John Gay Quotes

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

Over the hills and far away.

No author ever spar'd a brother.

Envy is a kind of praise.

The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.

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

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

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.

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

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.

From wine what sudden friendship springs!

How happy could I be with either, Were t' other dear charmer 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.

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

All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.