“Be calm in arguing: for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.”

— George Herbert, The Church Porch, The Temple (1633), ll. 307-308

About George Herbert

1593 – 1633

Welsh-born English poet and Anglican priest, compiler of the proverb collection 'Jacula Prudentum' (1651).

“Before you make a friend, eat a bushel of salt with him.”

“My house, my house, though thou art small, thou art to me the Escurial.”

“Laugh not too much; the witty man laughs least: for wit is news only to ignorance.”

“Why, what is weeping and sighing? A judgement. What is misfortune? A judgement.”

“Remember that all is opinion.”

“The universe is flux, life is opinion.”

“He had only one vanity; he thought he could give advice better than any other person.”

“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.”

“The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”