John Webster
John Webster
John Websterwas an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and career overlapped William Shakespeare's...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPlaywright
jest wit seems
Imyself haveheard averygood jest, and havescornedto seem to have so sillya wit as to understand it.
running fire light
Oh, yes, thy sins Do run before thee to fetch fire from hell, To light thee thither.
drinking degrees
All the damnable degrees Of drinking have you staggered through.
atheist house soul
Are you grown an atheist? Will you turn your body, Which is the goodly palace of the soul, To the soul's slaughter-house? Oh, the curse' d devil, Which doth present us with all other sins Thrice-candied o'er.
wise fate men
Man may his fate foresee, but not prevent. 'Tis better to be fortunate than wise.
men soul body
The chiefest action for a man of great spirit is never to be out of action... the soul was never put into the body to stand still.
eagles crow together
Eagles commonly fly alone. They are crows, daws, and starlings that flock together.
summer fear heart
I myself have loved a lady and pursued her with a great deal of under-age protestation, whom some three or four gallants that have enjoyed would with all their hearts have been glad to have been rid of. 'Tis just like a summer birdcage in a garden: the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair and are in a consumption for fear they shall never get out.
ambition men madness
Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness.
wine soldier vineyards
Is not old wine wholesomest, old pippins toothsomest, old wood burn brightest, old linen wash whitest? Old soldiers, sweethearts, are surest, and old lovers are soundest.
soul body stills
The soul was never put in the body to stand still.
fashion blow political
A politician is the devil's quilted anvil; He fashions all sins on him, and the blows are never heard.
men example action
Man is most happy, when his own actions are arguments and examples of his virtue.
wise witty lust
Though lust do masque in ne'er so strange disguise she's oft found witty, but is never wise.