John Donne Quotes

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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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I count all that part of my life lost which I spent not in communion with God, or in doing good.

John Donne

Doing Good, Lost, Communion

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How much shall I be changed, before I am changed!

John Donne

Attitude, Positive Attitude, Changed

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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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Our critical day is not the very day of our death; but the whole course of our life.

John Donne

Life, Critical, Courses

John Donne (1839). “The works of John Donne”, p.291

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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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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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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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Humiliation is the beginning of sanctification.

John Donne

Humiliation, Sanctification

John Donne (2003). “One Equall Light: An Anthology of the Writings of John Donne”, p.267, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd

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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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I shall not live 'till I see God; and when I have seen Him, I shall never die.

John Donne

Heavenly, Dies

John Donne (1839). “Sermons”, p.238

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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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More than kisses, letters mingle souls.

John Donne

Love, Romantic, Kissing

'To Sir Henry Wotton' (1597-8)

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As he that fears God fears nothing else, so he that sees God sees everything else.

John Donne

Friendship, God, Faith

John Donne (1839). “Sermons”, p.238

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If I dream I have you, I have you, for all our joys are but fantastical.

John Donne

Dream, Joy, Ifs

'Songs and Sonnets' 'The Dream' ('Image of her whom I love')

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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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I do not love a man, except I hate his vices, because those vices are the enemies, and the destruction of that friend whom I love.

John Donne

Love, Hate, Men

John Donne (1839). “The Works of John Donne: Sermons. Devotions upon emergent occasions”, p.242

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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.

John Donne

Love, Sweet, Art

John Donne (2013). “Delphi Complete Poetical Works of John Donne (Illustrated)”, p.115, Delphi Classics

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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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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.

John Donne

Love, Cute, Anniversary

'Songs and Sonnets' 'The Bait'

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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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If we consider eternity, into that time never entered; eternity is not an everlasting flux of time, but time is as a short parenthesis in a long period; and eternity had been the same as it is, though time had never been.

John Donne

Time, Long, Eternity

John Donne, John E. Booty (1990). “John Donne: Selections from Divine Poems, Sermons, Devotions, and Prayers”, p.7, Paulist Press

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To be no part of any body, is to be nothing.

John Donne

Rejection, Body

John Donne, Paul M. Oliver (2002). “John Donne: Selected Letters”, p.35, Psychology Press

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

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