If we consider eternity, into that time never entered; eternity is not an everlasting flux of time, but time is as a short parenthesis in a long period; and eternity had been the same as it is, though time had never been.
John DonneThe world is a great volume, and man the index of that book; even in the body of man, you may turn to the whole world.
John DonneI do not love a man, except I hate his vices, because those vices are the enemies, and the destruction of that friend whom I love.
John DonneTo an incompetent judge I must not lie, but I may be silent; to a competent I must answer.
John DonneA bride, before a "Good-night" could be said, Should vanish from her clothes into her bed, As souls from bodies steal, and are not spied. But now she's laid; what though she be? Yet there are more delays, for where is he? He comes and passeth through sphere after sphere; First her sheets, then her arms, then anywhere. Let not this day, then, but this night be thine; Thy day was but the eve to this, O Valentine.
John Donne