John Gay
John Gay
John Gaywas an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera, a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth30 June 1685
nurse cabinets gulliver
Gulliver was soon being read "from the cabinet council to the nursery".
men gambling quality
Of all mechanics, of all servile handycrafts-men, a gamester is the vilest. But yet, as many of the quality are of the profession, he is admitted amongst the politest company.
cost civility fairs
Fair words cost nothing.
animal men together
Lions, wolves, and vultures don't live together in herds, droves or flocks. Of all animals of prey, man is the only sociable one. Every one of us preys upon his neighbor, and yet we herd together.
flower journey views
The careful insect 'midst his works I view, Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, With golden treasures load his little thighs, And steer his distant journey through the skies.
husband drinking men
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?
risk fiction tongue
When we risk no contradiction, It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.
sweet lost treacle
The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.
ass should cheated
By outward show let's not be cheated; An ass should like an ass be treated.
snow faults grows
In beauty faults conspicuous grow; The smallest speck is seen on snow.
exercise youth lasting
Exercise thy lasting youth defends.
two agreement age
In every age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree.
sweet gun men
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.
love love-is advice
Can love be controll'd by advice?