Famous John Donne Quotations

First 1 Last 
"Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies."
by John Donne
"Love was as subtly caught, as a disease; But being got it is a treasure sweet, which to defend is harder than to get: And ought not be profaned on either part, for though 'Tis got by chance, 'Tis kept by art."
by John Donne
"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."
by John Donne
"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"
by John Donne
"Art is the most passionate orgy within man's grasp"
by John Donne
"As soon as there was two there was pride"
by John Donne
"But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am mine own Executioner."
by John Donne
"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"
by John Donne
"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."
by John Donne
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow,
die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me."
by John Donne
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for thou art not so, For, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow, die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me."
by John Donne
"Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes."
by John Donne
"Despair is the damp of hell, as joy is the serenity of heaven."
by John Donne
"For good and evil in our actions meet; wicked is not much worse than indiscreet"
by John Donne
"I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him merely seize me, and only declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I must shipwreck, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotency might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming."
by John Donne
"If yet I have not all thy love, / Dear, I shall never have it all."
by John Donne
"Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies"
by John Donne
"Love all love of other sights controls, And makes one little room an everywhere."
by John Donne
"Love is agrowing, to full constant light; and his first minute, after noon, is night"
by John Donne
"Men have conceived a twofold use of sleep; it is a refreshing of the body in this life, and a preparing of the soul for the next."
by John Donne
"More than kisses, letters mingle souls."
by John Donne
"More than kisses, letters mingle souls"
by John Donne
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were: any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
by John Donne
"No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent."
by John Donne
"No man is an Island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were 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."
by John Donne
"O my America! my new-found-land."
by John Donne
"Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day."
by John Donne
"Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right"
by John Donne
"The world's whole sap is sunk: / The general balm th' hydroptic earth hath drunk."
by John Donne
"Twice or thrice had I loved thee, Before I knew thy face or name."
by John Donne
"Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally ;If our two loves be one, or thou and I Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die."
by John Donne
"When my grave is broke up again / Some second guest to entertain."
by John Donne
"Where can we find two better hemispheres/ Without sharp North, without declining West?"
by John Donne
"He must pull out his own eyes, and see no creature, before he can say, he sees no God; He must be no man, and quench his reasonable soul, before he can say to himself, there is no God."
by John Donne
"Wicked is not much worse than indiscreet."
by John Donne
"When I must shipwrack, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotencie might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming."
by John Donne
"Reason is our soul's left hand, faith her right, by these we reach divinity."
by John Donne
"Contemplative and bookish men must of necessity be more quarrelsome than others, because they contend not about matter of fact, nor can determine their controversies by any certain witnesses, nor judges. But as long as they go towards peace, that is Truth, it is no matter which way."
by John Donne
"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."
by John Donne
"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."
by John Donne
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. 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."
by John Donne
"Be your own palace, or the world is your jail."
by John Donne
"Take me to you, imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free, nor ever chaste, except you ravish me."
by John Donne
"When I died last, and, Dear, I die as often as from thee I go though it be but an hour ago and lovers hours be full eternity."
by John Donne
"Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak."
by John Donne
"SIR, more than kisses, letters mingle souls, For thus, friends absent speak."
by John Donne
"More than kisses letters mingle souls."
by John Donne
"Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time."
by John Donne
"Come live with me, and be my love,And we will some new pleasures proveOf golden sands, and crystal brooks,With silken lines, and silver hooks."
by John Donne
"Busy old fool, unruly Sun, why dost thou thus through windows and through curtains call on us? Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?"
by John Donne
"But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner."
by John Donne
"Full nakedness! All my joys are due to thee, as souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be, to taste whole joys."
by John Donne
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and souls' delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die."
by John Donne (1572-1631) Holy Sonnets, no. 10
"I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door."
by John Donne
"We are all conceived in close prison; in our mothers wombs, we are close prisoners all; when we are born, we are born but to the liberty of the house; prisoners still, though within larger walls; and then all our life is but a going out to the place of execution, to death."
by John Donne
"To be no part of any body, is to be nothing."
by John Donne
"Let us love nobly, and live, and add again years and years unto years, till we attain to write threescore: this is the second of our reign."
by John Donne
"Let me arrest thy thoughts; wonder with me, why plowing, building, ruling and the rest, or most of those arts, whence our lives are blest, by cursed Cain's race invented be, and blest Seth vexed us with Astronomy."
by John Donne
"Men are sponges, which, to pour out, receive; Who know false play, rather than lose, deceive. For in best understandings sin began, Angels sinn'd first, then devils, and then man. Only perchance beasts sin not ; wretched we Are beasts in all but white integrity."
by John Donne
"Whenever any affliction assails me, I have the keys of my prison in mine own hand, and no remedy presents it selfe so soone to my heart, as mine own sword. Often meditation of this hath wonne me to a charitable interpretation of their action, who dy so: and provoked me a little to watch and exagitate their reasons, which pronounce so peremptory judgments upon them."
by John Donne
"Affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it."
by John Donne
"God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice."
by John Donne
"A bracelet of bright hair about the bone, Will he not let us alone,..."
by John Donne
"I am a little world made cunningly Of elements, and an angelic sprite;..."
by John Donne
"I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him meerly seise me, and onely declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome ..."
by John Donne
"One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die!"
by John Donne
"So all were lost, which in the ship were found, They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drown'd."
by John Donne
"Sweare by thy selfe, that at my death thy Sonne Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;..."
by John Donne
"This is my playes last scene, here heavens appoint My pilgrimages last mile; and my race..."
by John Donne
"Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay? Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste;..."
by John Donne
"When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language."
by John Donne


Hire a Writer