William Congreve
William Congreve
William Congrevewas an English playwright and poet...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth24 January 1670
knowledge firsts opinion
I am always of the opinion with the learned, if they speak first.
strange married wells
Let us be very strange and well-bred:Let us be as strange as if we had been married a great while;And as well-bred as if we were not married at all.
confusion couches levees
O, nothing is more alluring than a levee from a couch in some confusion.
ambition self flames
Love's but the frailty of the mind, When 'tis not with ambition joined; A sickly flame, which if not fed expires; And feeding, wastes in self-consuming fires.
roots adultery should
Marriage is honourable, as you say; and if so, wherefore should Cuckoldom be a Discredit, being deriv'd from so honourable a Root?
expectations joy wish
Would any thing but a madman complain of uncertainty? Uncertainty and expectation are joys of life; security is an insipid thing; and the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly of the chase.
laughter passion men
There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!
gossip together reputation
They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.
inspiration savages charm
Musick has charms to soothe a savage breast
women flames destroying
Women like flames have a destroying power; never to be quenched till they themselves devour.
support speech cold
Words are the weak support of cold indifference; love has no language to be heard.
passion men may
Marriage indeed may qualify the fury of his passion, but it very rarely mends a man's manners.
loss expression confusion
Guilt is ever at a loss, and confusion waits upon it; when innocence and bold truth are always ready for expression.
inspirational music rocks
Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.