Quote

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.

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
Love
Pleasure
Flies
Hours
Cheerful
Lost
Hour
Power
Honor
Give
Taste
Care
Health
Giving
Wealth
Heart
Wise
Timely

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I must have women - there is nothing unbends the mind like them.
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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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Envy is a kind of praise.
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Fools may our scorn, not envy, raise. For envy is a kind of praise.
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Breathe soft, ye winds! ye waves, in silence sleep!
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Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
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Learning by study must be won 'Twas ne'er entail'd from son to son.
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Praising all alike, is praising none.
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You can only be called a hypocrite if you judge others first.
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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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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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My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear.
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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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Who hath not heard the rich complain Of surfeits, and corporeal pain? He barr'd from every use of wealth, Envies the ploughman's strength and health.
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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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Envy's a sharper spur than pay: No author ever spar'd a brother Wits are gamecocks to one another.
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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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Shall ignorance of good and ill Dare to direct the eternal will? Seek virtue, and of that possest, To Providence resign the rest.
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Fair words cost nothing.
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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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