Who is George Herbert
George Herbert was a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as “one of the foremost British devotional lyricists. He was born into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1609. He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University’s Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I. He served in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625.
After the death of King James, Herbert renewed his interest in ordination. He gave up his secular ambitions in his mid-thirties and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as the rector of the little parish of St Andrew’s Church, Lower Bemerton, Salisbury. He was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill and providing food and clothing for those in need. Henry Vaughan called him “a most glorious saint and seer.”[4] He was never a healthy man and died of consumption at age 39.
George Herbert Quotes
1. Living well is the best revenge
2. Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along
3. Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night
4. One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters
5. Good words are worth much, and cost little
6. Love and a cough cannot be hid
7. 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
8. 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
9. The eyes have one language everywhere
10. Life is half spent before we know what it is
11. Storms make the oak grow deeper roots
12. Skill and confidence are an unconquered army
13. One sword keeps another in the sheath
14. A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread
15. Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie: a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby
16. None knows the weight of another’s burden
17. Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy
18. Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, a box where sweets compacted lie
19. A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit
20. If a donkey bray at you, don’t bray at him
21. In conversation, humor is worth more than wit and easiness more than knowledge
22. Sometimes the best gain is to lose
23. Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame, when once it is within thee
24. The buyer needs a hundred eyes, the seller not one
25. He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea
26. War makes thieves and peace hangs them
27. Hell is full of good meanings and wishings
28. Many kiss the hand they wish cut off
29. The shortest answer is doing
30. Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love or life
31. He that hath lost his credit is dead to the world
32. There is great force hidden in a gentle command
33. He hath no leisure who useth it not
34. The offender never pardons
35. Deceive not thy physician, confessor, nor lawyer
36. The devil divides the world between atheism and superstition
37. Be thrifty, but not covetous
38. Throw away thy rod, throw away thy wrath; O my God, take the gentle path
39. You must lose a fly to catch a trout
40. There would be no great men if there were no little ones
41. Night is the mother of counsels
42. The resolved mind hath no cares
43. Speak not of my debts unless you mean to pay them
44. One father is enough to govern one hundred sons, but not a hundred sons one father
45. There is an hour wherein a man might be happy all his life, could he find it
46. Take all that is given whether wealth, love or language, nothing comes by mistake and with good digestion all can be turned to health
47. Punishment is lame, but it comes
48. It is part of a poor spirit to undervalue himself and blush
49. A man of great memory without learning hath a rock and a spindle and no staff to spin
50. The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken
51. Never was a miser a brave soul
52. Spend not on hopes
53. Better never begin than never make an end
