Walter Raleigh Quotations

Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.

Whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth too near the heels, it may happily strike out his teeth.

The first draught serveth for health, the second for pleasure, the third for shame, the fourth for madness.

Love is a durable fire in the mind ever burning; never sick, never old, never dead from itself never turning.

If the heart be right, it matters not which way the head lies

Let valour end my life!

Whoso taketh in hand to govern a multitude, either by way of liberty or principality, and cannot assure himself of those persons that are enemies to that enterprise, doth frame a state of short perseverance.

Speaking much is a sign of vanity, for he that is lavish with words is a niggard in deed

No man is esteemed for gay garments but by fools and women

The world itself is but a large prison, out of which some are daily led to execution.

In examinations, those who do now wish to know ask questions of those who cannot tell.

The gain of lying is, not to be trusted of any, nor to be believed when we speak the truth

The difference between a rich man and a poor man, is this - the former eats hen when he pleases, and the latter when he can get it

Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.

But from this earth, this grave, this dust, My God shall raise me up, I trust.

In a word, we may gather out of History a policy no less wise than I eternal; by the comparison and application of other mens fore-passed miseries with our own like errours and ill-deservings.

If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee, and be thy love.

So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lieth.

He that doth not as other men do, but endeavoureth that which ought to be done, shall thereby rather incur peril than preservation; for who so laboreth to be sincerely perfect and good shall necessarily perish, living among men that are generally evil.

I am the monarch of the sea, The Ruler of the Queen's Navee, Whose praise Great Britain loudly chants And we are his sisters, and his cousins, and his aunts!

It is the nature of men having escaped one extreme, which by force they were constrained long to endure, to run headlong into the other extreme, forgetting that virtue doth always consist in the mean.

[It is a basic principle of a tyrant] to unarm his people of weapons, money and all means whereby they resist his power.

All, or the greatest part of men that have aspired to riches or power, have attained thereunto either by force or fraud, and what they have by craft or cruelty gained, to cover the foulness of their fact, they call purchase, as a name more honest. Howsoever, he that for want of will or wit useth not those means, must rest in servitude and poverty.

Remember, that if thou marry for beauty, thou bindest thyself all thy life for that which perchance will neither last nor please thee one year; and when thou hast it, it will be to thee of no price at all; for the desire dieth when it is attained, and the affection perisheth when it is satisfied.

I shall never be persuaded that God hath shut up all light of learning within the lantern of Aristotle's brain.

I wish I loved the Human Race; I wish I loved its silly face; I wish I liked the way it walks; I wish I liked the way it talks; And when I'm introduced to one I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!

Hatreds are the cinders of affection.

But true love is a durable fire, In the mind ever burning, Never sick, never old, never dead, From itself never turning.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

A man must first govern himself ere he is fit to govern a family; and his family ere he be fit to bear the government of the commonwealth.

This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all diseases and miseries.

... but the longest day hath its evening.

Prevention is the daughter of intelligence.

No one can take less pains than to hold his tongue. Hear much, and speak little; for the tongue is the instrument of the greatest good and greatest evil that is done in the world.

The gain of lying is, not to be trusted of any, nor to be believed when we speak the truth.

War begets quiet, quiet idleness, idleness disorder, disorder ruin; likewise ruin order, order virtue, virtue glory, and good fortune.

There is nothing more becoming any wise man, than to make choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art: let them therefore be wise and virtuous, and none of those that follow thee for gain; but make election rather of thy betters, than thy inferiors.

All histories do show, and wise politicians do hold it necessary that, for the well-governing of every Commonweal, it behoveth man to presuppose that all men are evil, and will declare themselves so to be when occasion is offered.

'Tis a sharp medicine, but it will cure all that ails you.

Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself.

Passions are liken'd best to floods and streams: The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb; So, when affection yields discourse, it seems The bottom is but shallow whence they come. They that are rich in words, in words discover

The best time for marriage will be towards thirty, for as the younger times are unfit, either to choose or to govern a wife and family, so, if thou stay long, thou shalt hardly see the education of thy children, who, being left to strangers, are in effect lost; and better were it to be unborn than ill-bred; for thereby thy posterity shall either perish, or remain a shame to thy name.

Better were it to be unborn than to be ill bred.

Our immortal souls, while righteous, are by God himself beautified with the title of his own image and similitude.

Our souls, piercing through the impurity of flesh, behold the highest heaven, and thence bring knowledge to contemplate the ever-during, glory and termless joy.

If thou marry beauty, thou bindest thyself all thy life for that which, perchance, will neither last nor please thee one year.

Death, which hateth and destroyeth a man, is believed; God, which hath made him and loves him, is always deferred.

Expressive glances Shall be our lances And pops of Sillery Our light artillery.

It is, it is a glorious thing To be a Pirate King.

God is absolutely good; and so, assuredly, the cause of all that is good.

An anthology is like all the plums and orange peel picked out of a cake.

Our shipping and sea service is our best and safest defence as being the only fortification and rampart of England.

Except thou desire to hasten thine end, take this for a general rule, that thou never add any artificial heat to thy body by wine or spice.

The most divine light only shineth on those minds which are purged from all worldly dross and human uncleanliness.

It would be an unspeakable advantage, both to the public and private, if men would consider that great truth, that no man is wise or safe but he that is honest.

Bad language or abuse, I never, never use, Whatever the emergency; Though 'Bother it' I may Occasionally say, I never use a big, big D : What, never? : No, never! : What never? : Well, hardly ever! : Hardly ever swears a big, big D Then give three cheers, and one cheer more, For the well-bred Captain of the Pinafore!

Our bodies are but the anvils of pain and disease and our minds the hives of unnumbered cares.

Silence in love betrays more woe - Than words though ne'er so witty; A beggar that is dumb, you know, may challenge double pity.

If any friend desire thee to be his surety, give him a part of what thou hast to spare; if he press thee further, he is not thy friend at all, for friendship rather chooseth harm to itself than offereth it. If thou be bound for a stranger, thou art a fool; if for a merchant, thou puttest thy estate to learn to swim.

Above all things, be not made an ass to carry the burdens of other men if any friend desire thee to be his surety, give him a part of what thou has to spare if he presses thee further, he is not thy friend at all.

Less pains in the world a man cannot take than to bold his tongue.

It is observed in the course of worldly things, that men's fortunes are oftener made by their tongues than by their virtues; and more men's fortunes overthrown thereby than by vices.

The useful type of successful teacher is one whose main interest is the children, not the subject.

The necessity of war, which among human actions is the most lawless, hath some kind of affinity with the necessity of law.

And when I'm introduced to one I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!

All men are evil and will declare themselves to be so when occasion is offered.

Desire attained is not desire, But as the cinders of the fire.

Youth is the opportunity to do something and to be somebody.

O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hath cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hic jacet!

Fain would I, but I dare not; I dare, and yet I may not; I may, although I care not, for pleasure when I play not.

A professional man of letters, especially if he is much at war with unscrupulous enenemies, is naturally jealous of his privacy... so it was, I think, with Dryden.

In a letter to a friend the thought is often unimportant, and the feeling, if it be only a desire to entertain him, every thing.

If thy friends be of better quality than thyself, thou mayest be sure of two things; first, they will be more careful to keep thy counsel, because they have more to lose than thou hast; the second, they will esteem thee for thyself, and not for that which thou dost possess.

Romance is a love affair in other than domestic surroundings.

Be advised what thou dost discourse of, and what thou maintainest whether touching religion, state, or vanity; for if thou err in the first, thou shalt be accounted profane; if in the second, dangerous; if in the third, indiscreet and foolish.

Who so taketh in hand to frame any state or government ought to presuppose that all men are evil, and at occasions will show themselves so to be.

No man is esteemed for colorful garments except by fools and women.

Give my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.

Hath triumphed over time, which besides it nothing but eternity hath triumphed over.

It is plain there is not in nature a point of stability to be found; everything either ascends or declines; when wars are ended abroad, sedition begins at home; and when men are freed from fighting for necessity, they quarrel through ambition.

The difference between a rich man and a poor man is this--the former eats when he pleases, and the latter when he can get it.

The longer it possesseth a man the more he will delight in it, and the older he groweth the more he shall be subject to it; for it dulleth the spirits, and destroyeth the body as ivy doth the old tree, or as the worm that engendereth in the kernal of the nut.

It were better for a man to be subject to any vice than to drunkenness; for all other vanities and sins are recovered, but a drunkard will never shake off the delight of beastliness.

According to Solomon, life and death are in the power of the tongue; and as Euripides truly affirmeth, every unbridled tongue in the end shall find itself unfortunate; for in all that ever I observed in the course of worldly things, I ever found that men's fortunes are oftener made by their tongues than by their virtues, and more men's fortunes overthrown thereby, also, than by their vices.

Because all men are apt to flatter themselves, to entertain the addition of other men's praises is most perilous.

There is no error which hath not some appearance of probability resembling truth, which, when men who study to be singular find out, straining reason, they then publish to the world matter of contention and jangling.

The bodies of men, munition, and money may justly be called the sinews of war.

Trust few men; above all, keep your follies to yourself.

Take special care that thou never trust any friend or servant with any matter that may endanger thine estate; for so shalt thou make thyself a bond-slave to him that thou trustest, and leave thyself always to his mercy.

Love likes not the falling fruit, Nor the withered tree.

Even such isTime, which takes in trust Our youth, our joys, and all we have, And pays us but with age and dust, Who in the dark and silent grave When we have wandered all our ways Shuts up the story of our days, And from which earth, and grave, and dust The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.

But it is hard to know them from friends, they are so obsequious and full of protestations; for a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend.

Men endure the losses that befall them by mere casualty with more patience than the damages they sustain by injustice.

Even such is time, that takes in trust Our youth, our joys, our all we have, And pays us but with age and dust.

Historians desiring to write the actions of men, ought to set down the simple truth, and not say anything for love or hatred; also to choose such an opportunity for writing as it may be lawful to think what they will, and write what they think, which is a rare happiness of the time.

No one is wise or safe, but they that are honest.

The world is but a large prison, out of which some are daily selected for execution.

If she undervalues me, What care I how fair she be?

Passions are likened best to floods and streams: The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb.

Use your youth so that you may have comfort to remember it when it has forsaken you, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof.