Quotes from The Temple

21 notable lines from George Herbert · 1633

I struck the board, and cried, 'No more! I will abroad!'

George Herbert, 'The Collar'

  1. I struck the board, and cried, "No more; / I will abroad!"

    Opening lines, "The Collar"

  2. Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back, / Guilty of dust and sin.

    Opening lines, "Love (III)"

  3. Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, the bridal of the earth and sky.

    George Herbert, 'Virtue'

  4. Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, / The bridal of the earth and sky.

    Opening lines, "Virtue"

  5. You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat. So I did sit and eat.

    George Herbert, 'Love (III)'

  6. "You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat." / So I did sit and eat.

    Closing lines, "Love (III)"

  7. Methought I heard one calling, "Child!" / And I replied, "My Lord."

    Closing lines, "The Collar"

  8. Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, / The land of spices; something understood.

    Closing lines, "Prayer (I)"

  9. 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.

    Opening stanza, "The Elixir"

  10. Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, / Makes that and th' action fine.

    "The Elixir"

  11. Only a sweet and virtuous soul, / Like season'd timber, never gives; / But though the whole world turn to coal, / Then chiefly lives.

    Final stanza, "Virtue"

  12. Prayer the Church's banquet, Angel's age, / God's breath in man returning to his birth.

    Opening lines, "Prayer (I)"

  13. Yet let him keep the rest, / But keep them with repining restlessness: / Let him be rich and weary, that at least, / If goodness lead him not, yet weariness / May toss him to my breast.

    Final stanza, "The Pulley"

  14. Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, / Though foolishly he lost the same, / Decaying more and more, / Till he became / Most poor.

    Opening stanza, "Easter Wings"

  15. And now in age I bud again, / After so many deaths I live and write.

    "The Flower"

  16. Who would have thought my shrivel'd heart / Could have recover'd greenness?

    "The Flower"

  17. Let all the world in every corner sing, / My God and King.

    Refrain, "Antiphon (I)"

  18. A verse may find him, who a sermon flies, / And turn delight into a sacrifice.

    "The Church-porch" (Perirrhanterium)

  19. Nor let them punish me with loss of rhyme, / Who plainly say, My God, My King.

    Closing lines, "Jordan (I)"

  20. Throw away thy rod, / Throw away thy wrath: / O my God, / Take the gentle path.

    Opening stanza, "Discipline"