William Congreve quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by William Congreve

William Congreve Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from William Congreve on Wise Famous Quotes.

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.

I am always of the opinion with the learned, if they speak first.

Every man plays the fool once in his live, but to marry is playing the fool all one's life long.

Guilt is ever at a loss, and confusion waits upon it; when innocence and bold truth are always ready for expression.

I hope you do not think me prone to any iteration of nuptials.

Whoever is king, is also the father of his country.

If there's delight in love, 'Tis when I see that heart, which others bleed for, bleed for me.

Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, and though a late, a sure reward succeeds.

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, And though late, a sure reward succeeds.

These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into wife.

Men are apt to offend ('tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive.

One no more owes one's beauty to a lover than one's wit to an echo

Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight.

Music hath charms to sooth a savage breast.

Wit must be foiled by wit: cut a diamond with a diamond.

Women are like tricks by sleight of hand,
Which, to admire, we should not understand

How hard a thing 'twould be to please you all.

O, nothing is more alluring than a levee from a couch in some confusion.

No mask like open truth to cover lies, As to go naked is the best disguise.

Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.

A little scorn is alluring.

Though marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves 'em still two fools.

You are a woman: you must never speak what you think; your words must contradict your thoughts, but your actions may contradict your words.

I nauseate walking; 'tis a country diversion, I loathe the country.

Love's but a frailty of the mind, When 'tis not with ambition joined.

A wit should be no more sincere than a woman constant.

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.

A little disdain is not amiss; a little scorn is alluring.

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.

A woman only obliges a man to secrecy, that she may have the pleasure of telling herself.

Marriage is honourable, as you say; and if so, wherefore should Cuckoldom be a Discredit, being deriv'd from so honourable a Root?

Heav'n hath no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.

O, she is the antidote to desire.

There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!

No, I'm no enemy to learning; it hurts not me.

A wit should no more be sincere, than a woman constant; one argues a decay of parts, as to other of beauty.

If happiness in self-content is placed, The wise are wretched, and fools only blessed.

A hungry wolf at all the herd will run, In hopes, through many, to make sure of one.

Beauty is the lover's gift.

Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved.

Musick has charms to soothe a savage breast

Music alone with sudden charms can bind The wand'ring sense, and calm the troubled mind.

O fie, miss, you must not kiss and tell.

One minute gives invention to destroy; What to rebuild, will a whole age employ.

Nothing but you can lay hold of my mind, and that can lay hold of nothing but you.

They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.

He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views.

Hannibal was a very pretty fellow in those days.

In hours of bliss we oft have met:
They could not always last;
And though the present I regret,
I'm grateful for the past.

Words are the weak support of cold indifference; love has no language to be heard.

I always take blushing either for a sign of guilt, or of ill breeding.

I came up stairs into the world, for I was born in a cellar.

It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind.

I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections.

There are times when sense may be unseasonable, as well as truth.

He that first cries out stop thief, is often he that has stolen the treasure.

If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable.

You'll grow devilish fat upon this paper-diet!

Marriage indeed may qualify the fury of his passion, but it very rarely mends a man's manners.

Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, and black despair succeeds brown study.

'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.

Delay not till tomorrow to be wise; tomorrow's sun to thee may neve rise.

I know that's a secret, for it's whispered everywhere.

There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire.

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.

Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure.

I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit.

They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.

Some by experience find those words mis-placed: At leisure married, they repent in haste.

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.

Who pleases one against his will.

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.

I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull.

Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants.

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.

Women like flames have a destroying power; never to be quenched till they themselves devour.

Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.
(quoted in Life After Life)