David Garrick

"Corrupted freemen are the worst of slaves."

"Their cause I plead,—plead it in heart and mind; A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind."

"Prologues like compliments are loss of time; ’T is penning bows and making legs in rhyme."

"Let others hail the rising sun: I bow to that whose course is run."

"This scholar, rake, Christian, dupe, gamester, and poet."

"Heart of oak are our ships, Heart of oak are our men; We always are ready."

"Here lies James Quinn. Deign, reader, to be taught, Whate’er thy strength of body, force of thought, In Nature’s happiest mould however cast, To this complexion thou must come at last."

"Are these the choice dishes the Doctor has sent us? Is this the great poet whose works so content us? This Goldsmith’s fine feast, who has written fine books? Heaven sends us good meat, but the Devil sends cooks?"

"Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll, Who wrote like an angel, and talk’d like poor Poll."

"His profession made him rich and he made his profession respectable."

"I am disappointed by that stroke of death that has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure."

"So Shakespeare's page, the flower of poesy, Ere Garrick rose had charms for every eye; 'Twas Nature's genuine image wild and grand, The strong-marked picture of a master's hand. But when his Garrick, Nature's Pallas, came, The bard's bold painting burst into a flame: Each part new force and vital warmth received, As touched by Heaven—and all the picture lived."