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
mother thinking should-have
Do you think your mother and I should have lived comfortably so long together, if ever we had been married? Baggage!
jealousy believe frenzy
What frenzy dictates, jealousy believes
book learning oil
Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
envy pay spurs
Envy's a sharper spur than pay.
men views statistics
Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view.
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.