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.
Walter RaleighWho 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.
Walter RaleighIn a letter to a friend the thought is often unimportant, and the feeling, if it be only a desire to entertain him, every thing.
Walter RaleighGive 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.
Walter RaleighI dare not think that any supercelestial heaven, or whatsoever else ... was increate and eternal. And as for the place of God before the world created, the finite wisdom of mortal men hath no perception of it; neither can it limit the seat of infinite power, no more than infinite power itself can be limited; for his place is in himself, whom no magnitude else can contain.
Walter RaleighIt 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.
Walter RaleighWho so desireth to know what will be hereafter, let him think of what is past, for the world hath ever been in a circular revolution; whatsoever is now, was heretofore; and things past or present, are no other than such as shall be again: Redit orbis in orbem.
Walter RaleighBe 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.
Walter RaleighHistorians 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.
Walter RaleighThe 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.
Walter RaleighWhosoever in writing a modern history shall follow the truth too near the heels it may haply strike out his teeth.
Walter RaleighWhat is our life? A play of passion. Our mirth the music of division. Our mother's wombs the tyring houses be, Where we are drest for this short Comedy.
Walter RaleighThe most divine light only shineth on those minds which are purged from all worldly dross and human uncleanliness.
Walter RaleighTake 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.
Walter RaleighPassions are likened best to floods and streams: The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb.
Walter RaleighUse 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.
Walter RaleighIf 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.
Walter RaleighAccording 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.
Walter RaleighIf 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.
Walter RaleighA professional man of letters, especially if he is much at war with unscrupulous enemies, is naturally jealous of his privacy; he will be silent on his more personal interests, or, if he must speak, will veil them under conventional forms.
Walter RaleighAll, 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.
Walter RaleighThe 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.
Walter RaleighI shall never be persuaded that God hath shut up all light of learning within the lantern of Aristotle's brain.
Walter RaleighA wandering minstrel I A thing of shreds and patches Of ballads, songs and snatches And dreamy lullaby!
Walter RaleighOur shipping and sea service is our best and safest defence as being the only fortification and rampart of England.
Walter RaleighWhoso 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.
Walter RaleighWhat dependence can I have on the alleged events of ancient history, when I find such difficulty in ascertaining the truth regarding a matter that has taken place only a few minutes ago, and almost in my own presence!
Walter RaleighOur bodies are but the anvils of pain and disease and our minds the hives of unnumbered cares.
Walter RaleighThe 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.
Walter RaleighThe House of Peers, throughout the war, Did nothing in particular, And did it very well: Yet Britain set the world ablaze In good King George's glorious days!
Walter RaleighTalking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.
Walter RaleighI 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!
Walter RaleighBecause all men are apt to flatter themselves, to entertain the addition of other men's praises is most perilous.
Walter RaleighIt 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.
Walter RaleighNever spend anything before thou have it; for borrowing is the canker and death of every man's estate.
Walter RaleighWhen a felon's not engaged in his employment Or maturing his felonious little plans His capacity for innocent enjoyment Is just as great as any honest man's Ah! When constabulary duty's to be done A policeman's lot is not a happy one.
Walter RaleighThe gain of lying is nothing else but not to be trusted of any, nor to be believed when we say the truth.
Walter RaleighThere never was a man of solid understanding, whose apprehensions are sober, and by a pensive inspection advised, but that he hath found by an irresistible necessity one true God and everlasting being.
Walter RaleighIf thou marry beauty, thou bindest thyself all thy life for that which, perchance, will neither last nor please thee one year.
Walter Raleigh