Walter Raleigh Quotes & Sayings

No one is wise or safe, but they that are honest. — Walter Raleigh

But in vain she did conjure him, To depart her presence so, Having a thousand tongues t' allure him And but one to bid him go. When lips invite, And eyes delight, And cheeks as fresh as rose in June, Persuade delay,
What boots to say Forego me now, come to me soon. — Walter Raleigh

Youth is the opportunity to do something and to be somebody. — Walter Raleigh

Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds. — Walter Raleigh

So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lieth. — Walter Raleigh

Silence in love betrays more woe - Than words though ne'er so witty; A beggar that is dumb, you know, may challenge double pity. — Walter Raleigh

The Wood is that that makes the gallows tree;
The Weed is that that strings the hangman's bag;
The Wag, my pretty knave, betokens thee. — Walter Raleigh

A man must first govern himself ere he is fit to govern a family; and his family ere he be fit to bear the government of the commonwealth. — Walter Raleigh

But it is hard to know them from friends, they are so obsequious and full of protestations; for a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend. — Walter Raleigh

No one can take less pains than to hold his tongue. Hear much, and speak little; for the tongue is the instrument of the greatest good and greatest evil that is done in the world. — Walter Raleigh

Divine is Love and scorneth worldly pelf,
And can be bought with nothing but with self. — Walter Raleigh

According to Solomon, life and death are in the power of the tongue; and as Euripides truly affirmeth, every unbridled tongue in the end shall find itself unfortunate; for in all that ever I observed in the course of worldly things, I ever found that men's fortunes are oftener made by their tongues than by their virtues, and more men's fortunes overthrown thereby, also, than by their vices. — Walter Raleigh

If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee, and be thy love. — Walter Raleigh

I can't write a book commensurate with Shakespeare, but I can write a book by me. — Walter Raleigh

Historians desiring to write the actions of men, ought to set down the simple truth, and not say anything for love or hatred; also to choose such an opportunity for writing as it may be lawful to think what they will, and write what they think, which is a rare happiness of the time. — Walter Raleigh

A professional man of letters, especially if he is much at war with unscrupulous enenemies, is naturally jealous of his privacy ... so it was, I think, with Dryden. — Walter Raleigh

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. — Walter Raleigh

Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself. — Walter Raleigh

Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall. — Walter Raleigh

Who so taketh in hand to frame any state or government ought to presuppose that all men are evil, and at occasions will show themselves so to be. — Walter Raleigh

But true love is a durable fire, In the mind ever burning, Never sick, never old, never dead, From itself never turning. — Walter Raleigh

The world is but a large prison, out of which some are daily selected for execution. — Walter Raleigh

There is no error which hath not some appearance of probability resembling truth, which, when men who study to be singular find out, straining reason, they then publish to the world matter of contention and jangling. — Walter Raleigh

Take special care that thou never trust any friend or servant with any matter that may endanger thine estate; for so shalt thou make thyself a bond-slave to him that thou trustest, and leave thyself always to his mercy. — Walter Raleigh

War begets quiet, quiet idleness, idleness disorder, disorder ruin; likewise ruin order, order virtue, virtue glory, and good fortune. — Walter Raleigh

Except thou desire to hasten thine end, take this for a general rule, that thou never add any artificial heat to thy body by wine or spice. — Walter Raleigh

All histories do show, and wise politicians do hold it necessary that, for the well-governing of every Commonweal, it behoveth man to presuppose that all men are evil, and will declare themselves so to be when occasion is offered. — Walter Raleigh

All, or the greatest part of men that have aspired to riches or power, have attained thereunto either by force or fraud, and what they have by craft or cruelty gained, to cover the foulness of their fact, they call purchase, as a name more honest. Howsoever, he that for want of will or wit useth not those means, must rest in servitude and poverty. — Walter Raleigh

Our taste must always be, more or less, the victim of our limitations, but we should beware of glorying in it, and, above all, we should beware of mistaking the aversions of timidity and sensibility for critical judgments. — Walter Raleigh

I am the monarch of the sea, The Ruler of the Queen's Navee, Whose praise Great Britain loudly chants And we are his sisters, and his cousins, and his aunts! — Walter Raleigh

Whoso taketh in hand to govern a multitude, either by way of liberty or principality, and cannot assure himself of those persons that are enemies to that enterprise, doth frame a state of short perseverance. — Walter Raleigh

Less pains in the world a man cannot take than to bold his tongue. — Walter Raleigh

The longer it possesseth a man the more he will delight in it, and the older he groweth the more he shall be subject to it; for it dulleth the spirits, and destroyeth the body as ivy doth the old tree, or as the worm that engendereth in the kernal of the nut. — Walter Raleigh

[It is a basic principle of a tyrant] to unarm his people of weapons, money and all means whereby they resist his power. — Walter Raleigh

Oh, doughty sons of Hungary! May all success Attend and bless Your warlike ironmongery! — Walter Raleigh

Love likes not the falling fruit,
Nor the withered tree. — Walter Raleigh

An anthology is like all the plums and orange peel picked out of a cake. — Walter Raleigh

The gain of lying is, not to be trusted of any, nor to be believed when we speak the truth. — Walter Raleigh

Better were it to be unborn than to be ill bred. — Walter Raleigh

The difference between a rich man and a poor man is this
the former eats when he pleases, and the latter when he can get it. — Walter Raleigh

PASSIONS are likened best to floods and streams:
The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb; — Walter Raleigh

What is our life? A play of passion.
Our mirth the music of division.
Our mother's wombs the tyring houses be,
Where we are drest for this short Comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss,
Our graves that hide us from the searching sun,
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we playing to our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest, that's no jest. — Walter Raleigh

If thy friends be of better quality than thyself, thou mayest be sure of two things; first, they will be more careful to keep thy counsel, because they have more to lose than thou hast; the second, they will esteem thee for thyself, and not for that which thou dost possess. — Walter Raleigh

Covetous ambition, thinking all too little which presently it hath, supposeth itself to stand in need of that which it hath not. — Walter Raleigh

To live thy better, let thy worst thoughts die. — Walter Raleigh

If she undervalues me,
What care I how fair she be? — Walter Raleigh

The necessity of war, which among human actions is the most lawless, hath some kind of affinity with the necessity of law. — Walter Raleigh

False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu!
Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew. — Walter Raleigh

This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all diseases and miseries. — Walter Raleigh

Whoso desireth to govern well and securely, it behoveth him to have a vigilant eye to the proceedings of great princes, and to consider seriously of their designs. — Walter Raleigh

Be advised what thou dost discourse of, and what thou maintainest whether touching religion, state, or vanity; for if thou err in the first, thou shalt be accounted profane; if in the second, dangerous; if in the third, indiscreet and foolish. — Walter Raleigh

Hath triumphed over time, which besides it nothing but eternity hath triumphed over. — Walter Raleigh

Death, which hateth and destroyeth a man, is believed; God, which hath made him and loves him, is always deferred. — Walter Raleigh

Romance is a love affair in other than domestic surroundings. — Walter Raleigh

Desire attained is not desire,
But as the cinders of the fire. — Walter Raleigh

It is, it is a glorious thing To be a Pirate King. — Walter Raleigh

Even such is Time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days. — Walter Raleigh

Fain would I, but I dare not; I dare, and yet I may not;
I may, although I care not, for pleasure when I play not. — Walter Raleigh

Prevention is the daughter of intelligence. — Walter Raleigh

In a word, we may gather out of History a policy no less wise than I eternal; by the comparison and application of other mens fore-passed miseries with our own like errours and ill-deservings. — Walter Raleigh

Whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth too near the heels, it may happily strike out his teeth. — Walter Raleigh

Expressive glances Shall be our lances And pops of Sillery Our light artillery. — Walter Raleigh

I shall never be persuaded that God hath shut up all light of learning within the lantern of Aristotle's brain. — Walter Raleigh

So the heart be right, it is not matter which way the head lies — Walter Raleigh

Passions are liken'd best to floods and streams:
The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb;
So, when affection yields discourse, it seems
The bottom is but shallow whence they come.
They that are rich in words, in words discover — Walter Raleigh

Better it were not to live than to live a coward. — Walter Raleigh

Give my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage. — Walter Raleigh

When the grand twelve million jury of our sins and sinful fury, 'Gainst our souls black verdicts give, Christ pleads his death, and then we live. Be thou my speaker, taintless pleader, unblotted lawyer, true proceeder. — Walter Raleigh

It is plain there is not in nature a point of stability to be found; everything either ascends or declines; when wars are ended abroad, sedition begins at home; and when men are freed from fighting for necessity, they quarrel through ambition. — Walter Raleigh

Our bodies are but the anvils of pain and disease and our minds the hives of unnumbered cares. — Walter Raleigh

Thou may be sure that he who will tell thee of thy faults is thy friend, for he ventures thy dislike and doth hazard thy hatred. — Walter Raleigh

Even such is time, that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust. — Walter Raleigh

Trust few men; above all, keep your follies to yourself. — Walter Raleigh

The useful type of successful teacher is one whose main interest is the children, not the subject. — Walter Raleigh

Thou mayest be sure that he that will in private tell thee of thy faults is thy friend, for he adventures thy dislike and hazards thy hatred; for there are few men that can endure it, every man for the most part delighting in self-praise, which is one of the most universal fallies that bewitcheth mankind — Walter Raleigh

I dare not think that any supercelestial heaven, or whatsoever else ... was increate and eternal. And as for the place of God before the world created, the finite wisdom of mortal men hath no perception of it; neither can it limit the seat of infinite power, no more than infinite power itself can be limited; for his place is in himself, whom no magnitude else can contain. — Walter Raleigh

It is not truth, but opinion that can travel the world without a passport. — Walter Raleigh

No man is esteemed for colorful garments except by fools and women. — Walter Raleigh

Even such is Time *
Even such is Time, that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with earth and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days:
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.
Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618)
*These lines are said to have been composed by Sir Walter Raleigh on the night before his execution. — Walter Raleigh

It were better for a man to be subject to any vice than to drunkenness; for all other vanities and sins are recovered, but a drunkard will never shake off the delight of beastliness. — Walter Raleigh

Above all things, be not made an ass to carry the burdens of other men if any friend desire thee to be his surety, give him a part of what thou has to spare if he presses thee further, he is not thy friend at all. — Walter Raleigh

All men are evil and will declare themselves to be so when occasion is offered. — Walter Raleigh

The most divine light only shineth on those minds which are purged from all worldly dross and human uncleanliness. — Walter Raleigh

But the longest day hath its evening. — Walter Raleigh

A wandering minstrel I A thing of shreds and patches Of ballads, songs and snatches And dreamy lullaby! — Walter Raleigh

O eloquent, just and mighty Death! Whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised; thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words; Hic Jacet! (Here lies) — Walter Raleigh

God is absolutely good; and so, assuredly, the cause of all that is good. — Walter Raleigh

'Tis a sharp medicine, but it will cure all that ails you. — Walter Raleigh

He that doth not as other men do, but endeavoureth that which ought to be done, shall thereby rather incur peril than preservation; for whoso laboureth to be sincerely perfect and good shall necessarily perish, living among men that are generally evil. — Walter Raleigh

The bodies of men, munition, and money may justly be called the sinews of war. — Walter Raleigh

Remember, that if thou marry for beauty, thou bindest thyself all thy life for that which perchance will neither last nor please thee one year; and when thou hast it, it will be to thee of no price at all; for the desire dieth when it is attained, and the affection perisheth when it is satisfied. — Walter Raleigh

There is nothing exempt from the peril of mutation; the earth, heavens, and whole world is thereunto subject. — Walter Raleigh

Our shipping and sea service is our best and safest defence as being the only fortification and rampart of England. — Walter Raleigh

No mortal thing can bear so high a price, But that with mortal thing it may be bought. — Walter Raleigh

There is nothing more becoming any wise man, than to make choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art: let them therefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee for gain; but make election rather of thy betters, than thy inferiors. — Walter Raleigh

Flatterers are the worst kind of traitors, for they will strengthen thy imperfections, encourage thee in all evils, correct thee in nothing, but so shadow and paint thy follies and vices as thou shalt never, by their will, discover good from evil, or vice from virtue. — Walter Raleigh

Use your youth so that you may have comfort to remember it when it has forsaken you, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof. — Walter Raleigh

It is observed in the course of worldly things, that men's fortunes are oftener made by their tongues than by their virtues; and more men's fortunes overthrown thereby than by vices. — Walter Raleigh

If any friend desire thee to be his surety, give him a part of what thou hast to spare; if he press thee further, he is not thy friend at all, for friendship rather chooseth harm to itself than offereth it. If thou be bound for a stranger, thou art a fool; if for a merchant, thou puttest thy estate to learn to swim. — Walter Raleigh

Our immortal souls, while righteous, are by God himself beautified with the title of his own image and similitude. — Walter Raleigh