George Herbert

thumb|Teach me, my God and King, In all things thee to see And what I do in any thing, To do it as for thee. George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets. Quotes thumb|Knowledge is folly unless grace guide it. thumb|A verse may finde him, who a sermon fliesAnd turns delight into a sacrifice It (my book) is a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus, my Master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom. Letter to Nicholas Ferrar (1632-33), reported in A. L. Maycock, Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding (London: SPCK, 1938) My meaning (dear Mother) is in these sonnets, to declare my resolution to be, that my poor abilities in poetry, shall be all and ever consecrated to God's glory. Letter to His Mother (1609) Knowledge is folly unless grace guide it. Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 364 The Temple (1633) To write a verse or two is all the praiseThat I can raise. Praise Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,A box where sweets compacted lie. Virtue Like summer friends,Flies of estate and sunneshine. The Answer Bibles laid open, millions of surprises. Sin Man is one world, and hathAnother to attend him. Man Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it? The Size A verse may finde him,who a sermon fliesAnd turns delight into a sacrifice. The Church Porch, st. 1, ll. 5-6 Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame,When once it is within thee. The Church Porch, ll. 25-26 Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie:A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby. The Church Porch, ll. 77-78 By all means use sometimes to be alone. The Church Porch, l. 145 By no means run in debt: take thine own measure.Who cannot live on twenty pound a year,Cannot on forty. The Church Porch, ll. 175-177 Wit's an unruly engine, wildly strikingSometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer. The Church Porch, ll. 241-242 Be calm in arguing: for fierceness makesError a fault, and truth discourtesy. The Church Porch, ll. 307-308 Be useful where thou livest. The Church Porch, l. 325 Man is God's image; but a poor man isChrist's stamp to boot: both images regard. The Church Porch, ll. 379-380 Chase brave employment with a naked swordThroughout the world. The Church Porch Sundays observe; think when the bells do chime,'Tis angels' music. The Church Porch The worst speak something good; if all want sense,God takes a text, and preacheth Pa-ti-ence. The Church Porch A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,Made of a heart, and cemented with tears;Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.   A HEART alone   Is such a stone   As nothing but   Thy pow'r doth cut.   Wherefore each part   Of my hard heart   Meets in this frame,   To praise thy name.That if I chance to hold my peace,These stones to praise thee may not cease.O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine. The Altar, ll. 1-16 Yet Lord restore thine image, hear my call:   And though my hard heart scare to thee can groan,   Remember that thou once didst write in stone. The Sinner, ll. 12-14 I got me flowers to strew Thy way,I got me boughs off many a tree:But Thou wast up by break of day,And brought'st Thy sweets along with Thee. Easter, ll. 19-22 Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,Though foolishly he lost the same,Decaying more and more,Till he becameMost poor:With theeO let me riseAs larks, harmoniously,And sing this day thy victories:Then shall the fall further the flight in me. Easter Wings (I), ll. 1-10 My tender age in sorrow did begin:And still with sicknesses and shameThou didst so punish sin,That I becameMost thin.With theeLet me combine,And feel this day thy victory:For, If I imp my wing on thine,Affliction shall advance the flight in me Easter Wings (II), ll. 1-10 Prayer the church’s banquet, angel’s age,God’s breath in man returning to his birth,The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earthEngine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tow’r,Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,The six-days world transposing in an hour,A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,Exalted manna, gladness of the best,Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,The milky way, the bird of Paradise,Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,The land of spices; something understood. Prayer (I) Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing,  My God and King. Antiphon, ll. 1-2 Whether I fly with angels, fall with dust,  Thy hands made both, and I am there;  Thy power and love, my love and trust    Make one place ev'ry where. The Temper (I), ll. 25-28 Who says that fictions only and false hairBecome a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?Is all good structure in a winding stair? Jordan, ll. 1-3 Man is no star, but a quick coal   Of mortal fire:Who blows it not, nor doth control   A faint desire,Lets his own ashes choke his soul. Employment (II), ll. 6-10 My soul's a shepherd too; a flock it feeds  Of thoughts, and words, and deeds. Christmas, ll. 17-18 Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,The bridal of the earth and sky;The dew shall weep thy fall tonight,   For thou must die. Virtue, ll. 1-4 Only a sweet and virtuous soul,Like season'd timber, never gives;But though the whole world turn to coal,   Then chiefly lives. Virtue, ll. 13-16 I cannot skill of these thy ways.Lord, thou didst make me, yet thou woundest me;Lord, thou dost wound me, yet thou dost relieve me:Lord, thou relievest, yet I die by thee:Lord, thou dost kill me, yet thou dost reprieve me.But when I mark my life and praise,Thy justice me most fitly praise:For, I do praise thee, yet I praise thee not:My prayers mean thee, yet my prayers stray:I would do well, yet sin the hand hath got:My soul doth love thee, yet it loves delay.I cannot skill of these my ways. Justice (I), ll. 1-12 Who goes to bed and does not pray,Maketh two nights to every day. Charms and Knots, ll. 7-8 Nothing wears clothes, but Man; nothing doth needBut he to wear them. Providence, ll. 109-110 Most things move th' under-jaw; the Crocodile not.Most things sleep lying; th' Elephant leans or stands. Providence, ll. 139-140 I gave to Hope a watch of mine; but he   An Anchor gave to me. Hope, ll. 1-2 Surely if each saw another's heart,  There would be no commerce,No sale or bargain pass: all would disperse,  And live apart. Giddiness, ll. 21-24 Do not beguile my heart,Because thou artMy power and wisdom. Put me not to shame,Because I amThy clay that weeps, thy dust that calls. Complaining, ll. 1-5 With sick and famish'd eyes,With doubling knees and weary bones,To thee my cries,To thee my groans,To thee my sighs, my tears ascend:No end?My throat, my soul is hoarse;My heart is wither'd like a groundWhich thou dost curse.My thoughts turn round,And make me giddy; Lord, I fall,Yet call. Longing, ll. 1-12 Thou tarriest, while I die,And fall to nothing: thou dost reign,And rule on high,While I remainIn bitter grief: yet I am styl'dThy child. Longing, ll. 55-60 I struck the board, and cry'd, No more.I will abroad.What? shall I ever sigh and pine?My lines and life are free; free as the road,Loose as the wind, as large as store.Shall I be still in suit?Have I no harvest but a thornTo let me blood, and not restoreWhat I have lost with cordial fruit?Sure there was wineBefore my sighs did dry it: there was cornBefore my tears did drown it;Is the year only lost to me?Have I no bays to crown it? The Collar, ll. 1-14 Thy rope of sands,Which petty thoughts have made, and made to theeGood cable, to enforce and draw,And be thy law,While thou didst wink and wouldst not see. The Collar, ll. 22-26 Call in thy death's head there: tie up thy fears. The Collar, l. 29 But as I rav'd and grew more fierce and wildAt every word,Methought I heard one calling, Child!And I reply'd, My Lord. The Collar, ll. 33-36 He would adore my gifts instead of me,And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:So both should losers be. The Pulley, ll. 13-15 Let him be rich and weary, that at least,If goodness lead him not, yet wearinessMay toss him to my breast. The Pulley, ll. 18-20 Grief melts awayLike snow in May,As if there were no such cold thing. The Flower, ll. 5-7 Who would have thought my shrivel'd heartCould have recovered greenness? The Flower, ll. 8-9 And now in age I bud again,After so many deaths I live and write;I once more smell the dew and rain,And relish versing: O my only light,It cannot beThat I am heOn whom thy tempests fell all night. The Flower, ll. 36-42 Whereas if the heart be moved,Although the verse be somewhat scant,God doth supply the want. A True Hymn, ll. 16-18 The fineness which a hymn or psalm affordsIf when the soul unto the lines accords. A True Hymn Throw away thy rod,Throw away thy wrath:O my God,Take the gentle path. Discipline, ll. 1-4 Then let wrath remove;Love will do the deed:For with loveStony hearts will bleed. Discipline, ll. 17-20 Throw away thy rod;Though man frailties hath,Thou art God:Throw away thy wrath. Discipline, ll. 29-32 Teach me, my God and King, In all things thee to see And what I do in any thing, To do it as for thee. The Elixir, ll. 1-4 A servant with this clauseMakes drudgery divine:Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,Makes that and th' action fine. The Elixir, ll. 17-20 O who will show me those delights on high?   Echo: I. Heaven, ll. 1-2 Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,Guilty of dust and sin.But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slackFrom my first entrance in,Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,If I lacked any thing. Love (III), ll. 1-6 You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:So I did sit and eat. Love (III), ll. 17-18 Religion stands on tip-toe in our land,Ready to pass to the American strand. The Church Militant, ll. 235-236 Love is that liquor sweet and most divine,Which my God feels as blood, but I as wine. The Agony, ll. 17-18 Herbert's Remains (1652) Do well and right, and let the world sink. Country Parson, chapter xxix Jacula Prudentum (1651) Full title: Jacula Prudentum; or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. Selected by Mr. George HerbertAll quotes in this section were taken from The Complete Works in verse and prose of George Herbert: Volume III, Prose (1874), edited by the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart, printed for private circulation. The book was published posthumously, and probably expanded by Herbert's brother Henry Herbert and others from George Herbert's MSS.With regard to the numbering scheme, an introductory note statesː "In the first edition the Proverbs are numbered 1 to 1032, and commence with 'Man proposeth,' &c. and end with 'He that wipes,' &c. ; but the numbering inadvertently passes from 173 to 178, and so onward to 778, when the numbering is continued 780, and so again 831 is succeeded by 833, and 947 by 949. Thus 7 from 1032 leaves 1025, agreeably to our numbering, in the first edition. Our text follows the original edition throughout ; but the additions of 1650 are placed within brackets unnumbered. [...] Original orthography and wording are for the first time restored." Man proposeth, God disposeth. 1 The scalded dog feares cold water. 13 Pleasing ware is halfe sould. 14 Light burthens long borne growe heavie. 15 When all sinnes growe old covetousnesse is young. 18 You cannot know wine by the barrell. 20 Love and a cough cannot be hid. 49 Ill ware is never cheape. 61 Never had ill workman good tooles. 67 Hearken to Reason, or shee will bee heard. 74 When a dog is a-drowning every one offers him drink. 77 Who is so deafe as he that will not heare? 79 He that is warme thinkes all so. 80 Hee that goes barefoot must not plant thornes. 82 He that lives well is learned enough. 86 All truths are not to be told. 89 Leave jesting while it pleaseth, lest it turne to earnest. 104 Deceive not thy physitian, confessor, nor lawyer. 105 To a boyling pot flies come not. 123 Old wine and an old friend are good provisions. 136 Well may hee smell fire whose gowne burnes. 138 Love your neighbor, yet pull not downe your hedge. 141 Marry your sonne when you will, your daughter when you can. 149 The mill cannot grind with water that's past. 153 Good words are worth much, and cost little. 155 The eye and religion can beare no jesting. 158 Debters are lyers. 165 Of all smells, bread ; of all tasts, salt. 166 God heales, and the physitian hath the thankes. 169 Hell is full of good meanings and wishings. 170 One stroke fells not an oke. 177 Where the drink goes in there the wit goes out. 183 Whose house is of glasse must not throw stones at another. 192 If the old dog barke he gives counsell. 193 Hee that lookes not before finds himself behind. 196 The hole calls the thiefe. 200 The honey is sweet, but the bee stings. 208 Send a wise man on an errand, and say nothing unto him. 213 215. Into a mouth shut flies flie not. 215. Compare the Sumerian proverb: Flies enter an open mouth. One graine fills not a sacke, but helpes his fellowes. 222 235. One hand washeth another, and both the face. 235 An ill wound is cured, not an ill name. 211 The wise hand doth not all that the foolish mouth speakes. 242 Marry a widdow before she leave mourning. 248 A foole knowes more in his house then a wise man in another's. 253 Many kisse the hand they wish cut off. 279 Goe not for every griefe to the physitian, nor for every quarrell to the lawyer, nor for every thirst to the pot. 286 The best mirrour is an old friend. 292 A man's discontent is his worst evill. 294 The child saies nothing but what it heard by the fire. 296 He will burne his house to warme his hands. 300 All is not gold that glisters. 302 He is not poore that hath little, but he that desireth much. 305 Hee wrongs not an old man that steales his supper from him. 307 Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number. 310. The absent partie is still faultie. 314 Be not a baker if your head be of butter. 317 Little sticks kindle the fire, great ones put it out. 319 Although the sun shine, leave not thy cloake at home. 322 When you are an anvill, hold you still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill. 334 He that makes his bed ill, lies there. 336 Hee that lies with the dogs riseth with fleas. 339 Who eates his cock alone must saddle his horse alone. 344 He that is not handsome at twenty, nor strong at thirty, nor rich at forty, nor wise at fifty, will never bee handsome, strong, rich, or wise. 345 He that hath no ill fortune is troubled with good. 354 Would you know what mony is, go borrow some. 370. All things require skill but an appetite. 374 All things have their place, knew wee how to place them. 375 Little pitchers have wide eares. 376 The horse thinkes one thing, and he that sadles him another. 383 The buyer needes a hundred eyes, the seller not one. 386 To a crazy ship all windes are contrary. 391 One father is enough to governe one hundred sons, but not a hundred sons one father. 404 He that blames would buy. 406 He that seekes trouble never misses. 412 He that once deceives is ever suspected. 413 He that hath a head of waxe must not walke in the sunne. 421 He that hath love in his brest hath spurres in his sides. 422 Hee that hath one hogge makes him fat ; and hee that hath one sonne makes him a foole. 429 Fly the pleasure that bites to-morrow. 440 A great ship askes deepe waters. 445 Trust not one night's ice. 449 The resolved minde hath no cares. 460 In the kingdome of blind men the one-ey'd is king. 465 Warre makes theeves, and peace hangs them. 467 Hope is the poor man's bread. 473 Fine words dresse ill deedes. 475 A poore beauty finds more lovers than husbands. 477 For want of a naile the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost. 495 Weigh justly and sell dearely. 496 Little wealth, little care. 497 Gluttony kills more then the sword. 499 502. A penny spar'd is twice got. 1 508. He that tells a secret is another's servant. 1 511. Pension never inriched young man. 1 519. One enemy is too much. 1 520. Living well is the best revenge. 1 523. A fool may throw a stone into a well, which a hundred wise men cannot pull out. 1 533. Help thyselfe, and God will helpe thee. 1 534. At the game's end we shall see who gaines. 1 557. The offender never pardons. 1 562. When the tree is fallen all goe with their hatchet. 1 574. A feather in hand is better then a bird in the ayre. 1 577. Folly growes without watering. 1 583. Thursday come and the week's gone. 1 601. The fatt man knoweth not what the leane thinketh. 1 611. Time is the rider that breakes youth. 1 619. You may bring a horse to the river, but he will drinke when and what he pleaseth. 1 620. Before you make a friend eate a bushell of salt with him. 1 621. Speake fitly, or be silent wisely. 1 639. Emptie vessels sound most. 1 648. Show me a lyer, and I'l shew thee a theefe. 1. Modernised spelling: Show me a liar, and I'll show thee a thief. 649. A beane in liberty is better than a comfit in prison. 1 676. A little wind kindles, much puts out the fire. 1 677. Dry bread at home is better than rost meate abroad. 1 678. More have repented speech then silence. 1 682. One father is more than a hundred schoole-masters. 1 684. When God will punish, He will first take away the understanding. 1 707. Reason lies betweene the spurre and the bridle. 1 710. Three can hold their peace if two be away. 1 714. Comparisons are odious. 1 719. One sword keepes another in the sheath. 1 720. Be what thou wouldst seem to be. 1 737. The best smell is bread, the best savour salt, the best love that of children. 1 743. God's mill grinds slow but sure. 1 744. Every one thinkes his sacke heaviest. 1 753. By doing nothing we learne to do ill. 1 756. Every sin brings its punishment with it. 1 759. Give not S. Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing. 1 763. Better speake truth rudely then lye covertly. 1 766. Better suffer ill than doe ill. 1 775. A shippe and a woman are ever repairing. 1 778. He that doth what he should not shall feele what he would not. 1 779. He that marries for wealth sells his liberty. 1 782. He that lends gives. 1 815. In a long journey straw waighs. 1 816. Women laugh when they can and weepe when they will. 1 830. He thinkes not well that thinkes not againe. 1 837. Words are women, deedes are men. 1 838. Poverty is no sinne. 1 848. He that endures is not overcome. 1 850. He that talkes much of his happinesse summons griefe. 1 874. None knows the weight of another's burthen. 1 876. One houre's sleepe before midnight is worth three after. 1 878. It's more paine to doe nothing then something. 1 891. Hee hath no leisure who useth it not. 1 897. There are more physitians in health then drunkards. 1 901. Halfe the world knowes not how the other halfe lies. 1. This is printed in some editions as: Half the world knows not how the other half lives. 906. Silkes and satins put out the fire in the chimney. 1 911. Life is halfe spent before we know what it is. 1 916. The little cannot bee great, unlesse he devoure many. 1 940. The great would have none great, and the little all little. 1 942. Every mile is two in winter. 1 966. With customes wee live well, but lawes undoe us. 1 971. Hee that learnes a trade hath a purchase made. 1 991. Speake not of my debts, unlesse you mean to pay them. 1 1010. An oath that is not to bee made is not to be kept. 1 1011. The eye is bigger then the belly. 1 1023. An old cat sports not with her prey. 1 An idle youth, a needy age. Silke doth quench the fire in the kitchin. The war is not don so long as my enemy lives. Hee that makes himself a sheep shall be eat by the wolfe. An old dog barks not in vain. Cruelty is more cruell if we defer the pain. What one day gives us another takes away from us. A scab'd horse cannot abide the comb. The wolfe eats oft of the sheep that have been warn'd. When war begins then hell openeth. There is a remedy for everything, could men find it. There is an hour wherein a man might be happy all his life, could he find it. Woe be to him that reads but one book. The love of money and the love of learning rarely meet. Some had rather lose their friend then their jest. Much money makes a countrey poor, for it sets a dearer price on every thing. Your thoughts close and your countenance loose. Whatever is made by the hand of man, by the hand of man may be overturned. Old men go to death; death comes to young men. His bark is worse than his bite. After death the doctor. No sooner is a temple built to God, but the Devil builds a chapel hard by. It is a poor sport that is not worth the candle. To a close-shorn sheep God gives wind by measure. The lion is not so fierce as they paint him. The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken. A dwarf on a giant's shoulders sees farther of the two. Quotes about Herbert I must confess, after all that, next to Scripture Poems, there are none so savoury to me, as Mr. George Herbert’s, and Mr. George Sandys’s. I know that Cooly and others far excel Herbert in Wit and accurate composure. But (as Seneca takes with me above all his Contemporaries, because he speaketh Things by words, feelingly and seriously, like a man that is past jest, so) Herbert speaks to God like one that really believeth a God, and where business in the world is most with God. Heart-work and Heaven-work make up his Books. Richard Baxter, 'The Epistle to the Reader', Poetical Fragments: Heart-Imployed with God and It Self (1681) The first, that with any effectual success attempted a diversion of this foul and overflowing stream, was the blessed man, Mr. George Herbert, whose holy life and verse gained many pious converts, of whom I am the least; and gave the first check to a most flourishing and admired wit of his time. Henry Vaughan, 'Preface' (30 September 1654), The Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1856), p. 37 George Herbert, who was the Author of the Temple or Sacred Poems and Ejaculations. (A Book, in which by declaring his own spiritual Conflicts he hath Comforted and raised many a dejected and discomposed Soul, and charmed them into sweet and quiet thoughts: A Book, by the frequent reading whereof, and the assistance of that Spirit that seemed to inspire the Author, the Reader may attain habits of Peace and Piety, and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost and Heaven: and may by still reading, still keep those sacred fires burning upon the Altar of so pure an heart, as shall free it from the anxieties of this world, and keep it fixt upon things that are above). Izaak Walton, 'The Life of Dr. John Donne', The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotten, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert (1670), p. 57 Thus he liv'd, and thus he dy'd like a Saint, unspotted of the World, full of Alms-deeds, full of Humility, and all the examples of vertuous life. Izaak Walton, 'The Life of Mr. George Herbert', The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotten, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert (1670), p. 79 External links Author:George Herbert (1593-1633) Profile and Poems at Poetseers Category:Poets from Wales Category:Poets from England Category:Clergy Category:Mystics Category:Anglicans from the United Kingdom Category:Anglican saints Category:Lutheran saints Category:Aphorists Category:Orators Category:1593 births Category:1633 deaths