Andrew Marvell Quotations

Ye living lamps, by whose dear lightThe nightingale does sit so late;And studying all the summer night,Her matchless songs does meditate.

Ye living lamps, by whose dear light The nightingale does sit so late; And studying all the summer night, Her matchless songs does meditate.

I have a garden of my own,/ But so with roses overgrown,/ And lilies, that you would it guess/ To be a little wilderness.

he world in all doth but two nations bear, The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere

He hangs in shades the orange bright, / Like golden lamps in a green night.

Had it lived long, it would have been / Lilies without, roses within.

Here at the fountain's sliding foot, / Or at some fruit tree's mossy root, / Casting the body's vest aside, / My soul into the boughs does glide.

I would / Love you ten years before the flood, / And you should if you please refuse / Till the conversion of the Jews; / My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires and more slow.

Who can foretell for what high cause / This darling of the Gods was born?

Had it lived long, is would have been Lilies without, roses within.

Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, Withdraws into its happiness; The mind, that ocean where each kind Does straight its own resemblance find; Yet it creates, transcending these, Far other worlds, and other seas; Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green glade ... Such was that happy garden-state, ...

Now let us sport us while we may; And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour, Than languish in his slow-chapped power.

Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run

Casting the body's vest aside, My soul into the boughs does glide.

Annihilating all that's made, To a green thought in a green shade.

How could such sweet and wholesome hours be reckoned, but in herbs and flowers?

And all the way, to guide their chime, With falling oars they kept their time.

And now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so I myself deceive) So rich a chaplet thence to weave As never yet the King of Glory wore, Alas! I find the serpent old, That, twining in his speckled breast, About the flowers disguised does fold With wreaths of fame and interest.

Like the vain curlings of the watery maze, Which in smooth streams a sinking weight does raise, So Man, declining always, disappears In the weak circles of increasing years; And his short tumults of themselves compose, While flowing Time above his head does close.

This indigested vomit of the Sea,Fell to the Dutch by Just Propriety.

See how the Orient dew, Shed from the bosom of the morn Into the blowing roses, Yet careless of its mansion new; For the clear region where 'twas born Round in its self encloses: And in its little globes extent, Frames as it can its native element.

The world in all doth but two nations bear- The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.

My love is of a birth as rare As 'tis, for object, strange and high; It was begotten by Despair Upon Impossibility.

He nothing common did, or mean, / Upon that memorable scene, / But with his keener eye / The axe's edge did try.

What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head; The luscious clusters of the vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine; The nectarine and curious peach Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song; then worms shall try That long preserv'd virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust. The grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace.

As lines, so loves oblique, may well Themselves in every angle greet; But ours, so truly parallel, Though infinite, can never meet.

No white nor red was ever seen So am'rous as this lovely green. Fond lovers, cruel as their flame, Cut in these trees their mistress' name. Little, alas, they know or heed How far these beauties hers exceed! Fair trees! where s'e'er your barks I wound, No name shall but your own be found.

Art indeed is long, but life is short.

Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness Lady were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day. Thou by the Indian Ganges'side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the flood.

My mind was once the true survey Of all these meadows fresh and gay; And in the greenness of the grass Did see its hopes as in a glass.

And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.

The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace.

I have a garden of my own, But so with roses overgrown, And lilies, that you would it guess To be a little wilderness.

Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.

How vainly men themselves amaze To win the palm, the oak, or bays; And their uncessant labours see Crown'd from some single herb or tree. Whose short and narrow verged shade Does prudently their toils upbraid; While all flow'rs and all trees do close To weave the garlands of repose.

Self-preservation, nature's first great law, all the creatures, except man, doth awe.

Had we but world enough, and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime.

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near.

Twas beyond a mortal's share To wander solitary there: Two paradises 'twere in one To live in paradise alone.

Ye country comets, that portend No war, nor prince's funeral, Shining unto no higher end Than to presage the grasses fall. . . .

Let us roll all our strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one ball: And tear our pleasures with rough strife, Through the iron gates of life. Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.

How fit he is to sway That can so well obey.

Though I carry always some ill-nature about me, yet it is, I hope, no more than is in this world necessary for a preservative.

What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head.

Music, the mosaic of the air.

So much one man can do that does both act and know.

Among the blind the one-eyed blinkard reigns

How vainly men themselves amaze, / To win the palm, the oak, or bays; / And their incessant labours see / Crowned from some single herb or tree.

But Fate does iron wedges drive, And always crowds itself betwixt.

Therefore the love which us doth bind, But fate so enviously debars, Is the conjunction of the mind, And opposition of the stars.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapped power. Let us roll our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball And tear our pleasures with rough strife Through the iron gates of life: Thus, while we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.

My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow;

Two Paradises t'were in one, to live in Paradise alone.

Fair quiet, have I found thee here / And innocence thy sister dear?

The tawny mowers enter next, / Who seem like Israelites to be / Walking on foot through a green sea.

The nectarine, and curious peach, / Into my hands themselves do reach; / Stumbling on melons, as I pass, / Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

The mind, that ocean where each kind / Does straight its own resemblance find; / Yet it creates, transcending these, / Far other worlds, and other seas, / Annihilating all that's made / To a green thought in a green shade.

But 'twas beyond a mortal's share / To wander solitary there: / Two paradises 'twere in one, / To live in paradise alone.