The voices / 185 fragments

George Herbert

1593 AD — 1632 AD

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

Author and source reference ↗

▷ Play this voice Search within this voice ↗Place in time ↗friendship truth courage faith death life learning character

Historical source references

Praise
Virtue
The Answer
The Elixir
The Church Porch
Sin
The Church Militant
Man
The Pulley
A True Hymn
The Size
Country Parson
Jacula Prudentum
Associates · anthology attribution: George Herbert
Brevity · anthology attribution: George Herbert
Life · anthology attribution: George Herbert
Mother · anthology attribution: George Herbert
Printed citation: George Herbert
Number 1585 · printed citation: George Herbert
Page 49 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: BAPTISM
Page 65 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: THE BIBLE
Page 209 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: FAITH
Page 262 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: GRACE
Page 452 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: PRAISE
Page 497 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: RESURRECTION—RISING
Page 498 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: RESURRECTION—RISING
Page 579 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: SUN
Page 58 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: Death
Page 100 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: Gifts
Page 128 · printed citation: George Herbert · subject: Ignorance

Archive entries

01Undated

If thou be master-gunner, spend not all / That thou canst speak at once, but husband it.

George Herbert / quote

↗

02Undated

If thy son can make ten pound his measure, / Then all thou addest may be called his treasure.

George Herbert / quote

↗

03Undated

In alms regard thy means and others' merit. / Think Heaven a better bargain than to give / Only thy single market-money for it.

George Herbert / quote

↗

04Undated

In arguing, be calm; for fierceness makes / Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.

George Herbert / quote

↗

05Undated

In thy thriving still misdoubt some evil: / Lest gaining gain on thee, and make thee dim / To all things else.

George Herbert / quote

↗

06Undated

It's a poor sport that's not worth the candle.

George Herbert / quote

↗

07Undated

Join hands with God to make a man to live.

George Herbert / quote

↗

08Undated

Keep all thy native good, and naturalise / All foreign of that name; but scorn their ill; / Embrace their activeness, not vanities.

George Herbert / quote

↗

09Undated

Kneeling ne'er spoiled silk stockings; quit thy state; / All equal are within the church's gate.

George Herbert / quote

↗

10Undated

Know that nothing can so foolish be / As empty boldness.

George Herbert / quote

↗

11Undated

Laugh not too much: the witty man laughs least: / For wit is news only to ignorance. / Less at thine own things laugh: lest in the jest / Thy person share, and the conceit advance.

George Herbert / quote

↗

12Undated

Let thy mind still be bent, still plotting where, / And when, and how thy business may be done, / Slackness breeds worms; but the sure traveller, / Though he alights sometimes, still goeth on.

George Herbert / quote

↗

13Undated

Let thy mind's sweetness have his operation / Upon thy body, clothes, and habitation.

George Herbert / quote

↗

14Undated

Lie not, neither to thyself, nor man, nor God. Let mouth and heart be one; beat and speak together, and make both felt in action. It is for cowards to lie.

George Herbert / quote

↗

15Undated

Like a man do all things, not sneakingly.

George Herbert / quote

↗

16Undated

Love not thyself, nor give thy humours way; / God gave them to thee under lock and key.

George Herbert / quote

↗

17Undated

Make not thy sport abuses; for the fly, / That feeds on dung, is coloured thereby.

George Herbert / quote

↗

18Undated

Man is God's image; but a poor man is / Christ's stamp to boot: both images regard. / God reckons for him, counts the favour His.

George Herbert / quote

↗

19Undated

Mark what another says; for many are / Full of themselves, and answer their own notion. / Take all into thee; then with equal care / Balance each chain of reason, like a potion.

George Herbert / quote

↗

20Undated

More servants wait on man / Than he'll take notice of.

George Herbert / quote

↗

21Undated

No sooner is a temple built to God, but the devil builds a chapel close by.

George Herbert / quote

↗

22Undated

None is so wasteful as the scraping dame; / She loseth three for one—her soul, rest, fame.

George Herbert / quote

↗

23Undated

Nothing hath got so far / But man hath caught and kept it as his prey; / His eyes dismount the highest star; / He is in little all the sphere.

George Herbert / quote

↗

24Undated

One to another cannot be a perfect physician.

George Herbert / quote

↗

George Herbert

Archive entries

Read further

Meditations

The Prophet

Confessions