John Gay

"'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined."

"So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more."

"My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear."

"No retreat. No retreat. They must conquer or die who’ve no retreat."

"Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it."

"All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd."

"Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand."

"Remote from cities liv'd a swain, Unvex'd with all the cares of gain; His head was silver'd o'er with age, And long experience made him sage."

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

"Where yet was ever found a mother Who'd give her booby for another?"

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

"No author ever spar'd a brother."

"In beauty faults conspicuous grow; The smallest speck is seen on snow."

"A Wolf eats sheep but now and then; Ten thousands are devour'd by men. An open foe may prove a curse, but a pretend friend is worse."

"In every age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree."

"Those who in quarrels intepose Must often wipe a bloody nose."

"Envy is a kind of praise."

"I hate the man who builds his name On ruins of another's fame. Thus prudes, by characters o'erthrown, Imagine that they raise their own. Thus Scribblers, covetous of praise, Think slander can transplant the bays."

"And when a lady's in the case, You know all other things give place."

"Love, then, hath every bliss in store; 'Tis friendship, and 'tis something more. Each other every wish they give; Not to know love is not to live."

"Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view."

"Is there no hope? the sick man said; The silent doctor shook his head."

"While there is life there 's hope, he cried."

"That raven on yon left-hand oak (Curse on his ill-betiding croak!) Bodes me no good."

"From wine what sudden friendship springs!"

"By outward show let's not be cheated; An ass should like an ass be treated."

"Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation: Title and profit I resign; The post of honour shall be mine."

"If Poverty be a Title to Poetry, I am sure nobody can dispute mine. I own myself of the Company of Beggars; and I make one at their Weekly Festivals at St. Giles's. I have a small Yearly Salary for my Catches, and am welcome to a Dinner there whenever I please, which is more than most Poets can say."

"As we live by the Muses, it is but a Gratitude in us to encourage Poetical Merit wherever we find it. The Muses, contrary to all other Ladies, pay no Distinction to Dress, and never partially mistake the Pertness of Embroidery for Wit, nor the Modesty of Want for Dulness. Be the Author who he will, we push his Play as far as it will go. So (though you are in Want) I wish you success heartily."

"Through all the Employments of Life Each Neighbour abuses his Brother; Whore and Rogue they call Husband and Wife: All Professions be-rogue one another: The Priest calls the Lawyer a Cheat, The Lawyer be-knaves the Divine: And the Statesman, because he's so great, Thinks his Trade as honest as mine."

"'T is woman that seduces all mankind; By her we first were taught the wheedling arts."

"Over the hills and far away."

"You know, my Dear, I never meddle in matters of Death; I always leave those Affairs to you. Women indeed are bitter bad Judges in these cases, for they are so partial to the Brave that they think every Man handsome who is going to the Camp or the Gallows."

"How the mother is to be pitied who hath handsome daughters! Locks, bolts, bars, and lectures of morality are nothing to them: they break through them all. They have as much pleasure in cheating a father and mother, as in cheating at cards."

"Do you think your Mother and I should have liv'd comfortably so long together, if ever we had been married?"

"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? There are not many husbands and wives, who can bear the charges of plaguing one another in a handsome way."

"O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed, By keeping men off, you keep them on."

"Were I laid on Greenland’s Coast, And in my Arms embrac’d my Lass; Warm amidst eternal Frost, Too soon the Half Year’s Night would pass."

"Macheath: And I would love you all the day, Polly: Every night would kiss and play, Macheath: If with me you’d fondly stray Polly: Over the hills and far away."

"Fill ev'ry glass, for wine inspires us, And fires us With courage, love and joy. Women and wine should life employ. Is there ought else on earth desirous?"

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

"Brother, brother! we are both in the wrong."

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

"If the heart of a man is depressed with cares, The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears; Like the notes of a fiddle, she sweetly, sweetly Raises the spirits, and charms our ears."

"I must have women—there is nothing unbends the mind like them."

"Youth's the season made for joys, Love is then our duty."

"Before the Barn-Door crowing, The Cock by Hens attended, His Eyes around him throwing, Stands for a while suspended: Then One he singles from the Crew, And cheers the happy Hen; With how do you do, and how do you do, And how do you do again."

"Man may escape from rope and gun; Nay, some have outlived the doctor's pill: Who takes a woman must be undone, That basilisk is sure to kill. The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets, So he that tastes woman, woman, woman, He that tastes woman, ruin meets."

"You base man you,—how can you look me in the face after what hath passed between us?—See here, perfidious wretch, how I am forc'd to bear about the load of infamy you have laid upon me— -O Macheath! thou hast robb'd me of my quiet—to see thee tortur'd would give me pleasure."

"Sure men were born to lie, and women to believe them!"