William Congreve Quotes & Sayings

I know that's a secret, for it's whispered everywhere. — William Congreve

O, nothing is more alluring than a levee from a couch in some confusion. — William Congreve

I came up stairs into the world, for I was born in a cellar. — William Congreve

A little scorn is alluring. — William Congreve

If there's delight in love, 'Tis when I see that heart, which others bleed for, bleed for me. — William Congreve

Nothing but you can lay hold of my mind, and that can lay hold of nothing but you. — William Congreve

Women are like tricks by sleight of hand,
Which, to admire, we should not understand — William Congreve

Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, and black despair succeeds brown study. — William Congreve

There are times when sense may be unseasonable, as well as truth. — William Congreve

Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight. — William Congreve

Love's but the frailty of the mind, When 'tis not with ambition joined; A sickly flame, which if not fed expires; And feeding, wastes in self-consuming fires. — William Congreve

You'll grow devilish fat upon this paper-diet! — William Congreve

Every man plays the fool once in his live, but to marry is playing the fool all one's life long. — William Congreve

Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. — William Congreve

Marriage indeed may qualify the fury of his passion, but it very rarely mends a man's manners. — William Congreve

If happiness in self-content is placed, The wise are wretched, and fools only blessed. — William Congreve

It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of human kind. — William Congreve

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. — William Congreve

I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections. — William Congreve

Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.
(quoted in Life After Life) — William Congreve

Come, come, leave business to idlers, and wisdom to fools: they have need of 'em: wit be my faculty, and pleasure my occupation, and let father Time shake his glass. — William Congreve

Some by experience find those words mis-placed: At leisure married, they repent in haste. — William Congreve

One minute gives invention to destroy; What to rebuild, will a whole age employ. — William Congreve

You are a woman: you must never speak what you think; your words must contradict your thoughts, but your actions may contradict your words. — William Congreve

A wit should be no more sincere than a woman constant. — William Congreve

Words are the weak support of cold indifference; love has no language to be heard. — William Congreve

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. — William Congreve

There are come Critics so with Spleen diseased, They scarcely come inclining to be pleased: And sure he must have more than mortal Skill, Who please one against his Will. — William Congreve

I nauseate walking; 'tis a country diversion, I loathe the country. — William Congreve

Love's but a frailty of the mind, When 'tis not with ambition joined. — William Congreve

He that first cries out stop thief, is often he that has stolen the treasure. — William Congreve

Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrow's Sun to thee may never rise; Or should to-morrow chance to cheer thy sight With her enlivening and unlook'd for light, How grateful will appear her dawning rays! As favours unexpected doubly please. — William Congreve

No, I'm no enemy to learning; it hurts not me. — William Congreve

They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week. — William Congreve

I always take blushing either for a sign of guilt, or of ill breeding. — William Congreve

Music hath charms to sooth a savage breast. — William Congreve

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. — William Congreve

Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. I've read that things inanimate have moved, and, as with living souls, have been inform'd, by magic numbers and persuasive sound. — William Congreve

A hungry wolf at all the herd will run, In hopes, through many, to make sure of one. — William Congreve

Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing. — William Congreve

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, And though late, a sure reward succeeds. — William Congreve

Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure. — William Congreve

Whoever is king, is also the father of his country. — William Congreve

There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire. — William Congreve

One no more owes one's beauty to a lover than one's wit to an echo — William Congreve

To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task. — William Congreve

Wit must be foiled by wit: cut a diamond with a diamond. — William Congreve

Mr Witwould: "Pray, madam, do you pin up your hair with all your letters? I find I must keep copies." Mrs Millamant: "Only with those in verse ... I never pin up my hair with prose." — William Congreve

No mask like open truth to cover lies, As to go naked is the best disguise. — William Congreve

O fie, miss, you must not kiss and tell. — William Congreve

I hope you do not think me prone to any iteration of nuptials. — William Congreve

O, she is the antidote to desire. — William Congreve

Women like flames have a destroying power; never to be quenched till they themselves devour. — William Congreve

A wit should no more be sincere, than a woman constant; one argues a decay of parts, as to other of beauty. — William Congreve

In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me. — William Congreve

These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into wife. — William Congreve

I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull. — William Congreve

They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom. — William Congreve

Thus in this sad, but oh, too pleasing state! my soul can fix upon nothing but thee; thee it contemplates, admires, adores, nay depends on, trusts on you alone. — William Congreve

Who pleases one against his will. — William Congreve

Though marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves 'em still two fools. — William Congreve

But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old. — William Congreve

Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants. — William Congreve

Hannibal was a very pretty fellow in those days. — William Congreve

I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit. — William Congreve

Let us be very strange and well-bred:Let us be as strange as if we had been married a great while;And as well-bred as if we were not married at all. — William Congreve

There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion! — William Congreve

Beauty is the lover's gift. — William Congreve

'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman. — William Congreve

If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable. — William Congreve

She likes herself, yet others hates / For that which in herself she prizes; And, while she laughs at them, forgets / She is the thing that she despises. — William Congreve

A little disdain is not amiss; a little scorn is alluring. — William Congreve

How hard a thing 'twould be to please you all. — William Congreve

Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, and though a late, a sure reward succeeds. — William Congreve

Men are apt to offend ('tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive. — William Congreve

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

True, 'tis an unhappy circumstance of life that love should ever die before us, and that the man so often should outlive the lover. But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old. For my part, my youth may wear and waste, but it shall never rust in my possession. — William Congreve

Music alone with sudden charms can bind The wand'ring sense, and calm the troubled mind. — William Congreve

In hours of bliss we oft have met:
They could not always last;
And though the present I regret,
I'm grateful for the past. — William Congreve

Musick has charms to soothe a savage breast — William Congreve

Guilt is ever at a loss, and confusion waits upon it; when innocence and bold truth are always ready for expression. — William Congreve

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

He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views. — William Congreve

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

To converse with Scandal is to play at Losing Loadum, you must lose a good name to him, before you can win it for yourself. — William Congreve

Delay not till tomorrow to be wise; tomorrow's sun to thee may neve rise. — William Congreve

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. — William Congreve

I am always of the opinion with the learned, if they speak first. — William Congreve

Heav'n hath no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd. — William Congreve

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

Turn pimp, flatterer, quack, lawyer, parson, be chaplain to an atheist, or stallion to an old woman, anything but a poet; for a poet is worse, more servile, timorous and fawning than any I have named. — William Congreve

I know a lady that loves to talk so incessantly, she won't give an echo fair play; she has that everlasting rotation of tongue that an echo must wait till she dies before it can catch her last words! — William Congreve

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