Earth Can Give No Rest

Table of Contents

1. Earth Can Give No Rest

Earth Can Give No Rest

Let wit, and all her studied plots effect the best they can,
Let smiling fortune prosper and perfect what wit began;
Let earth advise with both, and so project a happy man,
Let wit or fawning fortune vie their best—he may be blest
With all the earth can give—but earth can give no rest.
Whose gold is double with a careful hand, his cares are double.
The pleasure, honor, wealth of sea and land bring but a trouble.
The world itself, and all the world's command, is but a bubble.
The strong desires of man's insatiate breast may stand possessed
Of all that earth can give; but earth can give no rest.
All is vanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 2:17
Come unto Me . . . and . . . rest. Matthew 11:28-30
From Emblems
by Francis Quarles, 1635
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