Thomas Traherne: Quotes about the world

“Why is this soe long detaind in a dark manuscript, that if printed would be a Light to the World, & a Universal Blessing?”

Thomas Traherne

Anonymous 17th century comment on the flyleaf of the Lambeth Manuscript of Traherne’s works; cited from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) vol. 55, p. 208.
Criticism

World , Light , Universe

“You never enjoy the world aright, till the Sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars: and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world.”

Thomas Traherne

First Century, sect. 29.
Centuries of Meditations

World , Star , Sea , Clothes

“By this you may see who are the rude and barbarous Indians: For verily there is no savage nation under the cope of Heaven, that is more absurdly barbarous than the Christian World. They that go naked and drink water and live upon roots are like Adam, or Angels in comparison of us.”

Thomas Traherne

Third Century, sect. 12.
Centuries of Meditations

World , Angels , Drink , Water

“A stranger here
Strange things doth meet, strange glories see;
Strange treasures lodg'd in this fair world appear,
Strange all and new to me;
But that they mine should be who nothing was,
That strangest is of all; yet brought to pass.”

Thomas Traherne

"The Salutation", stanza 7; The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, B.D. (London: Bertram Dobell, 1903) p. 3.

World , Appearance

“The world is a mirror of infinite beauty, yet no man sees it. It is a Temple of Majesty, yet no man regards it. It is a region of Light and Peace, did not man disquiet it. It is the Paradise of God.”

Thomas Traherne

First Century, sect. 31.
Centuries of Meditations

God , World , Peace , Beauty

“To think the world therefore a general Bedlam, or place of madmen, and oneself a physician, is the most necessary point of present wisdom.”

Thomas Traherne

Fourth Century, sect. 20.
Centuries of Meditations

Wisdom , World , Thinking

“All appeared new, and strange at first, inexpressibly rare and delightful and beautiful. I was a little stranger, which at my entrance into the world was saluted and surrounded with innumerable joys. My knowledge was Divine. I knew by intuition those things which since my Apostasy, I collected again by the highest reason.”

Thomas Traherne

Third Century, sect. 2.
Centuries of Meditations

World , Beauty , Knowledge , Appearance