Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
A woman only obliges a man to secrecy, that she may have the pleasure of telling herself.
Some by experience find those words mis-placed: At leisure married, they repent in haste.
All well bred persons lie - Besides, you are a woman; you must never speak what you think.
There is in true Beauty, as in Courage, somewhat which narrow Souls cannot dare to admire.
There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire.
Women like flames have a destroying power; never to be quenched till they themselves devour.
If there's delight in love, 'Tis when I see that heart, which others bleed for, bleed for me.
Marriage indeed may qualify the fury of his passion, but it very rarely mends a man's manners.
Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure; Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.
Every man plays the fool once in his live, but to marry is playing the fool all one's life long.
They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.
I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections.
He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views.
They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.
These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into wife.
A wit should no more be sincere, than a woman constant; one argues a decay of parts, as to other of beauty.
There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!
Guilt is ever at a loss, and confusion waits upon it; when innocence and bold truth are always ready for expression.
To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task.
'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.
To converse with Scandal is to play at Losing Loadum, you must lose a good name to him, before you can win it for yourself.
In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me.
Marriage is honourable, as you say; and if so, wherefore should Cuckoldom be a Discredit, being deriv'd from so honourable a Root?
Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.
You are a woman: you must never speak what you think; your words must contradict your thoughts, but your actions may contradict your words.
Honor is a public enemy, and conscience a domestic, and he that would secure his pleasure, must pay a tribute to one and go halves with t'other.
Let us be very strange and well-bred:Let us be as strange as if we had been married a great while;And as well-bred as if we were not married at all.
She likes herself, yet others hates, For that which in herself she prizes; And while she laughs at them, forgets She is the thing that she despises.
Love's but the frailty of the mind, When 'tis not with ambition joined; A sickly flame, which if not fed expires; And feeding, wastes in self-consuming fires.
Thus in this sad, but oh, too pleasing state! my soul can fix upon nothing but thee; thee it contemplates, admires, adores, nay depends on, trusts on you alone.
Come, come, leave business to idlers, and wisdom to fools: they have need of 'em: wit be my faculty, and pleasure my occupation, and let father Time shake his glass.
There are come Critics so with Spleen diseased, They scarcely come inclining to be pleased: And sure he must have more than mortal Skill, Who please one against his Will.
Mr Witwould: "Pray, madam, do you pin up your hair with all your letters? I find I must keep copies." Mrs Millamant: "Only with those in verse.... I never pin up my hair with prose."
O ay, letters - I had letters - I am persecuted with letters - I hate letters - nobody knows how to write letters; and yet one has 'em, one does not know why - they serve one to pin up one's hair.
I know a lady that loves to talk so incessantly, she won't give an echo fair play; she has that everlasting rotation of tongue that an echo must wait till she dies before it can catch her last words!
Turn pimp, flatterer, quack, lawyer, parson, be chaplain to an atheist, or stallion to an old woman, anything but a poet; for a poet is worse, more servile, timorous and fawning than any I have named.
Would any thing but a madman complain of uncertainty? Uncertainty and expectation are joys of life; security is an insipid thing; and the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly of the chase.
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. I've read that things inanimate have moved, and, as with living souls, have been inform'd, by magic numbers and persuasive sound.
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrow's Sun to thee may never rise; Or should to-morrow chance to cheer thy sight With her enlivening and unlook'd for light, How grateful will appear her dawning rays! As favours unexpected doubly please.
She once used me with that insolence, that in revenge I took her to pieces; sifted her, and separated her failings; I studied 'em, and got 'em by rote. The catalogue was so large, that I was not without hopes, one day or other to hate her heartily.
But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old.