Quote

Shall ignorance of good and ill Dare to direct the eternal will? Seek virtue, and of that possest, To Providence resign the rest.

John Gay

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John Gay
Age: 47 †
Born: 1685
Born: June 30
Died: 1732
Died: December 4
Librettist
Playwright
Poet
Writer
Barnstaple
Devon
Virtue
Ill
Shall
Dare
Good
Eternity
Seek
Direct
Ignorance
Eternal
Resign
Rest
Providence

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She who has never lov'd, has never liv'd.
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Gamesters and highwaymen are generally very good to their whores, but they are very devils to their wives.
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Learning by study must be won 'Twas ne'er entail'd from son to son.
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I must have women - there is nothing unbends the mind like them.
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The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.
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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?
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Fair words cost nothing.
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Why is the hearse with scutcheons blazon'd round, And with the nodding plume of ostrich crown'd? No the dead know it not, nor profit gain It only serves to prove the living vain.
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You can only be called a hypocrite if you judge others first.
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Nor love, not honor, wealth nor power, can give the heart a cheerful hour when health is lost. Be timely wise With health all taste of pleasure flies.
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To friendship every burden's light.
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Some folks of cider make a rout And cider's well enough no doubt When better liquors fail But wine, that's richer, better still, Ev'n wine itself (deny't who will) Must yield to nappy ale
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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.
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Can love be controll'd by advice?
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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.
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Fools may our scorn, not envy, raise. For envy is a kind of praise.
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Envy's a sharper spur than pay.
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If the heart of a man is depressed with cares, The mist is dispelled when a woman appears.
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Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
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To frame the little animal, provide All the gay hues that wait on female pride: Let Nature guide thee sometimes golden wire The shining bellies of the fly require The peacock's plumes thy tackle must not fail, Nor the dear purchase of the sable's tail.
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