William Congreve

“In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me.”

“A hungry wolf at all the herd will run, In hopes, through many, to make sure of one.”

“Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.”

“You are a woman: you must never speak what you think; your words must contradict your thoughts, but your actions may contradict your words.”

“He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views.”

“If there's delight in love, 'Tis when I see that heart, which others bleed for, bleed for me.”

“To find a young fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye of the world, is a very hard task.”

“If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable.”

“They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.”

“She likes herself, yet others hates, For that which in herself she prizes; And while she laughs at them, forgets She is the thing that she despises.”

“Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.”

“Come, come, leave business to idlers, and wisdom to fools: they have need of 'em: wit be my faculty, and pleasure my occupation, and let father Time shake his glass.”

“Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”

“Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.”

“You'll grow devilish fat upon this paper-diet!”

“Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure.”

“Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, and black despair succeeds brown study.”

“I confess freely to you, I could never look long upon a monkey, without very mortifying reflections.”

“Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight.”

“'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman.”