Anne Bradstreet Quotes

If we had not winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge -- fitter to bruise than polish.

Sweet words are like honey, a little may refresh, but too much gluts the stomach.

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.

Wisdom with an inheritance is good, but wisdom without an inheritance is better than an inheritance without wisdom.

What to my Saviour shall I giveWho freely hath done this for me?I'll serve him here whilst I shall liveAnd Loue him to Eternity

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold or all the riches that the East doth hold.

Sin and shame ever go together; he that would be freed from the last must be sure to shun the company of the first.

I wish my Sun may never set, but burn.

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue/ Who says my hand a needle better fits./ A poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong/ For such despite they cast on female wits;/ If what I do prove well, it won't advance,/ They'll say it's stolen, or else, it was by chance.

Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending; a negligent youth is usually attended by an ignorant middle age, and both by an empty old age.

There is no object that we see; no action that we do; no good that we enjoy; no evil that we feel, or fear, but we may make some spiritual advantage of all: and he that makes such improvement is wise, as well as pious.

If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.

If what I do prove well, it won't advance. They'll say it's stolen, or else it was by chance.

We must, therefore, be here as strangers and pilgrims, that we may plainly declare that we seek a city above.

My hope and treasure lies above

Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are.

My love is such that Rivers cannot quench, Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence. Thy love is such I can no way repay, The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue who says my hand a needle better fits.

That when we live no more, We may live ever

Fire hath its force abated by water, not by wind; and anger must be allayed by cold words, and not by blustering threats.

Satan, that great angler, hath his sundry baits for sundry tempers of men, which they all catch greedily at, but few perceive the hook till it be too late.

Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending.

The stones and trees, insensible to time, / Nor age nor wrinkle on their front are seen; / If Winter come, and greenness then do fade / A Spring returns, and they more youthful made; / But man grows old, lies down, remains where once he's laid.

Some laborers have hard hands, and old sinners have brawny consciences.