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. – 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. – John Donne
I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry. – John Donne
SIR, more than kisses, letters mingle souls,
For thus, friends absent speak. – John Donne
He presents me with what is always an acceptable gift who brings me news of a great thought before unknown. He enriches me without impoverishing himself. The judicious quoter, too, helps on what is much needed in the world, a freer circulation of good thoughts, pure feelings, and pleasant fancies. – Christian Nestell Bovee, “Quoters and Quoting,” Institutions and Summaries of Th