University Of Cambridge Alumni

"In the hour of my distress, When temptations me oppress, And when I my sins confess, Sweet Spirit, comfort me!"

"In prayer the lips ne'er act the winning part, Without the sweet concurrence of the heart."

"'Tis hard to find God, but to comprehend Him, as He is, is labour without end."

"Like will to like, each creature loves his kind; Chaste words proceed still from a bashful mind."

"Let moderation on thy passions wait; Who loves too much, too much the lov'd will hate."

"When fear admits no hope of safety, then Necessity makes dastards valiant men."

"Against diseases here the strongest fence Is the defensive virtue, abstinence."

"Love's of itself too sweet; the best of all Is, when love's honey has a dash of gall."

"Know when to speak; for many times it brings Danger to give the best advice to kings."

"Twixt truth and error there's this difference known; Error is fruitful, truth is only one."

"Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt; Nothing's so hard but search will find it out."

"Despair takes heart, when there's no hope to speed: The coward then takes arms and does the deed."

"No, not Jove Himself, at one time, can be wise and love."

"Praise they that will times past; I joy to see Myself now live: this age best pleaseth me."

"Men are suspicious, prone to discontent: Subjects still loathe the present government."

"We such clusters had As made us nobly wild, not mad; And yet each verse of thine Out-did the meat, out-did the frolic wine."

"We credit most our sight; one eye doth please Our trust far more than ten ear-witnesses."

"Thus times do shift; each thing his turn does hold: New things succeed, as former things grow old."

"Night makes no difference 'twixt the priest and clerk; Joan as my lady is as good i' th' dark."

"'Twixt kings and tyrants there's this difference known: Kings seek their subjects' good, tyrants their own."

"When words we want, Love teacheth to indite; And what we blush to speak, she bids us write."

"The readiness of doing doth express No other but the doer's willingness."

"Here she lies, in bed of spice, Fair as Eve in Paradise: For her beauty it was such Poets could not praise too much. Virgins, come, and in a ring Her supremest requiem sing; Then depart, but see ye tread Lightly, lightly, o'er the dead."

"I saw a fly within a bead Of amber cleanly burièd; The urn was little, but the room More rich than Cleopatra's tomb."

"That happiness does still the longest thrive, Where joys and griefs have turns alternative."

"Come, bring with a noise, My merry, merry boys, The Christmas log to the firing."

"In things a moderation keep: Kings ought to shear, not skin their sheep."

"Whenas in silks my Julia goes, Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows The liquefaction of her clothes.Next, when I cast mine eyes and see That brave vibration each way free; O how that glittering taketh me!"

"Of both our fortunes good and bad we find Prosperity more searching of the mind: Felicity flies o'er the wall and fence, While misery keeps in with patience."

"If little labour, little are our gains: Man's fortunes are according to his pains."

"Hast thou attempted greatness? then go on: Back-turning slackens resolution."

"A little saint best fits a little shrine, A little prop best fits a little vine: As my small cruse best fits my little wine."

"A cat I keep that plays about my house, Grown fat With eating many a miching mouse. To these A Tracy I do keep whereby I please The more my rural privacy; Which are But toys to give my heart some ease; Where care None is, slight things do lightly please."

"Here a pretty baby lies Sung asleep with lullabies; Pray be silent, and not stir Th' easy earth that covers her."

"Let wealth come in by comely thrift And not by any sordid shift; 'Tis haste Makes waste: Extremes have still their fault: The softest fire makes the sweetest malt: Who grips too hard the dry and slippery sand Holds none at all, or little in his hand."

"Go to your banquet then, but use delight, So as to rise still with an appetite. Love is a thing most nice, and must be fed To such a height, but never surfeited. What is beyond the mean is ever ill: Tis best to feed Love, but not overfill."

"None pities him that's in the snare, And, warned before, would not beware."

"What is a kiss? Why this, as some approve: The sure, sweet cement, glue, and lime of love."

"The stars of the night Will lend thee their light Like tapers clear without number."

"Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, The shooting stars attend thee; And the elves also, Whose little eyes glow Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee. No Will-o'-th'-Wisp mislight thee, Nor snake or slow-worm bite thee; But on, on thy way Not making a stay, Since ghost there's none to affright thee."

"But if that golden age would come again, And Charles here rule, as he before did reign; ... I should delight to have my curls half drown'd In Tyrian dews, and head with roses crown'd; And once more yet, ere I am laid out dead, Knock at a star with my exalted head."

"Let's live with that small pittance that we have; Who covets more, is evermore a slave."

"Who with a little cannot be content, Endures an everlasting punishment."

"He who has suffered shipwreck fears to sail Upon the seas, though with a gentle gale."

"I do love I know not what, Sometimes this and sometimes that."

"Her pretty feet Like snails did creep A little out, and then, As if they playèd at Bo-Peep, Did soon draw in again."

"Like to These garden-glories, which here be The flowery-sweet resemblances of thee."

"Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, Why do ye fall so fast? Your date is not so past But you may stay yet here a while, To blush and gently smile, And go at last."

"The body sins not, 'tis the will That makes the action, good or ill."

"Here a solemn fast we keep, While all beauty lies asleep Hush'd be all things—no noise here— But the toning of a tear: Or a sigh of such as bring Cowslips for her covering."