Richard Lovelace Quotes

Richard Lovelace whispers lyrical thoughts on love, freedom, and spirit that feel like a soft sonnet.

28 quotes

  1. Love, then unstinted, Love did sip, And cherries plucked fresh from the lip; On cheeks and roses free he fed; Lasses like autumn plums did drop, And lads indifferently did crop A flower and a maidenhead.

  2. Poor verdant fool, and now green ice! thy joys, Large and as lasting as thy perch of grass, Bid us lay in 'gainst winter rain, and poise Their floods with an o'erflowing glass.

  3. If to be absent were to be Away from thee; Or that when I am gone, You and I were alone; Then, my Lucasta, might I crave Pity from blust'ring wind, or swallowing wave.

  4. Though Seas and Land betwixt us both, Our Faith and Troth, Like separated soules, All time and space controules: Above the highest sphere wee meet Unseene, unknowne, and greet as Angels greet.

  5. Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind, That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind, To war and arms I fly.

  6. Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore; I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honor more.

  7. Here we'll strip and cool our fire In cream below, in milk-baths higher; And when all wells are drawn dry, I'll drink a tear out of thine eye.

  8. Then, if when I have lov'd my round, Thou prov'st the pleasant she, With spoils of meaner beauties crown'd I laden will return to thee, Ev'n sated with variety.

  9. Oh, could you view the melody Of every grace And music of her face, You'd drop a tear; Seeing more harmony In her bright eye Than now you hear.

  10. When I lie tangled in her hair, And fettered to her eye, The gods that wanton in the air Know no such liberty.

  11. Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty.

  12. Then Love, I beg, when next thou takest thy bow, Thy angry shafts, and dost heart-chasing go, Pass rascal deer, strike me the largest doe.

  13. The asp doth on his feeder feed.

  14. Revival is an infusion of new spiritual life imparted by the Holy Spirit to existing parts of Christ's body.

  15. As pain tells us of the need for healing, worry tells us of the need for prayer.

  16. The goal of revival is conformity to the image of Christ, not imitation of animals.

  17. Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. Minds innocent and quiet take that for a hermitage: If I have freedom in my love, and in my Soul I am free, Angels alone, that soar above, enjoy such liberty.

  18. Fishes that tipple in the deep, Know no such liberty.

  19. When thirsty grief in wine we steep, When healths and draughts go free, Fishes, that tipple in the deep, Know no such liberty.

  20. Those glories come too late That on our ashes wait.

  21. Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.

  22. Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant.

  23. It is an item of faith that we are children of God; there is plenty of evidence in us against it. The faith that surmounts this evidence and that is able to warm itself at the fire of God's love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness. . . . We are not saved by the love we exercise, but by the love we trust.

  24. If our hearts and minds are not properly transformed, we are like musicians playing untuned instruments, or engineers working with broken and ill-programmed computers. The attunement of the heart is essential to the outflow of grace...We must aim at building the structures of God's kingdom but recognized that we will only create these through the transformation of our experience. Concentration on reformation without revival leads to skins without wine; concentration on revival without reformation soon loses the wine for want of skins.

  25. It is my assumption that growth in faith is the root of all spiritual growth and is prior to all disciplines of works. True spirituality is not a superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This is given to us as we grasp by faith the full content of Christ's redemptive work: freedom from the guilt and power of sin, and newness of life through the indwelling and outpouring of his Spirit.

  26. It is an item of faith that we are children of God; there is plenty of experience in us against it. The faith that surmounts this evidence and is able to warm itself at the fire of God's love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness: It is a fatal mistake to think of holiness as a possession which we have distinct from our faith... Faith is the very highest form of our dependence on God.

  27. “ To Lucasta, Going to the Wars Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind, That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind To war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, The first foe in the field; And with a stronger faith embrace A sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such As thou too shalt adore; I could not love thee, Dear, so much, Loved I not Honour more.”

  28. “I could not love thee, Dear, so much, Loved I not Honour more.”