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
Seek
Direct
Ignorance
Eternal
Resign
Rest
Providence
Virtue
Ill
Shall
Dare
Good
Eternity

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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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To shoot at crows is powder flung away.
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Envy's a sharper spur than pay.
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Youth's the season made for joys, Love is then our duty.
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She who has never lov'd, has never liv'd.
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Breathe soft, ye winds! ye waves, in silence sleep!
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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.
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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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Sure men were born to lie, and women to believe them!
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Fair is the kingcup that in meadow blows, Fair is the daisy that beside her grows.
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I cannot raise my worth too high Of what vast consequence am I! Not of the importance you suppose, Replies a Flea upon his nose Be humble, learn thyself to scan Know, pride was never made for man.
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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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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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Can love be controll'd by advice?
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Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
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The charge is prepared the lawyers are met The judges all ranged (a terrible show!) I go, undismay'd. For death is a debt, A debt on demand. So take what I owe.
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[Gulliver was soon being read] from the cabinet council to the nursery.
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Fair words cost nothing.
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Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine, No blood of living insect stain my line Let me, less cruel, cast the feather'd hook, With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook, Silent along the mazy margin stray, And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.
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In beauty faults conspicuous grow The smallest speck is seen on snow.
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