William Congreve Quotes
"Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, and black despair succeeds brown study."
- William Congreve
(Related: Despair, Flags, Invention, Study)
"A hungry wolf at all the herd will run, In hopes, through many, to make sure of one."
- William Congreve
(Related: Will)
"A little disdain is not amiss; a little scorn is alluring."
- William Congreve
"A wit should be no more sincere than a woman constant."
- William Congreve
(Related: Wit, Woman)
"Beauty is the lover's gift."
- William Congreve
(Related: Beauty)
"Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play."
- William Congreve
(Related: Marriage, Courtship, Play, Witty)
"Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure."
- William Congreve
(Related: Grief, Haste, Leisure, Pleasure)
"He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views."
- William Congreve
(Related: Confidence, Integrity)
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
- William Congreve
(Related: Love, Hatred, Heaven, Hell, Woman)
"I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections."
- William Congreve
"I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull."
- William Congreve
(Related: Being, Danger)
"I know that's a secret, for it's whispered every where."
- William Congreve
"If there's delight in love, 'Tis when I see that heart, which others bleed for, bleed for me."
- William Congreve
(Related: Love, Heart, Delight)
"Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear."
- William Congreve
(Related: Fear, Uncertainty, Worth)
"In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me."
- William Congreve
(Related: Body, Conscience)
"Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
- William Congreve
(Related: Music, Oak)
"Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight."
- William Congreve
(Related: Bed, Fight)
"No, I'm no enemy to learning; it hurts not me."
- William Congreve
(Related: Enemy, Learning)
"Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved."
- William Congreve
(Related: Will)
"She likes herself, yet others hates, For that which in herself she prizes; And while she laughs at them, forgets She is the thing that she despises."
- William Congreve
(Related: Prizes)
"There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire."
- William Congreve
(Related: Beauty, Courage)
"They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom."
- William Congreve
(Related: Custom, End, Scandal, Tea)
"They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week."
- William Congreve
"'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman."
- William Congreve
(Related: Education, Gentleman, University)
"To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task."
- William Congreve
(Related: Eye, Fool, Wit, World)
"Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing."
- William Congreve
(Related: Life, Expectation, Security, Uncertainty)
"Wit must be foiled by wit: cut a diamond with a diamond."
- William Congreve
(Related: Wit)
"You are a woman: you must never speak what you think; your words must contradict your thoughts, but your actions may contradict your words."
- William Congreve
(Related: Thoughts, Actions, May, Words)
"If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable."
- William Congreve
(Related: Love, Madness)