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A woman only obliges a man to secrecy, that she may have the pleasure of telling herself.

William Congreve

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William Congreve
Age: 58 †
Born: 1670
Born: January 24
Died: 1729
Died: January 19
Engineer
Librettist
Playwright
Poet
Translator
Writer
Pleasure
Woman
May
Men
Obliges
Secrecy
Telling

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Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.
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She once used me with that insolence, that in revenge I took her to pieces sifted her, and separated her failings I studied 'em, and got 'em by rote. The catalogue was so large, that I was not without hopes, one day or other to hate her heartily.
William Congreve
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O ay, letters - I had letters - I am persecuted with letters - I hate letters - nobody knows how to write letters and yet one has 'em, one does not know why - they serve one to pin up one's hair.
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I am a fool, I know it and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit.
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Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants.
William Congreve
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Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.
William Congreve
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It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind.
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Men are apt to offend ('tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive.
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There are times when sense may be unseasonable, as well as truth.
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Honor is a public enemy, and conscience a domestic, and he that would secure his pleasure, must pay a tribute to one and go halves with t'other.
William Congreve
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Marriage is honourable, as you say and if so, wherefore should Cuckoldom be a Discredit, being deriv'd from so honourable a Root?
William Congreve
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Marriage indeed may qualify the fury of his passion, but it very rarely mends a man's manners.
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'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.
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Wit must be foiled by wit: cut a diamond with a diamond.
William Congreve
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Women are like tricks by sleight of hand, Which, to admire, we should not understand
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Would any thing but a madman complain of uncertainty? Uncertainty and expectation are joys of life security is an insipid thing and the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly of the chase.
William Congreve
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Music alone with sudden charms can bind The wand'ring sense, and calm the troubled mind.
William Congreve
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Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved.
William Congreve
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Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, and though a late, a sure reward succeeds.
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Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.
William Congreve