John Donne Quotes

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No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.

John Donne

Teamwork, Men, Grieving

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions no. 17 (1624)

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No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.

John Donne

Beauty, Summer, Spring

'Elegies' 'The Autumnal' (1599-1601)

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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 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 bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne

Inspirational, Friendship, Death

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions no. 17 (1624)

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Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes.

John Donne

Wisdom, Political, Equal

'LXXX Sermons' (1640) 8 March 1621/2

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ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee

John Donne

Death, Grief, Bereavement

John Donne, “No Man Is An Island”

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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....No man is an island, entire of itself...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

Book, Men, Islands

1624 Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation no.17.

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Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail.

John Donne

Motivational, Jail, World

'To Sir Henry Wotton' (1597-8)

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I am two fools, I know, For loving, and for saying so.

John Donne

Love, Two, Fool

'Songs and Sonnets' 'The Triple Fool'

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More than kisses, letters mingle souls.

John Donne

Love, Romantic, Kissing

'To Sir Henry Wotton' (1597-8)

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O Lord, never suffer us to think that we can stand by ourselves, and not need thee.

John Donne

Thinking, Suffering, Needs

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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

Death, Peace, Grief

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions no. 17 (1624)

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Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

John Donne

Love, Time, Rags

'Songs and Sonnets' 'The Sun Rising'

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How imperfect is all our knowledge!

John Donne

Imperfect

1626 Sermon preached at the funeral of Sir William Cockayne, 12 Dec.

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When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language.

John Donne

Death, Book, Men

John Donne (2013). “Delphi Complete Poetical Works of John Donne (Illustrated)”, Delphi Classics

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Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.

John Donne

Love, Running, Yesterday

'Songs and Sonnets' 'The Anniversary'

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Love's mysteries in souls do grow, But yet the body is his book.

John Donne

Love, Book, Soul

John Donne, John Carey (2000). “John Donne: The Major Works”, p.123, Oxford University Press, USA

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I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I Did, till we lov'd?

John Donne

Love, Wonder, Wedding Poetry

Songs and Sonnets "The Good-Morrow" (published 1633)

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Art is the most passionate orgy within man's grasp.

John Donne

Art, Men, Passionate

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True joy is the earnest which we have of heaven, it is the treasure of the soul, and therefore should be laid in a safe place, and nothing in this world is safe to place it in.

John Donne

True Joy, Heaven, Soul

John Donne (1839). “The Works of John Donne: With a Memoir of His Life”, p.80

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Sleep with clean hands, either kept clean all day by integrity or washed clean at night by repentance.

John Donne

Integrity, Sleep, Night

John Donne (1839). “The Works of John Donne, D.D., Dean of Saint Paul's, 1621-1631: With a Memoir of His Life”, p.218

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God made sun and moon to distinguish the seasons, and day and night; and we cannot have the fruits of the earth but in their seasons. But God hath made no decrees to distinguish the seasons of His mercies. In Paradise the fruits were ripe the first minute, and in heaven it is always autumn. His mercies are ever in their maturity.

John Donne

God, Autumn, Maturity

John Donne (1963). “John Donne's Sermons on the Psalms and Gospels: With a Selection of Prayers and Meditations”, p.182, Univ of California Press

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we give each other a smile with a future in it

John Donne

Giving

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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

Men, Doe, Pieces

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Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.

John Donne

Love, Beauty, Sarcastic

'Elegies' 'The Anagram' (1593-6)

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Love is strong as death; but nothing else is as strong as either; and both, love and death, met in Christ. How strong and powerful upon you, then, should that instruction be, that comes to you from both these, the love and death of Jesus Christ!

John Donne

Love, Jesus, Strong

John Donne (1839). “The Works of John Donne: Sermons. Devotions upon emergent occasions”, p.18

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Born: January 22, 1572
Died: March 31, 1631
Occupation: Poet
Cite this Page: Citation

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