John Gay Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• Envy's a sharper spur than pay: No author ever spar'd a brother; Wits are gamecocks to one another.

  John Gay

  Brother, Envy, Spurs

  John Gay, Thomas Park (1808). “The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:”, p.23

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• Of all mechanics, of all servile handycrafts-men, a gamester is the vilest. But yet, as many of the quality are of the profession, he is admitted amongst the politest company.

  John Gay

  Men, Gambling, Quality

  John Gay (2013). “The Beggar's Opera and Polly”, p.95, OUP Oxford

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• If with me you'd fondly stray Over the hills and far away.

  John Gay

  Hills, Far Away, Over The Hill

  'The Beggar's Opera' (1728) act 1, sc. 13, air 16

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• The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.

  John Gay

  Sweet, Lost, Treacle

  Nathaniel Lee, John Dryden, Arthur Murphy, George Farquhar, Hannah Cowley (1815). “Alexander the Great, Or, the Rival Queens. A Tragedy”

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• Shall ignorance of good and ill Dare to direct the eternal will? Seek virtue, and of that possest, To Providence resign the rest.

  John Gay

  Ignorance, Virtue, Eternity

  John Gay (1863). “The Poetical Works of John Gay: With a Life of the Author”, p.78

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• If the heart of a man is depressed with cares, The mist is dispelled when a woman appears.

  John Gay

  Depression, Heart, Caring

  John Christopher Pepusch, John Gay (1962). “The beggar's opera”, Barrons Educational Series Inc

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• Give me, kind heaven, a private station, a mind serene for contemplation.

  John Gay

  Giving, Heaven, Mind

  'Fables' (1738) 'The Vulture, the Sparrow, and Other Birds' l. 69 Behold the bright original appear. 'A Letter to a Lady' l. 85

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• Look round, the wrecks of play behold; Estates dismember'd, mortgaged, sold! Their owners now to jails confin'd, Show equal poverty of mind.

  John Gay

  Play, Jail, Mind

  John Gay (1808). “Gay's Fables: In One Volume Complete”, p.107

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• To cheat a man isnothing; but the womanmust have fine parts indeed who cheats a woman!

  John Gay

  Men, Cheat, Fine

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• How, like a moth, the simple maid Still plays around the flame!

  John Gay

  Simple, Flames, Play

  1728 The Beggar's Opera, act 1, sc.4, air 4.

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• Good housewives all the winter's rage despise, Defended by the riding-hood's disguise; Or, underneath the umbrella's oily shade, Safe through the wet on clinking pattens tread, Let Persian dames the unbrella's ribs display, To guard their beauties from the sunny ray; Or sweating slaves support the shady load, When eastern monarchs show their state abroad; Britain in winter only knows its aid, To guard from chilling showers the walking maid.

  John Gay

  Winter, Support, Maids

  John Gay (1826). “Gay's Fables and Other Poems: Cotton's Visions in Verse ; Moore's Fables for the Female Sex ; with Sketches of the Authors' Lives”, p.197

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• I must have women - there is nothing unbends the mind like them.

  John Gay

  Women, Mind

  'The Beggar's Opera' (1728) act 2, sc. 3

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• When we risk no contradiction, It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.

  John Gay

  Risk, Fiction, Tongue

  John Gay, Thomas Park (1808). “The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:”, p.21

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• The charge is prepared; the lawyers are met; The judges all ranged (a terrible show!) I go, undismay'd. For death is a debt, A debt on demand. So take what I owe.

  John Gay

  Judging, Debt, Demand

  John Gay (1818). “The beggar's opera. Oxberry's ed”, p.80

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• Fools may our scorn, not envy, raise. For envy is a kind of praise.

  John Gay

  Envy, May, Fool

  John Gay, Thomas Park (1808). “The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:”, p.76

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• Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?

  John Gay

  Book, Learning, Oil

  'Fables' (1727) introduction, l. 15.

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• Can love be controll'd by advice?

  John Gay

  Love, Love Is, Advice

  John Gay (1791). “The Beggar's Opera: A Comic Opera”, p.26

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• Some folks of cider make a rout
  And cider's well enough no doubt
  When better liquors fail;
  But wine, that's richer, better still,
  Ev'n wine itself (deny't who will)
  Must yield to nappy ale

  John Gay

  Wine, Beer, Yield

  John Gay (1806). “The Poetical Works”, p.102

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• Can you support the expense of a husband, hussy, in gaming, drinking and whoring? Have you money enough to carry on the daily quarrels of man and wife about who shall squander most?

  John Gay

  Husband, Drinking, Men

  John Gay (1782). “The Beggar's Opera”, p.12

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• Why is the hearse with scutcheons blazon'd round, And with the nodding plume of ostrich crown'd? No; the dead know it not, nor profit gain; It only serves to prove the living vain.

  John Gay

  Ostriches, Crowns, Nodding

  John Gay, Nathaniel Cotton, Edward Moore (1826). “Gay's Fables and other poems: Cotton's visions in verse ; Moore's Fables for the female sex ; with sketches of the authors' lives”, p.219

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• Exercise thy lasting youth defends.

  John Gay

  Exercise, Journey, Hiking

  John Gay, Marcus Walsh (2003). “Selected Poems”, p.43, Taylor & Francis

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• When if or chance or hunger's powerful sway Directs the roving trout this fatal way, He greedily sucks in the twining bait, And tugs and nibbles the fallacious meat. Now, happy fisherman; now twitch the line! How thy rod bends! behold, the prize is thine!

  John Gay

  Powerful, Sea, Fishing

  John Gay, Thomas Park (1808). “The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:”

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• Whoever heard a man of fortune in England talk of the necessaries of life? . . . Whether we can afford it or no, we must have superfluities.

  John Gay

  Life, Men, England

  John Gay, John Christopher Pepusch (1729). “The Second Part of The Beggars Opera ...”, p.2

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• Let firm, well hammer'd soles protect thy feet Through freezing snows, and rains, and soaking sleet; Should the big last extend the shoe too wide, Each stone will wrench the unwary step aside; The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein, The cracking joint unhinge, or ankle sprain; And when too short the modish shoes are worn, You'll judge the seasons by your shooting corn.

  John Gay

  Rain, Shoes, Feet

  John Gay, Vinton Adams Dearing (1975). “Poetry and prose of John Gay”, Oxford University Press, USA

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• How happy could I be with either, Were t'other dear charmer away!

  John Gay

  Happiness, Dear, Charmers

  'The Beggar's Opera' (1728) act 2, sc. 13, air 35

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