John Donne Quotes & Sayings

Good is not good, unless A thousand it possess, But doth waste with greediness. — John Donne

Full nakedness! All my joys are due to thee, as souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be, to taste whole joys. — John Donne

Death Be Not Proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. — John Donne

Hee that hath all can have no more — John Donne

In best understandings, sin began, Angels sinned first, then Devils, and then Man. — John Donne

But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space. — John Donne

Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. — John Donne

If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die. — John Donne

Sleep is pain's easiest salve, and doth fulfill all the offices of death, except to kill — John Donne

God himself took a day to rest in, and a good man's grave is his Sabbath. — John Donne

Oft from new truths, and new phrase, new doubts grow, As strange attire aliens the men we know. — John Donne

God is so omnipresent ... God is an angel in an angel, and a stone in a stone, and a straw in a straw. — John Donne

This only is charity, to do all, all that we can. — John Donne

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie Flat on this bed. — John Donne

To know and feel all this and not have the words to express it makes a human a grave of his own thoughts. — John Donne

My love though silly is more brave. — John Donne

Dear love, for nothing less than thee
Would I have broke this happy dream;
It was a theme
For reason, much too strong for fantasy,
Therefore thou wak'd'st me wisely; yet
My dream thou brok'st not, but continued'st it.
Thou art so true that thoughts of thee suffice
To make dreams truths, and fables histories;
Enter these arms, for since thou thought'st it best,
Not to dream all my dream, let's act the rest. — John Donne

Art is the most passionate orgy within man's grasp. — John Donne

For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love — John Donne

Let man's soul be a sphere, and then, in this, The intelligence that moves, devotion is. — John Donne

God affords no man the comfort, the false comfort of Atheism: He will not allow a pretending Atheist the power to flatter himself, so far, as to seriously think there is no God. — John Donne

Satan hates me, yet is loth to lose me. — John Donne

For love all love of other sights controls and makes one little room an everywhere — John Donne

Wilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt Thou forgive that sin through which I run, And do run still, though still I do deplore? When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done, For I have more. "Wilt Thou forgive that sin, which I have won Others to sin, and made my sin their door? Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two: - but wallow'd in a score? When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done, For I have more. "I have a sin of fear, that when I've spun My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son Shall shine as He shines now, and heretofore; And having done that, Thou hast done, I fear no more. — John Donne

Who are a little wise the best fools be. — John Donne

I am the dust and the ashes of the temple of the Holy Ghost, and what marble is so precious? But I am more than dust and ashes: I am my best part, I am my soul. — John Donne

Teach me to hear mermaids singing, — John Donne

Here lies a she sun, and a he moon there;
She gives the best light to his sphere;
Or each is both, and all, and so
They unto one another nothing owe;
And yet they do, but are
So just and rich in that coin which they pay,
That neither would, nor needs forbear, nor stay;
Neither desires to be spared nor to spare.
They quickly pay their debt, and then
Take no acquittances, but pay again;
They pay, they give, they lend, and so let fall
No such occasion to be liberal.
More truth, more courage in these two do shine,
Than all thy turtles have and sparrows, Valentine. — John Donne

Women are like the arts, forced unto none, Open to all searchers, unprized, if unknown. — John Donne

Busy old fool, unruly Sun, why dost thou thus through windows and through curtains call on us? Must to thy motions lovers seasons run? — John Donne

Sleep is pain's easiest salve — John Donne

Filled with her love, may I be rather grown
Mad with much heart, then idiot with none. — John Donne

Affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. — John Donne

As God loves a cheerful giver, so he also loves a cheerful taker. Who takes hold of his gifts with a glad heart. — John Donne

So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame, Angels affect us often. — John Donne

But think that we Are but turned aside to sleep. — John Donne

To rage, to lust, to write to, to commend, All is the purlieu of the god of love. — John Donne

I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him merely seize me, and only declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I must shipwreck, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotency might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming. — John Donne

If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee. — John Donne

A man that is not afraid of a Lion is afraid of a Cat . — John Donne

What gnashing is not a comfort, what gnawing of the worm is not a tickling, what torment is not a marriage bed to this damnation, to be secluded eternally, eternally, eternally from the sight of God? — John Donne

No man is an island unto himself. — John Donne

And what is so intricate, so entangling as death? Who ever got out of a winding sheet? — John Donne

Christ beats his drum, but he does not press men; Christ is served with voluntaries. — John Donne

Annunciation

Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He will wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceivst, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
Thou hast light in dark, and shuts in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb. — John Donne

I am a little world made cunningly. — John Donne

Methinks I lied all winter, when I swore
My love was infinite, if spring makes it more. — John Donne

As soon as there was two there was pride. — John Donne

All other things to their destruction draw, Only our love hath no decay ... — John Donne

I do not love a man, except I hate his vices, because those vices are the enemies, and the destruction of that friend whom I love. — John Donne

Love is strong as death; but nothing else is as strong as either; and both, love and death, met in Christ. How strong and powerful upon you, then, should that instruction be, that comes to you from both these, the love and death of Jesus Christ! — John Donne

Send me nor this, nor that, to increase my store,
But swear thou think'st I love thee, and no more. — John Donne

If every gnat that flies were an archangel, all that could but tell me that there is a God; and the poorest worm that creeps tells me that. — John Donne

If I were but mere dust and ashes I might speak unto the Lord, for the Lord's hand made me of this dust, and the Lord's hand shall re-collect these ashes; the Lord's hand was the wheel upon which this vessel of clay was framed, and the Lord's hand is the urn in which these ashes shall be preserved. I am the dust and the ashes of the temple of the Holy Ghost, and what marble is so precious? But I am more than dust and ashes: I am my best part, I am my soul. And being so, the breath of God, I may breathe back these pious expostulations to my God: — John Donne

The Psalms foretell what I, what any shall do and suffer and say. — John Donne

Twice or thrice had I loved thee before I knew thy face or name, so in a voice, so in a shapeless flame, angels affect us oft, and worshiped be. — John Donne

Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631 He was the Word that spake it; He took the bread and brake it; And what that Word did make it I do believe, and take it. — John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. — John Donne

To an incompetent judge I must not lie, but I may be silent; to a competent I must answer. — John Donne

That thou remember them, some claim as debt; I think it mercy, if thou wilt forget. — John Donne

I think it mercy if Thou wilt forget. — John Donne

Sleep with clean hands, either kept clean all day by integrity or washed clean at night by repentance. — John Donne

O how feeble is man's power,
That if good fortune fall,
Cannot add another hour,
Nor a lost hour recall!
But come bad chance,
And we join to'it our strength,
And we teach it art and length,
Itself o'er us to'advance. — John Donne

Death is an ascension to a better library. — John Donne

When I died last, and, Dear, I die
As often as from thee I go
Though it be but an hour ago,
And lovers' hours be full eternity. — John Donne

O miserable condition of man, which is not imprinted by God, who, as he is immortal himself, had put a coal, a beam of immortality into us, which we might have blown into a flame, but blew it by our first sin; we beggared ourselves by hearkening after falses riches, and infatuated ourselves by hearkening after false knowledge. — John Donne

Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our calling that we may sleep in thy peace and wake in thy glory. — John Donne

I will not look upon the quickening sun, But straight her beauty to my sense shall run; The air shall note her soft, the fire most pure; Water suggest her clear, and the earth sure; Time shall not lose our passages. — John Donne

And who understands? Not me, because if I did I would forgive it all. — John Donne

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
[The Autumnal] — John Donne

When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language. — John Donne

And if there be any addition to knowledge, it is rather a new knowledge than a greater knowledge; rather a singularity in a desire of proposing something that was not knownat all beforethananimproving, anadvancing, a multiplying of former inceptions; and by that means, no knowledge comes to be perfect. — John Donne

He must pull out his own eyes, and see no creature, before he can say, he sees no God; He must be no man, and quench his reasonable soul, before he can say to himself, there is no God. — John Donne

That subtle knot which makes us man So must pure lovers souls descend T affections, and to faculties, Which sense may reach and apprehend, Else a great Prince in prison lies. — John Donne

God made sun and moon to distinguish the seasons, and day and night; and we cannot have the fruits of the earth but in their seasons. But God hath made no decrees to distinguish the seasons of His mercies. In Paradise the fruits were ripe the first minute, and in heaven it is always autumn. His mercies are ever in their maturity. — John Donne

Friends are ourselves. — John Donne

This Extasie doth unperplex (We said) and tell us what we love, Wee see by this, it was not sexe, Wee see, we saw not what did move: But as all severall soules contain Mixture of things, they know not what, Love, these mixt souls, doth mixe againe. Loves mysteries in soules doe grow, But yet the body is his booke. — John Donne

There is nothing that God hath established in a constant course of nature, and which therefore is done every day, but would seem a Miracle, and exercise our admiration, if it were done but once. — John Donne

The difference between the reason of man and the instinct of the beast is this, that the beast does but know, but the man knows that he knows. — John Donne

I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry. — John Donne

Festive alcohol sometimes leads to an excess of honesty. — John Donne

Kind pity chokes my spleen. — John Donne

But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner. — John Donne

When my mouth shall be filled with dust, and the worm shall feed, and feed sweetly upon me, when the ambitious man shall have no satisfaction if the poorest alive tread upon him, nor the poorest receive any contentment in being made equal to princes, for they shall be equal but in dust. — John Donne

Stay, O sweet, and do not rise;
The light that shines comes from thine eyes;
The day breaks not, it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part. — John Donne

There is hook in every benefit, that sticks in his jaws that takes that benefit, and draws him whither the benefactor will. — John Donne

And now good morrow to our waking souls, Which watch not one another out of fear; For love, all love of other sights controls, And makes one little room, an everywhere. Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. — John Donne

Contemplative and bookish men must of necessity be more quarrelsome than others, because they contend not about matter of fact, nor can determine their controversies by any certain witnesses, nor judges. But as long as they go towards peace, that is Truth, it is no matter which way. — John Donne

Men are sponges, which, to pour out, receive;
Who know false play, rather than lose, deceive.
For in best understandings sin began,
Angels sinn'd first, then devils, and then man.
Only perchance beasts sin not ; wretched we
Are beasts in all but white integrity. — John Donne

When God's hand is bent to strike, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ; but to fall out of the hands of the living God is a horror beyond our expression, beyond our imagination. — John Donne

Religion is not a melancholy, the spirit of God is not a damper. — John Donne

I call not that virginity a virtue, which resideth onely in the bodies integrity; much less if it be with a purpose of perpetually keeping it: for then it is a most inhumane vice. - But I call that Virginity a virtue which is willing and desirous to yield it self upon honest and lawfull terms, when just reason requireth; and until then, is kept with a modest chastity of body and mind. — John Donne

Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant;
the only harmless great thing. — John Donne

Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right,
By these we reach divinity — John Donne

And Jacob came clothed in vile harsh attire, But to supplant, and with gainful intent; God clothed Himself in vile man's flesh, that so He might be weak enough to suffer woe. — John Donne

How many times go we to comedies, to masques, to places of great and noble resort, nay even to church only to see the company. — John Donne

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. — John Donne

True joy is the earnest which we have of heaven, it is the treasure of the soul, and therefore should be laid in a safe place, and nothing in this world is safe to place it in. — John Donne

Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes. — John Donne

The flea, though he kill none, he does all the harm he can. — John Donne