John Donne

(24 January 1572 - 31 March 1631 / London, England)

poet John Donne
#63 on top 500 poets

John Donne Quotes

  • ''To be no part of any body, is to be nothing.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. letter, Sept. 1608, to Sir Henry Goodyer. Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. John Hayward (1929).
    209 person liked.
    		60 person did not like.
  • ''When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. repr. In Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. John Hayward (1929). Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, meditation 17 (1624).
    189 person liked.
    		47 person did not like.
  • ''No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.... Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. repr. In Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. John Hayward (1929). Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, meditation 17 (1624). "To be no part of any body, is to be nothing." (letter, Sept. 1608, to Sir Henry Goodyer, published in Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. John Hayward, 1929).
    234 person liked.
    		57 person did not like.
  • ''But I do nothing upon myself, and yet am mine own executioner.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. repr. In Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. John Hayward (1929). Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, meditation 12 (1624).
    115 person liked.
    		41 person did not like.
  • ''Humiliation is the beginning of sanctification.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. Eighty Sermons, sermon 7 (1640).
    119 person liked.
    		46 person did not like.
  • ''Affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. "Meditation 17," Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624).
    10 person liked.
    		10 person did not like.
  • ''When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. Meditation 17, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624).
    13 person liked.
    		9 person did not like.
  • ''Man is not only a contributory creature, but a total creature; he does not only make one, but he is all; he is not a piece of the world, but the world itself; and next to the glory of God, the reason why there is a world.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. Sermons, no. 35 (1625).
    12 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.
  • ''Wicked is not much worse than indiscreet.''
    John Donne (c. 1572-1631), British divine, metaphysical poet. repr. In Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, ed. John Hayward (1929). An Anatomy of the World: First Anniversary (1611).
    11 person liked.
    		9 person did not like.

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Best Poem of John Donne

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls, to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
'The breath goes now,' and some say, 'No:'

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears;
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it ...

Read the full of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

The Bait

Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run
Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun;
And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

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