George Herbert
B.Apr 3, 1593-Mar 1, 1633
Poet

George Herbert Hand-Picked Quotes

George Herbert, known as the poet of grace and wit, was a prominent figure in English literature during the 17th century. His profound religious poetry has left an indelible mark on both his contemporaries and future generations. Though he pursued a life dedicated to God as an Anglican priest, literary expression remained at the heart of his work, allowing him to draw upon experiences within both faith and society.

Herbert's poems exude intricate metaphysical symbolism while delving deeply into themes such as redemption, sin, and spiritual growth. A master of formal verse, he skillfully weaves together words with vivid imagery to create emotional landscapes that resonate with readers even centuries later.

Growing up in a religious household - his father being a powerful politician who died when George was young - shaped Herbert's theology and poetic sensibility. His education at Cambridge University further honed his intellectual capacity for craftsmanship evident in works like "The Temple." In this renowned collection, each poem functions as a distinct devotional hymn serving collectively as an architectural metaphor for spirituality.

Throughout his career, Herbert displayed exquisite wordplay and penetrating insights regarding faith and human nature. Despite living amidst political turmoil during the Jacobean era where religion often served personal ambitions rather than divine devotion, he demonstrated unwavering commitment to the Christian message through poetry that strived not only for aesthetic excellence but spiritual edification.

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In the words of George Herbert:
Throw away thy rod, throw away thy wrath; O my God, take the gentle path.
There is an hour wherein a man might be happy all his life, could he find it.
Take all that is given whether wealth, love or language, nothing comes by mistake and with good digestion all can be turned to health.
Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love or life.
He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise.
In conversation, humor is worth more than wit and easiness more than knowledge.
He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven.
Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy.
Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie: a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.
Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love, or life.
Living well is the best revenge.
Let thy mind's sweetness have its operation upon thy body, clothes, and habitation.
The best smell is bread; the best saver, salt; the best love, that of children.
Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me, With faith, with hope, with charity, That I may run, rise, rest with Thee.
In solitude, be a multitude to thyself. Tibullus by all means use sometimes to be alone.
The God of love my shepherd is, And he that doth me feed: While he is mine, and I am his, What can I want or need?
The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords If when the soul unto the lines accords.
A well-bred youth neither speaks of himself, nor being spoken to is silent.
He that needs five thousand pound to live, Is full as poor as he that needs but five.
Who would have thought my shriveled heart could have recovered greenness?
Calmness is great advantage; he that lets Another chafe, may warm him at his fire.
The worst speak something good; if all want sense, God takes a text, and preacheth patience.
By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.
Exalted Manna, gladness of the best, Heaven in ordinary, man well dressed.
God's breath in man returning to his birth, The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage.
Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, The land of spices; something understood.
Grief melts away Like snow in May, As if there were no such cold thing.
Good cable, to enforce and draw, And be thy law, While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
A verse may find him, who a sermon flies, And turn delight into a sacrifice.
I had rather ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me.
Do not grudge To pick out treasures from an earthen pot. The worst speaks something good.
Listen, sweet Dove, unto my song, And spread thy golden wings in me; Hatching my tender heart so long, Till it get wing, and fly away with Thee.
Envy not greatness: for thou makest thereby Thyself the worse, and so the distance greater.
When thou dost tell another's jest, therein Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need; Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the sin.
Gold thou mayst safely touch; but if it stick Unto thy hands, it woundeth to the quick.
Many, affecting wit beyond their power, Have got to be a dear fool for an hour.
Sorrow was all my soul; I scarce believed, Till grief did tell me roundly, that I lived.
A broken Altar, Lord, thy servant rears, Made of a heart, and cemented with tears.
Resort to sermons, but to prayers most: Praying's the end of preaching.
If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains. If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains.
You may bring a horse to the river, but he will drink when and what he pleaseth.
Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky Shoots higher much than he that means a tree.
Only a sweet and virtuous soul, Like season'd timbered, never gives; But though the whole world turn to coal, Then chiefly lives.
How wide is all this long pretense! There is in love a sweetness ready penned, Copy out only that, and save expense.
I envy no man's nightingale or spring; Nor let them punish me with loss of rhyme, Who plainly say, My God, My King.
True beauty dwells on high: ours is a flame But borrowed thence to light us thither. Beauty and beauteous words should go together.
Ah my dear God! though I am clean forgot, Let me not love thee, if I love thee not.
My mind, and I our thoughts did lend to those Things, which our hands and bodies do without.
Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love, or life.
Necessity takes as well as gives laws, and that which we could not do otherwise, we must do yet gladly.
Ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to Heaven.
There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
The anagram of the heart is earth, and earth is but a portion of man's soul.
Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are.
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