William Congreve

"Ah! Whither, whither shall I fly, A poor unhappy Maid; To hopeless Love and Misery By my own Heart betray’d?"

"Careless she is with artful care, Affecting to seem unaffected."

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

"Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise."

"Pious Selinda goes to Pray’rs, If I but ask the Favour; And yet the tender Fool’s in Tears, When she believes I’ll leave her.Wou’d I were free from Restraint, Or else had Hopes to win her; Wou’d she cou’d make of me a Saint, Or I of her a Sinner."

"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."

"Hannibal was a very pretty fellow in those days."

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

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

"Eternity was in that moment."

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

"Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure; Married in haste, we may repent at leisure."

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

"Retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom."

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

"Now will I, in my old way, discover the whole and real truth of the matter to him, that he may not suspect one word on’t."

"And the prettiest foot! Oh, if a man could but fasten his eyes to her feet, as they steal in and out, and play at bo-peep under her petticoats!"

"Thou liar of the first magnitude."

"I warrant you, if he danced till doomsday, he thought I was to pay the piper."

"Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude."

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

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

"I know that's a secret, for it's whispered every where."

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

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

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

"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?"

"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."

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

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

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

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

"If there's delight in love, 'tis when I see That heart which others bleed for, bleed for me."

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

"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."

"Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants, like a maker of pincushions; thou art in truth (metaphorically speaking) a speaker of shorthand."

"O, she is the antidote to desire."

"Mr Congreve... would make many brilliant hits – half a dozen in a night sometimes – but like sharpshooters, when they had fired their shot they were obliged to retire under cover till their pieces were loaded again."

"Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight."

"Sop to Cerebus."