John Gay Quotes & Sayings

Those who in quarrels interpose, must often wipe a bloody nose. — John Gay

No retreat. No retreat. They must conquer or die who've no retreat. — John Gay

One wife is too much for most husbands to bear, But two at a time there's no mortal can bear. — John Gay

Youth's the season made for joys, Love is then our duty. — John Gay

Good housewives all the winter's rage despise, Defended by the riding-hood's disguise; Or, underneath the umbrella's oily shade, Safe through the wet on clinking pattens tread, Let Persian dames the unbrella's ribs display, To guard their beauties from the sunny ray; Or sweating slaves support the shady load, When eastern monarchs show their state abroad; Britain in winter only knows its aid, To guard from chilling showers the walking maid. — John Gay

And when a lady's in the case, You know, all other things give place. — John Gay

Can love be controll'd by advice? — John Gay

I know you lawyers can with ease, Twist words and meanings as you please; That language, by your skill made pliant, Will bend to favour every client; That 'tis the fee directs the sense, To make out either side's pretense. — John Gay

Look round, the wrecks of play behold; Estates dismember'd, mortgaged, sold! Their owners now to jails confin'd, Show equal poverty of mind. — John Gay

Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand. — John Gay

When if or chance or hunger's powerful sway Directs the roving trout this fatal way, He greedily sucks in the twining bait, And tugs and nibbles the fallacious meat. Now, happy fisherman; now twitch the line! How thy rod bends! behold, the prize is thine! — John Gay

Learning by study must be won; 'Twas ne'er entail'd from son to son. — John Gay

Who friendship with a knave hath made, Is judged a partner in the trade. — John Gay

What happiness the rural maid attends, In cheerful labour while each day she spends! She gratefully receives what Heav'n has sent, And, rich in poverty, enjoys content. — John Gay

Beasts kill for hunger, men for pay. — John Gay

No author ever spar'd a brother. — John Gay

She who has never loved has never lived. — John Gay

From kings to cobblers 'tis the same; Bad servants wound their masters' fame. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

Cowards are cruel, but the brave love mercy and delight to save. — John Gay

My Own Epitaph
Life's a jest, and all things show it.
I thought so once, and now I know it. — John Gay

But money, wife, is the true Fuller's Earth for reputations, there is not a spot or a stain but what it can take out. — John Gay

Of all the fools that pride can boast, A Coxcomb claims distinction most. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

To cheat a man isnothing; but the womanmust have fine parts indeed who cheats a woman! — John Gay

Praising all alike, is praising none. — John Gay

I hate the man who builds his name On ruins of another's fame. Thus prudes, by characters o'erthrown, Imagine that they raise their own. Thus Scribblers, covetous of praise, Think slander can transplant the bays. — John Gay

In every age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree. — John Gay

Gamesters and highwaymen are generally very good to their whores, but they are very devils to their wives. — John Gay

A rich rogue nowadays is fit company for any gentleman; and the world, my dear, hath not such a contempt for roguery as you imagine. — John Gay

Envy's a sharper spur than pay. — John Gay

Do you think your mother and I should have lived comfortably so long together, if ever we had been married? Baggage! — John Gay

Fill ev'ry glass, for wine inspires us,
And fires us
With courage, love and joy.
Women and wine should life employ.
Is there ought else on earth desirous? — John Gay

One common fate we both must prove; You die with envy, I with love. — John Gay

To friendship every burden's light. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

How happy could I be with either, Were t'other dear charmer away! — John Gay

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? — John Gay

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. — John Gay

Envy's a sharper spur than pay: No author ever spar'd a brother; Wits are gamecocks to one another. — John Gay

A woman's friendship ever ends in love. — John Gay

Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view. — John Gay

Whoever heard a man of fortune in England talk of the necessaries of life? ... Whether we can afford it or no, we must have superfluities. — John Gay

In beauty faults conspicuous grow; The smallest speck is seen on snow. — John Gay

Envy is a kind of praise. — John Gay

To shoot at crows is powder flung away. — John Gay

She who has never lov'd, has never liv'd. — John Gay

What will not luxury taste? Earth, sea, and air, Are daily ransack'd for the bill of fare. Blood stuffed in skins is British Christians' food, And France robs marshes of the croaking brood. — John Gay

I never, with important air, In conversation overbear ... My tongue within my lips I rein; For who talks much must talk in vain. — John Gay

On the choice of friends, Our good or evil name depends. — John Gay

'T is woman that seduces all mankind; By her we first were taught the wheedling arts. — John Gay

Is there no hope? the sick man said, The silent doctor shook his head, And took his leave with signs of sorrow, Despairing of his fee to-morrow. — John Gay

When we risk no contradiction, It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction. — John Gay

Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined. — John Gay

Fools may our scorn, not envy, raise. For envy is a kind of praise. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

In love we are all fools alike. — John Gay

Fair is the kingcup that in meadow blows, Fair is the daisy that beside her grows. — John Gay

The comfortable estate of widowhood is the only hope that keeps up a wife's spirits. — John Gay

Whence is thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil? — John Gay

The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

Music might tame and civilize wild beasts, but 'tis evident it never yet could tame and civilize musicians. — John Gay

Of all mechanics, of all servile handycrafts-men, a gamester is the vilest. But yet, as many of the quality are of the profession, he is admitted amongst the politest company. — John Gay

So comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er, The dreadful reckn'ning, and men smile no more. — John Gay

An open foe may prove a curse, but a pretended friend is worse. — John Gay

Variety's the source of joy below, From whence still fresh-revolving pleasures flow, In books and love the mind one end pursues, And only change the expiring flames renews. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

Sure men were born to lie, and women to believe them! — John Gay

Woman's mind Oft' shifts her passions, like th'inconstant wind; Sudden she rages, like the troubled main, Now sinks the storm, and all is calm again. — John Gay

O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed, by keeping men off, you keep them on. — John Gay

But his kiss was so sweet, and so closely he pressed, that I languished and pined till I granted the rest. — John Gay

By outward show let's not be cheated; An ass should like an ass be treated. — John Gay

The sun was set; the night came on apace, And falling dews bewet around the place; The bat takes airy rounds on leathern wings, And the hoarse owl his woeful dirges sings. — John Gay

If the heart of a man is depressed with cares, The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears; Like the notes of a fiddle, she sweetly, sweetly Raises the spirits, and charms our ears. — John Gay

How, like a moth, the simple maid Still plays around the flame! — John Gay

Gulliver was soon being read "from the cabinet council to the nursery". — John Gay

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

Fill it up. I take as large draughts of liquor as I did of love. I hate a flincher in either. — John Gay

The luxury of doing good surpasses every other personal enjoyment. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

Give me, kind heaven, a private station, a mind serene for contemplation. — John Gay

Love is so whimsical in both sexes that it is impossible to be lasting. But my heart is particular and contradicts my own observation. — John Gay

You can only be called a hypocrite if you judge others first. — John Gay

I must have women - there is nothing unbends the mind like them. — John Gay

Shadow owes its birth to light. — John Gay

Thus shadow owes its birth to light. — John Gay

Here Shock, the pride of all his kind, is laid, Who fawned like man, but ne'er like man betrayed. — John Gay

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

Let firm, well hammer'd soles protect thy feet Through freezing snows, and rains, and soaking sleet; Should the big last extend the shoe too wide, Each stone will wrench the unwary step aside; The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein, The cracking joint unhinge, or ankle sprain; And when too short the modish shoes are worn, You'll judge the seasons by your shooting corn. — John Gay

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. — John Gay

Were I laid on Greenland's Coast, And in my Arms embrac'd my Lass; Warm amidst eternal Frost, Too soon the Half Year's Night would pass. — John Gay

Who talks much, must talk in vain. — John Gay

Fair is the marigold, for pottage meet. — John Gay

A man is always afraid of a woman that loves him too much — John Gay

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

What then in love can woman do? If we grow fond they shun us. And when we fly them, they pursue: But leave us when they've won us. — John Gay

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 — John Gay

What frenzy dictates, jealousy believes — John Gay

There is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence upon one's self. — John Gay