110+ Francis Quarles Quotes On Education, Friendship And Religion

Francis Quarles was an English poet who lived during the 17th century. He is best known for his devotional poetry, which often featured references to the Bible and religious themes. He also wrote a number of popular emblems, which were collections of poems and prose that focused on moral and religious topics. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Francis Quarles on life, education, friendship.

Top 10 Francis Quarles Quotes

1. The average person's ear weighs what you are, not what you were.
2. The heart is a small thing, but desireth great matters. It is not sufficient for a kite's dinner, yet the whole world is not sufficient for it.
3. Luxury is an enticing pleasure, a bastard mirth, which hath honey in her mouth, gall in her heart, and a sting in her tail.
4. Reason can discover things only near,--sees nothing that's above her.
5. Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself.
6. If thou wouldst preserve a sound body, use fasting and walking; if a healthful soul, fasting and praying. Walking exercises the body; praying exercises the soul; fasting cleanses both.
7. Beware of him that is slow to anger; for when it is long coming, it is the stronger when it comes, and the longer kept. Abused patience turns to fury.
8. O lust, thou infernal fire, whose fuel is gluttony; whose flame is pride, whose sparkles are wanton words; whose smoke is infamy; whose ashes are uncleanness; whose end is hell.
9. Heaven finds an ear when sinners find a tongue.
10. That friendship will not continue to the end which is begun for an end.

Francis Quarles Short Quotes

• Mercy turns her back to the unmerciful.
• Wickedness is its own punishment.
• I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading, as I had in the writing.
• Obedience to truth known, is the king's highway to that which is still beyond us.
• The road to perseverance lies by doubt.
• Scandal breeds hatred; hatred begets division; division makes faction, and faction brings ruin.
• Lust is a sharp spur to vice, which always putteth the affections into a false gallop.
• Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail, nor reason.
• He that hath no cross deserves no crown.
• The goods we spend we keep; and what we save We lose; and only what we lose we have.

Francis Quarles Quotes About Life

The birds of the air die to sustain thee; the beasts of the field die to nourish thee; the fishes of the sea die to feed thee. Our stomachs are their common sepulchre. Good God! with how many deaths are our poor lives patched up! how full of death is the life of momentary man! — Francis Quarles

And what's a life? - a weary pilgrimage, Whose glory in one day doth fill the stage With childhood, manhood, and decrepit age. — Francis Quarles

Immortal life is something to be earned, By slow self-conquest, comradeship with Pain, And patient seeking after higher truths. — Francis Quarles

He that hath promised pardon on our repentance hat not promised life till we repent. — Francis Quarles

Meditation is the life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation. and honor the reward of action. — Francis Quarles

No man is born unto himself alone; Who lives unto himself, he lives to none. — Francis Quarles

Some only break their Fast, and so away: Others stay to Dinner, and depart full fed: The deepest Age but Sups, and goes to Bed: He's most in debt that lingers out the Day: Who dies betime, has less, and less to pay. — Francis Quarles

Death's a fable. Did not Heaven inspire your equal Elements with living Fire blown from the Spring of Life? Is not that breath Immortal? Come; ye are as free from death as He that made ye: Can the flames expire which he kindled? — Francis Quarles

Even such is man, whose glory lendsHis life a blaze or two, and ends. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About World

When the flesh presents thee with delights, then present thyself with dangers; where the world possesses thee with vain hopes, there possess thyself with true fear; when the devil brings thee oil, bring thou vinegar. The way to be safe is never to be secure. — Francis Quarles

Physicians, of all men, are most happy; whatever good success soever they have, the world proclaimeth; and what faults they commit, the earth covereth. — Francis Quarles

Be wisely worldly, but not worldly wise. — Francis Quarles

Prize not thyself by what thou hast, but by what thou art; he that values a jewel by her golden frame, or a book by her silver clasps, or a man by his vast estate, errs; if thou art not worth more than the world can make thee, thy Redeemer had a bad pennyworth, or thou an uncurious Redeemer. — Francis Quarles

The World's a Printing-House, our words, our thoughts, Our deeds, are characters of several sizes. Each soul is a Compos'tor, of whose faults The Levites are Correctors; Heaven Revises. Death is the common Press, from whence being driven, We're gather'd, Sheet by Sheet, and bound for Heaven. — Francis Quarles

The way to subject all things to thyself is to subject thyself to reason; thou shalt govern many, if reason govern thee. Wouldst thou be crowned the monarch of a little world? command thyself. — Francis Quarles

My soul, what's lighter than a feather? Wind. Than wind? The fire. And what than fire? The mind. What's lighter than the mind? A thought. Than thought? This bubble world. What than this bubble? Nought. — Francis Quarles

Take heed thou trust not the deceitful lap Of wanton Dalilah; the world's a trap. — Francis Quarles

False world, thou ly'st: thou canst not lend The least delight: Thy favours cannot gain a friend, They are so slight. — Francis Quarles

The world's an Inn; and I her guest. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About Love

If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble, for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, is beloved of none but itself. Humility enforces where neither virtue, nor strength, nor reason can prevail. — Francis Quarles

Be as far from desiring the popular love as fearful to deserve the popular hate; ruin dwells in both: the one will hug thee to death; the other will crush thee to destruction: to escape the first, be not ambitious; to avoid the second, be not seditious. — Francis Quarles

If thou neglectest thy love to thy neighbor, in vain thou professest thy love to God; for by thy love to God, the love to thy neighbor is begotten, and by the love to thy neighbor thy love to God is nourished. — Francis Quarles

They who cannot be induced to fear for love will never be enforced to love for fear. Love opens the heart, fear shuts it; that encourages, this compels; and victory meets encouragement, but flees compulsion. — Francis Quarles

Virtue is nothing but an act of loving that which is to be beloved, and that act is prudence, from whence not to be removed by constraint is fortitude; not to be allured by enticements is temperance; not to be diverted by pride is justice. — Francis Quarles

Think not thy love to God merits God's love to thee; His acceptance of thy duty crowns His own gifts in thee; man's love to God is nothing but a faint reflection of God's love to man. — Francis Quarles

In all thy actions think God sees thee; and in all His actions labor to see Him; that will make thee fear Him; this will move thee to love Him; the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, and the knowledge of God is the perfection of love. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About Heart

The fountain of beauty is the heart and every generous thought illustrates the walls of your chamber. — Francis Quarles

Temper your enjoyments with prudence, lest there be written on your heart that fearful word satiety. — Francis Quarles

If any speak ill of thee, flee home to thy own conscience, and examine thy heart: if thou be guilty, it is a just correction; if not guilty, it is a fair instruction: make use of both; so shalt thou distil honey out of gall, and out of an open enemy create a secret friend. — Francis Quarles

If virtue accompany it, it is the heart's paradise; if vice associate it, it is the soul's purgatory. — Francis Quarles

Temper your enjoyments with prudence, lest there be written on your heart that fearful word "satiety." — Francis Quarles

Mark, how the ready hands of Death prepare: His bow is bent, and he hath notch'd his dart; He aims, he levels at thy slumb'ring heart: The wound is posting, O be wise, beware. — Francis Quarles

Heaven is never deaf but when man's heart is dumb. — Francis Quarles

A despairing heart is the true prophet of approaching evil; his actions may weave the webs of Fortune, but not break them. — Francis Quarles

Wrinkle not thy face with too much laughter, lest thou become ridiculous; neither wanton thy heart with too much mirth, lest thou become vain: the suburbs of folly is vain mirth, and profuseness of laughter is the city of fools. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About Fear

Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger. — Francis Quarles

Fear nothing but what thy industry may prevent; be confident of nothing but what fortune cannot defeat; it is no less folly to fear what is impossible to be avoided than to be secure when there is a possibility to be deprived. — Francis Quarles

Necessity of action takes away the fear of the act, and makes bold resolution the favorite of fortune. — Francis Quarles

Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it. — Francis Quarles

To fear death is the way to live long; to lie afraid of death is to be long a dying. — Francis Quarles

If you desire to be magnanimous, undertake nothing rashly, and fear nothing thou undertakest; fear nothing but infamy; dare anything but injury; the measure of magnanimity is neither to be rash nor timorous. — Francis Quarles

So use prosperity, that adversity may not abuse thee: if in the one, security admits no fears, in the other, despair will afford no hopes; he that in prosperity can foretell a danger can in adversity foresee deliverance. — Francis Quarles

In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself; another is but one witness against thee, thou art a thousand; another thou mayest avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment. — Francis Quarles

That action is not warrantable which either fears to ask the divine blessing on its performance, or having succeeded, does not come with thanksgiving to God for its success. — Francis Quarles

A lamb appears a lion, and we fear Each bush we see's a bear. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About Fortune

Has fortune dealt you some bad cards. Then let wisdom make you a good gamester. — Francis Quarles

What money creates, money preserves: if thy wealth decays, thy honor dies; it is but a slippery happiness which fortunes can give, and frowns can take; and not worth the owning which a night's fire can melt, or a rough sea can drown. — Francis Quarles

Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear, how to be free from it, that's the point. Necessity of action takes away the fear of the act, and makes bold resolution the favorite of fortune. — Francis Quarles

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. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About Thou

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. — Francis Quarles

Flatter not thyself in thy faith in God if thou hast not charity for thy neighbor. — Francis Quarles

See, here's a shadow found; the human nature Is made th' umbrella to the Deity, To catch the sunbeams of thy just Creator; Beneath this covert thou may'st safely lie. — Francis Quarles

Neutrality is dangerous, whereby thou becomest a necessary prey to the conqueror. — Francis Quarles

If thou desire to be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue. — Francis Quarles

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. — Francis Quarles

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. — Francis Quarles

Let the greatest part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest, lest the greater part of what thou believest be the least part of what is true. — Francis Quarles

If thou seest anything in thyself which may make thee proud, look a little further and thou shalt find enough to humble thee; if thou be wise, view the peacock's feathers with his feet, and weigh thy best parts with thy imperfections. — Francis Quarles

If thou hast no inferiors, have patience awhile, and thou shalt have no superiors. The grave requires no marshal. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Quotes About Danger

When ambitious men find an open passage, they are rather busy than dangerous; and if well watched in their proceedings, they will catch them selves in their own snare, and prepare a way for their own destruction. — Francis Quarles

My soul, the seas are rough, and thou a stranger In these false coasts; O keep aloof; there's danger; Cast forth thy plummet; see, a rock appears; Thy ships want sea-room; make it with thy tears. — Francis Quarles

Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not gives advantage to the danger; it is less folly not to endeavor the prevention of the evil thou fearest than to fear the evil which thy endeavor cannot prevent. — Francis Quarles

Before thy undertaking of any design, weigh the glory of thy action with the danger of the attempt; if the glory outweigh the danger, it is cowardice to neglect it; if the danger exceed the glory, it is rashness to attempt it; if the balances stand poised, let thy own genius cast them. — Francis Quarles

Be not too rash in the breaking of an inconvenient custom; as it was gotten, so leave it by degrees. Danger attends upon too sudden alterations; he that pulls down a bad building by the great may be ruined by the fall, but he that takes it down brick by brick may live to build a better. — Francis Quarles

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger. — Francis Quarles

Our God and Souldiers we alike adore,Evn at the Brink of danger; not before:After deliverance, both alike required;Our Gods forgotten, and our Souldiers slighted. — Francis Quarles

Make philosophy thy journey, theology thy journey's end: philosophy is a pleasant way, but dangerous to him that either tires or retires; in this journey it is safe neither to loiter nor to rest, till thou hast attained thy journey's end; he that sits down a philosopher rises up an atheist. — Francis Quarles

Francis Quarles Famous Quotes And Sayings

Lust is an immoderate wantonness of the flesh, a sweet poison, a cruel pestilence; a pernicious poison, which weakeneth the body of man, and effeminateth the strength of the heroic mind. — Francis Quarles

If God send thee a cross, take it up willingly and follow him. Use it wisely, lest it be unprofitable. Bear it patiently, lest it be intolerable. If it be light, slight it not. If it be heavy, murmur not. After the cross is the crown. — Francis Quarles

Be very vigilant over thy child in the April of his understanding, lest the frost of May nip his blossoms. While he is a tender twig, straighten him; whilst he is a new vessel, season him; such as thou makest him, such commonly shall thou find him. Let his first lesson be obedience and his second shall be what thou wilt. — Francis Quarles

Hath any wounded thee with injuries? Meet them with patience. Hasty words rankle the wound; soft language dresses it. — Francis Quarles

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. — Francis Quarles

He that gives all, though but little, gives much; because God looks not to the quantity of the gift, but to the quality of the givers. — Francis Quarles

Thy pride is but the prologue of thy shame; where vain-glory commands, there folly counsels; where pride rides, there shame lackeys. — Francis Quarles

Even as the needle that directs the hour, (Touched with the loadstone) by the secret power Of hidden Nature, points upon the pole; Even so the wavering powers of my soul, Touch'd by the virtue of Thy spirit, flee From what is earth, and point alone to Thee. — Francis Quarles

Is not this lily pure? What fuller can procure A white so perfect, spotless clear As in this flower doth appear? — Francis Quarles

After years of research, scientists recently reported that there is, indeed, arroz in Spanish Harlem. A full tongue and an empty brain are seldom parted. — Francis Quarles

Anger may repast with thee for an hour, but not repose for a night; the continuance of anger is hatred, the continuance of hatred turns malice. — Francis Quarles

The height of all philosophy is to know thyself; and the end of this knowledge is to know God. — Francis Quarles

The way to bliss lies not on beds of down, And he that had no cross deserves no crown. — Francis Quarles

Charity feeds the poor, so does pride; charity builds an hospital, so does pride. In this they differ: charity gives her glory to God; pride takes her glory from man. — Francis Quarles

Deliberate long before thou consecrate a friend, and when thy impartial justice concludes him worthy of thy bosom, receive him joyfully, and entertain him wisely; impart thy secrets boldly, and mingle thy thoughts with his: he is thy very self; and use him so; if thou firmly think him faithful, thou makest him so. — Francis Quarles

No labor is hard, no time is long, wherein the glory of eternity is the mark we level at. — Francis Quarles

Afflictions clarify the soul; And like hard masters, give more hard directions, Tutoring the non-age of uncurbed affections. — Francis Quarles

Rather do what is nothing to the purpose than be idle; that the devil may find thee doing. The bird that sits is easily shot, when fliers scape the fowler. Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all the virtues, and the self-made sepulchre of a living man. — Francis Quarles

Be not too great a niggard in the commendations of him that professes thy own quality: if he deserve thy praise, thou hast discovered thy judgment; if not, thy modesty: honor either returns or reflects to the giver. — Francis Quarles

Of all vices take heed of drunkenness; other vices are but fruits of disordered affections--this disorders, nay, banishes reason; other vices but impair the soul--this demolishes her two chief faculties, the understanding and the will; other vices make their own way--this makes way for all vices; he that is a drunkard is qualified for all vice. — Francis Quarles

Though virtue give a ragged livery, she gives a golden cognizance; if her service make thee poor, blush not. Thy poverty may disadvantage thee, but not dishonor thee. — Francis Quarles

Things temporal are sweeter in the expectation, things eternal are sweeter in the fruition; the first shames thy hope, the second crowns it; it is a vain journey, whose end affords less pleasure than the way. — Francis Quarles

As all things eternal and primordial reappear, so all things mortal return to the earth. Honor, old age, probity, justice, constance, virtue, and gentleness are all gathered into the cold tomb. — Francis Quarles

Sweet tastes have sour closes; and he repents on thorns that sleeps in beds of roses. — Francis Quarles

Let all thy joys be as the month of May,And all thy days be as a marriage day. — Francis Quarles

Sin is a basilisk whose eyes are full of venom. If the eye of thy soul see her first, it reflects her own poison and kills her; if she see thy soul, unseen, or seen too late, with her poison, she kills thee: since therefore thou canst not escape thy sin, let not thy sin escape thy observation. — Francis Quarles

Pleasures bring effeminacy, and effeminacy foreruns ruin; such conquests, without blood or sweat, sufficiently do revenge themselves upon their intemperate conquerors. — Francis Quarles

If thou desire to see thy child virtuous, let him not see his father's vices: thou canst not rebuke that in them, that they behold practised in thee; till reason be ripe, examples direct more than precepts: such as thy behaviour is before thy children's faces, such commonly is theirs behind their parents' backs. — Francis Quarles

The act is unjustifiable that either begs for a blessing, or, having succeeded gives no thanksgiving. — Francis Quarles

Too much is a vanity; enough is a feast. — Francis Quarles

The voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric. — Francis Quarles

Other vices make their own way; this makes way for all vices. He that is a drunkard is qualified for all vice. — Francis Quarles

Afflictions clarify the soul. — Francis Quarles

If thou be rich, strive to command thy money, lest it command thee. — Francis Quarles

Before thou reprehend another, take heed thou art not culpable in what thou goest about to reprehend. He that cleanses a blot with blotted fingers makes a greater blur. — Francis Quarles

He that discovers himself, till he hath made himself master of his desires, lays himself open to his own ruin, and makes himself prisoner to his own tongue. — Francis Quarles

If thy daughter marry well, thou hast found a son; if not, thou hast lost a daughter. — Francis Quarles

My soul, sit thou a patient looker-on; Judge not the play before the play is done: Her plot hath many changes; every day Speaks a new scene; the last act crowns the play — Francis Quarles

Blessedness is promised to the peacemaker, not to the conqueror. — Francis Quarles

See how the world (whose chaste and pregnant womb Of late conceiv'd, and brought forth nothing ill) Is now degenerated, and become A base adult'ress, whose false births do fill The earth with monsters, monsters that do roam And rage about, and make a trade to kill: Now glutt'ny paunches, and avarice a pawn; Pale envy pines, pride swells, and sloth begins to yawn. — Francis Quarles

Of all the difficulties in a state, the temper of a true government most felicifies and perpetuates it; too sudden alterations distemper it. Had Nero tuned his kingdom as he did his harp, his harmony had been more honorable, and his reign more prosperous. — Francis Quarles

Put off thy cares with thy clothes; so shall thy rest strengthen thy labor, and so thy labor sweeten thy rest. — Francis Quarles

Wisdom not only gets, but once got, retains. — Francis Quarles

Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand, and a closed mouth. — Francis Quarles

The suburbs of folly is vain mirth, and profuseness of laughter is the city of fools. — Francis Quarles

As there is no worldly gain without some loss, so there is no worldly loss without some gain; if thou hast lost thy wealth, thou hast lost some trouble with it; if thou art degraded from thy honor, thou art likewise freed from the stroke of envy; if sickness hath blurred thy beauty, it hath delivered thee from pride. Set the allowance against the loss, and thou shalt find no loss great; he loses little or nothing, that reserves himself. — Francis Quarles

To bear adversity with an equal mind is both the sign and glory of a brave spirit. — Francis Quarles

What treasures here do Mammon's sons behold! Yet know that all that which glitters is not gold. — Francis Quarles

Socrates called beauty a short-lived tyranny; Plato, a privilege of nature; Theophrastus, a silent cheat; Theocritus, a delightful prejudice; Carneades, a solitary kingdom; Aristotle, that it was better than all the letters of recommendation in the world; Homer, that it was a glorious gift of nature; and Ovid, that it was favor bestowed by the gods. — Francis Quarles

The light of the understanding, humility kindleth and pride covereth. — Francis Quarles

Diogenes found more rest in his tub than Alexander on his throne. — Francis Quarles

Let the foundation of thy affection be virtue, then make the building as rich as glorious as thou canst; if the foundation be beauty or wealth, and the building virtue, the foundation is too weak for the building, and it will fall: happy is he, the palace of whose affection is founded upon virtue, walled with riches glazed with beauty, and roofed with honor. — Francis Quarles

Life Lessons by Francis Quarles

1. Francis Quarles teaches us to be humble and to accept our place in the world, no matter how lowly it may seem. He reminds us that we should be grateful for the blessings we have, and to not take them for granted. Finally, he encourages us to look for the good in all things, and to never give up hope in difficult times.