"And new philosophy calls all in doubt, The element of fire is quite put out; The sun is lost, and the earth, and no man's wit, Can well direct him where to look for it. And freely men confess that this world's spent, When in the planets, and the firmament They seek so many new; then see that this Is crumbled out again to his atomies. 'Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone; All just supply, and all relation: Prince, subject, Father, Son, are things forgot."

John Donne Military See all quotes by John Donne →

React to this quote

More by John Donne

“   Her pure and eloquent bloodSpoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought,That one might almost say, her body thought.”

“Think then, my soul, that death is but a groom,Which brings a taper to the outward room.”

“For good or evil must in our actions meet;Wicked is not much worse than indiscreet.”

“There is no health; physicians say, that weAt best enjoy but a neutrality.”

“She, she is dead; she’s dead; when thou know’st this,Thou know’st how dry a cinder this world is.”

“Clothed in her virgin white integrity.”

Resonant Thoughts

"As for the matter of my judicial philosophy, I didn't have one- and didn't want one. A philosophy that is imposed from without instead of arising organically from day-to-day engagement with the law is…"

— Clarence Thomas

Law1945–2011

#philosophy

"Science carries its legitimate pretensions further. To-day it claims the material, intellectual, and moral direction of society. Under its impulse modern civilisation marches with an increasingly rapi…"

— Marcellin Berthelot

organic compound1827–1907

#science