John Webster Quotes

Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust.

Eagles commonly fly alone. They are crows, daws, and starlings that flock together.

When we prohibit others from being different, we end up forfeiting our own right to Liberty.

The chiefest action for a man of great spirit is never to be out of action... the soul was never put into the body to stand still.

Woman to man Is either a God or a wolfe.

Do you not weep? Other sins only speak; murder shrieks out. The element of water moistens the earth, But blood flies upwards and bedews the heavens.

See, a good habit makes a child a man, Whereas a bad one makes a man a beast.

Cowardly dogs bark loudest.

Sorrow is held the eldest child of sin.

Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright, But looked to near, have neither heat nor light.

That friend a great man's ruin strongly checks, who rails into his belief all his defects.

Heaven fashioned us of nothing; and we strive to bring ourselves to nothing.

See, the curse of children! In life they keep us frequently in tears, And in the cold grave leave us in pale fears.

Gold that buys health can never be ill spent, Nor hours laid out in harmless merriment.

Is not old wine wholesomest, old pippins toothsomest, old wood burn brightest, old linen wash whitest? Old soldiers, sweethearts, are surest, and old lovers are soundest.

In all our quest of greatness, like wanton boys, whose pastime is their care, we follow after bubbles, blown in the air.

The soul was never put in the body to stand still.

When a man's mind rides faster than his horse can gallop they quickly both tire.

Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness.

Though lust do masque in ne'er so strange disguise she's oft found witty, but is never wise.

Man may his fate foresee, but not prevent. 'Tis better to be fortunate than wise.

Poor maids have more lovers than husbands.

Let guilty men remember, their black deeds Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds.

I have long served virtue, And never ta'en wages of her.

Oh, yes, thy sins Do run before thee to fetch fire from hell, To light thee thither.

I account this world a tedious theater, For I do play a part in 't 'gainst my will.

How tedious is a guilty conscience!

Man is most happy, when his own actions are arguments and examples of his virtue.

Imyself haveheard averygood jest, and havescornedto seem to have so sillya wit as to understand it.

All the damnable degrees Of drinking have you staggered through.

I am Duchess of Malfi still.

The misery of us, that are born great, We are forced to woo because none dare woo us.

Were there no heaven nor hell I should be honest.

I do love these ancient ruins. We never tread upon them but we set Our foot upon some reverend history.

That realm is never long in quiet, where the ruler is a soldier.

Lust carries her sharp whip At her own girdle.

Physicians are like kings- They brook no contradiction.

Love mixed with fear is sweetness.

Knowledge Is Power! Train smart and obtain power!

For the subtlest folly proceeds from the subtlest wisdom.

Vain the ambition of kings Who seek by trophies and dead things To leave a living name behind, And weave but nets to catch the wind.

All things do help the unhappy man to fall.

Take it for words. O woman’s poor revenge, Which dwells but in the tongue!

What a strange creature is a laughing fool, As if a man were created to no useBut only to show his teeth.

Princes give rewards with their own hands, But death or punishment by the hands of other.

Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lustLike diamonds we are cut with our own dust

'Tis better to be fortunate than wise.

What! because we are poor Shall we be vicious?

O that I were a man, or that I had powerTo execute my apprehended wishes!I would whip some with scorpions.

Lovers die inward that their flames conceal.