Quotes from Sir Thomas Browne

We all labour against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases.

Light that makes things seen makes some things invisible. Were it not for darkness, and the shadow of the earth, the noblest part of creation had remained unseen, and the stars in heaven as invisible as on the fourth day, when they were created above the horizon with the sun, and there was not an eye to behold them.

Old families last not three oaks.

Every man is his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.

A wise man is out of the reach of fortune.

There is music wherever there is harmony, order, or proportion.

Time ... antiquates antiquities, and hath an art to make dust of all things.

Men that look no farther than their outside, think health an appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their constitutions for being sick; but I, that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments that fabric hangs, do wonder that we are not always so; and considering the thousand doors that lead to death, do thank my God that we can die but once.

There is surely a piece of divinity in us, something that was before the elements, and owes no homage unto the sun.

What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions, are not beyond all conjecture.

Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude.

The night of time far surpasseth the day, and who knows when was the equinox?

The iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy, and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit of perpetuity.

But how shall we expect charity towards others, when we are uncharitable to ourselves? Charity begins at home, is the voice of the world; yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.

I am not so much afraid of death, as ashamed thereof. 'Tis the very disgrace and ignominy of our natures, that in a moment can so disfigure us, that our nearest friends, wife, and children, stand afraid and start at us.

I could be content that we might procreate like trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to perpetuate the World without this trivial and vulgar way of coition.

I could never divide myself from any man upon the difference of an opinion, or be angry with his judgment for not agreeing with me in that from which perhaps within a few days I should dissent myself.

Rich with the spoils of Nature.

For the world, I count it not an inn, but a hospital; and a place not to live, but to die in.

As for those wingy mysteries in divinity, and airy subtleties in religion, which have unhinged the brains of better heads, they never stretched the pia mater of mine.

Sure there is music even in the beauty, and the silent note which Cupid strikes, far sweeter than the sound of an instrument. For there is a music wherever there is a harmony, order, or proportion; and thus far we may maintain the music of the spheres.

The heart of man is the place the devil dwells in: I feel sometimes a hell within myself.

When we desire to confine our words, we commonly say they are spoken under the rose.

These dead bones have… quietly rested under the drums and tramplings of three conquests.