Top 160 Francis Quarles Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “To fear death is the way to live long; to lie afraid of death is to be long a dying.”

— Francis Quarles

102. “How is the anxious soul of man befool’d in his desire, That thinks an hectic fever may be cool’d in flames of fire?”

— Francis Quarles

103. “In the height of thy prosperity expect adversity, but fear it not. If it come not, thou art the more sweetly possessed of the happiness thou hast, and the more strongly confirmed. If it come, thou art the more gently dispossessed of the happiness thou hadst, and the more firmly prepared.”

— Francis Quarles

104. “Mark, how the ready hands of Death prepare: His bow is bent, and he hath notch’d his dart; He aims, he levels at thy slumb’ring heart: The wound is posting, O be wise, beware.”

— Francis Quarles

105. “Flatter not thyself in thy faith in God if thou hast not charity for thy neighbor.”

— Francis Quarles

106. “Even such is man, whose glory lendsHis life a blaze or two, and ends.”

— Francis Quarles

107. “Charity is a naked child, giving honey to a bee without wings.”

— Francis Quarles

108. “In all thy actions think God sees thee; and in all His actions labor to see Him; that will make thee fear Him; this will move thee to love Him; the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, and the knowledge of God is the perfection of love.”

— Francis Quarles

109. “Mercy turns her back to the unmerciful.”

— Francis Quarles

110. “Make thy recreation servant to thy business, lest thou become a slave to thy recreation.”

— Francis Quarles

111. “If thou be rich, strive to command thy money, lest it command thee.”

— Francis Quarles

112. “The light of the understanding, humility kindleth and pride covereth.”

— Francis Quarles

113. “In giving of thy alms, inquire not so much into the person, as his necessity. God looks not so much upon the merits of him that requires, as into the manner of him that relieves; if the man deserve not, thou hast given it to humanity.”

— Francis Quarles

114. “Physicians, of all men, are most happy; whatever good success soever they have, the world proclaimeth; and what faults they commit, the earth covereth.”

— Francis Quarles

115. “Fear nothing but what thy industry may prevent; be confident of nothing but what fortune cannot defeat; it is no less folly to fear what is impossible to be avoided than to be secure when there is a possibility to be deprived.”

— Francis Quarles

116. “Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it...”

— Francis Quarles

117. “To bear adversity with an equal mind is both the sign and glory of a brave spirit.”

— Francis Quarles

118. “If thy words be too luxuriant, confine them, lest they confine thee; he that thinks he never can speak enough may easily speak too much. A full tongue and an empty brain are seldom parted.”

— Francis Quarles

119. “Let the greatest part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest, lest the greater part of what thou believest be the least part of what is true.”

— Francis Quarles

120. “The strong desires of man’s insatiate breast may stand possess’d Of all that earth can give; but earth can give no rest.”

— Francis Quarles

121. “When the flesh presents thee with delights, then present thyself with dangers; where the world possesses thee with vain hopes, there possess thyself with true fear; when the devil brings thee oil, bring thou vinegar. The way to be safe is never to be secure.”

— Francis Quarles

122. “He that discovers himself, till he hath made himself master of his desires, lays himself open to his own ruin, and makes himself prisoner to his own tongue.”

— Francis Quarles

123. “Wrinkle not thy face with too much laughter, lest thou become ridiculous; neither wanton thy heart with too much mirth, lest thou become vain: the suburbs of folly is vain mirth, and profuseness of laughter is the city of fools.”

— Francis Quarles

124. “Death aims with fouler spiteAt fairer marks.”

— Francis Quarles

125. “That action is not warrantable which either fears to ask the divine blessing on its performance, or having succeeded, does not come with thanksgiving to God for its success.”

— Francis Quarles

126. “Think not thy love to God merits God’s love to thee; His acceptance of thy duty crowns His own gifts in thee; man’s love to God is nothing but a faint reflection of God’s love to man.”

— Francis Quarles

127. “Flatter not thyself in thy faith to God, if thou wantest charity for thy neighbor; and think not thou halt charity for thy neighbor, if thou wantest faith to God; where they are not both together, they are both wanting; they are both dead, if once divided.”

— Francis Quarles

128. “Shine Son of glory, and my sinnes are goneLike twinkling Starres before the rising Sunne.”

— Francis Quarles

129. “In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself; another is but one witness against thee, thou art a thousand; another thou mayest avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment.”

— Francis Quarles

130. “Be not too rash in the breaking of an inconvenient custom; as it was gotten, so leave it by degrees. Danger attends upon too sudden alterations; he that pulls down a bad building by the great may be ruined by the fall, but he that takes it down brick by brick may live to build a better.”

— Francis Quarles

131. “No labor is hard, no time is long, wherein the glory of eternity is the mark we level at.”

— Francis Quarles

132. “Reason can discover things only near, – sees nothing that’s above her.”

— Francis Quarles

133. “If thou wouldst be justified, acknowledge thine injustice. He that confesses his sin, begins his journey toward salvation. He that is sorry for it, mends his pace. He that forsakes it, is at his journey’s end.”

— Francis Quarles

134. “Let the words of a virgin, though in a good cause, and to as good purpose, be neither violent, many, nor first, nor last; it is less shame for a virgin to be lost in a blushing silence than to be found in a bold eloquence.”

— Francis Quarles

135. “Let grace conduct thee to the paths of peace.”

— Francis Quarles

136. “If God send thee a cross, take it up willingly and follow him. Use it wisely, lest it be unprofitable. Bear it patiently, lest it be intolerable. If it be light, slight it not. If it be heavy, murmur not. After the cross is the crown.”

— Francis Quarles

137. “I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading, as I had in the writing.”

— Francis Quarles

138. “Obedience to truth known, is the king’s highway to that which is still beyond us.”

— Francis Quarles

139. “Hath any wronged thee? be bravely revenged; slight it, and the work is begun; forgive it, and it is finished; he is below himself that is not above an injury.”

— Francis Quarles

140. “Gold is Caesar’s treasure, man is God’s; thy gold hath Caesar’s image, and thou hast God’s.”

— Francis Quarles

141. “The average person’s ear weighs what you are, not what you were.”

— Francis Quarles

142. “Borrow neither money nor time from your neighbor; both are of equal value.”

— Francis Quarles

143. “A lamb appears a lion, and we fear Each bush we see’s a bear.”

— Francis Quarles

144. “Prize not thyself by what thou hast, but by what thou art; he that values a jewel by her golden frame, or a book by her silver clasps, or a man by his vast estate, errs; if thou art not worth more than the world can make thee, thy Redeemer had a bad pennyworth, or thou an uncurious Redeemer.”

— Francis Quarles

145. “If thy daughter marry well, thou hast found a son; if not, thou hast lost a daughter.”

— Francis Quarles

146. “Wouldst thou multiply thy riches? diminish them wisely; or wouldst thou make thy estate entire? divide it charitably. Seeds that are scattered increase; but, hoarded up, they perish.”

— Francis Quarles

147. “Wisdom not only gets, but once got, retains.”

— Francis Quarles

148. “Meditation is the life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation; and honor the reward of action.”

— Francis Quarles

149. “The way to subject all things to thyself is to subject thyself to reason; thou shalt govern many, if reason govern thee. Wouldst thou be crowned the monarch of a little world? command thyself.”

— Francis Quarles

150. “It is the lot of man but once to die.”

— Francis Quarles