John Donne Quotes
A bride, before a "Good-night" could be said, Should vanish from her clothes into her bed, As souls from bodies steal, and are not spied. But now she's laid; what though she be? Yet there are more delays, for where is he? He comes and passeth through sphere after sphere; First her sheets, then her arms, then anywhere. Let not this day, then, but this night be thine; Thy day was but the eve to this, O Valentine.
Donne, John. "An Epithalamion, Or mariage Song on the Lady Elizabeth, and Count Palatine being married on St. Valentines day." Poems, by J.D. with Elegies on the Authors Death. John Marriot, 1633.
Wilson was a very formal, seemingly distant, and unemotional leader. This quotation is fascinating in that it shows a side of Wilson’s personality that most people then and later never suspected. What makes it even more important, was that he wrote this letter just after the American ocean liner Lusitania had been torpedoed by the Germans and sunk with loss of American lives and the President was in the midst of a huge International Crisis that would culminate in America entering the First World War. Even that did not take Wilson’s mind off his sex life.
The Islamic Prophet had a surprisingly modern view of reasonable sexual activity—one which would not become generally accepted until the 20th century. This quotation is from the Hadith which is essentially a collection of quotations reported by contemporaries of the Prophet. Although valid for Muslims, the Hadith is less well known than the Koran which is recited by all good Muslims. For example, studies have shown that Muslim men do not follow this sexual prescription in most cases and few Muslim men or women even know that the Mohammed weighed in on this intimate a subject. See {586914} for another sexual prescription.
Usually, a prominent politician sending love notes to a mistress does not make for a notable quotation. However, in this bizarre instance, his passion was so great that he went to Argentina without telling his staff of the Lieutenant Governor where he was going. He disappeared for almost a week and the state was left without a chief executive. When he returned amidst the scandal, he refused to resign. That in itself was noteworthy when he had earlier called for the resignation of President William Clinton for sexual indiscretions which did not even affect the government as his indiscretions did. See {628239}.
John Donne was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London (1621–1631). He is considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His poetical works are noted for their metaphorical and sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, and satires. He is also known for his sermons.
