William Davenant
William Davenant
Sir William Davenant, also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil War and during the Interregnum...
fate important doe
Small are the seeds fate does unheeded sow Of slight beginnings to important ends.
strong overcoming birth
All slander must still be strangled in its birth, or time will soon conspire to make it strong enough to overcome the truth.
army honor moral
Honor is the moral conscience of the great.
glasses perfect calamity
Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.
sorrow spy safe
Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy, It is not safe to know.
wise ambition thinking
Think not ambition wise, because 't is brave.
rivers afar fame
Fame, like the river, is narrowest where it is bred, and broadest afar off.
wise men soul
The assembled souls of all that men held wise.
wise prayer ocean
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.
gratitude birth
All jealousy must be strangled in its birth...
nice men jewels
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.
wise children ambition
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.