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The grave is sooner cloy'd than men's desire.

Francis Quarles

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Francis Quarles
Age: 52 †
Born: 1592
Born: May 8
Died: 1644
Died: September 8
Author
Poet
Writer
Havering
Cloy
Sooner
Grave
Graves
Desire
Men

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Lust is a sharp spur to vice, which always putteth the affections into a false gallop.
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If thy daughter marry well, thou hast found a son if not, thou hast lost a daughter.
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That friendship will not continue to the end which is begun for an end.
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I'll ne'er distrust my God for cloth and bread while lilies flourish and the raven 's fed.
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Nor fire, nor rocks, can stop our furious minds, Nor waves, nor winds.
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Wouldst thou multiply thy riches? diminish them wisely or wouldst thou make thy estate entire? divide it charitably. Seeds that are scattered increase but, hoarded up, they perish.
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Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself. If thou find anything questionable there, use the commentary of a severe friend, rather than the gloss of a sweet-lipped flatterer there is more profit in a distasteful truth than in deceitful sweetness.
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Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself.
Francis Quarles
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Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
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O who would trust this world, or prize what's in it, That gives and takes, and chops and changes, ev'ry minute?
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Make thy recreation servant to thy business, lest thou become a slave to thy recreation.
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Let the ground of all thy religious actions be obedience examine not why it is commanded, but observe it because it is commanded. True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.
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If opinion hath lighted the lamp of thy name, endeavor to encourage it with thy own oil, lest it go out and stink the chronical disease of Popularity is shame if thou be once up, beware from fame to infamy is a beaten road.
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Hath fortune dealt thee ill cards? let wisdom make thee a good gamester. In a fair gale, every fool may sail, but wise behavior in a storm commends the wisdom of a pilot to bear adversity with an equal mind is both the sign and glory of a brave spirit.
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Proportion thy charity to the strength of thine estate, lest God proportion thine estate to the weakness of thy charity. Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking applause, thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a closed mouth.
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Temper your enjoyments with prudence, lest there be written on your heart that fearful word 'satiety.'
Francis Quarles
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Tis not, to cry God mercy, or to sit And droop, or to confess that thou hast fail'd: 'Tis to bewail the sins thou didst commit: And not commit those sins thou hast bewail' d. He that bewails and not forsakes them too Confesses rather what he means to do.
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Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand, and a closed mouth.
Francis Quarles
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God hath given to mankind a common library, His creatures to every man a proper book, himself being an abridgment of all others. If thou read with understanding, it will make thee a great master of philosophy, and a true servant of the divine Author: if thou but barely read, it will make thee thine own wise man and the Author's fool.
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In thy apparel avoid singularity, profuseness, and gaudiness. Be not too early in the fashion, nor too late. Decency is half way between affectation and neglect. The body is the shell of the soul, apparel is the husk of that shell the husk often tells you what the kernel is.
Francis Quarles