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Robert Southwell Quotes

Robert Southwell , also Saint Robert Southwell, was an English Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order. He was also a poet, hymnodist, and clandestine missionary in post-Reformation England.

After being arrested and imprisoned in 1592, and intermittently tortured and questioned by Richard Topcliffe, Southwell was eventually tried and convicted of high treason for his links to the Holy See. On 21 February 1595, Father Southwell was hanged at Tyburn. In 1970, he was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Wikipedia  

✵ 1561 – 21. February 1595
Robert Southwell photo
Robert Southwell: 20 quotes0 likes

Famous Robert Southwell Quotes

“This stable is a prince's court,
The crib his chair of state;
The beasts are parcel of his pomp,
The wooden dish his plate.”

Robert Southwell

"New Prince, New Pomp", line 17; p. 96.

“Not Solomon, for all his wit,
Nor Samson, though he were so strong,
No king nor person ever yet
Could 'scape, but Death laid him along.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Upon the Image of Death, Line 37; p. 137.

“Though all the East did quake to hear
Of Alexander's dreadful name,
And all the West did likewise fear
To hear of Julius Cæsar's fame.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Upon the Image of Death, Line 43; pp. 137-8.

“Man's mind a mirror is of heavenly sights,
A brief wherein all marvels summèd lie,
Of fairest forms and sweetest shapes the store,
Most graceful all, yet thought may grace them more.”

Robert Southwell

"Look Home", line 3; p. 49

“I feel no care of coin,
Well-doing is my wealth;
My mind to me an empire is,
While grace affordeth health.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Content and Rich, Line 25; p. 58.

“My conscience is my crown,
Contented thoughts my rest;
My heart is happy in itself,
My bliss is in my breast.

Enough I reckon wealth;
A mean the surest lot,
That lies too high for base contempt,
Too low for envy's shot.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Content and Rich, Line 9; p. 57.

Robert Southwell Quotes about God

“Grant me grace, O God! that I
My life may mend, sith I must die.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Upon the Image of Death, Line 53; p. 138.

“In Aman's pomp poor Mardocheus wept,
Yet God did turn his fate upon his foe;
The Lazar pined while Dives' feast was kept,
Yet he to heaven, to hell did Dives go.
We trample grass and prize the flowers of May,
Yet grass is green when flowers do fade away.”

Robert Southwell

"Scorn not the Least", line 19; p. 54.

“The saddest birds a season find to sing,
The roughest storm a calm may soon allay;
Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all,
That men may hope to rise yet fear to fall.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Times Go by Turns, Line 15; p. 47.

Robert Southwell Quotes

“As in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear.”

Robert Southwell

"The Burning Babe", line 1; p. 98.

“No joy so great but runneth to an end,
No hap so hard but may in fine amend.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Times Go by Turns, Line 11; p. 47.

“Shun delays, they breed remorse;
Take thy time while time is lent thee;
Creeping snails have weakest force,
Fly their fault lest thou repent thee.
Good is best when soonest wrought,
Linger’d labours come to nought.”

Robert Southwell

"Loss in Delay", line 1; p. 60.

“Times go by turns and chances change by course,
From foul to fair, from better hap to worse.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Times Go by Turns, Line 5; p. 47.

“My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns;
Love is the fire and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;
The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals;
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defiled souls.”

Robert Southwell

"The Burning Babe", line 9; pp. 98-9.

“Behold a silly tender babe,
In freezing winter night,
In homely manger trembling lies;
Alas! a piteous sight.”

Robert Southwell

"New Prince, New Pomp", line 1; p. 96.

“To rise by others' fall
I deem a losing gain;
All states with others' ruins built
To ruin run amain.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Content and Rich, Line 57; p. 59.

“Before my face the picture hangs,
That daily should put me in mind
Of those cold names and bitter pangs,
That shortly I am like to find:
But yet, alas! full little I
Do think hereon that I must die.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Upon the Image of Death, Line 1; p. 136.

“Time wears all his locks before,
Take thy hold upon his forehead;
When he flies he turns no more,
And behind his scalp is naked.
Works adjourn'd have many stays,
Long demurs breed new delays.”

Robert Southwell

"Loss in Delay", line 13; p. 60.

“Plough not the seas, sow not the sands,
Leave off your idle pain;
Seek other mistress for your minds,
Love's service is in vain.”

Robert Southwell

"Love's Servile Lot", line 73; p. 65.

“When Fortune smiles, I smile to think
How quickly she will frown.”

Robert Southwell

Source: Content and Rich, Line 63; p. 59.

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