John Gay citáty

page 2

„Závisť je väčší popud ako peniaze.“

„Pre väčšinu manželov je príliš veľa počúvať jednu manželku, ale dve odrazu, to nemôže zniesť žiadny smrteľník.“

„Prelietavá žena, hoci nemá žiadnu šancu, aby bola veľmi šťastná, nikdy nemôže byť veľmi nešťastná.“

„Príjemný stav vdovský je jedinou nádejou, ktorá povzbudzuje ducha manželiek.“

„Život je žart. To som si vždy myslel, teraz to viem.“

“How happy I am, if you say this from your heart! For I love thee so, that I could sooner bear to see thee hang'd than in the Arms of another.”

“Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.”

“Fill it up. I take as large draughts of liquor as I did of love. I hate a flincher in either.”

“In beauty faults conspicuous grow;
The smallest speck is seen on snow.”

“When we risk no contradiction,
It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.”

“I must have women—there is nothing unbends the mind like them.”

“The charge is prepared; the lawyers are met;
The judges all ranged (a terrible show!)
I go, undismay'd.—For death is a debt,
A debt on demand.—So take what I owe.”

“Youth's the season made for joys,
Love is then our duty.”

“All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.”

“A Wolf eats sheep but now and then;
Ten thousands are devour'd by men.
An open foe may prove a curse,
but a pretend friend is worse.”

“Twas when the seas were roaring
With hollow blasts of wind,
A damsel lay deploring,
All on a rock reclined.”

“Remote from cities liv'd a swain,
Unvex'd with all the cares of gain;
His head was silver'd o'er with age,
And long experience made him sage.”

“Brother, brother! we are both in the wrong.”

“T is woman that seduces all mankind;
By her we first were taught the wheedling arts.”

“I don't enquire after your Affairs-- --so whatever happens, I wash my hands on't---- It hath always been my Maxim, that one Friend should assist another-- --But if you please----I'll take one of the Scarfs home with me. 'Tis always good to have something in Hand.”

“How the mother is to be pitied who hath handsome daughters! Locks, bolts, bars, and lectures of morality are nothing to them: they break through them all. They have as much pleasure in cheating a father and mother, as in cheating at cards.”

“You know, my Dear, I never meddle in matters of Death; I always leave those Affairs to you. Women indeed are bitter bad Judges in these cases, for they are so partial to the Brave that they think every Man handsome who is going to the Camp or the Gallows.”

“I hate the man who builds his name
On ruins of another's fame.
Thus prudes, by characters o'erthrown,
Imagine that they raise their own.
Thus Scribblers, covetous of praise,
Think slander can transplant the bays.”

“Man may escape from rope and gun;
Nay, some have outlived the doctor's pill:
Who takes a woman must be undone,
That basilisk is sure to kill.
The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets,
So he that tastes woman, woman, woman,
He that tastes woman, ruin meets.”

“My lodging is on the cold ground,
And hard, very hard, is my fare,
But that which grieves me more
Is the coldness of my dear.”

“Those who in quarrels intepose
Must often wipe a bloody nose.”

“Envy is a kind of praise.”

“Can you support the expense of a husband, hussy, in gaming, drinking and whoring? Have you money enough to carry on the daily quarrels of man and wife about who shall squander most? There are not many husbands and wives, who can bear the charges of plaguing one another in a handsome way.”

“By outward show let's not be cheated;
An ass should like an ass be treated.”

“Through all the Employments of Life
Each Neighbour abuses his Brother;
Whore and Rogue they call Husband and Wife:
All Professions be-rogue one another:
The Priest calls the Lawyer a Cheat,
The Lawyer be-knaves the Divine:
And the Statesman, because he's so great,
Thinks his Trade as honest as mine.”