John Wilmot
John Wilmot
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester was the embodiment of the new era, and he is as well known for his rakish lifestyle as his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. He died at the age of 33 from venereal disease...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth1 April 1647
wish theater libertine
I wish to be moved. I cannot feel in life. I must have others do it for me in theater.
passion envy shame
Envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame that nobody ever had the confidence to own it.
doe reason customs
Custom does often reason overrule.
sarcastic wise foolish
He never said a foolish thing nor never did a wise one.
hate thrones france
All monarchs I hate, and the thrones they sit on, From the hector of France to the cully of Britain.
dog animal proud
I'd be a dog, a monkey, or a bear, or anything but that vain animal who is so proud of being rational.
drug theatre quality
The theatre is my drug. And my illness is so far advanced that my physic must be of the highest quality.
philosophy book swim
Books bear him up a while, and make him try to swim with bladders of philosophy.
marriage wife life-is
The clog of all pleasure, the luggage of life, is the best can be said for a very good wife.
lust natural rochester
Natural freedoms are but just: There's something generous in mere lust.
suits vices want
Nothing suits worse with vice than want of sense
joy keeping lovers
Womankind more joy discovers, Making fools, than keeping lovers
against bad bible life objection
The only objection against the Bible is a bad life