George Herbert
George Herbert
George Herbertwas a Welsh poet, orator and Anglican priest. Herbert's poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognized as "a pivotal figure: enormously popular, deeply and broadly influential, and arguably the most skilful and important British devotional lyricist."...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth3 April 1593
hands gold sticks
Gold thou mayst safely touch; but if it stick Unto thy hands, it woundeth to the quick.
endurance overcoming endure
He that endures is not overcome.
easter heart dust
Rise, heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing His praise Without delays, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise With Him mayst rise: That, as His death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and, much more, just.
running mean years
By no means run in debt: take thine own measure, Who cannot live on twenty pound a year, Cannot on forty.
fool sometimes foolishness
None is a fool always, everyone sometimes.
sports poor candle
It is a poor sport that is not worth a candle.
wine tables creatures
Wine makes all sorts of creatures at table.
wine knows
You cannot know wine by the barrell.
fire wind kindles
A litle wind kindles; much puts out the fire.
stealing sleeves geese
The Frier preached against stealing, and had a goose in his sleeve.
mirth needs sin
When thou dost tell another's jest, therein Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need; Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the sin.
water silence still-waters
Take heede of still waters, the quick passe away.
shoes
The wearer knowes, where the shoe wrings.
morning night soul
Summe up at night what thou hast done by day; And in the morning what thou hast to do. Dresse and undresse thy soul; mark the decay And growth of it; if, with thy watch, that too Be down then winde up both; since we shall be Most surely judg'd, make thy accounts agree.