Edmund Waller
To love is to believe, to hope, to know; Tis an essay, a taste of Heaven below!Collection: Hope
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become.Collection: Men
Vexed sailors cursed the rain, for which poor shepherds prayed in vain.
Tea does our fancy aid, Repress those vapours which the head invade, And keeps that palace of the soul serene.
Poets that lasting marble seek Must come in Latin or in Greek.
Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse, And every conqueror creates a muse.
How small a part of time they share, That are so wondrous sweet and fair!
The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er; So calm are we when passions are no more!
Circle are praised, not that abound, In largeness, but the exactly round.
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, That stand upon the threshold of the new.
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.
The fear of hell, or aiming to be blest, savors too much of private interest.
Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
And as pale sickness does invade, Your frailer part, the breaches made, In that fair lodging still more clear, Make the bright guest, your soul, appear.
Could we forbear dispute, and practise love, We should agree as angels do above.
So must the writer, whose productions should Take with the vulgar, be of vulgar mould.
His love at once and dread instruct our thought; As man He suffer'd and as God He taught.
The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build, Her humble nest, lies silent in the field.
Others may use the ocean as their road; Only the English make it their abode.
Give us enough but with a sparing hand.
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.
All human things Of dearest value hang on slender strings.
Tea does our fancy aid, Repress those vapours which the head invade And keeps that palace of the soul serene.Collection: Soul
Ingenious to their ruin, every age improves the art and instruments of rage.Collection: Art
All things but one you can restore; the heart you get returns no more.Collection: Heart
For all we know Of what the blessed do above Is, that they sing, and that they love. While I listen to thy Voice.Collection: Love
But virtue too, as well as vice, is clad in flesh and blood.Collection: Blood
Fade, flowers, fade! Nature will have it so; 'tis but what we in our autumn do.Collection: Flower
When religion doth with virtue join, it makes a hero like an angel shine.Collection: Hero
Poets that lasting marble seek, Must come in Latin or in Greek.Collection: Latin
The chain that's fixed to the throne of Jove, On which the fabric of our world depends, One link dissolved, the whole creation ends.Collection: Our World
Virtue's a stronger guard than brass.Collection: Stronger
Music so softens and disarms the mind That not an arrow does resistance find.Collection: Arrows
And keeps the palace of the soul.Collection: Soul
Since thou wouldst needs, bewitched with some ill charms, Be buried in those monumental arms: As we can wish, is, may that earth lie light Upon thy tender limbs, and so good night.Collection: Good Night
If its length be not considered a merit, it hath no other.Collection: Art
Happy is she that from the world retires, and carries with her what the world admires.Collection: World
Gods, that never change their state, vary oft their love and hate.Collection: Hate
Happy the innocent whose equal thoughts are free from anguish as they are from faults.Collection: Faults
The fear of Hell, or aiming to be blest, Savors too much of private interest. This moved not Moses, nor the zealous Paul, Who for their friends abandoned soul and all.Collection: Soul
Soft words, with nothing in them, make a song.Collection: Song
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.Collection: Wise
The rising sun complies with our weak sight, First gilds the clouds, then shows his globe of light At such a distance from our eyes, as though He knew what harm his hasty beams would do.Collection: Distance
In other things the knowing artist may Judge better than the people; but a play, (Made for delight, and for no other use) If you approve it not, has no excuse.Collection: Artist