17th-century Author Quotes

The cry of the whole people is loud for bread; God knows what will be the consequence; many are starved, and I am afraid many more will be.
Comment in 1720

William King
William King
Under this stone, Reader, survey
Dead Sir John Vanbrugh's house of clay.
Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he
Laid many heavy loads on thee!

It is a mistake to imagine, that the violent passions only, such as ambition and love, can triumph over the rest. Idleness, languid as it is, often masters them all; she influences all our designs and actions, and insensibly consumes and destroys both passions and virtues.

François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
He that upon a true principle lives, without any disquiet of thought, may be said to be happy.

Roger L'Estrange
Roger L'Estrange
The works of nature will bear a thousand views and reviews: the more frequently and narrowly we look into them, the more occasion we shall have to admire their beauty.

Francis Atterbury
Francis Atterbury
In loss itself I find assuagement: having lost the treasure, I've nothing to fear.

Juana Inés de la Cruz
Juana Inés de la Cruz
In this world, you must be a bit too kind in order to be kind enough.

Pierre de Marivaux
Pierre de Marivaux
Art is something which lies in the slender margin between the real and the unreal.

The bloody Wolf, the Wolf does not pursue;
The Boar, though fierce, his Tusk will not embrue
In his own kind, Bears, not on Bears do prey:
Thou art then, Man, more savage far than they.

Anne Killigrew
Anne Killigrew
No one is satisfied with his fortune,
nor dissatisfied with his intellect

Fear, guilt, despair, and moon-struck phrensy rush
On voluntary death: the wise and brave,
When the fierce storms of fortune round 'em roar,
Combat the billows with redoubled force:
Then, if they perish ere the port is gain'd,
They sink with decent pride; and from the deep
Honour retrieves them, bright as rising stars.

Darkness, thou first great parent of us all,
Thou art our great original!

… far greater Advantages would come to pass amongst Christians, if they would cease from Contention, Oppression, and (what tends and disposes them thereunto,) the killing of Beasts, and eating their Flesh and Blood; and in a short time humane murthers, and devilish feuds and cruelties among each other, would abate, and perhaps scarce have a being amongst them.

The axe is laid to the root of the tree.... I will hew it down. And as I live, I will plague your Honor, Pomp, Greatness, Superfluity, and confound it into parity, equality, community.

Youth is the time to study wisdom; old age is the time to practice it.

A year or two to come seems long, but twenty past as nothing.

Rachel Russell, Lady Russell
Rachel Russell, Lady Russell
How many brave Men, courageous Women, and innocent Children did I see butcher'd, to do God good Service?... I went to the Irish Rebellion, where I saw more than three hundred thousand Souls murder'd in cold Blood.crying, Nits will become Lice, destroy Root and Branch: with a thousand other Barbarities, too tedious as well as too dreadful to repeat, beside what has been transacted abroad.

The sea never resting, but perpetually winning land in one place and losing in another, doth show what may be done in length of time by a continual operation, not subject unto ceasing or intermission.

It is not very difficult, after all that has been said, to answer the famous question, whether there are true atheists in the world. We can answer with a short sentence: There are some who are so by their heart; but there cannot be any who are so by their spirit.

Jakob Abbadie
Jakob Abbadie
We are not indeed obliged always to speak what we think, but we must always think what we speak.

Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles
Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles