Robert Herrick Quotes

Thus times do shift, each thing his turn does hold;
New things succeed, as former things grow old.

Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee,
The shooting stars attend thee;
And the elves also,
Whose little eyes glow
Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.

We such clusters had As made us nobly wild, not mad; And yet each verse of thine Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine.

Sweet, be not proud of those two eyes
Which starlike sparkle in their skies;
Nor be you proud that you can see
All hearts your captives, yours yet free

Bid me despair, and I'll despair,
Under that cypress tree;
Or bid me die, and I will dare
E'en Death, to die for thee.

Tis but a dog-like madnesse in bad Kings,
For to delight in wounds and murdering.
As some plants prosper best by cuts and blowes:
So Kings by killing doe encrease their foes.

- Cruelty

Some asked me where the rubies grew,
And nothing I did say;
But with my finger pointed to
The lips of Julia.

What is a kiss? Why this, as some approve:
The sure, sweet cement, glue, and lime of love.

So when or you or I are made
A fable, song, or fleeting shade,
All love, all liking, all delight
Lies drowned with us in endless night.

If little labour, little are our gains:
Man's fortunes are according to his pains.

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying

Before man's fall the rose was born, St. Ambrose says, without the thorn; But for man's fault then was the thorn Without the fragrant rose-bud born; But ne'er the rose without the thorn.

Wantons we are, and though our words be such
Our lives do differ from our lines by much.

Fall on me like a silent dew,
Or like those maiden showers
Which, by the peep of day, do strew
A baptism o’er the flowers.