"And when I hearken to the Earth, she saith: 'My fiery heart shrinks, aching. It is death. Mine ancient scars shall not be glorified, Nor my titanic tears, the seas, be dried.'"

"Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives She builds our quiet as she forms our lives; Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature even, And opens in each heart a little heaven."

"Nobles and heralds, by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior; The son of Adam and of Eve: Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?"

"Old houses mended, Cost little less than new before they're ended."

"Be to her virtues very kind; Be to her faults a little blind; Let all her ways be unconfined; And clap your padlock — on her mind!"

"Our hopes, like towering falcons, aim At objects in an airy height; The little pleasure of the game Is from afar to view the flight."

"From ignorance our comfort flows. The only wretched are the wise."

"That if weak women went astray, Their stars were more in fault than they."

"The end must justify the means."

"Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise."

"He that knew all that ever Learning writ, Knew only this - that he knew nothing yet."

"Nothing is more capable of troubling our reason, and consuming our health, than secret notions of jealousy in solitude."

"…that perfect Tranquillity of Life, which is no where to be found, but in retreat, a faithful Friend and a good Library…"

"Oh what a dear ravishing thing is the beginning of an Amour!"

"A brave world, sir, full of religion, knavery, and change: we shall shortly see better days."

"Faith, sir, we are here today, and gone tomorrow."

"Each moment of the happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life."

"Love ceases to be a pleasure when it ceases to be a secret."

"Variety is the soul of pleasure."

"Come away; poverty's catching."

"Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand."

"Patience is a flatterer, sir, and an ass, sir."

"She was employed by Charles II, in 1666, in a political negotiation at Antwerp, which she managed with much dexterity; but her intelligence (though well-founded) being disregarded, she renounced all state affairs, and amused herself some time with the gallantries of Antwerp; and, when she arrived at London, dedicated the rest of her life to pleasure and poetry."

"No friend to Love like a long voyage at sea."

"There's no sinner like a young saint."

"One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on."

"When I lie tangled in her hair, And fettered to her eye, The gods that wanton in the air Know no such liberty."

"When flowing cups pass swiftly round With no allaying Thames."

"Fishes that tipple in the deep, Know no such liberty."

"Oh, could you view the melody Of every grace And music of her face, You'd drop a tear; Seeing more harmony In her bright eye Than now you hear."

"Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore; I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honor more."

"Here we’ll strip and cool our fire In cream below, in milk-baths higher; And when all wells are drawn dry, I’ll drink a tear out of thine eye."

"Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty."

"Then, if when I have lov’d my round, Thou prov’st the pleasant she, With spoils of meaner beauties crown’d I laden will return to thee, Ev’n sated with variety."

"TELL me not Sweet I am unkind, That from the Nunnery Of thy chaste breast, and quiet mind, To War and Armes I fly. True; a new Mistresse now I chase The first Foe in the Field And with a stronger Faith imbrace A Sword, a Horse, a Shield. *Yet this Inconstancy is such, As you too shall adore I could not love thee Dear so much, Loved I not honor more."

"If to be absent were to be Away from thee; Or that when I am gone, You and I were alone; Then, my Lucasta, might I crave Pity from blust'ring wind, or swallowing wave."

"Though Seas and Land betwixt us both, Our Faith and Troth, Like separated soules, All time and space controules: Above the highest sphere wee meet Unseene, unknowne, and greet as Angels greet."

"Poor verdant fool, and now green ice! thy joys, Large and as lasting as thy perch of grass, Bid us lay in ‘gainst winter rain, and poise Their floods with an o’erflowing glass."

"Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind, That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind, To war and arms I fly."

"Love, then unstinted, Love did sip, And cherries plucked fresh from the lip; On cheeks and roses free he fed; Lasses like autumn plums did drop, And lads indifferently did crop A flower and a maidenhead."

"Then Love, I beg, when next thou takest thy bow, Thy angry shafts, and dost heart-chasing go, Pass rascal deer, strike me the largest doe."

"When flowing cups run swiftly round, With no allaying Thames, Our careless heads with roses bound, Our hearts with loyal flames; When thirsty grief in wine we steep, When healths and draughts go free, Fishes that tipple in the deep Know no such liberty."

"Stone walls doe not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Mindes innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedome in my love, And in my soule am free, Angels alone that sore above Enjoy such liberty."

": could never such a finish'd poet boast:"

": Whose matchless softness in the English tongue"

": Out-does what Horace, or Anacreon, sung."

"Athens and Rome, when learning flourish'd most,"

": Is ruffled, and ill-natur'd grown with pain?"

": But, at thy name, my languish'd muse revives,"