“In love we are all fools alike.”
Source: The Beggar's Opera: As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Lincolns-Inn Fields : [Text of the Play]
“Thus shadow owes its birth to light.”
Source: The Fables of John Gay Illustrated
“Who talks much, must talk in vain.”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: With a Life of the Author
“Fair is the kingcup that in meadow blows, Fair is the daisy that beside her grows.”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:
“What happiness the rural maid attends, In cheerful labour while each day she spends! She gratefully receives what Heav'n has sent, And, rich in poverty, enjoys content.”
Source: The Poetical works
“I never, with important air, In conversation overbear. . . . . My tongue within my lips I rein; For who talks much must talk in vain.”
Source: Gay's Fables: In One Volume Complete
“What will not luxury taste? Earth, sea, and air, Are daily ransack'd for the bill of fare. Blood stuffed in skins is British Christians' food, And France robs marshes of the croaking brood.”
“Envy's a sharper spur than pay: No author ever spar'd a brother; Wits are gamecocks to one another.”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:
“I cannot raise my worth too high; Of what vast consequence am I! "Not of the importance you suppose," Replies a Flea upon his nose; "Be humble, learn thyself to scan; Know, pride was never made for man.”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:
“Of all the fools that pride can boast, A Coxcomb claims distinction most.”
Source: Gay's Fables and other poems: Cotton's visions in verse ; Moore's Fables for the female sex ; with sketches of the authors' lives
“Who friendship with a knave hath made, Is judged a partner in the trade.”
Source: The Fables of John Gay Illustrated
“Learning by study must be won; 'Twas ne'er entail'd from son to son.”
Source: Fables and Other Poems, by John Gay: With a Biographical Sketch of the Author..
“Is there no hope? the sick man said, The silent doctor shook his head, And took his leave with signs of sorrow, Despairing of his fee to-morrow.”
“So comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er, The dreadful reckn'ning, and men smile no more.”
“Good housewives all the winter's rage despise, Defended by the riding-hood's disguise; Or, underneath the umbrella's oily shade, Safe through the wet on clinking pattens tread, Let Persian dames the unbrella's ribs display, To guard their beauties from the sunny ray; Or sweating slaves support the shady load, When eastern monarchs show their state abroad; Britain in winter only knows its aid, To guard from chilling showers the walking maid.”
Source: Gay's Fables and other poems: Cotton's visions in verse ; Moore's Fables for the female sex ; with sketches of the authors' lives
“Why is the hearse with scutcheons blazon'd round, And with the nodding plume of ostrich crown'd? No; the dead know it not, nor profit gain; It only serves to prove the living vain.”
Source: Gay's Fables and other poems: Cotton's visions in verse ; Moore's Fables for the female sex ; with sketches of the authors' lives
“Who hath not heard the rich complain Of surfeits, and corporeal pain? He barr'd from every use of wealth, Envies the ploughman's strength and health.”
Source: The Poems of John Gay ...
“I know you lawyers can with ease, Twist words and meanings as you please; That language, by your skill made pliant, Will bend to favour every client; That 'tis the fee directs the sense, To make out either side's pretense.”
Source: Selected poems
“Woman's mind Oft' shifts her passions, like th'inconstant wind; Sudden she rages, like the troubled main, Now sinks the storm, and all is calm again.”
Source: Poems on Several Occasions: Epistles on several occasions. Tales. Eclogues. Miscellanies. Dione, a pastoral tragedy
“Praising all alike, is praising none.”
“She who has never lov'd, has never liv'd.”
Source: The works of Mr. John Gay: In four volumes. To which is added an account of the life and writings of the author ...
“If with me you'd fondly stray Over the hills and far away.”
“Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.”
Source: The Poems of John Gay ...
“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.”
“No author ever spar'd a brother.”
Source: Fables by John Gay, with a Life of the Author
“Were I laid on Greenland's Coast, And in my Arms embrac'd my Lass; Warm amidst eternal Frost, Too soon the Half Year's Night would pass.”
Source: The Beggar's Opera
“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.”
Source: The beggar's opera. Oxberry's ed
“To frame the little animal, provide All the gay hues that wait on female pride: Let Nature guide thee; sometimes golden wire The shining bellies of the fly require; The peacock's plumes thy tackle must not fail, Nor the dear purchase of the sable's tail.”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: Including 'Polly', 'The Beggar's Opera' and Selections from the Other Dramatic Work
“Look round, the wrecks of play behold; Estates dismember'd, mortgaged, sold! Their owners now to jails confin'd, Show equal poverty of mind.”
Source: Gay's Fables: In One Volume Complete
“A woman's friendship ever ends in love.”
“To cheat a man isnothing; but the womanmust have fine parts indeed who cheats a woman!”
“Music might tame and civilize wild beasts, but 'tis evident it never yet could tame and civilize musicians.”
“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.”
Source: The Fables of John Gay Illustrated
“To shoot at crows is powder flung away.”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: With a Life of the Author
“And when a lady's in the case, You know, all other things give place.”
“How, like a moth, the simple maid Still plays around the flame!”
“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.”
Source: Gay's Fables and other poems: Cotton's visions in verse ; Moore's Fables for the female sex ; with sketches of the authors' lives
“Let firm, well hammer'd soles protect thy feet Through freezing snows, and rains, and soaking sleet; Should the big last extend the shoe too wide, Each stone will wrench the unwary step aside; The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein, The cracking joint unhinge, or ankle sprain; And when too short the modish shoes are worn, You'll judge the seasons by your shooting corn.”
Source: Poetry and prose of John Gay
“One wife is too much for most husbands to bear, But two at a time there's no mortal can bear.”
Source: The Beggar's Opera
“Fair is the marigold, for pottage meet.”
Source: Poetical works
“From kings to cobblers 'tis the same; Bad servants wound their masters' fame.”
Source: The Fables of John Gay Illustrated
“One common fate we both must prove; You die with envy, I with love.”
Source: Fables ... In one volume complete
“If the heart of a man is depressed with cares, The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears; Like the notes of a fiddle, she sweetly, sweetly Raises the spirits, and charms our ears.”
“The sun was set; the night came on apace, And falling dews bewet around the place; The bat takes airy rounds on leathern wings, And the hoarse owl his woeful dirges sings.”
“Breathe soft, ye winds! ye waves, in silence sleep!”
Source: The Poetical works
“Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine, No blood of living insect stain my line; Let me, less cruel, cast the feather'd hook, With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook, Silent along the mazy margin stray, And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.”
Source: The works of Mr. John Gay: In four volumes. To which is added an account of the life and writings of the author ...
“When if or chance or hunger's powerful sway Directs the roving trout this fatal way, He greedily sucks in the twining bait, And tugs and nibbles the fallacious meat. Now, happy fisherman; now twitch the line! How thy rod bends! behold, the prize is thine!”
Source: The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:
