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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.

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
Use
Complaining
Every
Envy
Strength
Barr
Health
Ploughman
Wealth
Envies
Heard
Corporeal
Rich
Complain
Pain
Hath

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Fair is the marigold, for pottage meet.
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Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
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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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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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The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.
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Beasts kill for hunger, men for pay.
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To friendship every burden's light.
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Music might tame and civilize wild beasts, but 'tis evident it never yet could tame and civilize musicians.
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The luxury of doing good surpasses every other personal enjoyment.
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A man is always afraid of a woman that loves him too much
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She who has never lov'd, has never liv'd.
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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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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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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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No retreat. No retreat. They must conquer or die who've no retreat.
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Praising all alike, is praising none.
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I must have women - there is nothing unbends the mind like them.
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Envy is a kind of praise.
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In every age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree.
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O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed, by keeping men off, you keep them on.
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