Robert Herrick

"We merit all we suffer, and by far     More stripes than God lays on the sufferer."

"God's prescience makes none sinful; but th' offence     Of man's the chief cause of God's prescience."

"The blood of Abel was a thing     Of such a rev'rend reckoning,     As that the old world thought it fit     Especially to swear by it."

"Mease brags of pullets which he eats: but Mease     Ne'er yet set tooth in stump or rump of these."

"Imparity doth ever discord bring;     The mean the music makes in everything."

"What I fancy I approve,     No dislike there is in love.     Be my mistress short or tall,     And distorted therewithal:     Be she likewise"

"Give me that man that dares bestride     The active sea-horse, and with pride     Through that huge field of waters ride.     Who with his loo"

"I do love I know not what,     Sometimes this and sometimes that;     All conditions I aim at.     But, as luckless, I have yet     Many shre"

"I'll hope no more     For things that will not come;     And if they do, they prove but cumbersome.         Wealth brings much woe;     An"

"Haste is unhappy; what we rashly do     Is both unlucky, aye, and foolish, too.     Where war with rashness is attempted, there     The soldier"

"Though frankincense the deities require, We must not give all to the hallow'd fire. Such be our gifts, and such be our expense, As for ourselves to"

"Jehovah, as Botius saith,     No number of the plural hath."

"A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles in clothes a wantonness: A lawn about the shoulders thrown Into a fine distraction An erring lace, which her"

"The less our sorrows here and suff'rings cease,     The more our crowns of glory there increase."

"Still take advice; though counsels, when they fly     At random, sometimes hit most happily."

"Give way, give way, ye gates, and win An easy blessing to your bin And basket, by our entering in. May both with manchet stand replete; Your lard"

"That flow of gallants which approach To kiss thy hand from out the coach; That fleet of lackeys which do run Before thy swift postilion; Those str"

"No trust to metals nor to marbles, when     These have their fate and wear away as men;     Times, titles, trophies may be lost and spent,"

"I saw a cherry weep, and why?     Why wept it? but for shame     Because my Julia's lip was by,     And did out-red the same.     But, pretty"

"What is't that wastes a prince? example shows,     'Tis flattery spends a king, more than his foes."

"Will ye hear what I can say     Briefly of my Julia?     Black and rolling is her eye,     Double-chinn'd and forehead high;     Lips she has"

"Thou had'st the wreath before, now take the tree,     That henceforth none be laurel-crown'd but thee."

"I will confess With cheerfulness, Love is a thing so likes me, That, let her lay On me all day, I'll kiss the hand that strikes me. I will not,"

"No fault in women, to refuse The offer which they most would chuse. No fault: in women, to confess How tedious they are in their dress; No fault i"

"Shame checks our first attempts; but then 'tis prov'd     Sins first dislik'd are after that belov'd."

"You are a Tulip seen to-day, But, Dearest, of so short a stay, That where you grew, scarce man can say. You are a lovely July-flower; Yet one rud"

"I dreamt the Roses one time went To meet and sit in Parliament; The place for these, and for the rest Of flowers, was thy spotless breast. Over th"

"You see this gentle stream that glides, Shoved on, by quick-succeeding tides: Try if this sober stream you can Follow to th' wider ocean, And see,"

"Goddess of youth, and lady of the spring,     Most fit to be the consort to a king,     Be pleas'd to rest you in this sacred grove     Beset w"

"Fair and foul days trip cross and pile; the fair     Far less in number than our foul days are."

"Love is a syrup; and whoe'er we see     Sick and surcharg'd with this satiety,     Shall by this pleasing trespass quickly prove     There's lo"

"To read my book the virgin shy     May blush while Brutus standeth by,     But when he's gone, read through what's writ,     And never stain a"

"To me my Julia lately sent     A bracelet richly redolent:     The beads I kissed, but most lov'd her     That did perfume the pomander."

"In this world, the Isle of Dreams, While we sit by sorrow's streams, Tears and terrors are our themes, Reciting: But when once from hence we fly,"

"From me my Silvia ran away,     And running therewithal     A primrose bank did cross her way,     And gave my love a fall.     But trust me"

"Thou sail'st with others in this Argus here;     Nor wreck or bulging thou hast cause to fear;     But trust to this, my noble passenger;     W"

"Jone is a wench that's painted;     Jone is a girl that's tainted;      Yet Jone she goes      Like one of those     Whom purity had sainted."

"Ask me what hunger is, and I'll reply,     'Tis but a fierce desire of hot and dry."

"How am I ravish'd! when I do but see     The painter's art in thy sciography?     If so, how much more shall I dote thereon     When once he gi"

"Fight thou with shafts of silver and o'ercome,     When no force else can get the masterdom."

"To his book's end this last line he'd have placed:     Jocund his muse was, but his life was chaste."

"Never was day so over-sick with showers     But that it had some intermitting hours;     Never was night so tedious but it knew     The last wa"

"Thou bid'st me come; I cannot come; for why?     Thou dwell'st aloft, and I want wings to fly.     To mount my soul, she must have pinions given"

"God bought man here with His heart's blood expense;     And man sold God here for base thirty pence."

"Rump is a turn-broach, yet he seldom can     Steal a swoln sop out of a dripping-pan."

"A Gyges ring they bear about them still, To be, and not seen when and where they will; They tread on clouds, and though they sometimes fall, They f"

"Whene'er my heart love's warmth but entertains,     Oh frost! oh snow! oh hail! forbid the banes.     One drop now deads a spark, but if the sam"

"Is Zelot pure? he is: yet! see he wears     The sign of circumcision in his ears."

"Joan would go tell her hairs; and well she might,     Having but seven in all: three black, four white."

"Ah Ben!         Say how, or when         Shall we thy guests     Meet at those lyric feasts         Made at the Sun,     The Dog, the"

"Health is the first good lent to men; A gentle disposition then: Next, to be rich by no by-ways; Lastly, with friends t' enjoy our days."

"Let me be warm, let me be fully fed,     Luxurious love by wealth is nourished.     Let me be lean, and cold, and once grown poor,     I shall"

"'Twas but a single rose,     Till you on it did breathe;     But since, methinks, it shows     Not so much rose as wreath."

"Excess is sluttish: keep the mean; for why?     Virtue's clean conclave is sobriety."

"I press'd my Julia's lips, and in the kiss     Her soul and love were palpable in this."

"Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, The shooting stars attend thee; And the elves also, Whose little eyes glow Like the sparks of fire, befriend the"

"Twice has Pudica been a bride, and led     By holy Hymen to the nuptial bed.     Two youths she's known thrice two, and twice three years;"

"Give, if thou canst, an alms; if not, afford,     Instead of that, a sweet and gentle word:     God crowns our goodness wheresoe'er He sees,"

"Have, have ye no regard, all ye     Who pass this way, to pity Me,     Who am a man of misery!     A man both bruis'd, and broke, and one"

"Bar close as you can, and bolt fast too your door,     To keep out the letcher, and keep in the whore;     Yet quickly you'll see by the turn of"