William Congreve
William Congreve
William Congrevewas an English playwright and poet...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth24 January 1670
laughter passion men
There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion!
expectations joy wish
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.
roots adultery should
Marriage is honourable, as you say; and if so, wherefore should Cuckoldom be a Discredit, being deriv'd from so honourable a Root?
ambition self flames
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.
confusion couches levees
O, nothing is more alluring than a levee from a couch in some confusion.
strange married wells
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.
thinking
I hope you do not think me prone to any iteration of nuptials.
heaven fool helping
I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit.
winning play names
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.
pleasure please
Who pleases one against his will.
knowledge firsts opinion
I am always of the opinion with the learned, if they speak first.
play echoes giving
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!
wife littles degrees
These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into wife.
marriage witty play
Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.