Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.
– George Herbert
Prayer
Storms make the oak grow deeper roots.
– George Herbert
Perseverance
Good words are worth much, and cost little.
– George Herbert
Encouragement
God sees hearts as we see faces.
– George Herbert
God | The Heart
A hundredload of worry will not pay an ounce of debt.
– George Herbert
Worry
A wise man cares not for what he cannot have.
– George Herbert
Contentment
Thou who has given so much to me, give one thing more: a grateful heart.
– George Herbert
Gratitude | The Heart
None knows the weight of another’s burden.
– George Herbert
Compassion
Show me a liar, and I will show thee a thief.
– George Herbert
Lying
He that lives in hope dances without music.
– George Herbert
Hope | Music
If I have but enough for myself and family, I am steward only for myself and them; if I have more, I am but a steward of that abundance for others.
– George Herbert
Stewardship
Time is the rider that breaks youth.
– George Herbert
Life | YouthTime
Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie: a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.
– George Herbert
Lying
Knowledge is but folly unless it is guided by grace.
– George Herbert
Knowledge | Grace
War makes thieves and peace hangs them.
– George Herbert
War
Pursue not a victory too far. He hath conquered well that hath made his enemy fly; thou mayest beat him to a desperate resistance, which may ruin thee.
– George Herbert
Compassion | Enemies
The devil divides the world between atheism and superstition.
– George Herbert
Satan | Atheism
Lie not, neither to thyself, nor man, nor God. It is for cowards to lie.
– George Herbert
Lying
Praise the sea, but keep on the land.
– George Herbert
Philosophy
God’s mill grinds slow, but sure.
– George Herbert
Justice
Punishment is lame, but it comes.
– George Herbert
Justice
Help thyself, and God will help thee.
– George Herbert
Perseverance | Helping
Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love or life.
– George Herbert
Reading
The ignorant hath an eagle’s wings and an owl’s eyes.
– George Herbert
Ignorance
The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken.
– George Herbert
Apathy
He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea.
– George Herbert
Prayer
Love, and a cough, cannot be hid.
– George Herbert
Love
Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy.
– George Herbert
Truth
One hour’s sleep before midnight is worth three after.
– George Herbert
Philosophy
Little pitchers have wide ears.
– George Herbert
Children
No sooner is a temple built to God, but the devil builds a chapel hard by.
– George Herbert
Satan
Sum up at night what thou hast done by day, and in the morning what thou hast to do; dress and undress thy soul; mark the decay or growth of it. If with thy watch, that too be down, then wind up both. Since thou shalt be most surely judged, make thine accounts agree.
– George Herbert
Achievement | Judging
Steal the hog, and give the feet for alms.
– George Herbert
Hypocrisy
The best mirror is an old friend.
– George Herbert
Friendship
Throw away thy rod, throw away thy wrath; O my God, take the gentle path.
– George Herbert
Virtue
A man of great memory without learning hath a rock and a spindle and no staff to spin.
– George Herbert
Learning
A hundred load of worry will not pay an ounce of debt.
– George Herbert
Worry | Finances
Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame, when once it is within thee.
– George Herbert
Drunkenness
Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
– George Herbert
Perseverance
Take all that is given whether wealth, love or language, nothing comes by mistake and with good digestion all can be turned to health.
– George Herbert
Health | Wealth
The resolved mind hath no cares.
– George Herbert
Perseverance
Better never begin than never make an end.
– George Herbert
Laziness
He hath no leisure who useth it not.
– George Herbert
Contentment
It is part of a poor spirit to undervalue himself and blush.
– George Herbert
Humility
Speak not of my debts unless you mean to pay them.
– George Herbert
Finances
Let thy mind’s sweetness have its operation upon thy body, thy clothes, and thy habitation.
– George Herbert
Contentment
A civil guest will no more talk all, than eat all the feast.
– George Herbert
Greed
Hell is full of good meanings and wishings.
– George Herbert
Hell
Play not for gain, but sport; who plays for more than he can lose with pleasure stakes his heart.
– George Herbert
Finances | The Heart
When a friend asks, there is no tomorrow.
– George Herbert
Friendship
In conversation, humor is worth more than wit and easiness more than knowledge.
– George Herbert
Education | Knowledge
Many kiss the hand they wish cut off.
– George Herbert
Hypocrisy
If a donkey brays at you, don’t bray at him.
– George Herbert
Anger
Be not too presumptuously sure in any business; for things of this world depend on such a train of unseen chances that if it were in man’s hands to set the tables, still he would not be certain to win the game.
– George Herbert
Achievement | Business
Get money to live; then live and use it, else it is not true that thou hast gotten. Surely use alone makes money not contemptible.
– George Herbert
Money
The virtue of a coward is suspicion.
– George Herbert
Virtue
Wouldst thou both eat they cake and have it?
– George Herbert
Greed
There is great force hidden in a gentle command.
– George Herbert
Examples | Gentleness
The shortest answer is doing.
– George Herbert
Reasoning
Who shuts his hand has lost his gold, who opens it hath it twice told.
– George Herbert
Charity
One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.
– George Herbert
Fathers | Education
Hope is the poor man’s bread.
– George Herbert
Hope
If any speak ill of thee, fly home to thy own conscience and examine thy heart. If thou art guilty, it is a just correction; if not guilty, it is a fair instruction.
– George Herbert
Conscience | The Heart
You must lose a fly to catch a trout.
– George Herbert
Perseverance
He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven.
– George Herbert
Forgiveness
Night is the mother of counsels.
– George Herbert
Life
Spend not on hopes.
– George Herbert
Finances
Poverty is no sin.
– George Herbert
Finances
Sometimes the best gain is to lose.
– George Herbert
Success
A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit.
– George Herbert
Humility | Compromise
The eyes have one language everywhere.
– George Herbert
Honesty
Be thrifty, but not covetous.
– George Herbert
Finances | Greed
He loseth nothing that loseth not God.
– George Herbert
God
He that hath lost his credit is dead to the world.
– George Herbert
Finances
There would be no great men if there were no little ones.
– George Herbert
Character | Men
A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread.
– George Herbert
Character | Gentleness | The Heart
Do well and right, and let the world sink.
– George Herbert
Success
The buyer needs a hundred eyes, the seller not one.
– George Herbert
Finances
A great ship asks deep water.
– George Herbert
Perseverance
Deceive not thy physician, confessor, nor lawyer.
– George Herbert
Lying
A cheerful look makes a dish a feast.
– George Herbert
Contentment | Cheerfulness
He that is not handsome at 20, nor strong at 30, nor rich at 40, nor wise at 50, will never be handsome, strong, rich or wise.
– George Herbert
Finances | Philosophy
Never was a miser a brave soul.
– George Herbert
Finances
Wholly abstain or wed.
– George Herbert
Marriage
Only a sweet and virtuous soul, like seasoned timber, never gives.
– George Herbert
Perseverance
Life is half spent before we know what it is.
– George Herbert
Life
One sword keeps another in the sheath.
– George Herbert
Government
The lion is not so fierce as they paint him.
– George Herbert
Fear
The offender never pardons.
– George Herbert
Forgiveness
Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.
– George Herbert
War
Living well is the best revenge.
– George Herbert
Life | Revenge
There is an hour wherein a man might be happy all his life, could he find it.
– George Herbert
Happiness