William Davenant Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 28 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by William Davenant.
Famous Quotes By William Davenant
O harmless Death! whom still the valiant brave,
The wise expect, the sorrowful invite,
And all the good embrace, who know the grave
A short dark passage to eternal light. — William Davenant
Praise and Prayer PRAISE is devotion fit for mighty minds, The diff'ring world's agreeing sacrifice; Where Heaven divided faiths united finds: But Prayer in various discord upward flies. For Prayer the ocean is where diversely Men steer their course, each to a sev'ral coast; Where all our interests so discordant be That half beg winds by which the rest are lost. By Penitence when we ourselves forsake, 'Tis but in wise design on piteous Heaven; In Praise we nobly give what God may take, And are, without a beggar's blush, forgiven. — William Davenant
Go! dive into the Southern Sea, and when
Th'ast found, to trouble the nice sight of men,
A swelling pearl, and such whose single worth
Boasts all the wonders which the seas bring forth,
Give it Endymion's love, whose ev'ry tear
Would more enrich the skilful jeweller. — William Davenant
Be not with honor's gilded baits beguil'd,
Nor think ambition wise, because 'tis brave;
For though we like it, as a forward child,
'Tis so unsound, her cradle is the grave. — William Davenant
It is the wit and policy of sin to hate those we have abused. — William Davenant
Fame, like the river, is narrowest where it is bred, and broadest afar off. — William Davenant
Had laws not been, we never had been blam'd; For not to know we sinn'd is innocence. — William Davenant
Ambition's monstrous stomach does increase
By eating, and it fears to starve, unless
It still may feed, and all it sees devour;
Ambition is not tir'd with toll nor cloy'd with power. — William Davenant
How beautiful is sorrow when it is dressed by virgin innocence! it makes felicity in others seem deformed. — William Davenant
Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves. — William Davenant
Actions rare and sudden do commonly proceed from fierce necessity, of else from some oblique design, which is ashamed to show itself in the public road. — William Davenant
All jealousy must be strangled in its birth ... — William Davenant
How much pleasure they lose (and even the pleasures of heroic poesy are not unprofitable) who take away the liberty of a poet, and fetter his feet in the shackles of a historian. — William Davenant
Aubade THE lark now leaves his wat'ry nest, And climbing shakes his dewy wings. He takes this window for the East, And to implore your light he sings- Awake, awake! the morn will never rise Till she can dress her beauty at your eyes. The merchant bows unto the seaman's star, The ploughman from the sun his season takes, But still the lover wonders what they are Who look for day before his mistress wakes. Awake, awake! break thro' your veils of lawn! Then draw your curtains, and begin the dawn! — William Davenant
Generous souls
Are still most subject to credulity. — William Davenant
The assembled souls of all that men held wise. — William Davenant
All slander must still be strangled in its birth, or time will soon conspire to make it strong enough to overcome the truth. — William Davenant
Think not ambition wise, because 't is brave. — William Davenant
For in a dearth of comforts, we art taught
To be contented with the least. — William Davenant
Small are the seeds fate does unheeded sow
Of slight beginnings to important ends. — William Davenant
To be rich be diligent; move on
Like heav'ns great movers that enrich the earth;
Whose moment's sloth would show the world undone;
And make the spring straight bury all her birth.
Rich are the diligent who can command
Time
nature's stock. — William Davenant
Ambition is the mind's immodesty. — William Davenant
Anger is blood, poured and perplexed into froth; but malice is the wisdom of our wrath. — William Davenant
Faith lights us through the dark to Deity. — William Davenant
Honor is the moral conscience of the great. — William Davenant
Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy, It is not safe to know. — William Davenant