~ Robert Adam