"Oft have I heard both youths and virgins say Birds choose their mates, and couple too this day; But by their flight I never can divine When I shall couple with my valentine."

"Fain would I kiss my Julia's dainty leg, Which is as white and hairless as an egg."

"It is an active flame that flies, First, to the babies of the eyes."

"Fair daffodils, we weep to see You haste away so soon; As yet the early rising sun Has not attain'd his noon. ... Stay, stay, Until the hasting day Has run But to the evensong; And, having prayed together, we Will go with you along.We have short time to stay, as you, We have as short a spring; As quick a growth to meet decay, As you, or anything."

"Here she lies, a pretty bud, Lately made of flesh and blood: Who as soon fell fast asleep As her little eyes did peep. Give her strewings, but not stir The earth that lightly covers her."

"If well thou hast begun, go on fore-right; It is the end that crowns us, not the fight."

"Dead falls the cause if once the hand be mute; But let that speak, the client gets the suit."

"A virgin's face she had; her dress Was like a sprightly Spartaness."

"Let others drink thee freely, and desire Thee and their lips espous'd, while I admire And love thee, but not taste thee. Let my muse Fail of thy former helps, and only use Her inadult'rate strength: what's done by me Hereafter shall smell of the lamp, not thee."

"'Tis not Apollo can, or those thrice three Castalian sisters, sing, if wanting thee. Horace, Anacreon, both had lost their fame, Had'st thou not fill'd them with thy fire and flame."

"'Tis thou alone who, with thy mystic fan, Work'st more than wisdom, art, or nature can To rouse the sacred madness and awake The frost-bound blood and spirits, and to make Them frantic with thy raptures flashing through The soul like lightning, and as active too."

"O thou, the drink of gods and angels! wine."

"The kiss of virgins, first fruits of the bed, Soft speech, smooth touch, the lips, the maidenhead: These and a thousand sweets could never be So near or dear as thou wast once to me."

"The warm soft side Of the resigning, yet resisting bride."

"When a daffodil I see, Hanging down his head towards me, Guess I may what I must be: First, I shall decline my head; Secondly, I shall be dead; Lastly, safely buried."

"Wealth cannot make a life, but love."

"Hunger makes coarse meats delicates."

"But thou liv'st fearless; and thy face ne'er shows Fortune when she comes or goes."

"A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles in clothes a wantonness: A lawn about the shoulders thrown Into a fine distraction: An erring lace which here and there Enthralls the crimson stomacher: A cuff neglectful, and thereby Ribbons to flow confusedly: A winning wave, deserving note, In the tempestuous petticoat: A careless shoe-string, in whose tie I see a wild civility: Do more bewitch me than when art Is too precise in every part."

"Some ask'd how pearls did grow, and where; Then spoke I to my girl, To part her lips, and show'd them there The quarrelets of Pearl."

"Some ask'd me where the rubies grew, And nothing I did say; But with my finger pointed to The lips of Julia."

"Give me a kiss, and to that kiss a score; Then to that twenty add a hundred more: A thousand to that hundred: so kiss on, To make that thousand up a million. Treble that million, and when that is done Let's kiss afresh, as when we first begun."

"All things decay with time: the forest sees The growth and downfall of her aged trees; That timber tall, which threescore lusters stood The proud dictator of the state-like wood,— I mean (the sovereign of all plants) the oak— Droops, dies, and falls without the cleaver's stroke."

"So smooth, so sweet, so silv'ry is thy voice, As, could they hear, the damn'd would make no noise, But listen to thee, walking in thy chamber, Melting melodious words to lutes of amber."

"Fight thou with shafts of silver and o'ercome, When no force else can get the masterdom."

"Here we are all by day; by night we're hurl'd By dreams, each one into a sev'ral world."

"But, ah! if empty dreams so please, Love give me more such nights as these."

"For my embalming, sweetest, there will be No spices wanting when I'm laid by thee."

"Now is the time, when all the lights wax dim; And thou, Anthea, must withdraw from him Who was thy servant."

"Cherry-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry, Full and fair ones; come and buy. If so be you ask me where They do grow, I answer: There, Where my Julia's lips do smile; There's the land, or cherry-isle, Whose plantations fully show All the year where cherries grow."

"When one is past, another care we have: Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave."

"I have lost, and lately, these Many dainty mistresses."

"Small griefs find tongues: full casks are ever found To give (if any, yet) but little sound. Deep waters noiseless are; and this we know, That chiding streams betray small depth below."

"Love is a circle that doth restless move In the same sweet eternity of love."

"Is there no way to beget In my limbs their former heat? Æson had, as poets feign, Baths that made him young again: Find that medicine, if you can, For your dry decrepit man Who would fain his strength renew, Were it but to pleasure you."

"To get thine ends, lay bashfulness aside; Who fears to ask doth teach to be deny'd."

"When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine, Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine."

"In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse The holy incantation of a verse."

"To read my book the virgin shy May blush while Brutus standeth by, But when he's gone, read through what's writ, And never stain a cheek for it."

"I write of hell; I sing (and ever shall) Of heaven, and hope to have it after all."

"I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and bowers, Of April, May, of June and July-flowers; I sing of May-poles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes, Of bridegrooms, brides and of their bridal cakes; I write of youth, of love, and have access By these to sing of cleanly wantonness."

"This mighty wall of four score miles in length is only exceeded by the Chinese wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the moon."

"He told me, he was just in the same situation [i.e. in a garden], as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to him self. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earths centre? Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter."

"Our predecessors, the Druids of Britain, tho' left in the extremest west to the improvement of their own thoughts, yet advanc'd their inquiries, under all disadvantages, to such heights, as should make our moderns asham'd, to wink in the sunshine of learning and religion."

"The true knowledge or science which exists nowhere but in the mind itself, has no other entity at all besides intelligibility; and therefore whatsoever is clearly intelligible, is absolutely true."

"The best assurance any one can have of his interest in God, is doubtless the conformity of his soul to Him. When our heart is once turned into a conformity with the mind of God. when we feel our will conformed to His will, we shall then presently perceive a spirit of adoption within ourselves, teaching us to say, "Abba, Father.""