Who said “Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak.”?

Verified

John Donne. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceVerse Letter to Sir Henry Wotton, written before April 1598, line 1

Evidence: Wikiquote · How we check

Source checked · Something wrong? Report a correction

Authors A–Z
“Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak.”
— John Donne
VerifiedVerse Letter to Sir Henry Wotton, written before April 1598, line 1 · evidenceLetters
Report

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: Verse Letter to Sir Henry Wotton, written before April 1598, line 1.

APA

Donne, J. (n.d.). Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26387-sir-more-than-kisses-letters-mingle-souls-for/

MLA

Donne, John. “Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26387-sir-more-than-kisses-letters-mingle-souls-for/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Donne, John. “Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26387-sir-more-than-kisses-letters-mingle-souls-for/.

Related quotes

“I hold that the parentheses are by far the most important parts of a non-business letter.”
— D. H. Lawrence
VerifiedLetter to Blanche Jennings (15 April 1908), Letters of D.H. Lawrence (1979), edited by James T. Boulton · evidenceDetails & citeLetters
Report
“Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up.”
— Sydney Smith
VerifiedLady Holland's Memoir (1855), Vol. II, letter to Catherine Crowe (31 January 1841), pp. 441–442 · evidenceDetails & citeLetters
Report
“Or don't you like to write letters. I do because it's such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something.”
— Ernest Hemingway
VerifiedLetter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (1 July 1925); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker · evidenceDetails & citeLetters
Report

More quotes by John Donne

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
VerifiedMeditation 17. This was the source for the title of Hemingway's novel. Original text: "No man is an Iland intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the continent, a part of the maine; · evidenceDetails & citeCooperation
Report
“And new Philosophy calls all in doubt, the element of fire is quite put out; the Sun is lost, and the earth, and no mans wit can well direct him where to look for it.”
VerifiedAn Anatomy of the World: The First Anniversary (1611), l. 205 · evidenceDetails & citePhilosophers and Philosophy
Report
“I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door.”
VerifiedNo. 80, preached at the funeral of Sir William Cokayne, 12 December 1626 · evidenceDetails & citePrayer
Report
“Pleasure is none, if not diversified.”
Pleasure
Report
All 35 John Donne quotes →