John Gay Quotes

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

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

From wine what sudden friendship springs!

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

Envy is a kind of praise.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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