Henry Wotton

Sir Henry Wotton

Sir Henry Wotton (March 30, 1568 – December 1639) was an English author and diplomat.

Quotes

• How happy is he born and taught,
  That serveth not another's will;
  Whose armor is his honest thought,
  And simple truth his utmost skill!
  • The Character of a Happy Life (1614), stanza 1.

• Who God doth late and early pray,
  More of his grace than gifts to send,
  And entertains the harmless day
  With a well-chosen book or friend.
  • The Character of a Happy Life (1614), stanza 5.

• Lord of himself, though not of lands;
  And having nothing, yet hath all.
  • The Character of a Happy Life (1614), stanza 6. Compare: "As having nothing, and yet possessing all things", 2 Corinthians vi. 10.

• You meaner beauties of the night,
  That poorly satisfy our eyes
  More by your number than your light;
  You common people of the skies,
  What are you when the sun shall rise?
  • On His Mistress, the Queen of Bohemia, stanza 1 (1624). In some versions "moon" replaces "sun". This was printed with music as early as 1624, in Est's "Sixth Set of Books", for example.

• I am but a gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff.
  • Preface to the Elements of Architecture (1624).

• Love lodged in a woman's breast
  Is but a guest.
  • A Woman's Heart (1651).

• He first deceased; she for a little tried
  To live without him, liked it not, and died.
  • Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton's Wife (1651).

• Hanging was the worst use a man could be put to.
  • The Disparity Between Buckingham and Essex (1651).

• An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth.
  • Reliquiae Wottonainae (1651). In a letter to Velserus, 1612, Wotton says, "This merry definition of an ambassador I had chanced to set down at my friend's, Mr. Christopher Fleckamore, in his Album".

• The itch of disputing will prove the scab of churches.
  • A Panegyric to King Charles (1651).

• Hic jacet hujus sententiæ primus author:
  DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES.
  Nomen alias quære.
  • Translation: Here lies the author of this phrase: "The itch for disputing is the sore of churches." Seek his name elsewhere.
  • Inscription on Wotton's gravestone, so placed at his direction.

• Advised a young diplomat "to tell the truth, and so puzzle and confound his enemies."
  • Attributed. E.g., Vol 24, Encyclopedia Britannica of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, page 721 (9th Ed. 1894).
  • Compare Mark Twain who, in Following the Equator, said "When in doubt, tell the truth" (which is often mis-quoted as containing an additional clause providing "it will confound your enemies and astound your friends").