Edmund Waller

“How fading are the joys we dote upon! Like apparitions seen and gone. But those which soonest take their flight are the most exquisite and bright.”

“Anger, in hasty words or blows, Itself discharges on our foes; And sorrow, too, finds some relief In tears, which wait upon our grief.”

“Circles are praised, not that abound in largeness, but th' exactly round.”

“Could we but crush that ever-craving lust for measuring everything by the standard of self, the path to heaven would be thrown open.”

“Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse, And every conqueror creates a Muse.”

“The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in new light through chinks that time has made.”

“Go, lovely Rose— Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be.”

“Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.”

“For all we know of what the blessed do above, is that they sing, and that they love.”

“That which her slender waist confined, Shall now my joyful temples bind; No monarch but would give his crown, His arms might do what this has done.”