William Congreve Quotations
William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet.
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Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise. I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull.- Ah! Whither, whither shall I fly,
A poor unhappy Maid;
To hopeless Love and Misery
By my own Heart betray’d?
- Incognita: Or, Love and Duty Reconcil'd (1692)
- Careless she is with artful care,
Affecting to seem unaffected.
- "Amoret", line 7 (1710)
- Invention flags, his brain goes muddy,
And black despair succeeds brown study.
- "An Impossible Thing", line 105 (1720)
- Defer not till tomorrow to be wise,
Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise.
- "Letter to Cobham", line 61. Compare: "Be wise to-day, 't is madness to defer", Edward Young, Night Thoughts, Night i. line 390
The Old Bachelor (1693)
Eternity was in that moment.- The Old Bachelor
- 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.
- Act I, scene iii.
- Hannibal was a very pretty fellow in those days.
- Act II, scene 2.
- I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull.
- Act II, scene vii.
- Eternity was in that moment.
- Act IV, scene vii .
- If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable.
- Act IV, scene x.
- Men are apt to offend ('tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive.
- Act IV, scene xi.
- Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure;
Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.
- Act V, scene viii. Compare: "Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure", William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act iii, scene 2.
The Double Dealer (1694)
It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind.- Full text online
- It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind.
- Epistle dedicatory.
- Retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.
- Act I, scene i.
- Though marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves 'em still two fools.
- Act II, scene iii.
- No mask like open truth to cover lies,
As to go naked is the best disguise.
- Act V, scene iv.
Love for Love (1695)
- Full text online
- Thou liar of the first magnitude.
- Act II, scene ii.
- I warrant you, if he danced till doomsday, he thought I was to pay the piper.
- Act II, scene ii.
- Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude.
- Act II, scene v.
- I came up stairs into the world, for I was born in a cellar.
- Act II, scene vii. Compare: "Born in a cellar, and living in a garret", Samuel Foote, The Author, act 2; "Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred", Lord Byron, A Sketch.
- O fie, miss, you must not kiss and tell.
- Act II, scene x.
- I know that's a secret, for it's whispered every where.
- Act III, scene iii.
- Women are like tricks by sleight of hand,
Which, to admire, we should not understand.
- Act IV, scene iii.
- Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.
- Act IV, scene xx.
- 'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.
- Act V, scene iii.
The Mourning Bride (1697)
- Full text online
- Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?
- Act I, scene i; the first lines of this passage are often rendered in modern spelling as "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast", or misquoted as: "Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast."
- Vile and ingrate! too late thou shalt repent
The base Injustice thou hast done my Love:
Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress,
And all those Ills which thou so long hast mourn'd;
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
- Act III, scene viii; often paraphrased: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". A similar line occurs in Love's Last Shift, by Colley Cibber, act iv.: "We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman."
- For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,
And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.
- Act V, scene 12.
The Way of the World (1700)
Say what you will, tis better to be left than never to have been loved.- Full text online
- They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.
- Act I, scene i.
- Say what you will, tis better to be left than never to have been loved.
- Act II, scene i. Precedent for Alfred Tennyson's more famous: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
- Love's but a frailty of the mind,
When 'tis not with ambition joined.
- Act III, scene xii.
- If there's delight in love, 'tis when I see
That heart which others bleed for, bleed for me.
- Act III, scene xii.
- I nauseate walking; 'tis a country diversion, I loathe the country.
- Act IV, scene v.
- 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.
- Act IV, scene v.
- Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants.
- Act IV, scene ix.
- O, she is the antidote to desire.
- Act IV, scene xiv.
Misattributed
- Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight.
- Phyllis Diller, as quoted in Getting Through to the Man You Love : The No-Nonsense, No-Nagging Guide for Women (1999) by Michele Weiner-Davis, p. 151
External links
Wikipedia has an article about: William Congreve- Biography
- The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)
- Works by William Congreve at Project Gutenberg
- Review of The Way of the World
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