Top 40 Quotes & Sayings by James Howell

Proverbs may not improperly be called the philosophy of the common people.

Who has the fame to be an early riser may sleep till noon.

Respect a man, he will do it the more.

This life at best is but an inn, And we the passengers.

Burn not thy fingers to snuff another man's candle.

One hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen.

All we can do is be better prepared today than yesterday and better prepared tomorrow than today.

The creditor hath a better memory than the debtor.

Goose [pen] bee [wax] and calf [parchment] govern the world. [Lat., Anser, apie, vitellus, populus et regna gubernant.]

Nature, the handmaid of God Almighty, does nothing but with good advice, if we make research into the true reason of things.

He can hardly be a true friend to another, who is an enemy to himself.

God comes at last when we think he is farthest off.

Words are the soul's ambassadors, who go / Abroad upon her errands to and fro.

The fangs of a bear, and the tusks of a wild boar, do not bite worse and make deeper gashes than a goose-quill sometimes; no, not even the badger himself, who is said to be so tenacious of his bite that he will not give over his hold till he feels his teeth meet and the bones crack.

Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it.

Feed sparingly and defy the physician.

He that hath money in his purse cannot want a head for his shoulders.

Respect a man, he will do the more.

Little sins are pioneers of hell.

Appeles us'd to paint a good housewife upon a snayl; which intimated that she should be as slow from gadding abroad, and when she went she should carry her house upon her back; that is, she should make all sure at home.

Man's best candle is his understanding.

Owe money at Easter and Lent will seem short to thee.

He that hath the name to be an early riser may sleep till noon.

In time of prosperity friends will be plenty; In time of adversity not one in twenty.

Love is the life of friendship.

God guard me from my friends, for I shall guard myself from my enemies.

Fly and you will catch the swallow.

We are saved from nothing if we are not saved from sin. Little sins are pioneers of hell. The backslider begins with what he foolishly considers trifling with little sins. There are no little sins. There was a time when all the evil that has existed in the world was comprehended in one sinful thought of our first parent; and all the now evil is the numerous and horrid progeny of one little sin.

After rain comes fair weather.

Words and works eat not at one table.

French wines may be said but to pickle meat in the stomach, but this is the wine that digests, and doth not only breed good blood, but it nutrifieth also, being a glutinous substantial liquor; of this wine, if of any other, may be verified that merry induction: That good wine makes good blood, good blood causeth good humors, good humors cause good thoughts, good thoughts bring forth good works, good works carry a man to heaven, ergo, good wine carrieth a man to heaven.

A secret is too little for one, enough for two, and too much for three.

Choose thy friends like thy books, few but choice.

Apelles used to paint a good housewife on a snail, to import that she home-keeping.

Such is the strength of art, rough things to shape.

We learn by teaching.

Easter, so longed for, is gone in a day.

Good wine makes good blood, good blood causeth good humors, good humors cause good thoughts, good thoughts bring forth good works, good works carry a man to heaven, ergo, good wine carrieth a man to heaven.

We are saved from nothing if we are not saved from sin.

Distance sometimes endears friendships, and sweetens it - for separation from those we love shows us, by the loss, their real value and dearness to us.