Thomas Browne quotes

Thomas Browne was an English polymath, physician, and author noted for his wide-ranging curiosity and literary style. His works blend science, religion, and philosophy, exploring topics from medicine to spiritual reflection. He greatly influenced subsequent writers and thinkers with his distinctive prose and intellectual openness. Here are 114 of his quotes:

All things are artificial, for nature is the art of God. (Thomas Browne)
We all labor against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases. View quote
Thomas Browne
We carry with us the wonders we seek without us. View quote
Thomas Browne
Be substantially great in thyself, and more than thou appearest unto others. View quote
Thomas Browne
A man may be in as just possession of truth as of a city, and yet be forced to surrender. View quote
Thomas Browne
It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many million faces, there should be none alike. View quote
Thomas Browne
Obstinacy in a bad cause is but constancy in a good. View quote
Thomas Browne
There is surely a piece of divinity in us, something that was before the elements, and owes no homage unto the sun. View quote
Thomas Browne
Charity But how shall we expect charity towards others, when we are uncharitable to ourselves? Charity begins at home, is the voice of the world; yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner. View quote
Thomas Browne
Be charitable before wealth makes you covetous. View quote
Thomas Browne
He who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth himself. (Thomas Browne)
I could never divide myself from any man upon the difference of an opinion, or he angry with his judgment for not agreeing with me in that, from which perhaps within a few days I should dissent my self. View quote
Thomas Browne
The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying. View quote
Thomas Browne
The heart of man is the place the devil dwells in I feel sometimes a hell within myself. View quote
Thomas Browne
There is no road or ready way to virtue. View quote
Thomas Browne
No man can justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another. View quote
Thomas Browne
Sleep is a death, O make me try, By sleeping, what it is to die And as gently lay my head On my grave, as now my bed. View quote
Thomas Browne
Were the happiness of the next world is as closely apprehended as the felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live. View quote
Thomas Browne
The world -- A small parenthesis in eternity. View quote
Thomas Browne
Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls but the shadows of the living. All things fall under this name. The sun itself is but the dark simulacrum, and light but the shadow of God. View quote
Thomas Browne
Life is a pure flame, And we live by an invisible sun within us. (Thomas Browne)
I have often admired the mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret Magic of numbers. View quote
Thomas Browne
Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant Religion. View quote
Thomas Browne
To make an end of all things on Earth, and our Planetical System of the World, he (God) need but put out the Sun. View quote
Thomas Browne
Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles. View quote
Thomas Browne

Thomas Browne

Thomas Browne - Image
Occupation: English Polymath
Born: October 19, 1605
Died: October 19, 1682
Quotes count: 114
Wikipedia: Thomas Browne

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