Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Edmund Waller
25 quotes
“The yielding marble of her snowy breast.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a Lady passing through a Crowd of People; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“That eagle's fate and mine are one, Which on the shaft that made him die Espied a feather of his own, Wherewith he wont to soar so high.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To a Lady singing a Song of his Composing; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). See also Eagles, for variations on this theme.
“A narrow compass! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair; Give me but what this riband bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a Girdle; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“For all we know Of what the blessed do above Is, that they sing, and that they love.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: While I listen to thy Voice; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Under the tropic is our language spoke, And part of Flanders hath receiv'd our yoke.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Upon the Death of the Lord Protector; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“In such green palaces the first kings reign'd, Slept in their shades, and angels entertain'd; With such old counsellors they did advise, And by frequenting sacred groves grew wise.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On St. James's Park; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Could we forbear dispute, and practice love, We should agree as angels do above. Where love presides, not vice alone does find No entrance there, hut virtues stay behind: Both faith, and hope, and all the meaner train Of mortal virtues, at the door remain. Love only enters as a native there, For born in heav'n, it does but sojourn here.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He that alone would wise and mighty be, Commands that others love as well as he. Love as he lov'd! — How can we soar so high?— He can add wings when he commands to fly. Nor should we be with this command dismay'd; He that examples gives will give his aid: For he took flesh, that where his precepts fall, His practice, as a pattern, may prevail.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse, And every conqueror creates a muse.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Guarded with ships, and all our sea our own.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To man, that was in th' evening made, Stars gave the first delight; Admiring, in the gloomy shade, Those little drops of light.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1664 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Apology for Having Loved Before (1664).
“That which her slender waist confined Shall now my joyful temples bind; No monarch but would give his crown His arms might do what this has done.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1664 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a Girdle (1664), st. 1.
“My joy, my grief, my hope, my love, Did all within this circle move!”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1664 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a Girdle (1664), st. 2.
“Go, lovely rose! Tell her that wastes her time and me That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1664 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Go, Lovely Rose (1664), st. 1.
“How small a part of time they share That are so wondrous sweet and fair!”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1664 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Go, Lovely Rose (1664), st. 2.
“Poets that lasting marble seek Must come in Latin or in Greek.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1668 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of English Verse (1668).
“The Muses' friend, Tea, does our fancy aid, Repress the vapours which the head invade, And keeps the palace of the soul serene.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made; Stronger by weakness, wiser, men become As they draw near to their eternal home. Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, That stand upon the threshold of the new.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1686 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Divine Poems (1686). Compare: "To vanish in the chinks that Time has made", Samuel Rogers, Pæstum; "As that the walls worn thin, permit the mind / To look out thorough, and his frailty find", Samuel Daniel, Histo…
“There is a garden in her face Where roses and white lilies blow; A heavenly paradise is that place, Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow: There cherries grow which none may buy Till 'Cherry-ripe' themselves do cry.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The King governs by Law. Let us look back to the evils we had, in order to prevent more. There was loan, and ship-money, and extremes begat extremes. The House would then give no money. Let the King rely upon the Parliament; we have settled the Crown and the Government. 'Tis strange that we have sat so many years, and given so much money, and are still called upon for Supply. The Lords may give Supply with their own money, but we give the peoples; we are their proxies. The King takes his measures by the Parliament, and he doubts not but that all the Commons will supply for the Government; but giving at this rate that we have done, we shall be "a branch of the revenue." They will "anticipate" us too. But, let the officers say what they will, we will not make these mismanagements the King's error. 'Tis better it should fall upon us than the King. We give public money, and must see that it goes to public use. Tell your money, fix it to public ends, and take order against occasions of this nature for the future. We cannot live at the expence of Spain, that has the Indies; or France, who has so many millions of revenue. Let us look to our Government, Fleet, and Trade. 'Tis the advice that the oldest Parliament-man among you can give you; and so, God bless you!”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1675 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in parliament (19 October 1675).
“Consent in virtue knit your hearts so fast, That still the knot, in spite of death, does last; For as your tears, and sorrow-wounded soul, Prove well that on your part this bond is whole, So all we know of what they do above, Is that they happy are, and that they love. Let dark oblivion, and the hollow grave, Content themselves our frailer thoughts to have; Well-chosen love is never taught to die, But with our nobler part invades the sky. Then grieve no more that one so heavenly shaped The crooked hand of trembling age escaped; Rather, since we beheld her not decay, But that she vanish'd so entire away, Her wondrous beauty, and her goodness, merit We should suppose that some propitious spirit In that celestial form frequented here, And is not dead, but ceases to appear.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) first seen 1664 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Upon the Death of My Lady Rich (1664).
“And keeps the palace of the soul.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Could we forbear dispute and practise love, We should agree as angels do above.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home: Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view That stand upon the threshold of the new.”
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) said by 1687 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source